Search results for ""rebellion""

For over half a century, the history of the Abraham Lincoln brigade—the 2,800 young Americans who volunteered to fight for the Spanish Republic against General Francisco Franco's rebellion in 1936—has been shrouded in myth, legend, and controversy. Now, for the fist time, we have a comprehensive, objective, and deeply researched account of the brigade's experience in Spain and what happened to the survivors when they returned to the United States. (About one-third of the volunteers died in Spain). The book is largely based on previously unused sources, including the newly opened Russian archives, and more than 100 oral histories. The author charts the volunteers' motivations for enlisting in the fight against Spanish fascism and places their actions in the context of the Depression era. The battleground experiences of the brigade have never before been depicted in such vivid detail, and such battles as Jarama, Belchite, and the Ebro come alive in the participants' words. The author uses the military aspects of the war to illuminate such related issues as the influence of political ideology on military events and the psychology of a volunteer army. He also closely examines the role of the Communist party in the conduct of the war, including the "Orwell question"—allegations of a Communist reign of terror in Spain—and investigates the alleged racial problems within the brigade, the first fully integrated military unit in American history. The book continues the saga of the brigade by relating the problems of the surviving volunteers with the U.S. Army during World War II; their opposition to the Cold War, the Vietnam war, and U.S. intervention in Central America; the persecution during the Red Scare of the 1950s; and their involvement with the civil rights movement.

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In December 1931, El Salvador’s civilian president, Arturo Araujo, was overthrown in a military coup. Such an event was hardly unique in Salvadoran history, but the 1931 coup proved to be a watershed. Araujo had been the nation’s first democratically elected president, and although no one could have foreseen the result, the coup led to five decades of uninterrupted military rule, the longest run in modern Latin American history. Furthermore, six weeks after coming to power, the new military regime oversaw the crackdown on a peasant rebellion in western El Salvador that is one of the worst episodes of state-sponsored repression in modern Latin American history. Democracy would not return to El Salvador until the 1990s, and only then after a brutal twelve-year civil war. In Authoritarian El Salvador: Politics and the Origins of the Military Regimes, 1880-1940, Erik Ching seeks to explain the origins of the military regime that came to power in 1931. Based on his comprehensive survey of the extant documentary record in El Salvador’s national archive, Ching argues that El Salvador was typified by a longstanding tradition of authoritarianism dating back to the early- to mid-nineteenth century. The basic structures of that system were based on patron-client relationships that wove local, regional, and national political actors into complex webs of rival patronage networks. Decidedly nondemocratic in practice, the system nevertheless exhibited highly paradoxical traits: it remained steadfastly loyal to elections as the mechanism by which political aspirants acquired office, and it employed a political discourse laden with appeals to liberty and free suffrage. That blending of nondemocratic authoritarianism with populist reformism and rhetoric set the precedent for military rule for the next fifty years.

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True democracy has been long in coming to Mexico, but citizen rebellion and the work of social leaders helped bring about dramatic changes at the end of the twentieth century. The traditional dominance of the one-party state has yielded to a more democratic structure marked by growing decentralization and the adoption of fairer election rules and procedures. Vikram Chand examines the role of major institutions in fostering democratization in Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s, offering an understanding of how these changes came about and why they are likely to last. He focuses on three important factors that fostered this transition: the growing participation of the Catholic Church and its lay organizations in politics, the proliferation of non-governmental civic associations dedicated to promoting clean elections, and the emergence of vibrant opposition parties. He particularly highlights the conservative National Action Party, about which little has been written in English. Chand tells how the rise of a more politically-aware citizenry and the growing power of non-state institutions pressured the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party into adopting electoral reforms, resulting in the first open primary for gubernatorial elections in 1998. Using the state of Chihuahua as a case study, he draws on primary research—including 250 interviews with key figures in the political process—to demonstrate how the mutual interaction of national and regional politics has helped bring about these democratic transitions. Mexico’s Political Awakening is a "bottom-up" perspective on democratization, correcting analyses which view that process in Mexico as flowing down from the President. It challenges existing theories of democratization by emphasizing the importance of strong social institutions for the development of democracy, and it demonstrates that increases in political participation play a vital role in strengthening those institutions.

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'An exceptional book.' Robert Macfarlane, author of The Lost Words, Landmarks and Mountains of the Mind‘We made Kinder Scout, not just metaphorically, or metaphysically, not just with our stories and our battles, but literally changed its shape, from the peat washing off its summit, to the drystone walls that turn the hillside into a harmonious grid, the trees that are and more often aren’t there, to the creatures that we’ve allowed to remain and those we’ve done away with. It’s our mountain.’In 1951 the Peak District was designated the UK’s first national park: a commitment to protect and preserve our countryside and wild places. Sandwiched between Manchester and Sheffield, and sitting at the base of the Pennines, it is home to Kinder Scout, Britain’s most popular ‘mountain’, a beautiful yet featureless and disorientating plateau which barely scrapes the 600-metre contour, whose lower slopes bore witness in 1932 to a movement of feet, a pedestrian rebellion, which helped shape modern access legislation: the Kinder Mass Trespass.But Kinder Scout’s story is about much more than the working class taking on the elite. Marked by the passage of millions of feet and centuries of farming, a graveyard for lost souls and doomed aircraft, this much-loved mountain is a sacred canvas on which mankind has scratched and scraped its likeness for millennia. It is a record of our social and political history, of conflict and community.Writer Ed Douglas and photographer John Beatty are close friends and have a shared history with Kinder going back decades. In this unique collaboration they reveal the social, political, cultural and ecological developments that have shaped the physical and human landscape of this enigmatic and treasured hill.Kinder Scout: The People’s Mountain is a celebration of a northern English mountain and our role in its creation.

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You are cordially invited to the wedding of Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo.The Death Star is destroyed. Darth Vader is dead. The Empire is desolated. But on the forest moon of Endor, amongst the chaos of a changing galaxy, time stands still for a princess and her scoundrel.After being frozen in carbonite, then risking everything for the Rebellion, Han is eager to stop living his life for other people. He and Leia have earned their future together, a thousand times over. And when he proposes to Leia, it's the first time in a long time he's had a good feeling about this. For Leia, a lifetime of fighting doesn't truly seem over. There is work still to do, penance to pay for the dark secret she now knows runs through her veins. Her brother, Luke, is offering her that chance -- one that comes with family and the promise of the Force. But when Han asks her to marry him, Leia finds her answer immediately on her lips . . . Yes.But happily ever after doesn't come easily. As soon as Han and Leia depart their idyllic ceremony on Endor for their honeymoon, they find themselves on the grandest and most glamorous stage of all: the Halcyon, a luxury vessel on a very public journey to the most wondrous worlds in the galaxy. Their marriage, and the peace and prosperity it represents, is a lightning rod for everyone in the galaxy -- including Imperial remnants still clinging to power.Facing their most desperate hour, the soldiers of the Empire have dispersed across the galaxy, retrenching on isolated worlds vulnerable to their influence. As the Halcyon travels from world to world, one thing becomes abundantly clear: The war is not over. But as danger draws closer, Han and Leia find that they fight their best battles not alone but as husband and wife.

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The first novel in a new trilogy starring veteran New Republic pilots!On the brink of victory in a brutal war, five New Republic pilots transform from hunted to hunters in this epic Star Wars adventure. Set after Return of the Jedi, Alphabet Squadron follows a unique team, each flying a different class of starfighter as they struggle to end their war once and for all.The Emperor is dead. His final weapon has been destroyed. The Imperial Army is in disarray. In the aftermath, Yrica Quell is just one of thousands of defectors from her former cause living in a deserters’ shantytown—until she is selected to join Alphabet Squadron.Cobbled together from an eclectic assortment of pilots and starfighters, the five members of Alphabet are tasked by New Republic general Hera Syndulla herself. Like Yrica, each is a talented pilot struggling to find their place in a changing galaxy. Their mission: to track down and destroy the mysterious Shadow Wing, a lethal force of TIE fighters exacting bloody, reckless vengeance in the twilight of their reign.The newly formed unit embodies the heart and soul of the Rebellion: ragtag, resourceful, scrappy, and emboldened by their most audacious victory in decades. But going from underdog rebels to celebrated heroes isn’t as easy as it seems, and their inner demons threaten them as much as their enemies among the stars. The wayward warriors of Alphabet Squadron will have to learn to fly together if they want to protect the new era of peace they’ve fought so hard to achieve.Part of a Marvel and Del Rey crossover event, Alphabet Squadron is the counterpart to Marvel’s TIE Fighter miniseries, which follows the exploits of Shadow Wing as they scheme to thwart the New Republic.

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The flame of rebellion burns across the solar system in this dazzling conclusion to Linden A. Lewis's stunning First Sister trilogy perfect for fans of Red Rising, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Expanse.'Wonderfully imaginative and gripping'R.F. Kuang, Sunday Times bestselling author of BabelAstrid is finally free of the Sisterhood, yet her name carries on. She's called the Unchained by those she's inspired and the Heretic by those who want her voiceless once more. Now Astrid uses knowledge of the Sisterhood's inner workings against them, aiding the moonborn in raids against abbeys and Cathedrals, all the while exploring the mysteries of her forgotten past. The Sisterhood is thriving under the newly appointed Mother Lilian I, now rebuilding the Sisterhood in her own image. But the evil of the Sisterhood can't be purged with anything less than fire.... Hiro val Akira is a rebel without an army, a Dagger without a Rapier. As protests rock the streets of Cytherea, Hiro moves in the shadows, driven by grief and vengeance, as they hunt the man responsible for all their pain: their father.... Transformed by the Genekey virus, Luce navigates the growing schism within the Asters on Ceres. Hurting in her new body, she works to bridge two worlds seemingly intent on mutual destruction. All while mourning her fallen brother, though Lito sol Lucius's memory may yet live on. Yet Souji val Akira stands in judgment on them all, plotting the future for all of humanity, and running out of time before war erupts between the Icarii and Geans. But can even the greatest human intellect outwit the Synthetics?Praise for Linden A. Lewis'Ridiculously readable'April Genevieve Tucholke, author of The Boneless Mercies'A must-read'Audrey Coulthurst, author of Of Fire and Stars'As stylish as it is substantial'NPR

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Historian, revolutionary and cricket writer, CLR James was one of the truly radical voices of the twentieth century. Born in Trinidad in the final days of the Victorian era, he debated with Trotsky, played cricket with Constantine, was published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf, inspired Kwame Nkrumah, and was a profound influence on the British Black Power movement. And yet by the late 1970s, CLR James was all but forgotten. The books he had written over the past half century were nearly all out of print. There were a few circles in which his name rang a bell: serious students of Black history; obsessive cricket fans. But that was it. When he died in Brixton in 1989, CLR James was internationally famous - lauded as the greatest of Black British intellectuals: the 'Black Plato', according to The Times. The ideas he put forward in his own time - of the importance of identity alongside class, of rebellion coming from below, of the leading roles of Black people, women and youth in political struggle - have gradually made their way to the forefront of our political thinking. His two great books, The Black Jacobins and Beyond a Boundary, still have the power to change readers' understanding of the world today. But while CLR James's work has been much examined, his long and remarkable life story has often been overlooked. For the first time, in a biography full of original research, human drama and keen insight, John L. Williams unveils the rich and compelling story of an intellectual giant. In doing so, he firmly establishes the importance of CLR James for the twenty-first century - if Black Britain has had a presiding genius, it remains CLR James.

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A TIMES SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR'A treasure of recollections and reactions, talking heroes, controversies and big themes' i paper'Brearley is at his best in these quirky, delightful essays when he is exploring the human qualities of humbler players . . . Brearley's admiration for his friends' decency, craftsmanship and modesty seems to recall a golden age of country cricket' The Times'Brearley has a knack for paying respect to the past without denigrating the present and for calmly considering the future' Mail on SundayMike Brearley was arguably one of England's finest cricket captains; not just for his outstanding record leading his country but also for the way he orchestrated, during the 1981 Ashes series, one of the most extraordinary reversals in sporting history.In this collection of sparkling essays, Brearley reflects on the game he has come to know so well. He ranges from the personal - the influence of his Yorkshire father and the idols of his youth - to controversial aspects of the professional game, including cheating, corruption, and innovation, the latter often being on a borderline between genius and rebellion.Brearley also evaluates his heroes (amongst them Viv Richards, Bishan Bedi and Dennis Lillee), the game changers, the outstanding wicketkeepers, the 'Indian-ness' of four generations of Indian batsmen and the important commentators (including Harold Pinter, John Arlott and Ian Chappell). The Ashes, the most sustained love-hate relationship in the history of sport and key to Brearley's test-playing career, are raked over. Central to the book is an important section on race and cricket, and the legacy of C. L. R. James.Insightful and humorous, On Cricket is an intelligent exposition of the game's idiosyncratic culture and its enduring appeal.

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Elizabeth I's Final Years outlines the interwoven relationships and rivalries between politicians and courtiers surrounding England's omnipotent queen in the years following the death in 1588 of the Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth now surrounded herself with magnetically attractive younger men with the courtly graces to provide her with what Alison Weir has called an eroticised political relationship'. With these favourites' holding sway at court, they saw personal bravery in the tiltyard or on military exploits as their means to political authority. They failed to appreciate that the parsimonious queen would always resist military aggression and resolutely backed her meticulously cautious advisors, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and later his son Robert. With its access to New World treasure, it was Spain who threatened the fragile balance of power in Continental Europe. With English military intervention becoming inevitable, the Cecils diverted the likes of Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Essex, despite their lack of military experience, away from the limelight at court into colonial and military expeditions, leaving them just short of the resources needed for success. The favourites' promotions caused friction when seasoned soldiers, like Sir Francis Vere with his unparalleled military record in the Low Countries, were left in subordinate roles. When Spanish support for rebellion in Ireland threatened English security, Robert Cecil encouraged Elizabeth to send Essex, knowing that high command was beyond his capabilities. Essex retorted by rebelling against Cecil's government, for which he lost his head. Both Elizabeth and Cecil realised that only the bookish Lord Mountjoy, another favourite, had the military acumen to resolve the Irish crisis, but his mistress, Essex's sister, the incomparable Penelope Rich, was mired by involvement in her brother's conspiracy. Despite this, Cecil gave Mountjoy unstinting support, biding his time to tarnish his name with James I, as he did against Raleigh and his other political foes.

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Brian Boru is the most famous Irish person before the modern era, whose death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 is one of the few events in the whole of Ireland’s medieval history to retain a place in the popular imagination. Once, we were told that Brian, the great Christian king, gave his life in a battle on Good Friday against pagan Viking enemies whose defeat banished them from Ireland forever. More recent interpretations of the Battle of Clontarf have played down the role of the Vikings and portrayed it as merely the final act in a rebellion against Brian, the king of Munster, by his enemies in Leinster and Dublin. This book proposes a far-reaching reassessment of Brian Boru and Clontarf. By examining Brian’s family history and tracing his career from its earliest days, it uncovers the origins of Brian’s greatness and explains precisely how he changed Irish political life forever. Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf offers a new interpretation of the role of the Vikings in Irish affairs and explains how Brian emerged from obscurity to attain the high-kingship of Ireland because of his exploitation of the Viking presence. And it concludes that Clontarf was deemed a triumph, despite Brian’s death, because of what he averted—a major new Viking offensive in Ireland—on that fateful day. Reviews: ‘I cannot recommend enough Seán Duffy’s book for its readability and the enormity of backbreaking historical scholarship lightly borne and compellingly presented.’ Dr Pat Wallace, Director Emeritus of the National Museum of Ireland ‘This scholarly, sympathetic book expertly unpicks legend and propaganda to uncover the real figure, offering an important reassessment of his place in Irish history.’ Donnchadh Ó Corraín, Irish Times Weekend Review

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Perfect for fans of Game of Thrones, Joe Abercrombie and Robin Hobb, this is the thrilling and captivating sequel to The City from bestselling author Stella Gemmell. "A novelist of real power...Packed with shock twists, revelations and action...you'll be left breathless" -- SFX"A brutal visual world...vivid, motivated characters each with a heart-breaking history...thrilling and devastating...a true epic." -- scifi now"Demands your complete and total attention...a very powerful voice in the world of fantasy. Highly recommended." -- Parmenion books"Loved the book!...It was all brought together marvellously. Definitely well worth reading- enjoy!" -- ***** Reader review"A lively follow up to the City, right up there in the David Gemmell tradition. Stella has created a whole new fictional land which the imagination can picture through the descriptive text." -- ***** Reader review************************************THE EMPEROR IS DEAD...LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR!The fervent hope of the victorious rebels and the survivors of the uprising that liberated the City from tyranny is that the accession of Archange to the imperial throne will usher in a new era of freedom, peace and stability. If only that were so...As the City struggles to return to something resembling normal life after the devastation brought on by the rebellion, word arises of a massive army gathering to the north. Its origins are a mystery, but it soon becomes apparent that its sole purpose is to destroy the City and all who live within its walls. And while warriors go forth to fight and die on the battlefield in defence of their homeland, bitter family feuds, ancient rivalries, political and personal betrayals, and mindless murder surface within the palaces and corridors of power: it seems the City is under siege - from both without and within...Have you read The City, Stella Gemmell's awe-inspiring prequel to The Immortal Throne?

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Against High-Caste Polygamy offers a complete, annotated translation of Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar's 1871 tract arguing against the practice of high-caste Kulin marriage in Bengal. Vidyasagar published this work fifteen years after passage of the Hindu Widow's Remarriage Act, which owed so much to his earlier reform leadership. However, in the wake of the Rebellion of 1857 British and Indian attitudes toward official intervention in customary practices underwent a sea change.The British were increasingly reluctant to create unrest, while many Indian leaders began to question the legitimacy of seeking government assistance for social change. The age of active collaboration between the British officials and Indian reformers had passed. In Against High-Caste Polygamy, Vidyasagar demonstrates both his continued faith in an earlier approach to reform and his frustration at the new tenor of the times. Against High-Caste Polygamy is not a treatise on polygamy in general. Rather, it addresses a subset of polygamous marriage as practiced among the highest Hindu castes in eastern India, or what then constituted the Bengal Presidency of British India. This particular form of polygamy came to be known in English as Kulinism, from the term for a person who holds high clan rank (known in Bengali as a kulina). As Vidyasagar shows, Kulinism rests on a highly articulated and historically entrenched system of status and rank that trapped women in wretched domestic situations. Against High-Caste Polygamy is Vidysagar's attempt to open the eyes of Bengali readers as well as the government to the extent and dire ramifications of polygamous practices that often left women ostracized, neglected, and abused. This translation makes Vidyasagar's polemic available to English-language readers for the first time. It features a scholarly introduction, extensive notes, and a variety of supplementary critical tools.

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Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped is at once a rollicking adventure story and an earnest political allegory. This Penguin Classics edition is edited with an introduction and notes by Donald McFarlan and a foreword by Alasdair Gray.Orphaned and penniless, David Balfour sets out to find his last living relative, miserly and reclusive Uncle Ebenezer. But Ebenezer is far from welcoming, and David narrowly escapes being murdered before he is kidnapped and imprisoned on a ship bound for the Carolinas. When the ship is wrecked, David, along with the fiery rebel Alan Breck, makes his way back across the treacherous Highland terrain on a quest for justice. Through his powerful depiction of the two very different central characters - the romantic Breck and the rational Whig David - Stevenson dramatized a conflict at the heart of Scottish culture in the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion, as well as creating an unforgettable adventure story.This new edition includes a foreword by Alasdair Gray discussing Stevenson's life and literary career and how he came to write Kidnapped. In his introduction, Donald McFarlan considers the novel's realism and a depiction of Scotland. This volume also includes a historical note, a map, notes, new further reading and a glossary.Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh, the son of a prosperous civil engineer. Although he began his career as an essayist and travel writer, the success of Treasure Island (1883) and Kidnapped (1886) established his reputation as a writer of tales of action and adventure. Stevenson's Calvinist upbringing lent him a preoccupation with predestination and a fascination with the presence of evil, themes he explored in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1893).If you enjoyed Kidnapped, you might like Jack London's The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories, also available in Penguin Classics.

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"A spellbinding tale of those who paid the ultimate price for freedom. - Damien Lewis, author of _SAS Shadow Raiders: The Ultra-Secret Mission that Changed the Course of WWII. _ In the final days of World War II in Europe, Georgians serving in the Wehrmacht on Texel island off the Dutch coast rose up and slaughtered their German masters. Hitler ordered the island to be retaken and fighting continued for weeks, well after the war's end. The uprising had it origins in the bloody history of Georgia in the twentieth century, a history that saw the country move from German occupation, to three short years of independence, to Soviet rule after it was conquered by the Red Army in 1921\. A bloody rebellion against the Soviets took place in 1924, but it remained under Russian Soviet rule. Thousands of Georgians served in the Soviet forces during World War II and among those who were captured, given the choice of starve or fight , some took up the German offer to don Wehrmacht uniforms. The loyalty of the Georgians was always in doubt, as Hitler himself suspected, and once deployed to the Netherlands, the Georgian soldiers made contact with the local Communist resistance. When the opportunity arose, the Georgians took the decision to rise up and slaughter the Germans, seizing control of the island. In just a few hours, they massacred some 400 German officers using knives and bayonets to avoid raising the alarm. An enraged Hitler learned about the mutiny and ordered the Germans to fight back, showing no mercy to either the Georgians or the Dutch civilians who hid them. It was not until 20 May, 12 days after the war had ended, that Canadian forces landed on the island and finally put an end to the slaughter. Eric Lee explores this fascinating but little known last battle of the Second World War: its origins, the incredible details of the battle and its ongoing legacy.

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'This honest, engaging memoir shares such gems . . . the perfect read for anyone who dreams big' The Times and Sunday Times, Books of the Year The powerful, urgent memoir and manifesto on never giving up from Booker prize-winning trailblazer, Bernardine EvaristoIn 2019, Bernardine Evaristo became the first black woman to win the Booker Prize since its inception fifty years earlier - a revolutionary landmark for Britain. Her journey was a long one, but she made it, and she made history.Manifesto is her intimate and fearless account of how she did it. From a childhood steeped in racism from neighbours, priests and even some white members of her own family, to discovering the arts through her local youth theatre; from stuffing her belongings into bin bags, always on the move between temporary homes, to exploring many romantic partners both toxic and loving, male and female, and eventually finding her soulmate; from setting up Britain's first theatre company for Black women in the eighties to growing into the trailblazing writer, theatre-maker, teacher, mentor and activist we see today - Bernardine charts her rebellion against the mainstream and her life-long commitment to community and creativity. And, through the prism of her extraordinary experiences, she offers vital insights into the nature of race, class, feminism, sexuality and ageing in modern Britain.Bernardine Evaristo's life story is a manifesto for courage, integrity, optimism, resourcefulness and tenacity. It's a manifesto for anyone who has ever stood on the margins, and anyone who wants to make their mark on history. It's a manifesto for being unstoppable.'Raw and emotive . . . a powerful account of how Evaristo got to the top of her game - it's moving, but there's also much humour and joy' Independent 'Bernardine Evaristo is one of those writers who should be read by everyone, everywhere' Elif Shafak 'Bernardine Evaristo is one of Britain's best writers, an iconic and unique voice, filled with warmth, subtlety and humanity. Exceptional' Nikesh Shukla

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In the age of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and email, personal letters seem somehow out of date, or at least far from most people's everyday experience. This book is a rare and unique collection of letters personally written by Osho to participants from his early meditation events.These are not letters to people and their personalities, these are letters to our souls. Osho addresses essential issues and concerns that arise on the path of meditation and self-discovery. The letters are encouragements to continue the process of meditation, and address subjects like Self-Acceptance, Wisdom, Consciousness, The Quest for Life, A Life of Freedom, Earth Is Our Home, Dropping Fear!, Dealing with Anger, Rebellion, and many more in a direct and penetratingly personal way.Osho explains this about the value of writing letters:"If I write anything, I write letters, because a letter is as good as something that is spoken. It is addressed. I have not written anything except letters, because to me they are a manner of speaking. The other is always there before me when I write a letter."The OSHO works consist almost exclusively of the spoken word, addressed directly to individual people or larger audiences. These talks were recorded and then transcribed and published as books. This book represents one of the rare exceptions in the collected works of Osho, in which his written personal letters are published. Each one of these letters is like an condensed Osho Talk in haiku form.He would meet with these correspondents time and again at his meditation camps or while staying in their homes. This volume is a selection of his replies to their letters, queries, and calls for help.His words are intimate, incisive, poetic, playful, and loving. His encouragement to his correspondents to keep going on their chosen path of meditation and awareness while living, loving and working in the ordinary world — to keep their flame of commitment burning brightly when he is not physically present — can inspire whomever opens this book.

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION The definitive biography of America’s most impassioned and lyrical twentieth-century playwright from acclaimed theatre critic John Lahr 'A masterpiece about a genius' Helen Mirren 'Riveting ... masterful' Sunday Times, Books of the Year On 31 March 1945, at The Playhouse Theatre on Forty-Eight Street the curtain rose on the opening night of The Glass Menagerie. Tennessee Williams, the show’s thirty-four-year-old playwright, sat hunched in an aisle seat, looking, according to one paper, ‘like a farm boy in his Sunday best’. The Broadway premiere, which had been heading for disaster, closed to an astonishing twenty-four curtain calls and became an instant sell-out. Beloved by an American public, Tennessee Williams’s work – blood hot and personal – pioneered, as Arthur Miller declared, ‘a revolution’ in American theatre. Tracing Williams’s turbulent moral and psychological shifts, acclaimed theatre critic John Lahr sheds new light on the man and his work, as well as the America his plays helped to define. Williams created characters so large that they have become part of American folklore: Blanche, Stanley, Big Daddy, Brick, Amanda and Laura transcend their stories, haunting us with their fierce, flawed lives. Similarly, Williams himself swung high and low in his single-minded pursuit of greatness. Lahr shows how Williams’s late-blooming homosexual rebellion, his struggle against madness, his grief-struck relationships with his combustible father, prim and pious mother and ‘mad’ sister Rose, victim to one of the first lobotomies in America, became central themes in his drama. Including Williams’s poems, stories, journals and private correspondence in his discussion of the work – posthumously Williams has been regarded as one of the best letter writers of his day – Lahr delivers an astoundingly sensitive and lively reassessment of one of America’s greatest dramatists. Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh is the long-awaited, definitive life and a masterpiece of the biographer's art.

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From the author of The School for German Brides, this captivating historical novel set in nineteenth-century and post–World War II Paris follows two fierce women of the same family, generations apart, who find that their futures lie in the four walls of a simple bakery in a tiny corner of Montmartre. 1870: The Prussians are at the city gates, intent to starve Paris into submission. Lisette Vigneau—headstrong, willful, and often ignored by her wealthy parents—awaits the outcome of the war from her parents’ grand home in the Place Royale in the very heart of the city. When an excursion throws her into the path of a revolutionary National Guardsman, Théodore Fournier, her destiny is forever changed. She gives up her life of luxury to join in the fight for a Paris of the People. She opens a small bakery with the hopes of being a vital boon to the impoverished neighborhood in its hour of need. When the city falls into famine, and then rebellion, her resolve to give up the comforts of her past life is sorely tested. 1946: Nineteen-year-old Micheline Chartier is coping with the loss of her father and the disappearance of her mother during the war. In their absence, she is charged with the raising of her two younger sisters. At the hand of a well-meaning neighbor, Micheline finds herself enrolled in a prestigious baking academy with her entire life mapped out for her. Feeling trapped and desperately unequal to the task of raising two young girls, she becomes obsessed with finding her mother. Her classmate at the academy, Laurent Tanet, may be the only one capable of helping Micheline move on from the past and begin creating a future for herself. Both women must grapple with loss, learn to accept love, and face impossible choices armed with little more than their courage and a belief that a bit of flour, yeast, sugar, and love can bring about a revolution of their own.

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Offers a nuanced account of the multiple aspects of women’s lives and their roles in American society American Women's History presents a comprehensive survey of women's experience in the U.S. and North America from pre-European contact to the present. Centering women of color and incorporating issues of sexuality and gender, this student-friendly textbook draws from cutting-edge scholarship to provide a more inclusive and complicated perspective on the conventional narrative of U.S. women’s history. Throughout the text, the authors highlight diverse voices such as Matoaka (Pocahontas), Hilletie van Olinda, Margaret Sanger, and Annelle Ponder. Arranged chronologically, American Women's History explores the major turning points in American women’s history while exploring various contexts surrounding race, work, politics, activism, and the construction of self. Concise chapters cover a uniquely wide range of topics, such as the roles of Indigenous women in North American cultures, the ways women participated in the American Revolution, the lives of women of color in the antebellum South and their experiences with slave resistance and rebellion, the radical transformation brought on by Black women during Reconstruction, the activism of women before and after suffrage was won, and more. Discusses how Indigenous women navigated cross-cultural contact and resisted assimilation efforts after the arrival of Europeans Considers the construction of Black female bodies and the implications of the slave trade in the Americas Addresses the cultural shifts, demographic changes, and women’s rights movements of the early twentieth century Highlights women’s participation in movements for civil rights, workplace justice, and equal educational opportunities Explores the feminist movement and its accomplishments, the rise of anti-feminism, and women’s influence on the modern political landscape Designed for both one- and two-semester U.S. history courses, American Women's History is an ideal resource for instructors looking for a streamlined textbook that will complement existing primary sources that work well in their classes. Due to its focus on women of color, it is particularly valuable for community colleges and other institutions with diverse student populations.

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One of the most important voices in contemporary American journalism - Independent Matt Taibbi is one of the few journalists in America who speaks truth to power - Bernie Sanders Matt Taibbi is the best polemic journalist in America - Felix Salmon NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"The thing is, when you actually think about it, it's not funny. Given what's at stake, it's more like the opposite, like the first sign of the collapse of the United States as a global superpower. Twenty years from now, when we're all living like prehistory hominids and hunting rats with sticks, we'll probably look back at this moment as the beginning of the end."In this groundbreaking battery of dispatches from the heartland of America, Matt Taibbi tells the full story of the Trump phenomenon, from its tragi-comic beginnings to the apocalyptic election. Full of sharp, on-the-ground reporting and gallows humour, his incisive analysis goes beyond the bizarre and disturbing election to tell a wider story of the apparent collapse of American democracy. Taibbi saw the essential themes right from the start: the power of spectacle over truth; the end of a shared reality on the left and right; the nihilistic rebellion of the white working class; the death of the political establishment; and the emergence of a new, explicit form of white nationalism. From the thwarted Bernie Sanders insurgency to the aimless Hillary Clinton campaign, across the flailing media coverage and the trampled legacy of Obama, this is the story of ordinary voters forced to bear witness to the whole charade. At the centre of it all, "a bumbling train wreck of a candidate who belched and preened his way past a historically weak field" who, improbably, has taken control of the world's most powerful nation. This is essential and hilarious reading that explores how the new America understands itself, and about the future of the world just beyond the horizon.

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SELECTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019 BY THE GUARDIAN, DAILY MAIL, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH AND BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE 'A gripping, complex and sensational story, told with calm narrative command ... With insight and skill, Penn cuts through the thickets of history to find the heart of these heartless decades' Hilary MantelThe gripping new history by the author of the acclaimed bestseller Winter KingIt is 1461 and England is crippled by civil war. One freezing morning, a teenage boy wins a battle in the Welsh marches, and claims the crown. He is Edward IV, first king of the usurping house of York... Thomas Penn's brilliant new telling of the wars of the roses takes us inside a conflict that fractured the nation for more than three decades. During this time, the house of York came to dominate England. At its heart were three charismatic brothers - Edward, George and Richard - who became the figureheads of a spectacular ruling dynasty. Together, they looked invincible.. But with Edward's ascendancy the brothers began to turn on one another, unleashing a catastrophic chain of rebellion, vendetta, fratricide, usurpation and regicide. The brutal end came at Bosworth Field in 1485, with the death of the youngest, then Richard III, at the hands of a new usurper, Henry Tudor. The story of a warring family unable to sustain its influence and power, The Brothers York brings to life a dynasty that could have been as magnificent as the Tudors. Its tragedy was that, in the space of one generation, it destroyed itself.'The Brothers York is savage, exciting, blisteringly good.' - Jessie Childs, author of God's Traitors'An epic orgy of colour and character.' - Leanda de Lisle, The Times 'Superb ... The tragedy and brutality of the Wars of the Roses jumps out from every page of Penn's book.' - Kate Maltby, Financial Times 'Thrilling, pacy ... Brings a novelist's verve to his telling of events.' - John Gallagher, The Guardian

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Henry Fielding's picaresque tale of a young man's search for his place in the world, The History of Tom Jones is edited with notes and an introduction by Thomas Keymer and Alice Wakely in Penguin Classics.A foundling of mysterious parentage brought up by Mr Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighbouring squire - though he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls. But when his amorous escapades earn the disapproval of his benefactor, Tom is banished to make his own fortune. Sophia, meanwhile, is determined to avoid an arranged marriage to Allworthy's scheming nephew and escapes from her rambunctious father to follow Tom to London. A vivid Hogarthian panorama of eighteenth century life, spiced with danger and intrigue, bawdy exuberance and good-natured authorial interjections, Tom Jones is one of the greatest and most ambitious comic novels in English literature.In his introduction Thomas Keymer discusses narrative techniques and themes, the context of eighteenth century fiction and satire, and the historical and political background of the Jacobite rebellion. This volume also includes a chronology, further reading, notes, a glossary and an appendix on Fielding's revisions.Henry Fielding (1707-1754) born at Sharpham Park, in Somerset, was a dramatist, novelist, political agitator and founder of London's first police force, the 'Bow Street Runners'. As a playwright he was a thorn in the side of Sir Robert Walpole's Whig government, who effectively legislated his retirement from the theatre with the Licensing Act of 1737. Undeterred, Fielding launched his career as a novelist in 1740 with Shamela (a parody of Samuel Richardson's Pamela), followed by Joseph Andrews (1741), an anticipation of his masterpiece, the comic novel Tom Jones (1749).If you enjoyed The History of Tom Jones, you might like Henry Fielding's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, also available in Penguin Classics.

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Four new short plays inspired by the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta by internationally renowned playwrights Howard Brenton, Anders Lustgarten, Timberlake Wertenbaker and Sally Woodcock. RANSOMED by Howard Brenton In the sleepy Cathedral City of Melchester, a crime has been committed. The Cathedral’s prize possession, a copy of the original Magna Carta, has been stolen in a daring heist. Who is responsible and what price will the British Government be prepared to pay for the document’s safe return? As the plot thickens, Detective Inspector Ellie Baxter seeks to find the truth in this brilliant new Magna Carta comedy. KINGMAKERS by Anders Lustgarten Ten years after the signing of Magna Carta, the barons' takeover isn’t quite going to plan. With the peasants grumbling about enormous castles and broken promises, the threat of rebellion hangs in the air. Perhaps the solution is to distract and deflect by bringing the confused and humbled king back into the fold? What about a royal wedding? A royal baby? All at the common man’s expense, of course… A fictional story from the 13th century that may just be about now. WE SELL RIGHT by Timberlake Wertenbaker In 1215, when the King of England abuses his extraordinary power, the barons’ take action. In 2015, when the kings of global business and finance abuse their extraordinary power, who will take action and what will confrontation look like? In the decades that follow, what will remain of the values we hold most dear? A gripping drama about the consequences of confronting power on a global scale. PINK GIN by Sally Woodcock In 21st century Africa, a visionary President stands on the cusp of greatness. With international investors poised to develop large tracks of land, the financial future looks bright. But why has it been raining for 97 days, and who is leading the angry mob in the streets outside? A compelling contemporary allegory throwing light on the oft overlooked companion to Magna Carta, The Charter of the Forest.

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Why did trade with the United States prolong Spanish colonial rule during the Venezuelan independence struggles?From 1790 to 1815, much of the Atlantic World was roiled by European imperial wars. While the citizens of the United States profited from the waste of blood and treasure, Spanish American colonists struggled to preserve their prosperity on an imperial periphery. Along the Caribbean coast of South America, colonial elites and officials fought to secure Venezuela from threats of foreign invasion, slave rebellion, and revolution. For these elites, trading with the United States and other neutral nations was not a way to subvert colonial rule but to safeguard the prosperity and happiness of loyal subjects of the Spanish Crown. Food insecurity, deprivation, and political uncertainty left Venezuela vulnerable to revolution, however.In Sustaining Empire, Edward P. Pompeian lets readers see liberal free trade just as colonial Venezuelans did. From the vantage point of the slave-holding elite to which revolutionary figures like Simón Bolívar belonged, neutral commerce was a valuable and effectual way to conserve the colonial status quo. But after Spain's crisis of sovereignty in 1808, it proved an impediment to Venezuelan independence. Analyzing the diplomatic and economic linkages between the new US republic and revolutionary Latin American governments, Pompeian reminds us that the United States did not, and does not, exist in a vacuum, and that the historic relationships between nations mattered then and matters now.Examining an overlooked region, Pompeian offers a novel interpretation of early United States relations with Latin America, showing how US merchants executed government contracts and established flour, tobacco, and slave trading monopolies that facilitated the maintenance of colonial rule and the Spanish Empire. Trading with the United States, Pompeian argues, kept both colony and empire under a tenuous hold despite revolutionary circumstances. A fascinating revisionist history, Sustaining Empire challenges long-standing assertions that this commerce served primarily as a vector for the one-way transmission of revolutionary, liberal ideas from the North to South Atlantic.

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At a cost of at least 800,000 lives, the Civil War preserved the Union, aborted the breakaway Confederacy, and liberated a race of slaves. Civil War Memories is the first comprehensive account of how and why Americans have selectively remembered, and forgotten, this watershed conflict since its conclusion in 1865. Drawing on an array of textual and visual sources as well as a wide range of modern scholarship on Civil War memory, Robert J. Cook charts the construction of four dominant narratives by the ordinary men and women, as well as the statesmen and generals, who lived through the struggle and its tumultuous aftermath. Part One explains why the Yankee victors' memory of the "War of the Rebellion" drove political conflict into the 1890s, then waned with the passing of the soldiers who had saved the republic. It also touches on the leading role southern white women played in the development of the racially segregated South's "Lost Cause"; explores why, by the beginning of the twentieth century, the majority of Americans had embraced a powerful reconciliatory memory of the Civil War; and details the failed efforts to connect an emancipationist reading of the conflict to the fading cause of civil rights. Part Two demonstrates the Civil War's capacity to thrill twentieth-century Americans in movies such as The Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind. It also reveals the war's vital connection to the black freedom struggle in the modern era. Finally, Cook argues that the massacre of African American parishioners in Charleston in June 2015 highlighted the continuing relevance of the Civil War by triggering intense nationwide controversy over the place of Confederate symbols in the United States. Written in vigorous prose for a wide audience and designed to inform popular debate on the relevance of the Civil War to the racial politics of modern America, Civil War Memories is required reading for informed Americans today.

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A closer look into the new sexual culture on college campuses It happens every weekend: In a haze of hormones and alcohol, groups of male and female college students meet at a frat party, a bar, or hanging out in a dorm room, and then hook up for an evening of sex first, questions later. As casually as the sexual encounter begins, so it often ends with no strings attached; after all, it was “just a hook up.” While a hook up might mean anything from kissing to oral sex to going all the way, the lack of commitment is paramount. Hooking Up is an intimate look at how and why college students get together, what hooking up means to them, and why it has replaced dating on college campuses. In surprisingly frank interviews, students reveal the circumstances that have led to the rise of the booty call and the death of dinner-and-a-movie. Whether it is an expression of postfeminist independence or a form of youthful rebellion, hooking up has become the only game in town on many campuses. In Hooking Up, Kathleen A. Bogle argues that college life itself promotes casual relationships among students on campus. The book sheds light on everything from the differences in what young men and women want from a hook up to why freshmen girls are more likely to hook up than their upper-class sisters and the effects this period has on the sexual and romantic relationships of both men and women after college. Importantly, she shows us that the standards for young men and women are not as different as they used to be, as women talk about “friends with benefits” and “one and done” hook ups. Breaking through many misconceptions about casual sex on college campuses, Hooking Up is the first book to understand the new sexual culture on its own terms, with vivid real-life stories of young men and women as they navigate the newest sexual revolution.

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The last decade has been a transformative period in Kashmir, the hotly contested and densely militarized border territory located high in the Himalayan mountains between India and Pakistan. Suppressed and unheard, Kashmiri political aspirations were subordinated to larger geopolitical concerns—by opposing governments laying claim to Kashmir, by security experts promoting bilateral peace settlements in the region, and by academic researchers studying the conflict. But since 2008, Kashmiris who grew up in the midst of armed insurgency and counterinsurgency warfare have been deploying new strategies for challenging India's state and military apparatus and projecting their legal and political claims for freedom from Indian rule to global audiences. Resisting Occupation in Kashmir analyzes the social and legal logic of India's occupation of Kashmir in relation to colonialism, militarization, power, democracy, and sovereignty. It also traces how Kashmiri youth are drawing on the region's long history of armed rebellion against Indian domination to reimagine the freedom struggle in the twenty-first century. Resisting Occupation in Kashmir presents new ways of thinking and writing about Kashmir that cross conventional boundaries and point toward alternative ways of conceptualizing the past, present, and future of the region. The volume brings together junior and senior scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds who have conducted extensive fieldwork during the past decade in various regions of Kashmir. The contributors, many of whom were born and raised during the peak of the conflict in the 1990s, offer ethnographically grounded perspectives on contemporary social, legal, and political life in ways that demonstrate the multiplicity of experiences of Kashmiri communities. The essays highlight the ways in which this scholarly orientation—built through collaboration and dialogue across different kinds of borders—offers a new critical approach to Kashmir studies at this transformative and generative moment. Contributors: Mona Bhan, Haley Duschinski, Farrukh Faheem, Gowhar Fazili, Bruce Hoffman, Mohamad Junaid, Seema Kazi, Ershad Mahmud, Cynthia Mahmood, Saiba Varma, Ather Zia.

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David Burner's panoramic history of the 1960s conveys the ferocity of debate and the testing of visionary hopes that still require us to make sense of the decade. He begins with the civil rights and black power movements and then turns to nuanced descriptions of Kennedy and the Cold War, the counterculture and its antecedents in the Beat Generation, the student rebellion, the poverty wars, and the liberals' war in Vietnam. As he considers each topic, Burner advances a provocative argument about how liberalism self-destructed in the 1960s. In his view, the civil rights movement took a wrong turn as it gradually came to emphasize the identity politics of race and ethnicity at the expense of the vastly more important politics of class and distribution of wealth. The expansion of the Vietnam War did force radicals to confront the most terrible mistake of American liberalism, but that they also turned against the social goals of the New Deal was destructive to all concerned. Liberals seemed to rule in politics and in the media, Burner points out, yet they failed to make adequate use of their power to advance the purposes that both liberalism and the left endorsed. And forces for social amelioration splintered into pairs of enemies, such as integrationists and black separatists, the social left and mainline liberalism, and advocates of peace and supporters of a totalitarian Hanoi. Making Peace with the 60s will fascinate baby boomers and their elders, who either joined, denounced, or tried to ignore the counterculture. It will also inform a broad audience of younger people about the famous political and literary figures of the time, the salient moments, and, above all, the powerful ideas that spawned events from the civil rights era to the Vietnam War. Finally, it will help to explain why Americans failed to make full use of the energies unleashed by one of the most remarkable decades of our history.

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On 17 May 1980, on the eve of Peru’s presidential election, five masked men stormed a small town in the Andean heartland. They set election ballots ablaze and vanished into the night but not before planting a red hammer-and-sickle banner in the town square. The lone man arrested the next morning later swore allegiance to a group called Shining Path. The tale of how this ferocious group of guerrilla insurgents launched a decade-long reign of terror, and how brave police investigators and journalists brought it to justice, may be the most compelling chapter in modern Latin American history but the full story has never been told. Described by a U.S. State Department cable as “cold-blooded and bestial”, Shining Path orchestrated bombings, assassinations and massacres across the cities, countryside and jungles of Peru in a murderous campaign to seize power and impose a Communist government. At its helm was the professor-turned-revolutionary Abimael Guzmán, who launched his single-minded insurrection alongside two women: his charismatic young wife, Augusta La Torre and the formidable Elena Iparraguirre, who married Guzmán soon after Augusta’s mysterious death. Their fanatical devotion to an outmoded and dogmatic ideology, and the military’s bloody response, led to the death of nearly 70,000 Peruvians. Orin Starn and Miguel La Serna’s narrative history of Shining Path is both panoramic and intimate, set against the socioeconomic upheavals of Peru’s rocky transition from military dictatorship to elected democracy. They take readers deep into the heart of the rebellion and the lives and country it nearly destroyed. We hear the voices of the mountain villagers who organised a fierce rural resistance and meet the irrepressible black activist María Elena Moyano and the Nobel Prize–winning novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, who each fought to end the bloodshed. Deftly written, The Shining Path is an exquisitely detailed account of a little-remembered war that must never be forgotten.

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Jean-Paul Sartre is an undisputed giant of twentieth-century philosophy. His intellectual writings popularizing existentialism combined with his creative and artistic flair have made him a legend of French thought. His tumultuous personal life - so inextricably bound up with his philosophical thinking - is a fascinating tale of love and lust, drug abuse, high profile fallings-out and political and cultural rebellion. This substantial and meticulously researched biography is accessible, fast-paced, often amusing and at times deeply moving. Existentialism and Excess covers all the main events of Sartre's remarkable seventy-five-year life from his early years as a precocious brat devouring his grandfather's library, through his time as a brilliant student in Paris, his wilderness years as a provincial teacher-writer experimenting with mescaline, his World War II adventures as a POW and member of the resistance, his post-war politicization, his immense amphetamine fueled feats of writing productivity, his harem of women, his many travels and his final decline into blindness and old age. Along the way there are countless intriguing anecdotes, some amusing, some tragic, some controversial: his loathing of crustaceans and his belief that he was being pursued by a giant lobster, his escape from a POW camp, the bombing of his apartment, his influence on the May 1968 uprising and his many love affairs. Cox deftly moves from these episodes to discussing his intellectual development, his famous feuds with Aron, Camus, and Merleau-Ponty, his encounters with other giant figures of his day: Roosevelt, Hemingway, Heidegger, John Huston, Mao, Castro, Che Guevara, Khrushchev and Tito, and, above all, his long, complex and creative relationship with Simone de Beauvoir. Existentialism and Excess also gives serious consideration to Sartre’s ideas and many philosophical works, novels, stories, plays and biographies, revealing their intimate connection with his personal life. Cox has written an entertaining, thought-provoking and compulsive book, much like the man himself.

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For too long, Arthur Tudor has been remembered only for what he never became. The boy who died prematurely and paved the way for the revolutionary reign of his younger brother, Henry VIII. Yet, during his short life, Arthur was at the centre of one of the most tumultuous periods of England's history. At the time of his birth, he represented his father's hopes for a dynasty and England's greatest chance of peace. As he grew, he witnessed feuds, survived rebellion and became the focal point of an international alliance. From the threat of pretenders to West Country rebellions, the dramatic twists and turns of early Tudor England preoccupied Arthur's thoughts. At a young age, he was dispatched to the Welsh border, becoming a figurehead for a robust regional government. While never old enough to exercise full power in his dominion, he emerged as a figure of influence, beseeched by petitioners and consulted by courtiers. While the extent of his personal influence can only be guessed at, the sources that survive reveal a determined prince that came tantalisingly close to forging his future. Eventually, after years of negotiation, delay and frustration, the prince finally came face to face with his Spanish princess, Katharine of Aragon. The young couple had shared a destiny since the cradle. Securing the hand of this prestigious bride for his son had been a centrepiece of Henry VII's foreign policy. Yet, despite being 14 years in the making, the couple were to enjoy just five months together before Arthur succumbed to a mysterious illness. Arthur's death at the age of 15 was not just a personal tragedy for his parents. It changed the course of the future and deprived England of one of the most educated and cultivated princes in its history. Arthur would never wear the crown of England. But few Princes of Wales had been better prepared to rule. 'Arthur, Prince of Wales: Henry VIII's lost brother' shows that Arthur Tudor was more than a prince who died. He was a boy that really lived.

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Now a major DisneyPlus Hotstar Special - THE EMPIRE is streaming nowThe thrilling third book in the Empire of the Moghul series.'A totally absorbing narrative filled with authentic historical characters and sweeping action set in an age of horrifying but magnificent savagery. The writing is as compelling as the events described and kept me eagerly leaping from one page to the next' Wilbur SmithKeep your enemies close, and your sons closer...The story of the third great Moghul Emperor, Akbar, leader of a triumphant dynasty which contained the seeds of its own destruction.Akbar, ruler of a sixth of the world's people, colossally rich and utterly ruthless, was a contemporary of Elizabeth I, but infinitely more powerful. His reign began in bloodshed when he strangled his treacherous 'milk-brother', but it ended in glory. Akbar extended his rule over much of Asia, skillfully commanding tens of thousands of men, elephants and innovative technology, yet despite the unimaginable bloodshed which resulted his empire was based on universal religious tolerance.However, Akbar's homelife was more complicated. He defied family, nobles and mullahs to marry a beautiful Rajput princess, whose people he had conquered; but she hated Akbar and turned Salim, his eldest son, against him. What's more, as any Moghul prince could inherit his father's crown and become Emperor, his sons were brought up to be intensely competitive and suspicious of each other: to see eachother as rivals for the greatest prize of all. And, as Salim grew to manhood, the relationship between father and son became tainted by rebellion and competition to be the greatest Moghul of them all.'Rutherford's glorious, broad-sweeping adventure in the wild lands of the Moghul sees the start of a wonderful series...In Babur, he has found a real-life hero, with all the flaws, mistakes and misadventures that spark true heroism... Breathtaking stuff' Manda Scott'Alex Rutherford has set the bar high for his sequels' Daily Mail

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This is the story of ordinary men and women involved in the Rebellion, who were described on the gaol registers and regimental rosters of the time as 'Common Men'. There is little in this book about Bonnie Prince Charlie and other principals of the last Jacobite Rising of 1745. Culloden recalls them by name and action, presenting the battle as it was for them, describing their life as fugitives in the glens or as prisoners in the gaols and hulks, their transportation to the Virginias or their deaths on the gallows at Kennington Common. The book begins in the rain at five o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, 16 April 1746, when the Royal Army marched out of Nairn to fight the clans on Culloden Moor. It is not a partisan book, its feeling is for the 'Common Men' on both sides - John Grant charging with Clan Chatten and seeing the white gaiters of the British infantry suddenly as the east wind lifted the cannon smoke, and Private Andrew Taylor in a red coat waiting for Clan Chatten to reach him, likening them to 'a troop of hungry wolves'. Culloden reminds us, too, that many of the men who harried the glens as ruthlessly as the Nazis in Occupied Europe were in fact Scots themselves. It recalls the fact that many men in Prince Charles' army had been forced to join him. It shows that a British foot-soldier's wish for a sup of brandy on a cold morning before battle is as much a reality as a Prince's pretensions to a throne. The detail for the story told in Culloden has come from regimental Order Books and manuals, from contemporary newspapers and magazines, from the letters and memoirs of soldiers and officers, eye-witness accounts of atrocity and persecution, and the personal stories of the victims themselves. Culloden is the story not of a Prince, but of a people.

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Ravenheart continues the tale of the Rigante. Packed with epic battles, hard, bloody steel, honour, magic and mystery, this heroic fantasy by the Sunday Times bestselling author David Gemmell is perfect for fans of Joe Abercrombie, John Gwynne and Conn Iggulden.'Characterization, always a strength in this writer's work, is even deeper and subtler. In the realm of people-driven, solidly plotted fantasy fiction, Gemmell set the standard' Time out'Gemmell has every right to take his place among the SF and fantasy greats' SFX'For me one of the best writers of this genre' ***** Reader review'Fabulous storytelling, excellent characters, this is fantasy at its very best' ***** Reader review***********************************************************************Eight hundred years have passed since King Connavar of the Rigante and his bastard son, Bane, defeated the invading army of Stone.Connavar has since become a legend, and the Rigante have lost the freedom so many gave their lives to preserve. They live and die under the iron rule of the Varlish, their culture all but destroyed.One woman still follows the ancient paths once trod by the Rigante, and she alone knows the nature of the evil soon to be unleashed on a doomed and unsuspecting world. She pins her initial hopes on two men: Jaim Grymauch, the giant Rigante fighter, and Kaelin Ring, a youth whose deadly talents will earn him the enmity of all Varlish. One will become the Ravenheart, an outlaw leader whose daring exploits will inspire the Rigante. The other will forge a legend and light the fires of rebellion.The Wyrd knows that ultimately all hopes will rest on a third man. Of the bloodline of Connavar the King, he will need to overcome generations of fear and hatred if he is to achieve his destiny.For he is a Varlish nobleman, and - worse - the son of the Rigante's greatest enemy . . .Have you read Sword in the Storm and Midnight Falcon - the first two tales of the Rigante? Their story concludes in Stormrider.

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'A very promising historical adventure' - THE TIMES'A terrific novel' - HISTORIA MAGAZINE***'There is a fury in England that none shall suppress - and when it breaks forth it will shake the throne'1264 Storm clouds are gathering as Simon de Montfort and the barons of the realm challenge the power of Henry III. The barons demand reform; the crown demands obedience. England is on the brink of civil war. Adam de Norton, a young squire devoted to the virtues of chivalry, longs only to be knighted, and to win back his father's lands. Then a bloody hunting accident leaves him with a new master: the devilish Sir Robert de Dunstanville, who does not hesitate to use the blackest stratagems in pursuit of victory. Following Robert overseas, Adam is introduced to the ruthless world of the tournament, where knights compete for glory and riches, and his new master's methods prove brutally effective. But as England plunges into violence, Robert and Adam must choose a side in a battle that will decide the fate of the kingdom. Will they fight for the king, for de Montfort - or for themselves? Searingly vivid and richly evocative, Battle Song is tale of friendship and chivalry, rivalry and rebellion, and the medieval world in all its colour and darkness.***Readers absolutely love BATTLE SONG:'Another five star Ian Ross novel!' *****'Truly is a masterclass in historical fiction' *****'The best historical fiction I've read in years. Up there with Hilary Mantel!' *****'A great well researched novel' *****'Brilliantly researched, gorgeously plotted and blessed with a terrific cast of exquisitely drawn characters' *****'Well written and engaging characters' *****'Ian Ross writes with a class and style that leaves the reader or listener thirsting for more' *****'Brilliantly researched, gorgeously plotted and blessed with a terrific cast of exquisitely drawn characters' *****'A gripping tale of early England' *****'A really good story, brought to life by an excellent narrator' *****

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Freedom Incorporated demonstrates how anticommunist political projects were critical to the United States' expanding imperial power in the age of decolonization, and how anticommunism was essential to the growing global economy of imperial violence in the Cold War era. In this broad historical account, Colleen Woods demonstrates how, in the mid-twentieth century Philippines, US policymakers and Filipino elites promoted the islands as a model colony. In the wake of World War II, as the decolonization movement strengthened, those same political actors pivoted and, after Philippine independence in 1946, lauded the archipelago as a successful postcolonial democracy. Officials at Malacañang Palace and the White House touted the 1946 signing of the liberating Treaty of Manila as a testament to the US commitment to the liberation of colonized people and celebrated it under the moniker of Philippine–American Friendship Day. Despite elite propaganda, from the early 1930s to late 1950s, radical movements in the Philippines highlighted US hegemony over the new Republic of the Philippines and, in so doing, threatened American efforts to separate the US from sordid histories of empire, imperialism, and the colonial racial order. Woods finds that in order to justify US intervention in an ostensibly independent Philippine nation, anticommunist Filipinos and their American allies transformed local political struggles in the Philippines into sites of resistance against global communist revolution. By linking political struggles over local resources, like the Hukbalahap Rebellion in central Luzon, to a war against communism, American and Filipino anticommunists legitimized the use of violence as a means to capture and contain alternative forms of political, economic, and social organization. Placing the post-World War II history of anticommunism in the Philippines within a larger imperial framework, in Freedom Incorporated Woods illustrates how American and Filipino intelligence agents, military officials, paramilitaries, state bureaucrats, academics, and entrepreneurs mobilized anticommunist politics to contain challenges to elite rule in the Philippines.

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'A STRIKINGLY SHARP AND SUBTLE WRITER' Guardian'SUPERB...BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN...UNFORGETTABLE' FT Weekend'SKILFUL' Sunday Times 'RICH, INTRICATE, IMPRESSIVELY REALISED' Observer 'VIVIDLY REALISED' The Times'A VISION OF THE PAST AND A VISION OF THE FUTURE' Irish Times'A VIVID SLICE OF HISTORICAL FICTION' Sunday Express1815, Sumbawa Island, IndonesiaMount Tambora explodes in a cataclysmic eruption, killing thousands. Sent to investigate, ship surgeon Henry Hoggcan barely believe his eyes. Once a paradise, the island is now solid ash, the surrounding sea turned to stone. But worse is yet to come: as the ash cloud rises and covers the sun, the seasons will fail.1816In Switzerland, Mary Shelley finds dark inspiration. Confined inside by the unseasonable weather, thousands of famine refugees stream past her door. In Vermont, preacher Charles Whitlock begs his followers to keep faith as drought dries their wells and their livestock starve.In Suffolk, the ambitious and lovesick painter John Constable struggles to reconcile the idyllic England he paints with the misery that surrounds him. In the Fens, farm labourer Sarah Hobbs has had enough of going hungry while the farmers flaunt their wealth. And Hope Peter, returned from the Napoleonic wars, finds his family home demolished and a fence gone up in its place. He flees to London, where he falls in with a group of revolutionaries who speak of a better life, whatever the cost. As desperation sets in, Britain becomes beset by riots - rebellion is in the air.The Year Without Summer is the story of the books written, the art made; of the journeys taken, of the love longed for and the lives lost during that fateful year. Six separate lives, connected only by an event many thousands of miles away. Few had heard of Tambora - but none could escape its effects.'VIVID, VIBRANT, HARD TO PUT DOWN' Hilary Spurling'THOUGHT-PROVOKING, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND VERY COMPELLING' Harriet Tyce'INGENIOUS AND ABSORBING' Kirsty Wark 'ASTONISHING, RIVETING, MASTERFUL, POETIC' Emily Rapp Black 'A WORLDWIDE CANVAS BROUGHT TO LIFE IN VIVID, HEARTBREAKING DETAIL' Marianne Kavanagh

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This companion novel to Abigail Hing Wen’s New York Times bestselling debut, Loveboat, Taipei, takes readers back to Taipei through the eyes of fan favorites Sophie and Xavier – on an unforgettable journey of glittering revelry and self-discovery that’s perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Mary H. K. Choi. Sophie Ha and Xavier Yeh have what some would call a tumultuous past.Hearts were broken, revenge was plotted – but at least they’re friends now. They left the drama behind them back in Taipei – at their summer program, Loveboat – forever.Now that fall is here, they’re focusing on what really matters. Sophie has sworn off boys and is determined to be the best student Dartmouth’s ever had. Xavier just wants to stay under his overbearing father’s radar, collect his trust fund when he turns eighteen, and concentrate on what makes him happy.But the world doesn’t seem to want Sophie and Xavier to succeed. Sophie’s college professor thinks her first major project is “too feminine.” Xavier’s father gives him an ultimatum: finish high school or be cut off from his inheritance.Then Sophie and Xavier find themselves on a wild, nonstop Loveboat reunion, hatching a joint plan to take control of their futures. Can they succeed together . . . or are they destined to combust?Praise for New York Times bestseller Loveboat, Taipei:“A unique story from an exciting and authentic new voice.” —Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes“Equal parts surprising, original, and intelligent. An intense rush of rebellion and romance.” —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval“Fresh as a first kiss.” —Stacey Lee, award-winning author of Outrun the Moon"Fresh, fun, heartfelt, and totally addictive, a story about finding your place—and your people—where you least expected." —Kelly Loy Gilbert, author of the William C. Morris Award finalist Conviction

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Provides a unique and accessible understanding of Sallust and his influence on writing the history of Rome Gaius Sallustius Crispus ('Sallust', 86-35 BCE) is the earliest Roman historian from whom any works survive. His two extant writings chronicle crucial moments of a political, social, and ethical revolution with profound consequences for his own life and those of his audience. After the Past: Sallust on History and Writing History examines what it meant to write the history of contentious events—Catiline’s famous rebellion in 63 BCE and the war waged against the North African king Jugurtha fifty years earlier—while their effects were still so vividly felt. One of the first book-length treatments of Sallust in over fifty years, the text offers a comprehensive reading of Sallust’s works using the tools of narratology and intertextual analysis to reveal the changing functions of historiography at the end of the Roman Republic. Author Andrew Feldherr’s comprehensive approach examines the literary strategies used by Sallust and many of the most interesting and significant aspects of the historian’s accomplishment while advancing the study of historiography as a literary form, reconsidering its relationship to rival genres such as rhetoric and tragedy. Pursuing a focused and distinctive scholarly argument, this book: Provides a comprehensive approach to Sallust’s extant works Explores how Sallust helped his readers to reflect on their own relationship with their tumultuous past Contributes to understanding Roman conceptualizations of space and of writing Challenges the core assumption that literary historiography of the time period is essentially rhetorical nature After the Past: Sallust on History and Writing History is an accessible and useful resource for students of Latin literature and Roman history from the advanced undergraduate through professional levels, and for all those with an interest in historiography as a literary genre in Greco-Roman antiquity and in the literary history of the late Republic and triumviral period.

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The first book in an epic fantasy series from debut author Cinda Williams Chima. Adventure, magic, war and ambition conspire to throw together an unlikely group of companions in a struggle to save their world. When 16-year-old Han Alister and his Clan friend Dancer encounter three underage wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea, he has no idea that this event will precipitate a cascade of disasters that will threaten everything he cares about. Han takes an amulet from one of the wizards, Micah Bayar, to prevent him from using it against them. Only later does he learn that it has an evil history - it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. And the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back. Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana'Marianna, the heir to the Gray Wolf throne of the Fells, has just spent three years of relative freedom with her father's family at Demonai Camp - riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets. Now court life in Fellsmarch pinches like a pair of too-small shoes. Wars are raging to the south, and threaten to spread into the high country. After a long period of quiet, the power of the Wizard Council is once again growing. The people of the Fells are starving and close to rebellion. Now more than ever, there's a need for a strong queen. But Raisa's mother Queen Marianna is weak and distracted by the handsome Gavan Bayar, High Wizard of the Fells. Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea-the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. With the help of her friend, the cadet Amon Byrne, she navigates the treacherous Gray Wolf Court, hoping she can unravel the conspiracy coalescing around her before it's too late.

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J.M. Barrie's timeless tale of the 'boy who would not grow up' Peter Pan is edited with an introduction by Jack Zipes in Penguin Classics.When Peter Pan and his fairy companion Tinker Bell fly in through the window of Wendy's nursery one night, it is the beginning of an adventure that whisks Wendy and her brothers Michael and John off to Neverland. There they will find mermaids, fairies, pirates led by the sinister Captain Hook, and the crocodile who bit off his leg - and still pursues him in hope of the rest! Peter Pan originally appeared as a baby living a magical life among birds and fairies in J.M. Barrie's sequence of stories, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. His adventures capture the spirit of childhood - and of rebellion against the role of adulthood in conventional society. This edition includes the novel and the stories, and reproduces the original illustrations by Francis Donkin Bedford and Arthur Rackham. In his introduction, Jack Zipes sifts through the psychological interpretations that have engaged critics, explores the cultural and literary contexts in which we can appreciate Barrie's enduring creation, and shows why Peter Pan is fundamentally a work that urges adults to reconnect with their own imagination.James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) was born in Scotland, the son of a weaver. In 1885, he moved to London to pursue a literary career. Peter Pan, with its flying and theatrical devices, was a huge success and continues to be performed today; in 1911 Barrie rewrote the play as a novel. On his death in 1937 Barrie gifted copyright of the play Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street hospital.If you enjoyed Peter Pan you might like Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, also available in Penguin Classics.'One of the classic children's stories of all time'Daily Mail'Intensely moving as well as enchanting in its evocation of childhood, the heartlessness of youth and parental grief as children grow older'Daily Telegraph

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An absolute must-read for fans of Shadow and Bone… In a world where the Roman Empire never fell, two starcrossed lovers fight to ignite the spark of rebellion… Londinium, the last stronghold of the Romans left in Britannia, remains in a delicate state of peace with the ancient kingdoms that surround it. As the only daughter of a powerful merchant, Cassandra is betrothed to Marcus, the most eligible bachelor in the city. But then she meets Devyn, the boy with the strange midnight eyes searching for a girl with magic in her blood. A boy who will make her believe in soulmates… When a mysterious sickness starts to leech the life from citizens with Celtic power lying dormant in their veins, the imperial council sets their schemes in motion. And so Cassandra must make a choice: the Code or Chaos, science or sorcery, Marcus or Devyn? Panem meets the Grishaverse in this explosive new YA trilogy perfect for readers of Sarah J Maas, Holly Black, and Cassandra Clare. Praise for The Once and Future Queen Series: ‘OH MY HEART AND SOUL … I am still reeling … seriously I would put this series up with the big ones, like Throne of Glass and The Cruel Prince’ Richelle, 5* NetGalley review ‘OMG. I will forever be in love with this series … this author has me as a fan for life’ Penelope, 5* NetGalley review ‘Beautifully written and one of the best dystopian novels I’ve read … an epic journey you won’t forget. I would love to see this made into a film’ Zoe, 5* NetGalley review ‘I couldn’t put it down. There were times when I gasped, when I cried and when I felt my jaw drop. The world Clara O’Connor has woven together is so intricate and real and the storytelling is flawless. Absolutely my favourite series I have read this year’ Jessica, 5* NetGalley review ‘If you want to immerse yourself in an Arthurian-inspired fantasy world, you need to look no further than this immersive, emotional, and wondrous one’ Tessa, 5* NetGalley review

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Mary, Queen of Scots is seen as one of Scotland's heroes. She was queen regnant of Scotland from 1542-1667 but was held in various houses for eighteen and a half years by Queen Elizabeth and beheaded for plotting to assassinate Elizabeth. This book explains simply and clearly who Mary was and her life and is told by her loyal servant, Mary Seton. She was born in 1542 and she died in 1587. She was queen regnant of Scotland from 1542 -1567. A queen regnant is a queen who rules in her own right. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland, and was six days old when her father died and she acceded to the throne. She spent most of her childhood in France while Scotland was ruled by regents, and in 1558, she married the Dauphin of France, Francis. He ascended the French throne as King Francis II in 1559, and Mary briefly became queen consort of France, until his death on 5 December 1560. Widowed, Mary returned to Scotland, arriving in Leith on 19 August 1561. Four years later, she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, but their union was unhappy. In February 1567, his residence was destroyed by an explosion, and Darnley was found murdered in the garden. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, was generally believed to have orchestrated Darnley's death, but he was acquitted of the charge in April 1567, and the following month he married Mary. Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle. On 24 July 1567, she was forced to abdicate in favour of James, her one-year-old son by Darnley. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southwards seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I of England. Mary had previously claimed Elizabeth's throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the Rising of the North. Seen as a threat by Elizabeth, Mary was confined in various houses and after eighteen and a half years, she was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth. She was beheaded.

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‘An utter joy to read’ NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars The brand-new novel from the 2020 CILIP Carnegie medal nominee and New York Times bestseller, Robin Talley. ************************************************************* ‘I’m just so sick of blending in…’ It’s 1977, and the USA is tearing itself apart. And so is Tammy Larson. Seventeen and scared, Tammy has a secret that her strict community and conservative family must never find out; one that she’s only ever shared in unposted letters to her hero, Harvey Milk. She’s gay. Hundreds of miles away, Tammy’s new pen pal is dealing with a few secrets of her own. Sharon Hawkins lives in foggy San Francisco, an exciting city full of protests and punk music. But as the letters pile up in her desk drawer, Sharon begins to realise that her world might not be that different to Tammy’s after all… Set to a soundtrack of Bowie, Blondie and a whole lot of Patti Smith, the girls’ worlds converge in ways they could never have imagined. With a fierce sense of rebellion and a feminist attitude to boot, Tammy and Sharon soon discover what it means to be their true selves, and one thing’s for sure: they’re both sick of blending in. The perfect empowering and life-affirming read for fans of Caitlin Moran, Becky Albertalli and Meredith Russo. *************************************************************Praise for Music from Another World: ‘Difficult to put down… an empowering read with a powerful message’ Paper Lanterns ‘Absolutely LOVED it! So funny and romantic and incredibly tense’ Tom Ellen Praise for Robin Talley’s previous novels: ‘The main characters are terrific in what is a moving novel. And an important one.’ The Telegraph ‘absolutely loved it – romantic and funny and gripping and just generally excellent!’ Tom Ellen, author of Freshers ‘touching, clever and absolutely hilarious’ The Herald ‘I really loved the book… it was just a lovely, refreshing read for me, and I’m so glad there are authors like Robin Talley out there.’ Bookseller ‘One of the most interesting and informative LGBT books I've read recently!’ Reader ‘a must-read for anyone interested in LGBTQ+ history’ NetGalley reviewer

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When the residents of a Highland care home discover that the new owners are about to substantially put up the fees, they know that dramatic action is called for. But what can a group of senior citizens possibly do against a big organisation? For Dorothy, the situation is serious. If she can t raise money she ll have to leave all her friends, like dear Miss Ross.In protest, the residents barricade themselves into the lounge. However, their rebellion fails, so worldly-wise Joan suggests a most unusual way to cover the rise a very naughty chat line for men who want to talk to older women in a particular way ! As their lives take a series of unexpected turns, things get increasingly out of control ...Casting Off is a hilarious, poignant tale of friendship, loyalty and sacrifice and how it s never too late to try something new.What readers have been saying about Casting Off:"This book has to be my favourite comedy novel of the year... the whole novel is just so very uplifting and leaves you with a feel good factor."BOOKS FROM DUSK TO DAWN"A cheeky and hilarious read... A book of pure delight and I'm sure it will life the hardest of hearts."TRACY SHEPHARD, POSTCARD REVIEWS"This uplifting, mischievous and brilliantly written tale is one that has left a huge impression on me, for ALL the right reasons."LITTLE BOOKNESS LANE"Funny, achingly sad and raunchy... your view of assisted living will never be the same! ... My soggy tissue and gentle sigh as I reached the final sentence is my version of a five-star review."SCREENWIPER"This is a story which will have you laughing out loud one moment and in need of a tissue the next. It is a great read.""Funny and Sweet.""I could not put it down.""The characters were fantastic, funny and utterly believable. A great read for any age.""Friendship, heartache, love and life... you'll find it here.""I was very sad to finish this book. I'd give it more than 5* if I could.""You will not be disappointed. A book that made me laugh and cry at the same time. A must read!!"

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The Sunday Times bestseller Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlisted for the Booker Prize ‘It is a book not read, but lived’ Telegraph ‘Mantel has taken us to the dark heart of history … and what a show’ The Times The Sunday Times bestselling sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, the stunning conclusion to Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall trilogy. ‘If you cannot speak truth at a beheading, when can you speak it?’ England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour. Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him? With The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantel brings to a triumphant close the trilogy she began with Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. She traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, the boy from nowhere who climbs to the heights of power, offering a defining portrait of predator and prey, of a ferocious contest between present and past, between royal will and a common man’s vision: of a modern nation making itself through conflict, passion and courage. A Guardian Book of the Year • A Times Book of the Year • A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year • A Sunday Times Book of the Year • A New Statesman Book of the Year • A Spectator Book of the Year Sunday Times Bestseller (08/03/2020)

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SHORTLISTED for The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award 2021 ‘An ambitious and vital novel with an epic sweep: a complex, timely story about liberty, equality, identity. [...] This book is an act of salvage, performed with great skill: cleanly written, sharp-eyed, undeceived.’ — Hilary Mantel In a London graveyard in 1857, Harriet Small is approached by a stranger, an unwanted intruder who insists that she hear him out . . . in the will of a woman she only barely remembers, Harriet has been left an unusual collection of papers: her father’s True Narrative of his life after escaping slavery and his journey into the heart of revolutionary Ireland. Nearly sixty years earlier, in the aftermath of Lord Edward FitzGerald’s death and disgrace in the 1798 Rebellion, his sister, Lady Lucy, had commissioned Harriet’s father, Tony Small, to write about his life as Edward’s manservant in the form a ‘slave narrative’. But Lucy’s real motivation was to restore Edward’s reputation and her family’s fortune. What emerges from ‘Faithful’ Tony’s pages – at first unsure but later confident in his words – is a complex, co-dependent and sometimes turbulent friendship between the two men. Edward is everything Tony is not: beloved by a large family and carelessly sure of his privileged place in the world. With Edward, Tony hopes to begin a new life – to belong – only to find himself a stranger in a strange land who often comprehends better than his employer the racism, privilege and power that drive the inequalities of their time. As historical events gallop towards their devastating conclusion, Tony learns that the sacrifices to be free are never-ending. And as difficult and heartbreaking as it is to read her father’s story, Harriet comes to realise there is more than one way to be free. From war in South Carolina to genteel drawing rooms in Kildare, from the discomfort and boredom of Antigua to the snow-covered nothingness of Canada, the slave-owning territories along the Mississippi to a printing house in Hamburg and the colonial politics of London to the intrigue and simmering resentments of Dublin, Words to Shape My Name is about hope, failure and resilience, an adventurous novel of great intelligence and awareness that will resonate today.

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