Search results for ""author gold"

In 1932, Benno Weiser Varon was a student of medicine in Vienna. During a brawl at the Anatomic Institute he rescues a Jewish fellow student, when he cracked the skull of a huge Nazi with two outsized metal keys, while some thirty Nazis watched from an upper floor. He considered this event his rite of passage, in which he proved to himself that “Jews are no cowards.” Life would give him many an opportunity to prove it again. A Jewish Rambo? Not at all. Fellow Viennese remember him for making them laugh. He wrote, directed, and performed in literary cabarets. Gerhard Bronner, Vienna’s foremost entertainer, claims that watching Weiser perform inspired his choice of career. “All I could take along from Nazi Vienna,” says Weiser Varon, “was my accent.” But he also exported his fighting spirit. As Ecuador’s first syndicated columnist, blending drama with satire, he dispensed faith to those who rooted for the Allies and heartburn to the powerful Nazi colony. The Axis powers sponsored seven weeklies to counteract his influence, there was an interpellation in parliament, a “promise” by the minister of the interior to silence him, an op-ed dual with a Vichy diplomat. The New York Times, reporting on his struggle, called him one of Latin America’s best known columnists. In 1946 the World Zionist Organization drafted him into its campaign to convince the nations of Latin America of the justice of the Jewish fight for statehood. Varon’s niche in history is the U.N. Palestine Partition Resolution of 1947. The Encyclopedia Judaica credits him and a colleague with the decisive Latin American votes. In 1964 Golda Meir appointed him ambassador to a succession of Latin American countries. In 1970 Baron survived an assassination attempt by Palestinian terrorists. In 1972 he retired from diplomacy and returned to journalism. Varon met Albert Einstein and Aleksandr Kerensky as well as the Who’s Who of Latin-American writers, painters, intellectuals, and statesmen, such as Perón, Castro, the Somozas, Stroessner. He also placed second-best in a joke contest with Bob Hope and, together with his actress-wife, wrote a play, “A Letter to the Times,” which was produced in both English and Spanish.

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“Just the thing for a cold winter’s night between episodes.” —The Washington Post Book World “Fans of the show will undoubtedly enjoy the chance to read Jane’s book in real life.” —Entertainment Weekly It’s been a lifetime (and three seasons) in the making, but Jane Gloriana Villanueva is finally ready to make her much-anticipated literary debut!Jane the Virgin, the Golden Globe, AFI, and Peabody Award–winning The CW dramedy, has followed Jane’s telenovela-esque life—from her accidental artificial insemination and virgin birth to the infant kidnapping and murderous games of the villainous Sin Rostro to an enthralling who-will-she-choose love triangle. With these tumultuous events as inspiration, Jane’s breathtaking first novel adapts her story for a truly epic romance that captures the hope and the heartbreak that have made the television drama so beloved. Snow Falling is a sweeping historical romance set in 1902 Miami—a time of railroad tycoons, hotel booms, and exciting expansion for the Magic City. Working at the lavish Regal Sol hotel and newly engaged to Pinkerton Detective Martin Cadden, Josephine Galena Valencia has big dreams for her future. Then, a figure from her past reemerges to change her life forever: the hotel’s dapper owner, railroad tycoon Rake Solvino. The captivating robber baron sets her heart aflame once more, leading to a champagne-fueled night together. But when their indiscretion results in an unexpected complication, Josephine struggles to decide whether her heart truly belongs with heroic Martin or dashing Rake. Meanwhile, in an effort to capture an elusive crime lord terrorizing the city, Detective Cadden scours the back alleys of the Magic City, tracking the nefarious villain to the Regal Sol and discovering a surprising connection to the Solvino family. However, just when it looks like Josephine’s true heart’s desire is clear, danger strikes. Will her dreams for the future dissolve like so much falling snow or might Josephine finally get the happy ever after she’s been dreaming of for so long?

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Featuring more than 300 magnificent National Geographic images of all 50 states--and inspiring words from luminaries across the country--this collection is a gift-worthy celebration of America's unique natural and cultural treasures. America the Beautiful showcases the stunning spaces closest to our nation's heart--from the woods in the Great Appalachian Valley that Davy Crockett once called home to the breathtaking sweep of California's Big Sur coast to the wilds of Alaska. It also celebrates the people who have made this country what it is, featuring a wide range of images including the Arikara Nation in the early 1900s and scientists preparing for travel to Mars on a Hawaiian island. Culled from National Geographic's vaunted photo archives, spanning a period of more than 130 years, this provocative collection depicts the splendor of this great nation as only National Geographic can, with a dramatic combination of modern and historical imagery--from the creation of architectural icons like the Golden Gate Bridge and Lady Liberty to the last of the country's wild places preserved in our national parks. With a structure inspired by the original song "America the Beautiful," this book recognizes what makes our nation great, region by region. And all 50 states and six territories of the U.S. are honored with 50 words from celebrities, historians, activists, conservationists, and politicians who call America home. Profound and inspiring, this is a book for everyone who has ever marveled at the beauty of the United States.

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In 1943, Frank Lloyd Wright received a letter from Hilla Rebay, the art advisor to Solomon R. Guggenheim, asking the architect to design a new building to house Guggenheim’s four-year-old Museum of Non-Objective Painting. The project evolved into a complex struggle pitting the architect against his clients, city officials, the art world and public opinion, but the resultant achievement testifies to both Wright’s architectural genius and the adventurous spirit of its founders. The Guggenheim Museum is an embodiment of Wright’s attempts to render the inherent plasticity of organic forms in architecture. His inverted ziggurat dispensed with the conventional approach to museum design, which led visitors through a series of interconnected rooms and forced them to retrace their steps when exiting. Instead, Wright whisked people to the top of the building via elevator, and led them downward at a leisurely pace on the gentle slope of a continuous ramp. The galleries were divided like the segments of an orange, into self-contained yet interdependent sections. The open rotunda afforded viewers the unique possibility of seeing several bays of work on different levels simultaneously. The spiral design recalled a nautilus shell, with continuous spaces flowing freely one into another. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: An Architectural Appreciation celebrates Wright’s crowning achievement with reflections by prominent architects, historians and critics. Paired alongside a half-century of photographs, they convey how, as Paul Goldberger has said, “almost every museum of our time is a child of the Guggenheim.”

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When one thinks of the quintessential Frenchman, one likely pictures Jean Gabin (1904-1976). The son of music hall performers, the Paris-born actor grew up in the entertainment business. His onscreen debut in the 1930's marked the beginning of many memorable roles in films such as La Grande Illusion (1937) and Émile Zola's La Bête Humaine (1938). His performances would earn him international recognition and establish his reputation as one of the greatest stars of film noir.Pausing his performances on screen, Gabin joined the Allied struggle of WWII. Serving under General Charles De Gaulle in the Free French Forces as a tank commander, Gabin was awarded several medals for his service. Upon his return to acting after the war, he became the embodiment of the uniquely French spirit - a persona that would define his future roles.In Jean Gabin: The Actor Who Was France, Joseph Harriss tells the story of this French icon. This well-researched biography documents Gabin's life from his start as a reluctant singer and dancer in Parisian music halls to his rise to film superstardom. Harriss recounts the actor's multi-faceted persona, including his famously fiery temper, his tumultuous love affairs - including a six-year relationship with the German star Marlene Dietrich - and his military valor. With this enthralling work, film enthusiasts can gain an appreciation of France's quintessential movie star and his lasting impact on world cinema during its Golden Age.

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Spinoza and the Freedom of Philosophizing is a study of freedom of speech, good government, civic responsibility, public education, and the foundations of religion and society, as seen through the eyes of seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher Spinoza. During the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, a new kind of public sphere emerged. Courtly structures of political advice made room for new, republican forms of public consultation between the sovereign powers and the general citizenry. Missing, however, were guidelines for how and when to address questions of public concern and how to form unprejudiced citizens in possession of their own free judgment, capable of speaking up for themselves in public deliberations with the common interest in view. The book argues that Spinoza's conception of the freedom of philosophizing, and the systematic political theory he developed to defend it in his 1670 Theological-Political Treatise, were conceived to provide just such guidelines. It shows how Spinoza understood the freedom of philosophizing as a collective style of reasoning and argument based on mutual teaching and advising, a model for the public sphere in a free republic. It studies the conditions under which such a public sphere of free philosophizing could flourish, how it would require popular reform of public education and democratic reorganization of the relations between political counsel and sovereign command. It also shows how Spinoza designed theological and political doctrines of universal faith and social contract in order to promote true religion and a sense of civic duty, and asserted the state's right over sacred matters as a means to ensure mutual toleration in a multi-religious society.

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Cursed with love by his step-mother, Culhwch (Pig Boy) is condemned to love and marry Olwen, the daughter of the Hawthorn Giant—pitiless, violent and huge. So begins the quest—first to the court of King Arthur to wins support for the quest. In this earliest and earthiest of Arthurian tales, we are in the grip of the Otherworld, where landscape, nature and doing what we can to make a better future, no matter how impossible that might seem, are everything. Making a future despite the odds and despite the terrible and debilitating pain that afflicts Pig Boy as part of his love of Olwen will see him tested him again and again as he faces each task along the quest, the last to hunt the Great Wild Boar and seize the golden comb and scissors from between its ears so that the Hawthorn Giant can have his beard trimmed and hair combed for his daughter’s wedding. Will the marriage finally be celebrated? And what help will Pig Boy need to summon—not only from the court of Arthur and its warrior class but from everyone in the kingdom and from the non-human realm with it deep magic? An epic tale of ancient myth, the story of Pig Boy continues to resonate today with how we go on making a future, calling on the land and whatever and whoever might help, human and beyond. An ambitious, compelling and powerful debut from master storyteller, Michael Harvey.

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'Powerful...His extensively reported tales of individual whistleblowers and their often cruel fates are compelling...They reveal what it can mean to live in an age of fraud.' Washington Post'Tom Mueller's authoritative and timely book reveals what drives a few brave souls to expose and denounce specific cases of corruption.' George SorosWe are living in a time of mind-boggling corruption, but we are also, as it happens, living in a golden age of whistleblowing. Over the past two decades, the brave insiders who decide to expose wrongdoing have gained unprecedented legal and social stature, emerging as the government's best weapon against corporate misconduct - and the citizenry's best defense against government gone bad. They are also forcing us to consider fundamental questions about our democracy, especially the proper balance between free speech and state secrecy, and between individual rights and corporate power.Drawing on relentless original research, including in-depth interviews with more than 200 whistleblowers and the elite coterie of legal trailblazers who have armed them for battle - plus scores of politicians, intelligence analysts, government watchdogs, cognitive scientists, and other experts - Crisis of Conscience is a modern-day David-and-Goliath saga, told through a series of riveting cases drawn from Big Pharma, the military, and beyond. Whistleblowers are not only heroes who expose and anatomize corruption and ensure that it is punished usually at enormous cost to themselves - Mueller shows how they are also models we all must think and act more like if our democracy is to survive.

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Bring favorite scenes from the Harry Potter films to life with the first official Wizarding World watercolor book.Harry Potter: Watercolor Magic includes over 30 easy-to-complete watercolor projects featuring fan-favorite characters, creatures, places, and icons from the films. From the classic Hogwarts crest to the Sorting Hat to Harry’s stag Patronus, the pages burst with opportunities for fans to create gorgeous art from the Wizarding World. Each project features a light sketch of the image to get you started plus a list of supplies and colors, followed by clear, easy-to-follow instructions to help you recreate the image in minutes. The high-quality watercolor paper makes putting paint on paper a snap, and the removable pages make it easy to display or frame finished projects. Harry Potter: Watercolor Magic is perfect for at-home artists of every skill level looking for a fun, easy art project. OVER 30 PROJECTS: Bring dozens of images to life, from classic scenes like the arrival at Hogwarts to beloved items like the Nimbus 2000 and the Golden Snitch. FOR EVERY SKILL LEVEL: Complete instructions make it easy for artists from beginners to masters to create Wizarding World art that is true to the films HIGH-QUALITY PAPER: Thick watercolor paper for a beautiful, lasting keepsake REMOVABLE PAGES: Pages release easily from the book for framing and display OFFICIAL WIZARDING WORLD CRAFTING BOOK: Created in collaboration with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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California is an infamously tough place to be poor: home to about half of the entire nation’s homeless population, burdened by staggering home prices and unsustainable rental rates, California is a state in crisis. But it wasn’t always that way, as prize-winning historian Josh Sides reveals in Backcountry Ghosts. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, the most ambitious and sweeping social policy in the history of the United States. In the Golden State more than a hundred thousand people filed homesteading claims between 1863 and the late 1930s. More than sixty thousand Californians succeeded, claiming about ten million acres. In Backcountry Ghosts Josh Sides tells the histories of these Californian homesteaders, their toil and enormous patience, successes and failures, doggedness in the face of natural elements and disasters, and resolve to defend hard-earned land for themselves and their children. While some of these homesteaders were fulfilling the American Dream—that all Americans should have the opportunity to own land regardless of their background or station—others used the Homestead Act to add to already vast landholdings or control water or mineral rights. Sides recovers the fascinating stories of individual homesteaders in California, both those who succeeded and those who did not, and the ways they shaped the future of California and the American West. Backcountry Ghosts reveals the dangers of American dreaming in a state still reeling from the ambitions that led to the Great Recession.

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The first book-length study of Heaney's dialogue with Virgil, one of Seamus Heaney's major literary exemplars Offers a close reading of Heaney's engagement in Virgil, with particular focus on the latter part of his career, from the mid-1980s onward Explores Heaney's dialogue with Virgil in relation to his reading of other writers, ancient, medieval and modern Considers the full corpus of Heaney's writing including translations, original poems, prose writing and radio interviews This book demonstrates the ways in which Virgil's are poems that Heaney 'lived with long and dreamily', especially the descent into the underworld in Aeneid VI. It shows that in his original English poems as well as his translations from Latin, Heaney conjures and transforms familiar Virgilian motifs. The rhythm, pace and musicality of Virgil's hexameters can be heard in Heaney's pastoral eclogues and sonnet sequences. And Virgil's life and times, as well as his poetry, contribute to the shaping of Heaney's prose poetics. In dialogue with Virgil, as well as other classical and modern poets, Heaney develops his notion of the redress of poetry: the counterbalance that poetry can offer against historical tragedy, suffering and loss. The book explores Heaney's intensely productive, thirty-year dialogue with Virgil, beginning with his translation of 'The Golden Bough' in the 1980s and extending through several major volumes, including Seeing Things, The Midnight Verdict, Electric Light, District and Circle, The Riverbank Field, Human Chain, and the posthumously published translation of Aeneid Book VI.

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Thelma and Louise meets Goodfellas when an unlikely trio of women in New York find themselves banding together to escape the clutches of violent figures from their pasts. THELMA AND LOUISE MEETS GOODFELLAS when an unlikely trio of women in New York find themselves banding together to escape the clutches of violent figures from their pasts. After Brooklyn mob widow Rena Ruggiero hits her eighty-year-old neighbour Enzio on the head with an ashtray when he makes an unwanted move on her, she steals his vintage Chevy Impala and retreats to the Bronx home of her estranged daughter, Adrienne, and her granddaughter, Lucia, only to be turned away at the door. Their neighbour, Lacey 'Wolfie' Wolfstein, a one-time Golden Age porn star and retired Florida Suncoast grifter, takes Rena in and befriends her. When Lucia discovers that Adrienne is planning to hit the road with her ex-boyfriend, she figures Rena is her only way out of a life on the run with a mother she can't stand. The stage is set for an explosion that will propel Rena, Wolfie, and Lucia down a strange path, each woman running from their demons, no matter what the cost. A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself is a screwball noir about finding friendship and family where you least expect it, in which William Boyle again draws readers into the familiar - and sometimes frightening - world in the shadows at the edges of New York's neighbourhoods.

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Few transformations in American politics have been as important as the integration of African Americans into the Democratic Party and the Republican embrace of racial policy conservatism. The story of this partisan realignment on race is often told as one in which political elites--such as Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater--set in motion a dramatic and sudden reshuffling of party positioning on racial issues during the 1960s. Racial Realignment instead argues that top party leaders were actually among the last to move, and that their choices were dictated by changes that had already occurred beneath them. Drawing upon rich data sources and original historical research, Eric Schickler shows that the two parties' transformation on civil rights took place gradually over decades. Schickler reveals that Democratic partisanship, economic liberalism, and support for civil rights had crystallized in public opinion, state parties, and Congress by the mid-1940s. This trend was propelled forward by the incorporation of African Americans and the pro-civil-rights Congress of Industrial Organizations into the Democratic coalition. Meanwhile, Republican partisanship became aligned with economic and racial conservatism. Scrambling to maintain existing power bases, national party elites refused to acknowledge these changes for as long as they could, but the civil rights movement finally forced them to choose where their respective parties would stand. Presenting original ideas about political change, Racial Realignment sheds new light on twentieth and twenty-first century racial politics.

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Popular music culture serves as an arena for debates on English and British national identity in this lively discussion of English popular music of the 1980s and 1990s. Against the background of his own upbringing as a Pakistani Brit, Nabeel Zuberi deftly combines a detailed account of the development of this music with a sophisticated assessment of its relation to the politics of cultural identity in Britain. Zuberi looks at how the sounds, images, and lyrics of English popular music generate and critique ideas of national belonging, recasting the social and even the physical landscapes of cities like Manchester and London. The Smiths and Morrissey play on romanticized notions of the (white) English working class, while the Pet Shop Boys map a "queer urban Britain" in the AIDS era. The techno-culture of raves and dance clubs incorporates both an anti-institutional do-it-yourself politics and emergent leisure practices, while the potent mix of technology and creativity in British black music includes local conditions as well as a sense of global diaspora. British Asian musicians, drawing on Afrodiasporic and South Asian traditions, seek a sense of place in Britain as commercial interests try to pin down an image of them to market. Sounds English shows how popular music complicates cherished notions of Englishness as it activates cultural outsiders and taps into a sense of not belonging. Alert and readable, Zuberi's wide-ranging discussion includes the performers Oasis, Blur, Tricky, Massive Attack, Goldie, A Guy Called Gerald, Roni Size, Bally Sagoo, Funˆdaˆmental, Echobelly, Cornershop, Talvin Singh, and others.

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In October 1964, Ronald Reagan gave a televised speech in support of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. "The Speech," as it has come to be known, helped launch Ronald Reagan as a leading force in the American conservative movement. However, less than twenty years earlier, Reagan was a prominent Hollywood liberal, the president of the Screen Actors Guild, and a fervent supporter of FDR and Harry Truman. While many agree that Reagan's anticommunism grew out of his experiences with the Hollywood communists of the late 1940s, the origins of his conservative ideology have remained obscure. Based on a newly discovered collection of private papers as well as interviews and corporate documents, The Education of Ronald Reagan offers new insights into Reagan's ideological development and his political ascendancy. Thomas W. Evans links the eight years (1954-1962) in which Reagan worked for General Electric-acting as host of its television program, GE Theater, and traveling the country as the company's public-relations envoy-to his conversion to conservatism. In particular, Evans reveals the profound influence of GE executive Lemuel Boulware, who would become Reagan's political and ideological mentor. Boulware, known for his tough stance against union officials and his innovative corporate strategies to win over workers, championed the core tenets of modern American conservatism-free-market fundamentalism, anticommunism, lower taxes, and limited government. Building on the ideas and influence of Boulware, Reagan would soon begin his rise as a national political figure and an icon of the American conservative movement.

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The year is 1969 and ten guests are about to enjoy a country house weekend at Tavistock Hall. But one amongst them is harbouring thoughts of murder. . . The guests also include the young detectives Arthur Bryant and John May – undercover, in disguise and tasked with protecting Monty Hatton-Jones, a whistle-blower turning Queen’s evidence in a massive bribery trial. Luckily, they’ve got a decent chap on the inside who can help them – the one-armed Brigadier, Nigel ‘Fruity’ Metcalf.The scene is set for what could be the perfect country house murder mystery, except that this particular get-together is nothing like a Golden Age classic. For the good times are, it seems, coming to an end. The house’s owner – a penniless, dope-smoking aristocrat – is intent on selling the estate (complete with its own hippy encampment) to a secretive millionaire but the weekend has only just started when the millionaire goes missing and murder is on the cards. But army manoeuvres have closed the only access road and without a forensic examiner, Bryant and May can’t solve the case. It’s when a falling gargoyle fells another guest that the two incognito detectives decide to place their future reputations on the line. And in the process discover that in Swinging Britain nothing is quite what it seems…So gentle reader, you are cordially invited to a weekend in the country. Expect murder, madness and mayhem in the mansion!

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From the 1920s until the outbreak of the Second World War, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand filled British shop windows, newspaper columns, and cinema screens with “British to the core” Canadian apples, “British to the backbone” New Zealand lamb, and “All British” Australian butter. In remarkable yet forgotten advertising campaigns, prime ministers, touring cricketers, “lady demonstrators,” and even boxing kangaroos were pressed into service to sell more Dominion produce to British shoppers. But as they sold apples and butter, these campaigns also sold a Dominion-styled British identity.Selling Britishness explores the role of commodity marketing in creating Britishness. Dominion settlers considered themselves British and marketed their commodities accordingly. Meanwhile, ambitious Dominion advertising agencies set up shop in London to bring British goods, like Ovaltine, back to the dominions and persuade their fellow citizens to buy British. Conventionally nationalist narratives have posited the growth of independent national identities during the interwar period, though some have suggested imperial sentiment endured. Felicity Barnes takes a new approach, arguing that far from shaking off or relying on any lasting sense of Britishness, Dominion marketing produced it. Selling Britishness shows that when constructing Britishness, advertisers employed imperial hierarchies of race, class, and gender. Consumption worked to bolster colonialism, and advertising extended imperial power into the everyday.Drawing on extensive new archives, Selling Britishness explores a shared British identity constructed by marketers and advertisers during advertising’s golden age.

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In today’s world of instant snapshots, 24-hour news, and round-the-clock connectivity, an illustrated press where the images are as important as the text has become an increasingly rare art form. This far-reaching compendium celebrates the golden age of graphic journalism as a distinct and unique genre and a laboratory for developing avant-garde aesthetics.Spanning from 1819 to 1921, the collection covers a broad range of news graphics and political and satirical cartoons. Alongside the works of renowned artists such as Jean Cocteau, Juan Gris, and Käthe Kollwitz, the most famous illustrators of the time are also well represented. Thomas Nast, Honoré Daumier, Gustave Doré, and the numerous relatively unknown press graphic artists, the so-called “special artists,” whose work is rediscovered here.Their rich and varied press work is considered not only in connection to the genre and the historical painting of the 19th century but also in its capacity as a pioneering influence on modern art. With striking examples of proto-cinematic narrative thinking, disruptions of the single image space, and daring forays into abstraction, this material is shown to have laid the groundwork for much of the avant-garde artistic expression that followed.The book also explores Vincent Van Gogh's careful attention to the illustrated press of his time. He was inspired not only by the artistic aspect of it but also by the spirit of social reform that it represented. An avid collector, he owned a large number of press graphics and went so far as to consider it a "Bible for Artists".

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Born in Milan and trained at the Ecole Polytechnique in Lausanne, Nanda Vigo (1936-2020) made a name for herself in the 1960s with her cross-disciplinary approach to art, architecture and design. An important figure in the Italian avant-garde art scene, she has always favoured experimentation and exploration. From 1959, she frequented Lucio Fontana's studio, before becoming close to the artists Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani, who founded the Azimuth gallery in Milan. It was during this period that she discovered the artists and venues of the ZERO movement in Germany, the Netherlands and France. Between 1964 and 1966, she took part in numerous ZERO exhibitions in Europe; in 1965, she organised the legendary Zero Avantgarde exhibition in Lucio Fontana's studio in Milan. In 1971, she received the New York Award for Industrial Design for the Golden Gate lamp produced by Arredoluce, and completed one of her most emblematic projects for the Casa Museo Remo Brindisi in Lido di Spina. In 1976 she won the first Saint-Gobain prize for glass design, and in 1982 she took part in the 40th Venice Biennale. This book accompanies the exhibition Nanda Vigo, l'espace intérieur at Madd Bordeaux, which presents the artist's work through immersive installations. It looks at architecture, art and design as fields of total creation, to give us the opportunity to see, perceive and feel all the dimensions of space. Text in English and French.

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A window into the world of nineteenth-century California, from two women who experienced it firsthand.In the early years of California’s statehood, Emily Brist Ketchum Bancroft (1834–1869) and Matilda Coley Griffing Bancroft (1848–1910) had front-row seats to the unfolding of the Golden State’s history. The first and second wives of historian extraordinaire Hubert Howe Bancroft, these two women were deeply engaged members of society and perceptive chroniclers of their times, and they left behind extensive records of their lives and work. Writing Themselves into History offers a rich immersion in nineteenth-century California, detailing Emily’s and Matilda’s experiences with public life, motherhood, and business against the backdrop of San Francisco’s high society and the state’s growth amidst the tumult of the American Civil War. The book also highlights Matilda’s significant involvement in Hubert Howe’s trailblazing research on the history of the American West—including her work collecting oral histories from women members of the LDS Church—and her evocative descriptions of travels throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond.Kim Bancroft’s commentary offers historical context and points up Emily’s and Matilda’s keen insights, and she pays special attention to the two women’s complex and nuanced portraits of gender, race, and class in the nineteenth-century West. This book is a valuable resource for American West and women’s studies scholars, and for anyone with an interest in California’s first decades as a state.

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'Delightful... The Hidden Horticulturists pulsates with the extraordinary energy and excitement of the time.' Daily MailChosen as one of the Sunday Telegraph's 'Top Ten Gardening Books of the Year' _____________________The untold story of the remarkable young men who played a central role in the history of British horticulture and helped to shape the way we garden today.In 2012, whilst working at the Royal Horticultural Society's library, Fiona Davison unearthed a book of handwritten notes that dated back to 1822. The notes, each carefully set out in neat copperplate writing, had been written by young gardeners in support of their application to be received into the Society's Garden.Amongst them was an entry from the young Joseph Paxton, who would go on to become one of Britain's best-known gardeners and architects. But he was far from alone in shaping the way we garden today and now, for the first time, the stories of the young, working-class men who also played a central role in the history of British horticulture can be told.Using their notes, Fiona Davison traces the stories of a selection of these forgotten gardeners whose lives would take divergent paths to create a unique history of gardening. The trail took her from Chiswick to Bolivia and uncovered tales of fraud, scandal and madness - and, of course, a large number of fabulous plants and gardens. This is a celebration of the unsung heroes of horticulture whose achievements reflect a golden moment in British gardening, and continue to influence how we garden today.

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From field to forest and stream to sky, capture the harmony and beauty of the natural world with just some paper, flowers, leaves, and twigs. Creating stunning yet fleeting works of art, artist Vicki Rawlins of Sister Golden defies the notion that art should be permanent. Using only the natural world and its gifts as her medium, Vicki forages for her materials and arranges them into stunning works of art. Equipped with just scissors and tweezers, and using gravity as her glue, Vicki creates magical scenes and detailed portraits out of twigs, leaves, and flowers. After documenting her finished piece with a photo, she gifts her materials back to Mother Nature, or repurposes them in her next creation. The process is therapeutic, and the possibilities are endless! A charming exploration of imagination and possibility, The Power of Flowers offers a window into the creative process behind these natural artworks and abundant inspiration with a striking kaleidoscope of art pieces, including: Famous faces, like Frida Kahlo, John Lennon, Einstein, Diana Ross, and more Whimsical scenes featuring blooming gardens, moonlit forests, seaside cottages, and woodland animals. Seasonal pieces inspired by the magic of the holidays Contemplative art reflecting love, inner strength, and positive energy. With her uniquely imaginative artistic vision, Vicki takes you deeper into her world by sharing her process, her sustainable approach to art, and anecdotes about what inspired her to create. Let yourself get lost in The Power of Flowers.

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A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 - SPORT 'A mesmerising, unforgettable journey around world rugby. ' Donald McRae – Twice Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year ‘Magnificent… hugely intelligent and entertaining.’ Stuart Barnes, Sunday Times ‘Really enjoyed it.’ Will Carling ‘An absolutely marvellous book… Recommended heartily.’ Jonathan Drennan, Sydney Morning Herald CONTRASTING CHARACTERS, COLLIDING CULTURES, THE SAME OVAL-SHAPED BALL. A JOURNEY TO FIND THE RUGBY’S MOST REMARKABLE PEOPLE, TEAMS AND PLACES. What makes rugby special? Which individuals and teams have defined the modern game? Around the World in 80 Minutes charts the ‘golden era’ of global rugby union between 1973 and 2023 and goes in search of the sport’s most influential trailblazers. Robert Kitson, the Guardian’s long-time rugby union correspondent, assesses the game’s current health, tracks down the battered gladiators of yesteryear and asks some pertinent questions. Does rugby retain its old rugged charm? What does its future look like? And what, ultimately, constitutes rugby ‘greatness’? Observant, amusing and thought-provoking, the journey takes in some of the game's more prominent names – including David Campese, Brian O’Driscoll, Maggie Alphonsi, Sean Fitzpatrick, Eddie Jones and Sir Clive Woodward – to reflect on rugby’s intangible shared joy. Millions of fans continue to find rugby maddeningly irresistible and endlessly compelling. This book is for them, and for anyone else wondering where the appeal lies.

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Photographs Not Taken is a collection of photographers’ essays about failed attempts to make a picture. Editor Will Steacy asked each photographer to abandon the conventional tools needed to make a photograph—camera, lens, film—and instead make a photograph using words, to capture the image (and its attendant memories) that never made it through the lens. In each essay, the photograph has been stripped down to its barest and most primitive form: the idea behind it. This collection provides a unique and original interpretation of the experience of photographing, and allows the reader into a world rarely seen: the image making process itself. Photographs Not Taken features contributions by: Peter Van Agtmael, Dave Anderson, Timothy Archibald, Roger Ballen, Thomas Bangsted, Juliana Beasley, Nina Berman, Elinor Carucci, Kelli Connell, Paul D’Amato, Tim Davis, KayLynn Deveney, Doug Dubois, Rian Dundon, Amy Elkins, Jim Goldberg, Emmet Gowin, Gregory Halpern, Tim Hetherington, Todd Hido, Rob Hornstra, Eirik Johnson, Chris Jordan, Nadav Kander, Ed Kashi, Misty Keasler, Lisa Kereszi, Erika Larsen, Shane Lavalette, Deana Lawson, Joshua Lutz, David Maisel, Mary Ellen Mark, Laura McPhee, Michael Meads, Andrew Moore, Richard Mosse, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Laurel Nakadate, Ed Panar, Christian Patterson, Andrew Phelps, Sylvia Plachy, Mark Power, Peter Riesett, Simon Roberts, Joseph Rodriguez, Stefan Ruiz, Matt Salacuse, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Aaron Schuman, Jamel Shabazz, Alec Soth, Amy Stein, and others.

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This book deals with traditional food and cooking in 25 authentic dishes. It is a glorious collection of enticing, healthy and delicious recipes to delight and inspire every cook. It features dishes from around the Greek Isles including skewered meats and shellfish grilled over a barbecue, refreshing salads dressed with luxurious amounts of olive oil and lemon juice, plus warming soups, baked fish with fragrant herbs and slow-roasted meat with golden potatoes. The introduction offers a concise overview of Greek cooking and eating traditions plus a guide to the classic ingredients of the country. Chapters include Soups and Appetizers; Main Meals; Vegetables and Side Dishes; and Desserts, Cakes and Bakes. It includes over 85 stunning photographs, showing key techniques and a perfect image of each finished dish. Complete nutritional information for every recipe is given to help with dietary planning. Greek cooks make clever use the abundance of local ingredients, cooking only the freshest available, creating genuine, uncomplicated dishes that show Greek cuisine at its best. From the season's new lamb, slow-cooked with vegetables and sun-drenched salads with herby marinades to hearty meat casseroles and sweet desserts oozing with honey, the recipes in this wonderful little book are sure to delight. It is the perfect introduction to this rich and ancient cuisine, and will enable you to create authentic regional dishes that capture the true essence of Greece.

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The Damned are forever in the history books as the first UK punk band to get an album out. Damned Damned Damned was a flamethrower of a record, led by the incendiary violence of “New Rose” (first UK punk single as well) and “Neat Neat Neat,” two shocking punk anthems that defined the golden era of the new wave more purely pogo-mad than anything outta The Clash or the Sex Pistols. And the mayhem never let up, with the band already breaking up and reforming (another first!) by 1979 for one of the greatest punk albums of all time, Machine Gun Etiquette (by the way, The Damned were also the first UK punk band to tour America). More punch-ups and gratuitous vandalism ensued as the band expanded its palette through the years. Popoff has wanted to write Lively Arts: The Damned Deconstructed for decades, and now that it’s finished, he’s been all over video and radio calling it his favourite and best book he’s ever done. For in it, Popoff got to analyse monastically — headphones and repeat button at the ready — every damned Damned song across all the albums and every EP and single. This herculean task represented a joy of an exercise from a penmanship point of view, but it was most satisfying in a proselytizing sense — Martin wants everybody joining him in poring over The Damned catalogue in minute detail. Let this long-suffering band of scrapping, scratching cats in a sack know how important and beloved they are before they’re all dead!

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Edited with an introduction by Daniel Hughes 'A restless shape-shifter from the mysterious Welsh Marches, Heseltine was as elusive in his idiosyncratic writing as in his extraordinary globetrotting life. It is good to have his work briefly pinned down in this groundbreaking collection for closer inspection.' - Professor M.Wynn Thomas Cariad County: a place of anarchy and farce, of the grotesque and the slapstick, of tragedy and violent comedy, where the local hunt is disrupted by a camel-riding hero, where the town hall burns down as the town cheers, a place haunted by grotesque revenants from the First World War. This is the world of Nigel Heseltine's short stories, fantastic fictions which lampoon and lament the slow decline of the once-powerful squires and landowners of mid-Wales, the very Montgomeryshire of which Heseltine (1916-1995) formed a part. Nigel Heseltine is a long-neglected member of Wales's 'Golden Generation' of English-language short story writers which included Dylan Thomas, Rhys Davies and Glyn Jones. His stories appeared alongside theirs in major magazines such as English Story and Penguin New Writing in the 1930s and 1940s. This volume re-prints for the first time since their initial publication the stories published in Heseltine's Tales of the Squirearchy (1946), alongside a substantial number of stories never previously collected. Ranging from the starkly surreal to the subtly moving, these tales reveal Nigel Heseltine as a singularly talented writer, the equal of his better-known contemporaries.

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T. E. Lawrence was one of the most charismatic characters of the First World War; a young archaeologist who fought with the Arabs and wrote an epic and very personal account of their revolt against the Turks in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Yet this was not the first book to carry that iconic title. In 1914 the man who would become Lawrence of Arabia burnt the first Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a manuscript in which he described his adventures in the Middle East during the five years before the war. Anthony Sattin uncovers the story Lawrence wanted to conceal: the truth of his birth, his tortuous relationship with a dominant mother, his deep affection for an Arab boy, the intimate details of the extraordinary journeys he took through the region with which his name is forever connected and the personal reasons that drove him from being a student to becoming an archaeologist and a spy.Young Lawrence is the first book to focus on the story of T. E. Lawrence in his twenties, before the war, during the period he looked back on as his golden years. Using first-hand sources, museum records and Foreign Office documents, Sattin sets these adventures against the background of corrosive conflicts in Libya and the Balkans. He shows the simmering defiance of Arabs, Armenians and Kurds under Turkish domination, while uncovering the story of an exceptional young man searching for happiness, love and his place in the world until war changed his life forever.

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'Perfect for the purse, the planet and simple to follow' - Evening StandardMake vegan eating easy with simple plant-based meals ready in 30 minutes or less.With over 100 quick & easy plant-based recipes using supermarket staples, along with hints and tips for making vegan meals in no time at all, Broke Vegan: Speedy will have you cooking delicious dishes time after time that save money and help the planet. With easy weekday lifesavers, dishes you can rustle up in 15 minutes and even more special dishes for when you want to impress, Broke Vegan: Speedy is the essential guide to serving plant-based meals on a budget - fast.Whether you're taking part in Veganuary for the first time, making the move from veggie to vegan or just trying to make your money go further, Broke Vegan: Speedy will bring variety and flavour to your meals in no time, without having to spend a fortune.CONTENTSChapter one: Weekday LifesaversIncluding Huev-no rancheros, Teriyako courgettes and Freezer-friendly burritosChapter two: Ready in FifteenIncluding Savoury French toast, Shredded rice noodle salad and Beetroot hummus rainbow wrapsChapter three: Hands-offIncluding Katsu curry soup, Aubergine & potato curry and Arrabbiata gnocchi bake Chapter four: A Little Bit Special Including BBQ corn ribs, Sloppy sweet potato chilli and Butternut squash carbonaraChapter five: Speedy SweetsIncluding Baked tahini bananas, Broke churros and Golden syrup steamed pudding

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Discover the secret method used to build the world...For millennia, humans have used one simple method to solve problems. Whether it's planting crops, building skyscrapers, developing photographs, or designing the first microchip, all creators follow the same steps to engineer progress. But this powerful method, the "engineering method", is an all but hidden process that few of us have heard of-let alone understand-but that influences every aspect of our lives.Bill Hammack, a Carl Sagan award-winning professor of engineering and viral "The Engineer Guy" on Youtube, has a lifelong passion for the things we make, and how we make them. Now, for the first time, he reveals the invisible method behind every invention and takes us on a whirlwind tour of how humans built the world we know today. From the grand stone arches of medieval cathedrals to the mundane modern soda can, Hammack explains the golden rule of thumb that underlies every new building technique, every technological advancement, and every creative solution that leads us one step closer to a better, more functional world. Spanning centuries and cultures, Hammack offers a fascinating perspective on how humans engineer solutions in a world full of problems.A book unlike any other, The Things We Make is a captivating examination of the method that keeps pushing humanity forward, a spotlight on the achievements of the past, and a celebration of the potential of our future that will change the way we see the world around us.

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The Great Railway Bazaar is Paul Theroux's classic and much-loved homage to train travel.The Orient Express; The Khyber Pass Local; the Delhi Mail from Jaipur; the Golden Arrow of Kuala; the Trans-Siberian Express; these are just some of the trains steaming through Paul Theroux's epic rail journey from London across Europe through India and Asia. This was a trip of discovery made in the mid-seventies, a time before the West had embraced the places, peoples, food, faiths and cultures of the East. For us now, as much as for Theroux then, to visit the lands of The Great Railway Bazaar is an encounter with all that is truly foreign and exotic - and with what we have since lost.Praise for Paul Theroux:'Theroux's work remains the standard by which other travel writing must be judged' Observer'One needs energy to keep up with the extraordinary, productive restlessness of Paul Theroux ... [He is] the most gifted, most prodigal writer of his generation' Jonathan Raban'Always a terrific teller of tales and conjurer of exotic locales, he writes lean prose that lopes along at a compelling pace' Sunday TimesPaul Theroux's books include Dark Star Safari, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Elephanta Suite, A Dead Hand, The Tao of Travel and The Lower River. The Mosquito Coast and Dr Slaughter have both been made into successful films. Paul Theroux divides his time between Cape Cod and the Hawaiian islands.

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No matter what kind of carver you are or what difficulty level you’ve reached, bird wood carving is for you! Featuring a compilation of 15 step-by-step projects from Woodcarving Illustrated, Complete Guide to Bird Carving includes easy-to-follow guidance, expert tips, and wood carving patterns for a variety of recognizable birds, including woodpeckers, chickadees, owls, blue herons, goldfinches, and more. From simple whittled songbirds and a comfort bird to realistic hummingbirds and a stylized wren, this must-have project guide features various techniques on how to carve wood birds – such as whittling, relief carving, and power carving – and is perfect for tailoring to your comfort and skill level, from beginner to advanced. Also included are helpful overviews on materials, tools, adding texture, painting, and finishing. Original projects and patterns contributed by well-known and talented carvers in the industry, including Chris Lubkemann, Greg Young, Randy Conner, Sandy Czajka, and others.

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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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This Insight Guide is a lavishly illustrated inspirational travel guide to California and a beautiful souvenir of your trip. Perfect for travellers looking for a deeper dive into the destination's history and culture, it's ideal to inspire and help you plan your travels. With its great selection of places to see and colourful magazine-style layout, this California guidebook is just the tool you need to accompany you before or during your trip. Whether it's deciding when to go, choosing what to see or creating a travel plan to cover key places like Long Beach, Lake Tahoe, it will answer all the questions you might have along the way. It will also help guide you when you'll be exploring Los Angeles or discovering San Francisco on the ground. Our California travel guide was fully-updated post-COVID-19.The Insight Guide CALIFORNIA covers: Northern California, San Francisco, Greater San Francisco Bay Area, Wine Country, Along the North Coast, The High North, Central Valley, Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada, Monterey Peninsula and the Big Sur Coast, Southern California, The Central Coast, Los Angeles, Disneyland and around LA, South Bay and the Orange Coast, The Deserts, San Diego.In this guide book to California you will find:IN-DEPTH CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FEATURES Created to provide a deeper dive into the culture and the history of California to get a greater understanding of its modern-day life, people and politics.BEST OFThe top attractions and Editor's Choice featured in this California guide book highlight the most special places to visit.TIPS AND FACTSUp-to-date historical timeline and in-depth cultural background to California as well as an introduction to California's food and drink, and fun destination-specific features.PRACTICAL TRAVEL INFORMATION A-Z of useful advice on everything, from when to go to California, how to get there and how to get around, to California's climate, advice on tipping, etiquette and more.COLOUR-CODED CHAPTERSEvery part of the destination, from Nevada City to Hollywood has its own colour assigned for easy navigation of this California travel guide.CURATED PLACES, HIGH-QUALITY MAPSGeographically organised text, cross-referenced against full-colour, high-quality travel maps for quick orientation in Downtown San Francisco, Santa Barbara and many other locations in California.STRIKING PICTURESThis guide book to California features inspirational colour photography, including the stunning Yosemite National Park and the spectacular Golden Gate Bridge.FREE EBOOKFree eBook download with every purchase of this travel guide to California to access all the content from your phone or tablet, for on-the-road exploration.

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Thirty years ago five L.A. punks unleashed their debut album upon the atrophied and decadent rock charts of Reagan's America. Within weeks ÊAppetite for DestructionÊ ascended to number one on the U.S. charts; to date ÊAppetiteÊ has sold more than thirty million copies making it the bestselling U.S. debut album of all time. To say that Guns N' Roses redefined rock 'n' roll is akin to asserting that Jimi Hendrix revolutionized surf music ä a statement that while technically true does more to conceal the truth than elucidate it. GN'R turned back the tide of MTV-spawned New Wave/synth pop by infusing the blistering hard rock of Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith with a punk sensibility that hearkened back to the onstage anarchy of the Stooges New York Dolls and Sex Pistols. In ÊGuns N' Roses FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Bad Boys of Sunset StripÊ Rich Weidman charts the amazing journey of this seminal record and the band behind it. From the gutters of West Hollywood to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame from ÊAppetiteÊ to ÊThe Spaghetti Incident?Ê these 400 pages of hedonistic nihilism salacious debauchery and raw unadulterated rock are guaranteed to turn your head blow out your eardrums obliterate your comfort zone and leave you begging for more.ÞWritten in Backbeat's popular FAQ format ÊGuns N' Roses FAQÊ breaks the band's story into a series of chapters equally suitable for a straight-through read or piecemeal consumption. Weidman's treasure trove of facts trivia stories and photographs touch on every topic imaginable. Subjects explored include the band's earliest influences and venues most notorious concerts and opening acts highlights from their seemingly endless ÊAppetite for DestructionÊ and ÊUse Your IllusionÊ tours bizarre TV appearances (like the time they destroyed the set of MTV's ÊHeadbangers Ball!Ê) public and private feuds music videos best and worst covers (Pat Boone anyone?) and much more. From the golden years of the late eighties and early nineties to the outrageous antics and self-destructive tendencies that to irreconcilable inner turmoil from the band's West Hollywood club days to the reunion of three of the five classic band members during the 2016 Not in This Lifetime Tour ÊGuns N' Roses FAQÊ paints a portrait replete with sheer talent raw power dangerous rivalries rock excess and sudden reconciliation that's simply unrivaled by anything else on the market.

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Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and National Humanities Medalist Krista Tippett has interviewed the most extraordinary voices examining the great questions of meaning for our time. The heart of her work on her national public radio program and podcast, On Being, has been to shine a light on people whose insights kindle in us a sense of wonder and courage. Scientists in a variety of fields; theologians from an array of faiths; poets, activists, and many others have all opened themselves up to Tippett's compassionate yet searching conversation. In Becoming Wise, Tippett distills the insights she has gleaned from this luminous conversation in its many dimensions into a coherent narrative journey, over time and from mind to mind. The book is a master class in living, curated by Tippett and accompanied by a delightfully ecumenical dream team of teaching faculty. The open questions and challenges of our time are intimate and civilizational all at once, Tippett says - definitions of when life begins and when death happens, of the meaning of community and family and identity, of our relationships to technology and through technology. The wisdom we seek emerges through the raw materials of the everyday. And the enduring question of what it means to be human has now become inextricable from the question of who we are to each other. This book offers a grounded and fiercely hopeful vision of humanity for this century - of personal growth but also renewed public life and human spiritual evolution. It insists on the possibility of a common life for this century marked by resilience and redemption, with beauty as a core moral value and civility and love as muscular practice. Krista Tippett's great gift, in her work and in Becoming Wise, is to avoid reductive simplifications but still find the golden threads that weave people and ideas together into a shimmering braid. One powerful common denominator of the lessons imparted to Tippett is the gift of presence, of the exhilaration of engagement with life for its own sake, not as a means to an end. But presence does not mean passivity or acceptance of the status quo. Indeed Tippett and her teachers are people whose work meets, and often drives, powerful forces of change alive in the world today. In the end, perhaps the greatest blessing conveyed by the lessons of spiritual genius Tippett harvests in Becoming Wise is the strength to meet the world where it really is, and then to make it better.

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Broadway musicals are one of America’s most beloved art forms and play to millions of people each year. But what do these shows, which are often thought to be just frothy entertainment, really have to say about our country and who we are as a nation? Now in a new second edition, The Great White Way is the first book to reveal the racial politics, content, and subtexts that have haunted musicals for almost one hundred years from Show Boat (1927) to Hamilton (2015). This revised edition includes a new introduction and conclusion, updated chapters, as well as a brand-new chapter that looks at the blockbuster musicals The Book of Mormon and Hamilton. Musicals mirror their time periods and reflect the political and social issues of their day. Warren Hoffman investigates the thematic content of the Broadway musical and considers how musicals work on a structural level, allowing them to simultaneously present and hide their racial agendas in plain view of their audiences. While the musical is informed by the cultural contributions of African Americans and Jewish immigrants, Hoffman argues that ultimately the history of the American musical is the history of white identity in the United States. Presented chronologically, The Great White Way shows how perceptions of race altered over time and how musicals dealt with those changes. Hoffman focuses first on shows leading up to and comprising the Golden Age of Broadway (1927–1960s), then turns his attention to the revivals and nostalgic vehicles that defined the final quarter of the twentieth century. He offers entirely new and surprising takes on shows from the American musical canon—Show Boat (1927), Oklahoma! (1943), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), The Music Man (1957), West Side Story (1957), A Chorus Line (1975), and 42nd Street (1980), among others. In addition to a new chapter on Hamilton and The Book of Mormon, this revised edition brings The Great White Way fully into the twenty-first century with an examination of jukebox musicals and the role of off-Broadway and regional theaters in the development of the American musical. New archival research on the creators who produced and wrote these shows, including Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Stephen Sondheim, and Edward Kleban, will have theater fans and scholars rethinking forever how they view this popular American entertainment.

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The Beautiful Music All Around Us presents the extraordinarily rich backstories of thirteen performances captured on Library of Congress field recordings between 1934 and 1942 in locations reaching from Southern Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta and the Great Plains. Including the children's play song "Shortenin' Bread," the fiddle tune "Bonaparte's Retreat," the blues "Another Man Done Gone," and the spiritual "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down," these performances were recorded in kitchens and churches, on porches and in prisons, in hotel rooms and school auditoriums. Documented during the golden age of the Library of Congress recordings, they capture not only the words and tunes of traditional songs but also the sounds of life in which the performances were embedded: children laugh, neighbors comment, trucks pass by.Musician and researcher Stephen Wade sought out the performers on these recordings, their families, fellow musicians, and others who remembered them. He reconstructs the sights and sounds of the recording sessions themselves and how the music worked in all their lives. Some of these performers developed musical reputations beyond these field recordings, but for many, these tracks represent their only appearances on record: prisoners at the Arkansas State Penitentiary jumping on "the Library's recording machine" in a rendering of "Rock Island Line"; Ora Dell Graham being called away from the schoolyard to sing the jump-rope rhyme "Pullin' the Skiff"; Luther Strong shaking off a hungover night in jail and borrowing a fiddle to rip into "Glory in the Meetinghouse."Alongside loving and expert profiles of these performers and their locales and communities, Wade also untangles the histories of these iconic songs and tunes, tracing them through slave songs and spirituals, British and homegrown ballads, fiddle contests, gospel quartets, and labor laments. By exploring how these singers and instrumentalists exerted their own creativity on inherited forms, "amplifying tradition's gifts," Wade shows how a single artist can make a difference within a democracy.Reflecting decades of research and detective work, the profiles and abundant photos in The Beautiful Music All Around Us bring to life largely unheralded individuals--domestics, farm laborers, state prisoners, schoolchildren, cowboys, housewives and mothers, loggers and miners--whose music has become part of the wider American musical soundscape. The hardcover edition also includes an accompanying CD that presents these thirteen performances, songs and sounds of America in the 1930s and '40s.

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Former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz brings readers behind the scenes for an unprecedented look at the chaotic, surreal, unbelievable backstage world of the WWE.With untold stories from a career spanning over 15 years and featuring the biggest names and controversial moments in wrestling history, THERE'S JUST ONE PROBLEM is an honest, unflinching look on how an introverted life-long fan unexpectedly became one the most powerful men in all of professional wrestling.For decades wrestling was shrouded in secrecy. It had larger than life personalities, bone crunching physicality and jaw-dropping theatrics but backstage it was an industry devoid of outsiders. Then in 1999, after working together on a special for MTV, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson turned to 26-year old television writer Brian Gewirtz and asked "You ever consider writing for WWE?" That question, and its answer, would have a profound effect on both of their lives for years to come.THERE'S JUST ONE PROBLEM is a story about perseverance, tenacity, and steel chairs. Most writers in the WWE last for a matter of months; Gewirtz was there for over 15 years, writing some of most memorable and infamous storylines in WWE history (covering the "Attitude Era", the "Ruthless Aggression Era" and into the "PG" and "Reality" eras). Throughout this journey Gewirtz found himself becoming both friend and antagonist to some of the biggest names in WWE history - Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, Stephanie McMahon, Bill Goldberg, Paul Heyman, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, and the two men who he worked the most closely with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. These men not only shaped his life professionally but also personally, forcing him to grow and change both as a writer and a human being. So how does a lifelong fan and outsider break through to become the ultimate insider? How does a low-key personality deal directly with his boss, the most brash, unpredictable "alpha male" on the planet, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon? How does one gain respect in a locker room that wants nothing more than to see him disappear? Where does one go when every year in wrestling takes you further away from the writing career you always wanted? Taking advice from his idol, the late "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, when you're so full of fear, there's only one way to push through: become fearless.

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR, SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2018 The full story of the man who brought unprecedented – and since unmatched – success to Liverpool FC. Bob Paisley was the quiet man in the flat cap who swept all domestic and European opposition aside and produced arguably the greatest club team that Britain has ever known. The man whose Liverpool team won trophies at a rate-per-season that dwarfs Sir Alex Ferguson’s achievements at Manchester United and who remains the only Briton to lead a team to three European Cups. From Wembley to Rome, Manchester to Madrid, Paisley’s team was the one no one could touch. Working in a city which was on its knees, in deep post-industrial decline, still tainted by the 1981 Toxteth riots and in a state of open warfare with Margaret Thatcher, he delivered a golden era – never re-attained since – which made the city of Liverpool synonymous with success and won them supporters the world over. Yet, thirty years since Paisley died, the life and times of this shrewd, intelligent, visionary, modest football man have still never been fully explored and explained. Based on in-depth interviews with Paisley’s family and many of the players whom he led to an extraordinary haul of honours between 1974 and 1983, Quiet Genius is the first biography to examine in depth the secrets of Paisley’s success. It inspects his man-management strategies, his extraordinary eye for a good player, his uncanny ability to diagnose injuries in his own players and the opposition, and the wicked sense of humour which endeared him to so many. It explores the North-East mining community roots which he cherished, and considers his visionary outlook on the way the game would develop. Quiet Genius is the story of how one modest man accomplished more than any other football manager, found his attributes largely unrecorded and undervalued and, in keeping with the gentler ways of his generation, did not seem to mind. It reveals an individual who seemed out of keeping with the brash, celebrity sport football was becoming, and who succeeded on his own terms. Three decades on from his death, it is a football story that demands to be told.

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'Powerful and profound.' - Matthew Syed'Anyone interested in motivation should read this book and think deeply.’ - Margaret Heffernan ***Selected as one of the Financial Times's Best Business Books of 2020******THE PEOPLE' BOOK PRIZE 2022/23 SHORTLISTED TITLE***In this fascinating examination of our widespread obsession with winning, Cath Bishop draws on her personal experience of high-performance environments to trace the idea of winning through history, language and thought to explore how it has come to be a defining concept in fields from sport to business, from politics to education. Faced with the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, Cath offers a new, broader approach – The Long Win. Cath competed as a rower at three Olympic Games, becoming the first British woman to win the World Championships and an Olympic medal in the coxless pairs event. As a senior diplomat, Cath worked on policy and negotiations, specializing in stabilization policy for conflict-affected parts of the world. In business, Cath has acted as a coach and consultant, advising on team and leadership development and organizational culture, and teaches on the Executive Education Faculty at the Judge Business School, Cambridge University.In this book she brings that extraordinary mix of experience to examine what winning has come to mean to society and to us as individuals and offers a fresh perspective on how we might redefine success – personal and professional - for the longer-term.‘Looking at life from a different point of view is a rare skill. Built on in-depth research and broad experience as well as original thought, this book will change your outlook on everything.’ - Clare Balding OBE‘This book is so relevant, timely and exciting for any person or organization wanting to investigate what success means to them. It couldn’t be a more relevant book right now and Cath’s exceptional ability in so many areas of life make it a gripping read with a lot of key takeaways whatever your area of interest. I wish every leader could immediately read this book as the world would be a better place if they did!’ - Goldie Sayers, Olympic Medallist in the Javelin, Coach‘I love this book. It is a must-read for educators, business executives, policy makers, politicians and indeed anyone who wants to understand why we need a new narrative around winning and success. We need a lot more Long-Win Thinking in our homes, businesses and institutions and Cath’s book is the place to go to find out why – and how we get there.’ - Dame Helena Morrissey

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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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