Search results for ""notorious""

***A Best Book of 2022, The Times******Book of the Year, Spectator***A myth-busting biography of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, which retells the dramatic story of the civil war from her perspectiveHenrietta Maria, Charles I's queen, is the most reviled consort to have worn the crown of Britain's three kingdoms. Condemned as that 'Popish brat of France', a 'notorious whore' and traitor, she remains in popular memory the wife who wore the breeches and turned her husband Catholic - so causing a civil war - and a cruel and bigoted mother.Leanda de Lisle's White King was hailed as 'the definitive modern biography about Charles I' (Observer). Here she considers Henrietta Maria's point of view, unpicking the myths to reveal a very different queen. We meet a new bride who enjoyed annoying her uptight husband, a leader of fashion in clothes and cultural matters, an innovative builder and gardener and an advocate of the female voice in public affairs. No bigot, her closest friends included 'Puritans' as well as Catholics, and she led the anti-Spanish faction at court linked to the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years' War. When civil war came, the strategic planning and fundraising of his 'She Generalissimo' proved crucial to Charles's campaign.The story takes us to courts across Europe, and looks at the fate of Henrietta Maria's mother and sisters, who also faced civil wars. Her estrangement from her son Henry is explained, and the image of the Restoration queen as an irrelevant crone is replaced with Henrietta Maria as an influential 'phoenix queen', presiding over a court with 'more mirth' even than that of the Merry Monarch, Charles II.It is time to look again at this despised queen and judge if she is not in fact one of our most remarkable.'this is revisionist history at its absolute best' ANDREW ROBERTS'beautifully written and endlessly fascinating' ALEXANDER LARMAN'popular history of the finest kind' RONALD HUTTON

Read more less

The most comprehensive account available of Michael Heizer's art by a writer and curator who has critical experience with the artist and his work. Michael Heizer is among the greatest, and often least accessible, American artists. As one of the last living figures who launched the Land Art movement, his legacy of works that are literally and metaphorically monumental has an incalculable influence on the world of sculpture and environmental art. But his seclusion in the remote Nevada desert, as well as his notorious obduracy, have resulted in significant gaps in our critical understanding. Michael Heizer: The Once and Future Monuments spans the breadth of Heizer's career, uniquely combining fieldwork, personal narrative, and biographical research to create the first major assessment in years of this titan of American art. Author William L. Fox, founding director of the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art, has alternately been a sponsor, advocate, and critic of Heizer's work for decades. Fox's understanding of the artist's history and connection to landscape, his time spent with Heizer at the remote ranch where Heizer is finishing his magnum opus - the mile-long sculpture City - and his access to some of Heizer's key associates give him a unique position from which to discuss the artist's work. Fox has also made numerous site visits to Heizer's work - including early pieces in the Nevada desert now largely lost to the elements - to correct the often inconsistent accounts of their locations. Last, Fox imparts a crucial new understanding of Heizer's work by elaborating on the artist's bond with his father, the famed archaeologist and cultural ecologist Robert Heizer, who enlisted his son on important digs in Mexico and Peru, providing the young man with an appreciation of site, landscape, and geology that would thoroughly inform his work. Michael Heizer: The Once and Future Monuments is a long overdue addition to the critical and biographical literature of this major figure in American art.

Read more less

The 1866 transatlantic yacht race was a match that saw three yachts battle their way across the Atlantic in the dead of winter in pursuit of a $90,000 prize. Six men died in the brutal and close-fought contest, and the event changed the perception of yachting from a slightly effete gentlemen’s pursuit into something altogether more rugged and adventurous. The race also symbolized the beginning of America’s ‘gilded age’, with its associated obscene wealth and largesse (the $90,000 prize put up by the three contestants is about $15 million in today’s money), as well as the thawing of relations between the US and UK. The narrative focuses on the victorious yacht Henrietta and her owner James Gordon Bennett. Bennett was the son of the multimillionaire proprietor of the New York Herald, and a notorious playboy. His infamous stunts included driving his carriage through the streets of New York naked, tipping a railway porter $30,000, and turning up at his own engagement party blind drunk and mistaking the fire for a urinal, which led to the coining of the phrase ‘Gordon Bennett!’. However, Bennett was also a serious yachtsman and had served with distinction during the civil war aboard Henrietta, and he was the only owner to be aboard his own boat during the race. Other characters include Bennett’s captain Samuel Samuels (legendary clipper skipper, ex-convict and occasional vaudeville actor), financier Leonard Jerome, aboard Henrietta as race invigilator (he also happened to be grandfather to Winston Churchill) and Stephen Fisk, a journalist so desperate to cover the race that he evaded a summons to appear as a witness in court and instead smuggled himself aboard Henrietta in a crate of champagne. Using the framework of the race to discuss the various historical themes, there’s ample drama, and the diverse and eccentric range of characters ensure that this is a book laced with plenty of human interest, scandal and adventure.

Read more less

‘A sparklingly delicious confection to satisfy the mystery reader’s appetite’ Helena Dixon, bestselling author of the Miss Underhay Mysteries A PINCH OF PARANOIA It’s three days before Christmas, and detective-turned-chef Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker is drafted in to cater a charity event run by a notorious millionaire at a 13th-century abbey on Bodmin Moor. A DASH OF DECEPTION Things get more complicated when a snowstorm descends, stranding them all, and the next morning they find one of the guests has been gruesomely murdered in their bed… A MURDER UNDER THE MISTLETOE Secrets mull in every corner – can Jodie solve the crime before the killer strikes again? A Cornish Christmas Murder is a must-read mystery full of heart and humour – perfect for fans of Richard Osman and The Appeal. This title was previously published in the US as A Murder Under the Mistletoe. What readers are saying… ‘She did it again! And this time with tinsel, Santa and mince pies… I have learned to not read Jodie Parker books on an empty stomach’ Natalie Normann, author of Christmas Island ‘I think Christie would be a big fan’ Tessa ‘A delicious English fictional dish that definitely deserves to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever! Yes, this is the perfect Xmas gift for a few hours of blissful reading’ Jean ‘I really loved this book and I finished it in a couple of hours accompanied by some delicious hot chocolate… the epitome of a cosy murder mystery perfect for a rainy day’ Louise ‘The book is full of secret passes and hidden doors, snarky comments and family love, red herrings and twisted plots, reveals and redemptions’ Linda ‘Another brilliant romp, despite a murder, in Cornwall. I am really enjoying this series, but the books do work as standalone pieces too’ Helen ‘I absolutely adored this book! The setting was perfect and I hope to re-read it again on a snowy winter day’ Crystal ‘Sit back in your favourite chair, hot chocolate at the ready and savour this perfect cozy read!’ Zoe

Read more less

What to Read in 2021 —The Washington Post ​The international bestselling author of the “exciting, suspenseful, inspirational” (Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author) Code Name: Lise weaves another exceptional and thrilling hidden history of an ordinary American girl who became one of the OSS’s most daring spies in World War II before marrying into European nobility. Perfect for fans of A Woman of No Importance and Code Girls.When Aline Griffith was born in a quiet suburban New York hamlet, no one had any idea that she would go on to live “a life of glamour and danger that Ingrid Bergman only played at in Notorious” (Time). As the US enters the Second World War, the young college graduate is desperate to aid in the war effort, but no one is interested in a bright-eyed young woman whose only career experience is modeling clothes. Aline’s life changes when, at a dinner party, she meets a man named Frank Ryan and reveals how desperately she wants to do her part for her country. Within a few weeks, he helps her join the Office of Strategic Services—forerunner of the CIA. With a code name and expert training under her belt, she is sent to Spain to be a coder, but is soon given the additional assignment of infiltrating the upper echelons of society, mingling with high-ranking officials, diplomats, and titled Europeans, any of whom could be an enemy agent. Against this glamorous backdrop of galas and dinner parties, she recruits sub-agents and engages in deep-cover espionage to counter Nazi tactics in Madrid. Even after marrying the Count of Romanones, one of the wealthiest men in Spain, Aline secretly continues her covert activities, being given special assignments when abroad that would benefit from her impeccable pedigree and social connections. Filled with twists, romance, and plenty of white-knuckled adventures fit for a James Bond film, The Princess Spy brings to vivid life the dazzling adventures of a remarkable American woman who risked everything to serve her country.

Read more less

From the opening day of the Second World War, RAF Bomber Command took the offensive to the enemy and played a leading role in the liberation of Europe. Many of its squadrons were based in Lincolnshire, where the flat terrain and open fields made the county ideal for the development of new airfields. All of Bomber Command's major efforts involved the Lincolnshire-based squadrons. The Battles of the Ruhr, Hamburg and Berlin, during the hardest years of 1943/44, were just some of those when night after night hundreds of bombers took off from the county, many never to return. It was also from Lincolnshire that precision raids were mounted against targets such as the diesel engine factory at Augsburg, the notorious Dortmund-Ems Canal, the mighty German battleship Tirpitz, and, of course, the Ruhr Dams. Most of Lincolnshire's wartime bomber airfields have long gone, with many having reverted to their pre-war agricultural use. Only Coningsby, Scampton and Waddington remain in service with the RAF today, while others - such as Binbrook, Blyton, Spilsby, Strubby, Swinderby and Woodhall Spa - have long fallen victim to Defence cuts.Other airfields have survived and maintain the link with their flying past. All are included here, some well-known, others less so. From these airfields came countless acts of personal courage and self-sacrifice, with eight Victoria Crosses, the highest award for gallantry, being awarded to men flying from bomber airfields in Lincolnshire. All are included, as are stories of other personalities who brought these airfields to life. In all, the stories of the county's twenty-nine wartime airfields of Bomber Command are told, with a brief history of each accompanied by details of how to find them and what remains there today. Whatever your interest, be it aviation history or something more local, there is something to discover. Lincolnshire has truly earned its name of Bomber County.

Read more less

'A highly entertaining read, deftly melding social history with sporting memoir and travelogue' Mail on SundayA history of Latin America through cricketCricket was the first sport played in almost every country of the Americas - earlier than football, rugby or baseball. In 1877, when England and Australia played the inaugural Test match at the MCG, Uruguay and Argentina were already ten years into their derby played across the River Plate.The visionary cricket historian Rowland Bowen said that, during the highpoint of cricket in South America between the two World Wars, the continent could have provided the next Test nation. In Buenos Aires, where British engineers, merchants and meatpackers flocked to make their fortune, the standard of cricket was high: towering figures like Lord Hawke and Plum Warner took star-studded teams of Test cricketers to South America, only to be beaten by Argentina. A combined Argentine, Brazilian and Chilean team took on the first-class counties in England in 1932. The notion of Brazilians and Mexicans playing T20 at the Maracana or the Azteca today is not as far-fetched as it sounds.But Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion is also a social history of grit, industry and nation-building in the New World. West Indian fruit workers battled yellow fever and brutal management to carve out cricket fields next to the railway lines in Costa Rica. Cricket was the favoured sport of Chile's Nitrate King. Emperors in Brazil and Mexico used the game to curry favour with Europe. The notorious Pablo Escobar even had a shadowy connection to the game. The fate of cricket in South America was symbolised by Eva Peron ordering the burning down of the Buenos Aires Cricket Club pavilion when the club refused to hand over their premises to her welfare scheme.Cricket journalists Timothy Abraham and James Coyne take us on a journey to discover this largely untold story of cricket's fate in the world's most colourful continent. Fascinating and surprising, Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion is a valuable addition to cricketing and social history.

Read more less

The one hundred letters brought together for this book illustrate the range of Hugh Trevor-Roper's life and preoccupations: as an historian, a controversialist, a public intellectual, an adept in academic intrigues, a lover of literature, a traveller, a countryman. They depict a life of rich diversity; a mind of intellectual sparkle and eager curiosity; a character that relished the comédie humaine, and the absurdities, crotchets, and vanities of his contemporaries. The playful irony of Trevor-Roper's correspondence places him in a literary tradition stretching back to such great letter-writers as Madame de Sévigné and Horace Walpole. Though he generally shunned emotional self-exposure in correspondence as in company, his letters to the woman who became his wife reveal the surprising intensity and the raw depths of his feelings. Trevor-Roper was one of the most gifted scholars of his generation, and one of the most famous dons of his day. While still a young man, he made his name with his bestseller The Last Days of Hitler, and became notorious for his acerbic assaults on other historians. In his prime, Trevor-Roper appeared to have everything: a grey Bentley, a prestigious chair in Oxford, a beautiful country house, a wife with a title, and, eventually, a title of his own. But he failed to write the 'big book' expected of him, and tainted his reputation when in old age he erroneously authenticated the forged Hitler diaries. For an academic, Trevor-Roper's interests were extraordinarily wide, bringing him into contact with such diverse individuals as George Orwell and Margaret Thatcher, Albert Speer and Kim Philby, Katharine Hepburn and Rupert Murdoch. The tragicomedy of his tenure as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, provided an appropriate finale to a career packed with incident. Trevor-Roper's letters to Bernard Berenson, published as Letters from Oxford in 2006, gave pleasure to a wide variety of readers. This more general selection of his correspondence has been long anticipated, and will delight anyone who values wit, erudition, and clear prose.

Read more less

A parable on Darwinian theory, and a biting social satire, H.G. Wells's science fiction classic The Island of Dr Moreau is a fascinating exploration of what it is to be human. This Penguin Classics edition is edited by Patrick Parrinder with notes by Steven McLean and an introduction by Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale.Adrift in a dinghy, Edward Prendick, the single survivor from the good ship Lady Vain, is rescued by a vessel carrying a profoundly unusual cargo - a menagerie of savage animals. Tended to recovery by their keeper Montgomery, who gives him dark medicine that tastes of blood, Prendick soon finds himself stranded upon an uncharted island in the Pacific with his rescuer and the beasts. Here, he meets Montgomery's master, the sinister Dr. Moreau - a brilliant scientist whose notorious experiments in vivisection have caused him to abandon the civilised world. It soon becomes clear he has been developing these experiments - with truly horrific results.This edition includes a full biographical essay on Wells, a further reading list and detailed notes. Margaret Atwood's introduction explores the social and scientific relevance of this influential work.H.G. Wells (1866-1946) was a professional writer and journalist. Wells's prophetic imagination was first displayed in pioneering works of science fiction, but later he became an apostle of socialism, science and progress. Among his most popular works are The Time Machine (1895); The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), filmed with Bela Lugosi in 1932, and again in 1996 with Marlon Brando; The Invisible Man (1897); The War of the Worlds (1898), which was the subject of an Orson Welles radio adaptation that caused mass panic when it was broadcast, and a 2005 film directed by Stephen Spielberg; and The First Men in the Moon (1901), which predicted the first lunar landings.If you enjoyed The Island of Doctor Moreau, you might like Wells's The Time Machine, also available in Penguin Classics.

Read more less

Inspired by his own eccentric aunt, Patrick Dennis's Auntie Mame is a madcap comedy, published with an afterword by Matteo Codignola in Penguin Modern Classics.'Auntie Mame and I learned to love one another in as brief and painless a period as possible. That her amazing personality would attract me, just as it had seduced thousands of others, was a foregone conclusion. Her helter-skelter charm was, after all, notorious ...'When shy young heir Patrick is orphaned at the tender age of ten, the only family he has is his wealthy and eccentric aunt, a fabulous New York socialite named Mame. While prone to dramatic costumes, flights of fancy and expensive whims - not least her lives as a muse and a Southern belle - Auntie Mame will raise Patrick the only way she knows how: with madcap humour, mishaps, unforgettable friends and lots and lots of love. Turned into a play, a musical, and adapted into a 1974 film directed by Gene Saks and starring Lucille Ball, Auntie Mame is the most magnificent and hilarious work of love, style, wit and the life of a very modern Aunt. Patrick Dennis (1921-76) was one of the most widely read American authors of the 1950s and '60s. Among his sixteen novels, the majority of which were bestsellers, are Little Me, Around the World with Auntie Mame, Tony, How Firm a Foundation and Genius. A celebrity in bohemian New York culture, he led a double life as a bisexual man and a conventional husband and father, until becoming an exemplary butler to the elite in West Palm Beach and Chicago in the 1970s. In his own words, he attributed this change to being 'out of fashion' - and, 'I've said everything that I had to say. Twice.'If you enjoyed Auntie Mame, you might like Breakfast at Tiffany's, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'Extravagant follies and delirious escapades'The New York Times

Read more less

A breath-taking psychological suspense about obsession and dangerous love. If you loved Verity, this is the No.1 bestselling book you need to read next . . . Sloan will go through hell and back for those she loves. And she does so, every single day. Caught up with the alluring Asa Jackson, a notorious drug trafficker, Sloan has finally found a lifeline to cling to, even if it's meant compromising her morals. She was in dire straits trying to pay for her brother's care until she met Asa. But as Sloan became emotionally and economically reliant on him, he in turn developed a disturbing obsession with her - one that becomes increasingly dangerous every day. When undercover DEA agent Carter enters the picture, Sloan's surprised to feel an immediate attraction between them, despite knowing that if Asa finds out, he will kill him. And Asa has always been a step ahead of everyone in his life, including Sloan. No one has ever gotten in his way. No one except Carter. Together, Sloan and Carter must find a way out before it's too late . . .This is the new edition of Too Late from the TikTok phenomenon. SEE WHAT READERS ARE SAYING . . .'Had me absolutely hooked. I literally did not have a clue what would happen next!' ***** Reader Review'Colleen Hoover is my go-to author and she honestly never fails to deliver' ***** Reader Review'She doesn't sugarcoat the bad parts and glitter the good ones, the heroes are flawed and the villains are human' ***** Reader Review'There is seriously no other author who writes books that take you right to the brink and then bring you back' ***** Reader Review'A dark and twisty romance that keeps you on the edge of your seat' ***** Reader Review'Another incredible book by Colleen Hoover. Her writing gets to me every time. I was so invested in this' ***** Reader ReviewToo Late was a No.1 Kindle bestseller on 26.08.23

Read more less

Praise for Robert L. Tonsetic’s previous publications:“…takes an unflinching look at both the adventure and trauma of war while aiming to fill the gaps in the record for Vietnam.” —Metro College Magazine“A must read for any soldiers likely to conduct partnering activities in the future.”—Soldier MagazineThe Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the American Revolutionary War, but it was the pivotal campaigns and battles of 1781 that decided the final outcome. 1781 was one of those rare years in American history when the future of the nation hung by a thread, and only the fortitude, determination, and sacrifice of its leaders and citizenry ensured its survival. 1781 was a year of battles, as the Patriot Morgan defeated the notorious Tarleton and his Loyal legion at Cowpens. Then Greene suffered defeat at Guilford Courthouse, only to rally his forces and continue to fight on, assisted by such luminaries as Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” and “Light Horse Harry” Lee. While luring Cornwallis north, Greene was able to gather new strength and launch a counterattack, until it was Cornwallis who felt compelled to seek succor in Virginia. He marched his main army to Yorktown on the Peninsula, upon which the French fleet, the British fleet, Greene, Washington, and the French army under Rochambeau all converged. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered his weary and bloodied army.In this book, Robert Tonsetic provides a detailed analysis of the key battles and campaigns of 1781, supported by numerous eyewitness accounts from privates to generals in the American, French, and British armies. He also describes the diplomatic efforts underway in Europe during 1781, as well as the Continental Congress’s actions to resolve the immense financial, supply, and personnel problems involved in maintaining an effective fighting army in the field. With its focus on the climactic year of the war, 1781 is a valuable addition to the literature on the American Revolution, providing readers with a clearer understanding of how America, just barely, with fortitude and courage, retrieved its independence in the face of great odds.

Read more less

This amazing survival story tells how Jim Wright, a Norfolk gamekeeper's son, aged 23, managed to evade capture by the Japanese during the last few days of the battle on the Malayan mainland. It goes on to describe how Wright, wounded in the foot and finally abandoned bu his wounded comrades, struggles along for two months to survive and rejoin his comrades on Singapore Island, not knowing that they had already surrendered. Hobbling painfully though the jungle, terrified by its strange noises, betrayed by Malays and often hiding only a few feet from Japanese patrols; starving, often without water and utterly exhausted, he slowly made his way towards Singapore. Eventually, almost dead, he was picked up by Chinese communist guerillas who took him to join twenty-five other British and Australian soldiers who were living in a jungle camp. Within a year all his companions has either died or been captured or killed by the Japanese, except for four. Two of these died in 1944 and Jim and the other one were the only ones to come home in 1945\. This is a very exciting story which tells of his jungle left with the guerillas and the action-packed narrative reads in places like a thriller. There are encounters with wild animals, snakes, Japanese soldiers, traitors and death -encounters whose description leaves one with the same chill of fear which Jim Wright must have felt. Finally he is rescued by British forces and taken to freedom in the most unorthodox way -too exciting to describe here. Twenty-five years after his rescue he returns to his jungle haunts and this helps to lay some or the horrors which he has suffered after the war because of the death of so many of his comrades in the jungle.Robert Hamond also served in 18th Division and was taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore. He later worked on the notorious Burma-Siam railway where so many died. Thirty years after the war he met Jim Wright and persuaded him to tell this extraordinary story, a story which Jim had not revealed, even to his family.

Read more less

It has been called a "Noble Possession", abused as "A Nest of Corsairs" and extolled as "The Pearl of the Mediterranean". This city of Tripoli, one of the oldest on both the Mediterranean and the fringes of the Sahara, and never deserted, has meant many different things to many different people over the past 2,500 years. To its first outside visitors, the trading Phoenicians, it was a safe haven and a market. To its later Roman colonizers it was an outlet for the low grade pastoral produce of its Saharan hinterland. Under Muslim Arab rule it became a wealthy transit market, trading with three continents, while under its Turkish and Karamanli rulers, it was notorious for its corsair galleys that preyed on the merchant shipping of the Central and Eastern Mediterranean. After the Napoleonic Wars the city took on a new role as a base for the trans-Saharan exploration and penetration of inner Africa, with British pioneers followed by Germans, French and Italians. In 1911 Italy invaded this last remaining Turkish possession in North Africa, soon transforming a neglected exiles' outpost into an imposing capital symbolizing Fascist imperial pretensions. Tripoli's fall to the British Eighth Army in January 1943 was seen as a turning point in World War Two, while in 1951 its role as joint capital of the newly-independent Kingdom of Libya marked the start of Africa's post- colonial era. Oil found in Libya in the 1950s and 1960s made Tripoli rich - and a prize that fell in 1969 to the rising forces of Arab nationalism personified by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. During his 42 years of eccentric rule, Tripoli was transformed into a mega-city, one hundred times greater in extent and population that it had been a century earlier. But by 2015 continuing post-Gaddafi anarchy and depleting oil reserves made the city's future seem as precarious and uncertain as ever it had been. Mixing personal observation and research with accounts from foreign travellers and residents, John Wright reveals the reality of this unique, remarkable and ever-vibrant city: a city with special social, cultural and linguistic "flavours" that not even visitors from other parts of the Arab World can always understand or define.

Read more less

Italy has grappa, Russia has vodka, Jamaica has rum. Around the world, certain drinks—especially those of the intoxicating kind—are synonymous with their peoples and cultures. For Mexico, this drink is tequila. For many, tequila can conjure up scenes of body shots on Cancún bars and coolly garnished margaritas on sandy beaches. Its power is equally strong within Mexico, though there the drink is more often sipped rather than shot, enjoyed casually among friends, and used to commemorate occasions from the everyday to the sacred. Despite these competing images, tequila is universally regarded as an enduring symbol of lo mexicano. ¡Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico traces how and why tequila became and remains Mexico's national drink and symbol. Starting in Mexico's colonial era and tracing the drink's rise through the present day, Marie Sarita Gaytán reveals the formative roles played by some unlikely characters. Although the notorious Pancho Villa was a teetotaler, his image is now plastered across the labels of all manner of tequila producers—he's even the namesake of a popular brand. Mexican films from the 1940s and 50s, especially Western melodramas, buoyed tequila's popularity at home while World War II caused a spike in sales within the whisky-starved United States. Today, cultural attractions such as Jose Cuervo's Mundo Cuervo and the Tequila Express let visitors insert themselves into the Jaliscan countryside—now a UNESCO-protected World Heritage Site—and relish in the nostalgia of pre-industrial Mexico. Our understanding of tequila as Mexico's spirit is not the result of some natural affinity but rather the cumulative effect of U.S.-Mexican relations, technology, regulation, the heritage and tourism industries, shifting gender roles, film, music, and literature. Like all stories about national symbols, the rise of tequila forms a complicated, unexpected, and poignant tale. By unraveling its inner workings, Gaytán encourages us to think critically about national symbols more generally, and the ways in which they both reveal and conceal to tell a story about a place, a culture, and a people. In many ways, the story of tequila is the story of Mexico.

Read more less

"The unfulfilled and unsatisfied mother around whom the child ascends the upward slope of his narcissism is someone real. She is right there, and like all other unfulfilled creatures, she is in search of what she can devour, quaerens quem devoret. What the child once found as a means of quashing the symbolic unfulfilment is what he may possibly find across from him again as a wide-open maw [...] To be devoured is a grave danger that our fantasies reveal to us. We find it at the origin, and we find it again at this turn in the path where it yields us the essential form in which phobia presents. We find it again when we look at the fears of Little Hans [...] With the support of what I have shown you today, you will better see the relationships between phobia and perversion [...] I shall go so far as to say that you will interpret the case better than did Freud himself [...]"Extract from Chapter XI "[...] it's no accident that what has been perceived but dimly, yet perceived nevertheless, is that castration bears just as much relation to the mother as to the father. We can see in the description of the primordial situation how maternal castration implies for the child the possibility of devoration and biting. In relation to this anteriority of maternal castration, paternal castration is a substitute [...]"Extract from Chapter XXI "[In the case of little Hans] The initial transformation, which will prove decisive, is […] the transformation of the biting into the unscrewing of the bathtub, which is something utterly different, in particular for the relationship between the protagonists. Voraciously to bite the mother, as an act or an apprehension of her altogether natural signification, indeed to dread in return the notorious biting that is incarnated by the horse, is something quite different from unscrewing, from ousting, the mother, and mobilising her in this business, bringing her into the system as a whole, for this first time as a mobile element and, by like token, an element that is equivalent to all the rest."Extract from Chapter XXIII

Read more less

Meryl Streep is the most celebrated actress of our time. She's a chameleon who disappears fully into each character she plays. She never tackles the same role twice. Instead, she leverages her rarified platform to channel a range of tough, complicated women--Margaret Thatcher, Karen Silkwood, the Anna Wintour avatar Miranda Priestly--rather than limit herself to marginal roles for which other actresses must settle: Supportive Wife. Supportive Mother. Supportive Yet Utterly Disposable Love Interest to the Leading Man. Streep will have none of that.The once-awkward, frizzy-haired suburban teen blossomed into a rising ingénue who quickly made a name on stage at Vassar College and the Yale School of Drama, where she pursued prestigious theater degrees. She came of age during the women's movement of the Sixties and Seventies, and has worn her activism on her sleeve even when it was unfashionable. When she reached 40, the age when many leading ladies in Hollywood fully transition to those "supportive" roles, Streep plunged forward, taking her pick of parts that interested her and winning a pile of awards along the way. She's broken records with 21 Oscar nominations, winning Best Actress twice for Sophie's Choice and The Iron Lady and Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer. Meanwhile, she remained an unlikely box-office draw, her clout even managing to grow with age: The Devil Wears Prada, starring Streep as a brilliant and sadistic magazine editrix, scored $125 million worldwide. Her next film, Mary Poppins Returns, with Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda, is poised for bigger success.Queen Meryl will pay tribute to the fearless icon, documenting all of her accents, Oscars, highs, lows, friendships, and feuds. It will also explore her "off-brand" forays into action-adventure (The River Wild) and musicals (Mamma Mia!), and how she managed to do a lot with a little, and sneak her feminism into each character. In the spirit of Notorious RBG and The Tao of Bill Murray, two bestsellers as nontraditional as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Bill Murray, Queen Merylwill transmit joy in homage to its allegedly serious subject.

Read more less

First published in 1912, Theodore Dreiser's third novel, The Financier, captures the ruthlessness and sparkle of the Gilded Age alongside the charismatic amorality of the power brokers and bankers of the mid-nineteenth century. This volume is the first modern edition of The Financier to draw on the uncorrected page proofs of the original 1912 version, which established Dreiser as a master of the American business novel. The novel was the first volume of Dreiser’s Trilogy of Desire, also known as the Cowperwood Trilogy, which includes The Titan (1914) and The Stoic (1947).Dreiser laboriously researched the business practices and personal exploits of real-life robber baron Charles Yerkes to narrate Frank Algernon Cowperwood's early career in The Financier, which explores the unscrupulous world of finance from the Civil War through the panic incited by the 1871 Chicago fire. In 1927, the monumental novel reappeared in a radically revised version for which Dreiser, notorious for lengthy novels, agreed to cut more than two hundred and seventy pages. This revised version became the most familiar, reprinted by publishers and studied by scholars for decades.For this new edition, Roark Mulligan meticulously reviewed earlier versions of the novel and its publication history, including the last-minute removal of paragraphs, pages, and even whole chapters from the 1912 edition, cuts based mainly on the advice of H. L. Mencken. The restored text better matches Dreiser's original vision for the work. More than three hundred additional pages not available to modern readers--including those cut from the 1927 edition and more than seventy hastily removed from the manuscript just days before publication in 1912--more effectively establish characterization and motivation. Restored passages dedicated to the internal thoughts of major and minor characters bring a softer dimension to a novel primarily celebrated for its realistic attention to the cold external world of finance.Mulligan's historical commentary reveals new insights into Dreiser's creative practices and how his business knowledge shaped The Financier. This supplemental material considers the novel's place within the tradition of American business novels and its reflections on the scandalous business practices of the robber baron era.

Read more less

The greatest hero of the Second World War . . . is a girl you've never heard ofThe blazing debut novel based on the unsung true story of Hannie Schaft, a young-woman-turned-Dutch-Resistance-fighter in Nazi-occupied Netherlands'Inspiring, empowering, and timely, compellingly detailed and impressively researched, but better still, it's an immersive story of a terrifying warren of history through which our guide is the sort of hero we all need right now: relatable and resolute and absolutely right' Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS'An intriguing story that keeps you captivated till the end. A true hero!' 5***** READER REVIEW __________1940, Amsterdam.You're nineteen years old. The war has stolen your future and your country is under siege. The people you love are no longer safe.Will you stand aside as the menace of Nazi evil tightens its grip on your homeland? Or do you unleash your fury, joining forces with your enemies' enemies, plotting to strike?Because if not you, then who?You're drawn deep into a web of plots, disguises and assassinations. The Resistance trained you for this. You flash your enemies a smile and beckon them closer.Little do they know you've grown used to the weight of a gun in your hand.Soon, they will all know your name . . .__________A tale of formidable defiance told through the eyes of a young heroine so notorious that Hitler himself personally ordered for her capture. Buzzy Jackson's debut is an unputdownable novel of love, loyalty, and the limits we confront when our deepest values are tested. 'The Girl with the Red Hair brings Hannie alive and I finished it in almost one gulp! What an amazing, inspiring, true-life hero she was . . . An engrossing read' Gwen Strauss, author of THE NINE'An inspiring book with an immense amount of research. One of those books that will be with me for a long time' 5***** READER REVIEW'A mixture of emotions, from feeling hopeful to a pit of your stomach fear, from heart-warming to heartbreaking. A book I want on my bookshelf to pass down the generations' 5***** READER REVIEW

Read more less

‘Well, this is a belter of a book! A hugely entertaining and gripping read!’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ He’ll watch you.A lawyer is found dead at sunrise on a lonely clifftop at Dunnet Head on the northernmost tip of Scotland. It was supposed to be his honeymoon, but now his wife will never see him again. He’ll hunt you.The case is linked to several mysterious deaths, including the murder of the lawyer’s last client – Scotland’s most notorious criminal… who had just walked free. DS Max Craigie knows this can only mean one thing: they have a vigilante serial killer on their hands. He’ll leave you to die.But this time the killer isn’t on the run; he’s on the investigation team. And the rules are different when the murderer is this close to home. He knows their weaknesses, knows how to stay hidden, and he thinks he’s above the law… Max, Janie and Ross return in the latest gripping novel in this explosive Scottish crime series. Fans of Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride and Marion Todd will love The Night Watch! Readers LOVE The Night Watch! ‘Wow! Max Craigie and his team are back in this amazing book and they bring with it a little bit of everything! A murder, a suicide, some suspense, intrigue, action, police, dead lawyers, twists, turns, a bit of corruption and serial killers!’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This is the book that you are desperate to finish so you know ‘who did it’, but on the other hand you don’t want it to come to an end.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Once again Neil Lancaster has written an absolute blinder. It starts off at a furious pace and doesn't let up.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A brilliant addition to the series and Neil is now an auto-buy author for me. Roll on the next one…’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘The pace doesn’t let up at all and Neil keeps you guessing with his clever dialogue and excellent plot. Loved it. You won’t be disappointed with The Night Watch.’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read more less

In the international bestseller Roma, Steven Saylor told the story of the first thousand years of Rome by following the descendants of a single bloodline. Now, in Empire, Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the Pinarius family, from the reign of the first emperor, Augustus, to the glorious height of Rome's empire under Hadrian. Through the eyes of the Pinarii, we witness the machinations of Tiberius, the madness of Caligula, the cruel escapades of Nero, and the chaos of the Year of Four Emperors in 69 A.D. The deadly paranoia of Domitian is followed by the Golden Age of Trajan and Hadrian-but even the most enlightened emperors wield the power to inflict death and destruction on a whim. Empire is strewn with spectacular scenes, including the Great Fire of 64 A.D. that ravaged the city, Nero's terrifying persecution of the Christians, and the mind-blowing opening games of the Colosseum. But at the novel's heart are the wrenching choices and seductive temptations faced by each new generation of the Pinarii. One unwittingly becomes the sexual plaything of the notorious Messalina. One enters into a clandestine affair with a Vestal virgin. One falls under the charismatic spell of Nero, while another is drawn into the strange new cult of those who deny the gods and call themselves Christians. However diverse their destinies and desires, all the Pinarii are united by one thing: the mysterious golden talisman called the fascinum handed down from a time before Rome existed. As it passes from generation to generation, the fascinum seems to exercise a power not only over those who wear it, but over the very fate of the empire. Praise for Steven Saylor: 'Saylor expertly weaves the true history of Rome with the lives and loves of its fictional citizens.' Daily Express 'Saylor's scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthrals' Ruth Rendell 'With the scalpel-like deftness of a Hollywood director, Saylor puts his finger on the very essence of Roman history.' Times Literary Supplement 'Readers will find his work wonderfully (and gracefully) researched...this is entertainment of the first order.' Washington Post

Read more less

The 'Wild West', or American Frontier as it is also known, developed in the years following the American Civil War. However, this period of myth-making cowboys, infamous gunslingers, not always law-abiding lawmen, and saloon madams, is as much the product of fiction writers and film makers as reality. The outlaw came into his, or indeed her, own in the mid to late 19th century. Some of these individuals, men such as Billy the Kid, William Clarke Quantrill, Butch Cassidy or Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid, became household names. Many of those who roamed America's West in the period between 1850 and 1900 often appear as colourful, romanticised, legendary characters. This includes the likes of Frank and Jesse James, who had stepped outside the law due to the harshness of life after the Civil War or under circumstances beyond their control. The majority of outlaws, though, were anonymous common criminals. In 1877, for example, the State Adjutant General of Texas, published 'wanted posters' for some 5,000 outlaws and bandits in the Rio Grande district alone, almost all of whom have since vanished into the mists of time. When it comes to the Wild West, it is important to separate fact from fiction. Of the known recorded killings by the various outlaws and gunfighters, Billy the Kid killed four men, not the twenty that some writers attributed to him. A notorious gunslinger, John Wesley Hardin was said to have killed twenty-seven men, but was only charged with one murder. Wild Bill Hickok killed three men, two of them in Abilene whilst he was City Marshal, and one in Springfield, Missouri, for which he was tried and found not guilty. Clay Allison, however, was thought to have killed at least fifteen men in his time as a gunfighter, whilst some of the outlaw gangs, such as the Rufus Buck Gang and the Evans Gang, were particularly violent and ruthless. The days of the outlaws of the Wild West gradually came to an end at the turn of the nineteenth into the twentieth century. The legends, however, live on.

Read more less

Joachim Murat, son of an innkeeper, had won his spurs as Napoleon’s finest cavalry general and then won his throne when, in 1808, Napoleon appointed him king of Naples. He loyally ran this strategic Italian kingdom with his wife, Napoleon’s sister Caroline, until, in 1814, with Napoleon beaten and in retreat towards ruin and exile, the royal couple chose to betray their imperial relation and dramatically switched sides. This notorious betrayal won them temporary respite, but just a year later Murat engineered his own dramatic fall. A series of blunders took the cavalier king from thinking he had secured his dynasty to fleeing his kingdom. His native France did not welcome him, initially because Napoleon had not forgiven him, then, after Napoleon’s fall following Waterloo, because the restored Bourbons were offering a reward for Murat’s head. Fleeing again, fate brought him to Corsica where, welcomed at last, Murat turned to plotting the reversal in his fortunes he so felt he deserved. Murat soon resolved to bet everything on a hare-brained plan to return to Naples as a conquering hero and king. His aim was to take a small band of followers, land near his capital, organise regime change and reclaim his throne. In September 1815, he set off with a small band of followers. What happened next forms the core of this part-tragic, part-ridiculous story and a lesson in how not to stage a coup. Just five days after landing in Calabria, King Joachim was hauled before a firing squad and executed. There is a fine line in history between a fool and a hero. Had Murat succeeded then he would be lauded as daringly heroic but, alas, he failed, and his final adventure has been consigned to oblivion. This is unfortunate as the fall of Joachim Murat is the final act of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe as well as being a dramatic story in its own right. Based on research in the archives of Paris and Naples, Jonathan North’s book aims to throw light on the fate of the mightily fallen Murat and restore some history to a tale that, until now, lay smothered under two centuries of fable and neglect.

Read more less

All 20-year-old Daisy Haites has ever wanted is a normal life, but as the heiress to London's most notorious criminal empire, it's just not on the cards for her.Raised by her older brother Julian since their parents were murdered, Daisy has never been able to escape the watchful gaze of her gang-lord brother. But Julian's line of work means that Daisy's life is... complicated.And things don't become any easier when she falls hard for the beautiful and emotionally unavailable Christian Hemmes, who also happens to be one of the few men in London who doesn't answer to Julian.Christian's life is no walk in the park either, since he's in love with his best friend's girlfriend, Magnolia Parks.He's happy enough to use Daisy to throw off the scent of his true affections - until she starts to infiltrate those too.As their romance blossoms into something neither were anticipating, Daisy, Christian, and Julian must come to terms with the fact that in this life everything comes at a price. As their relationships intersect and tangle, they all learn that sometimes life's most worthwhile pursuits can only be paid in blood.READERS LOVE THE MAGNOLIA PARKS UNIVERSE 'Magnolia and BJ have embedded themselves into my DNA.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This book gave drama, love triangles, toxicity, chaos and I ate up every single moment.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'TikTok made me do it, 1000% lived up to the hype.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Hands down the most emotional romance book I have ever read and therefore my favourite' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Ridiculously addictive ... My heart broke a million times' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This book will tear your heart out!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Never have I felt more emotions reading a single book before. The angst and pure rollercoaster of emotions was real! Jessa Hastings had me crying by 10%.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ MAGNOLIA PARKS UNIVERSE SERIES 1 - Magnolia Parks 2 - Daisy Haites 3 - Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home 4 - Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing 5 - Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark (OUT NOW!)

Read more less

Friend by day. Traitor by night. The second book in the dark, twisting thriller trilogy about a teen assassin’s attempt to live a normal life. Don't miss the epic conclusion to the series, coming May 2024. 'A dark, enthralling thriller' The Guardian Teen assassin Isabel Ryans now works for Comma, and she’s good at it: the Moth is the guild’s most notorious killer, infamous throughout the city of Espera. But Isabel still craves normality, and she won’t find it inside the guild. She moves in with a civilian flatmate, Laura, and begins living a double life, one where she gets to pretend she’s free. But when Isabel’s day job tangles her up with an anti-guild abolitionist movement, it becomes harder to keep her two lives separate. Forced to choose between her loyalty to her friends and her loyalty to Comma, she finds herself with enemies on all sides, particularly those from the rival guild Hummingbird, putting herself and Laura at risk. Can Isabel ever truly be safe in a city ruled by killers?From award-winning author Finn Longman, an exhilarating voice in YA fiction, comes an addictive trilogy for fans of global phenomena The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Killing Eve and The Hunger Games.PRAISE FOR THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN: 'An immersive, fast-paced thriller' The Irish Times 'An electrifying debut!’ Chelsea Pitcher, author of This Lie Will Kill You ‘A heart-in-your-mouth thriller that grips you from the first page until the very last.’ Benjamin Dean, author of The King is Dead 'A bold, jagged and uncompromising thriller that will keep you guessing all the way to the end.’ Tom Pollock, author of White Rabbit, Red Wolf ‘Sharp and layered, with a bright beating heart. The Butterfly Assassin will lure you deep into a fascinating and dangerous new world.’ Rory Power, author of Wilder Girls ‘An utterly addictive story. I told myself "just one more chapter" well into the night.’ Emily Suvada, author of This Mortal Coil ‘Fierce, thrilling, and impossible to put down. Packed full of amazing friendships, plot twists and a desperate fight to survive’ C. G. Drews, author of The Boy Who Steals Houses

Read more less

From Aristophanes' Lysistrata to the notorious Mata Hari and the legendary Tokyo Rose, stories of female betrayal during wartime have recurred throughout human history. The myth of Hanoi Jane, Jerry Lembcke argues, is simply the latest variation on this enduring theme. Like most of the iconic femmes fatales who came before, it is based on a real person, Jane Fonda. And also like its predecessors, it combines traces of fact with heavy doses of fiction to create a potent symbol of feminine perfidy--part erotic warrior-woman Barbarella, part savvy anti-war activist, and part powerful entrepreneur. Hanoi Jane, the book, deconstructs Hanoi Jane, the myth, to locate its origins in the need of Americans to explain defeat in Vietnam through fantasies of home-front betrayal and the masculation of the national will-to-war. Lembcke shows that the expression "Hanoi Jane" did not reach the eyes and ears of most Americans until five or six years after the end of the war in Vietnam. By then, anxieties about America's declining global status and deteriorating economy were fuelling a populist reaction that pointed to the loss of the war as the taproot of those problems. Blaming the anti-war movement for undermining the military's resolve, many found in the imaginary Hanoi Jane the personification of their stab-in-the back theories. Ground zero of the myth was the city of Hanoi itself, which Jane Fonda had visited as a peace activist in July 1972. Rumours surrounding Fonda's visits with U.S. POWs and radio broadcasts to troops combined to conjure allegations of treason that had cost American lives. That such tales were more imagined than real did not prevent them from insinuating themselves into public memory, where they have continued to infect American politics and culture. Hanoi Jane is a book about the making of Hanoi Jane by those who saw a formidable threat in the Jane Fonda who supported soldiers and veterans opposed to the war they fought, in the postcolonial struggle of the Vietnamese people to make their own future, and in the movements of women everywhere for gender equality.

Read more less

Reeling from the death of his son, a down-on-his-luck rancher witnesses a random murder that pits him head-to-head with a blood-thirsty outlaw!Royce Blood had everything he wanted. He owned a small ranch on good land, and he and his wife, Ophelia, had a ten-year-old son, Nicholas. But Royce’s life was shattered one day when Nicholas decided to take a typical afternoon swim in the river near the family’s ranch. His father had no choice but to watch as his young son was attacked and killed by a bear.Racked with the guilt of his son’s death, Royce sets out to kill the animal, despite desperate pleas from Ophelia. When he finally returns, he finds Ophelia gone. Brokenhearted, Royce abandons everything, turning to drifting and drinking, until an old friend convinces him to take work as a messenger guard on his stage line. His circumstances becoming increasingly dire, Royce comes upon the outlaw Gypsy Davy, notorious for never leaving any witnesses to his crimes.When Royce sees Gypsy Davy kill a woman, he decides to take the law, and his life, into his own hands and by killing Gypsy and avenging the woman’s death. But with the local sheriff in his back pocket and his band of cronies protecting him, Davy is a hard man to find, let alone kill. But Royce is determined, and set on a path that will end with him or Gypsy six feet under. It’s a story of wild Western law and mortality, making The Messenger a gritty tale of the lengths one man will go to save his soul.Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction that takes place in the old West. Westerns—books about outlaws, sheriffs, chiefs and warriors, cowboys and Indians—are a genre in which we publish regularly. Our list includes international bestselling authors like Zane Gray and Louis L’Amour, and many more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Read more less

Walter Wolff was the son of a Jewish merchant family that fled their German home when the Nazis came to power and took refuge in Brussels, Belgium. On the eve of the German invasion, in May 1940, the family began its second escape. Their sixteen-month odyssey took them through the chaos of battle in France and the dangers of living clandestinely as Jews in occupied territory, before they finally boarded the notorious freighter SS Navemar in Cadiz, Spain, to be among the last Jewish refugees admitted to the United States before Pearl Harbor.Within two years of his arrival in the States, Walter was ready to take the fight back to the Nazis as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Trained for the Intelligence Corps at Camp Ritchie, he was sent first to Italy and then to Germany and Austria, where he interrogated POWs for potential prosecution as war criminals at Nuremburg. At the same time, on his travels in Europe he returned to the confiscated properties of his extended family, throwing out the occupiers and reclaiming ownership. Telling the rousing story of a Jewish boy who fled persecution and returned to prosecute the Nazi oppressors, Walter Wolff’s daughter Nina has reconstructed these events from family lore and her father’s own cache of more than 700 wartime letters and 200 photographs, which he revealed to her shortly before he died.Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Read more less

Revealing the dark truth about the impact of predatory private equity firms on American health care.Won Gold from the Axiom Book Award in the Category of Business Ethics, the Benjamin Franklin Awards by the Independent Book Publishers Association and the North American Book Award in the Catergory of Business Finance, Finalist of the American Book Fest Best Book Social Change and Current Events by the American Book FestPrivate equity (PE) firms pervade all aspects of our modern lives. Unlike other corporations, which generally manufacture products or provide services, they leverage considerable debt and other people's money to buy and sell businesses with the sole aim of earning supersized profits in the shortest time possible. With a voracious appetite and trillions of dollars at its disposal, the private equity industry is now buying everything from your opioid treatment center to that helicopter that helps swoop you up from a car crash site. It may even control how and when you can get your kidney dialysis. In Ethically Challenged, Laura Katz Olson describes how PE firms are gobbling up physician and dental practices; home care and hospice agencies; substance abuse, eating disorder, and autism services; urgent care facilities; and emergency medical transportation. With a sharp eye on cost and quality of care, Olson investigates the PE industry's impact on these essential services. She explains how PE firms pile up massive debt on their investment targets and how they bleed these enterprises with assorted fees and dividends for themselves. Throughout, she argues that public pension funds, which provide the preponderance of equity for PE buyouts, tend to ignore the pesky fact that their money may be undermining the very health care system their workers and retirees rely on.Weaving together insights from interviews with business owners and experts, newspaper articles, purchased data sets, and industry publications, Olson offers a unique perspective and appreciation of the significance of PE investments in health care. The first book to comprehensively address private equity and health care, Ethically Challenged raises the curtain on an industry notorious for its secrecy, exposing the nefarious side of its maneuvers.

Read more less

*** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! ***Global icon John Grisham returns to Mississippi in his most gripping thriller yet.'As ever with Grisham there are corkscrew twists and turns as he ratchets up the suspense. It is exceptional story-telling, which leaves the reader begging for the novel never to end. Grisham has sold more than 300 million copies of his work. This shows exactly why' DAILY MAILFor most of the last hundred years, Biloxi was known for its beaches, resorts, and seafood industry. But it had a darker side. It was also notorious for corruption and vice, everything from gambling, prostitution, bootleg liquor, drugs . . . even contract killings. The vice was controlled by a small cabal of mobsters, many of them rumoured to be members of the Dixie Mafia.Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith's father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to 'clean up the Coast.' Hugh's father became the 'Boss' of Biloxi's criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father's footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father's clubs. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom.Rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters, The Boys from Biloxi is a sweeping saga of two sons of immigrant families who grow up as friends, but ultimately find themselves in a knife-edge legal confrontation in which life itself hangs in the balance.In this novel, Grisham takes his powerful storytelling to the next level, his trademark twists and turns will keep you tearing through the pages until the stunning conclusion.'It's a story that spans half a century and ends inevitably in a courtroom showdown. A morally complex, compelling and illuminating read' MAIL ON SUNDAY'Invites comparisons with the Godfather trilogy - it spans two generations and several postwar decades - and has a vast cast and a winning energy' SUNDAY TIMES 350+ million copies, 45 languages, 10 blockbuster films:NO ONE WRITES DRAMA LIKE JOHN GRISHAM

Read more less

Slavery, segregation, abortion, workers' rights, the power of the courts. These issues have been at the heart of the greatest constitutional controversies in American history. And in this concise and thought-provoking volume, some of today's most distinguished legal scholars and commentators explain for a general audience how five landmark Supreme Court cases centered on those controversies shaped the country's destiny and continue to affect us even now. The book is a profound exploration of the Supreme Court's importance to America's social and political life. It is also, as many of the contributors show, an intriguing reflection of what some have seen as an important trend in legal scholarship away from an uncritical belief in the essentially benign nature of judicial power. Robert George opens with an illuminating survey of the themes that unite and divide the five cases. Other contributors then examine each case in detail through a lively commentary-and-response format. Mark Tushnet and Jeremy Waldron exchange views on Marbury v. Madison, the pivotal 1803 case that established the power of the courts to invalidate legislation. Cass Sunstein and James McPherson discuss Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the notorious case that confirmed the rights of slaveowners, declared that black people could not be American citizens, and is often seen as a cause of the Civil War. Hadley Arkes and Donald Drakeman explore the legacy of Lochner v. New York (1905), a case that ushered in decades of judicial hostility to social welfare laws. Earl Maltz and Walter Murphy assess Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954), the famous case that ended racial segregation in public schools. Finally, Jean Bethke Elshtain and George Will tackle Roe v. Wade (1973), still a flashpoint a quarter of a century later in the debate over abortion. While some of the contributors show sympathy for strong judicial interventions on social issues, many across the ideological spectrum are sharply critical of judicial activism. A compelling introduction to the greatest cases in U.S. constitutional law, this is also an enlightening glimpse of the state of the art in American legal scholarship.

Read more less

“A fascinating, if disturbing, window onto the origins of racism.”—Publishers Weekly“The eighteenth-century essays published for the first time in Who’s Black and Why? contain a world of ideas—theories, inventions, and fantasies—about what blackness is, and what it means. To read them is to witness European intellectuals, in the age of the Atlantic slave trade, struggling, one after another, to justify atrocity.”—Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United StatesThe first translation and publication of sixteen submissions to the notorious eighteenth-century Bordeaux essay contest on the cause of black skin—an indispensable chronicle of the rise of scientifically based, anti-Black racism.In 1739 Bordeaux’s Royal Academy of Sciences announced a contest for the best essay on the sources of “blackness.” What is the physical cause of blackness and African hair, and what is the cause of Black degeneration, the contest announcement asked. Sixteen essays, written in French and Latin, were ultimately dispatched from all over Europe. The authors ranged from naturalists to physicians, theologians to amateur savants. Documented on each page are European ideas about who is Black and why.Looming behind these essays is the fact that some four million Africans had been kidnapped and shipped across the Atlantic by the time the contest was announced. The essays themselves represent a broad range of opinions. Some affirm that Africans had fallen from God’s grace; others that blackness had resulted from a brutal climate; still others emphasized the anatomical specificity of Africans. All the submissions nonetheless circulate around a common theme: the search for a scientific understanding of the new concept of race. More important, they provide an indispensable record of the Enlightenment-era thinking that normalized the sale and enslavement of Black human beings.These never previously published documents survived the centuries tucked away in Bordeaux’s municipal library. Translated into English and accompanied by a detailed introduction and headnotes written by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Andrew Curran, each essay included in this volume lays bare the origins of anti-Black racism and colorism in the West.

Read more less

Empresses, Art, and Agency in Song Dynasty China is the first book in any language devoted to the art of imperial women in China. Utilizing a wide range of historical sources and materials, this groundbreaking, interdisciplinary study pieces together a lost history of female creativity by focusing on the critical role emperors’ wives played as patrons, collectors, taste-makers, and artists during the three-century Song dynasty (960–1279), an era noted for spectacular cultural achievements. The Song led China to unrivaled intellectual, socioeconomic, scientific, and urban advances. A flourishing printing culture helped spur a dramatic expansion of literacy that benefited women, whose talent in learning was often paired with virtue and was exemplified by the Song imperial women. Paralleling these developments was an unprecedented level of imperial patronage of the fine arts, including painting and calligraphy. However, while individual emperors such as Huizong (r. 1100–1125) have long been recognized for their importance in this arena, the role played by imperial women has remained largely hidden, subject in part to the biases of Chinese historiography. Drawing against the backdrop of their formidable presence in court politics, Hui-shu Lee recounts and reveals the stories of their lives and art. Lee focuses on such Song empresses as Liu, Wu, and Yang Meizi, artists and powerbrokers whose skill and influence helped shape the development of temple construction, sculpture, painting, and many other aspects of arts and culture. Acting in the shadow of the notorious female emperor Wu Zetian of the Tang dynasty, early Song imperial women began to define themselves through images and modes of expression that purposely concealed their power. In the process, they helped forge an effective and lasting model of female agency in China. In her exploration of Song imperial arts, Lee looks at ghost-writing, art collecting, didactic art, and the use of calligraphy and painting as gendered modes of expression. She draws on a number of disciplines, including art history, literature, history, and gender studies, to provide a unique account of the vital role of empresses in shaping Song art and culture.

Read more less

Meng Jiangnü Brings Down the Great Wall brings together ten versions of a popular Chinese legend that has intrigued readers and listeners for hundreds of years. Elements of the story date back to the early centuries B.C.E. and are an intrinsic part of Chinese literary history. Major themes and subtle nuances of the legend are illuminated here by Wilt L. Idema's new translations and pairings. In this classic story, a young woman named Meng Jiang makes a long, solitary journey to deliver winter clothes to her husband, a drafted laborer on the grandiose Great Wall construction project of the notorious First Emperor of the Qin dynasty (BCE 221-208). But her travels end in tragedy when, upon arrival, she learns that her husband has died under the harsh working conditions and been entombed in the wall. Her tears of grief cause the wall to collapse and expose his bones, which she collects for proper burial. In some versions, she tricks the lecherous emperor, who wants to marry her, into providing a stately funeral for her husband and then takes her own life. The versions presented here are ballads and chantefables (alternating chanted verse and recited prose), five from urban printed texts from the late Imperial and early Republican periods, and five from oral performances and partially reconstructed texts collected in rural areas in recent decades. They represent a wide range of genres, regional styles, dates, and content. From one version to another, different elements of the story--the circumstances of Meng Jiangnu's marriage, her relationship with her parents-in-law, the journey to the wall, her grief, her defiance of the emperor--are elaborated upon, downplayed, or left out altogether depending on the particular moral lessons that tale authors wished to impart. Idema brings together his considerable translation skills and broad knowledge of Chinese literature to present an assortment of tales and insightful commentary that will be a gold mine of information for scholars in a number of disciplines. Haiyan Lee's essay discusses the appeal of the Meng Jiangnü story to twentieth-century literary reformers, and the interpretations they imposed on the material they collected.

Read more less

Sol Plaatje is celebrated as one of South Africa's most accomplished political and literary figures. A pioneer in the history of the black press, editor of several newspapers, he was one of the founders of the African National Congress in 1912, led its campaign against the notorious Natives Land Act of 1913, and twice travelled overseas to represent the interests of his people. He wrote a number of books, including - in English - Native Life in South Africa (1916), a powerful denunciation of the Land Act and the policies that led to it, and a pioneering novel, Mhudi (1930). Years after his death his diary of the siege of Mafeking was retrieved and published, providing a unique view of one of the best known episodes of the South African War of 1899-1902. At the same time Plaatje was a proud Morolong, fascinated by his people's history. He was dedicated to Setswana, and set out to preserve its traditions and oral forms so as to create a written literature. He translated a number of Shakespeare's plays into Setswana, the first in any African language, collected proverbs and stories, and even worked on a new dictionary. He fought long battles with those who thought they knew better over the particular form its orthography should take. This book tells the story of Plaatje's remarkable life, setting it in the context of the changes that overtook South Africa during his lifetime, and the huge obstacles he had to overcome. It draws upon extensive new research in archives in southern Africa, Europe and the US, as well as an expanding scholarship on Plaatje and his writings. This biography sheds new light not only on Plaatje's struggles and achievements but upon his personal life and his relationships with his wife and family, friends and supporters. It pays special attention to his formative years, looking to his roots in chiefly societies, his education and upbringing on a German-run mission, and his exposure to the legal and political ideas of the nineteenth-century Cape Colony as key factors in inspiring and sustaining a life of more or less ceaseless endeavour.

Read more less

From one of the greatest rappers of all time, the memoir of a life cut short, a revealing look at the dark side of hip hop’s Golden Era...In this often violent but always introspective memoir, Mobb Deep’s Prodigy tells his much anticipated story of struggle, survival, and hope down the mean streets of New York City. For the first time, he gives an intimate look at his family background, his battles with drugs, his life of crime, his relentless suffering with sickle-cell anemia, and much more. Recently released after serving three and a half years in state prison due to what many consider an unlawful arrest by a rumored secret NYPD hip hop task force, Prodigy is ready to talk about his life as one of rap’s greatest legends. My Infamous Life is an unblinking account of Prodigy’s wild times with Mobb Deep who, alongside rappers like Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Jay-Z, and Wu-Tang Clan, changed the musical landscape with their vivid portrayals of early ’90s street life. It is a firsthand chronicle of legendary rap feuds like the East Coast–West Coast rivalry; Prodigy’s beefs with Jay-Z, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Ja Rule, and Capone-N-Noreaga; and run-ins with prodigal hit makers and managers like Puff Daddy, Russell Simmons, Chris Lighty, Irv Gotti, and Lyor Cohen. Taking the reader behind the smoke-and-mirrors glamour of the hip hop world, so often seen as the only way out for those with few options, Prodigy lays down the truth about the intoxicating power of money, the meaning of true friendship and loyalty, and the ultimately redemptive power of self. This is the heartbreaking journey of a child born in privilege, his youth spent among music royalty like Diana Ross and Dizzy Gillespie, educated in private schools, until a family tragedy changed everything. Raised in the mayhem of the Queensbridge projects, Prodigy rose to the dizzying heights of fame and eventually fell into the darkness of a prison cell. A truly candid memoir, part fearless confessional and part ode to the concrete jungles of New York City, from the front line of the last great moment in hip hop history.

Read more less

Bradt's Karakalpakstan is the longest, most detailed and most up-to-date travel guidebook to this autonomous republic - Central Asia's best-kept secret. With detailed information on what to see and do, listings for accommodation and restaurants, and guidance on getting around, this guide provides all the practical advice adventurous tourists need to visit or explore this exciting destination. Roughly the size of Sweden, Karakalpakstan borders Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and was, until recently, dominated by the Aral Sea. As the sea water has retreated, the Aralkum - the world's newest desert - and numerous lakes have formed in its place. Ecotourism is developing rapidly here, as local people recognise the need to protect and restore fragile ecosystems while creating meaningful employment opportunities. Amid Karakalpakstan's remote wildernesses, the intrepid traveller will find unique geology (such as the Ustyurt Plateau), rare wildlife (including a substantial population of the critically endangered saiga antelope, whose peculiarly bulbous nose helps filter desert dust and regulate the animal's temperature), and fabulous star gazing. The region also boasts a long history and rich culture. Scattered through the Kyzylkum, the ruins of the 50-plus desert fortresses of Ancient Khorezm (some proposed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites) attest to the region's former strategic importance. You can explore ancient settlements (such as the necropolis of Mizdakhan, said to include the grave of Adam), and see caravanserais, mausolea and even Chilpik Dakhma, a Zoroastrian 'tower of silence'. Alternatively, celebrate Russian Avant Garde art alongside the superb archaeological and ethnographic collections of Savitsky Museum in Nukus, justifiably known as the 'Louvre of the Steppe'. For something entirely different, why not explore Muynak's ship graveyard on the remains of the Aral Sea, visit the notorious Soviet bioweapons lab Aralsk 7 on Vozrozhdeniya (Resurrection Island), raise your binoculars at the Important Bird and Biodiversity Area of Sudochye Lakes (where 230 types of birds have been recorded) or dance the night away at the annual Stihia festival of electronic music. Written by two Central Asian experts, Bradt's Karakalpakstan is an indispensable practical companion to visiting this excitingly varied republic.

Read more less

***Winner of the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel***'Come home.' Vera's mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories - she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family.Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren't alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera's childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn't the one leaving notes around the house in her father's handwriting . . . but who else could it possibly be?There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.READERS LOVE JUST LIKE HOME:'If you are a fan of Stephen King, then this book will be the one for you''Along with an engaging plot, the writing is compelling and beautiful. This is a book that I feel will stick with me for a long time to come''A creepy and dark read and definitely not what I was expecting. I could not put this book down and finally turned the last page in the wee hours' 'I was actually terrified while reading it, and the emotion lingered long after I finished it. It kept me up all night' 'A slow burn thriller with an unnerving protagonist and an atmospheric setting? Yes, please!' 'It was dark, creepy and haunting and made me sleep with a light on'**************************************************PRAISE FOR THE ECHO WIFE:'An edge-of-your-seat tale . . . a unique, thrilling adventure, with truly unexpected twists and turns the whole way through' Independent'It's an unpredictable story . . . chilling . . . for an escape from our current stuck-at-home situation, The Echo Wife could be for you' Daily Record'Looking for one of the best science fiction books wrapped up in a mystery? Look no further . . . Gloriously inventive and full of surprises' Woman & Home Online

Read more less

Many readers will be familiar with Nigel Welbourn's long running series of books, covering lost railways in Britain and Ireland. This new book Lost Railways of the World is the latest by this author on the subject of disused railways. The material for this volume has been collected and researched over a period of almost fifty years of world travel by the author. Informative text records the fortunes of the world's lost railways and every country with significant disused railways is included. Lost railways are a unifying theme, being found throughout the world, from the hottest African desert to the coldest steppes of Russia. The book has a surprisingly British flavour as historically many railways throughout the world used British equipment and operating practices. On his first trip in the 1970s the author discovered British signalling equipment in Europe. In 2020 he discovered the same firms' equipment in South America. The world's top ten lost lines are listed, from the seven-mile-long sea bridge on a line that ran through the Florida Keys, to the rugged mountain splendour of the Khyber Pass Railway. Some of the oldest, largest, longest, most northerly, southerly, expensive, crookedest, steepest, highest, lowest and most notorious lost railways are included. Quirky and other unique tales from lost railways are included, such as the disappearing phantom bridge, a line destroyed by molten lava, to one that sank under the sea, another that conveyed giant turtles, to a memorial to a brave railway elephant. The author also visited remote areas of Argentina and provides more information on the mysterious disappearance of the ex-Lynton & Barnstaple Railway locomotive Lew. A large number of the 300 colour illustrations have not been published before, maps and stories from around the world will delight not only the railway enthusiast, but appeal to a wider cadre of readers with an interest in nostalgia, history, geography and travel. To some the book will be an informative source of information, to others it is written in a way that highlights the most amazing lost railways in the world, but either way it is a fascinating and unique book.

Read more less

⭐ A REESE'S BOOK CLUB AND TIKTOK BOOK CLUB PICK ⭐'Hilarious, hot and heartfelt' MEG CABOT'Gorgeously written and heart-meltingly romantic' BETH O'LEARY'Romantic, sexy, fun, delicious and important' MARIAN KEYES__________Sisters, beware the 'Wasteman of Whitewell' . . .As host of radio show Brown Sugar, Kiki Banjo's mission is to protect her listeners from heartbreak. Which puts Whitewell College's newest student, handsome 'player' Malakai Korede, at the top of her hitlist. But when Kiki's dream summer internship in New York depends on finding a fresh angle for her radio show, she must make an unlikely bargain with Malakai himself - to put their simmering clashes aside to form a fake relationship, something sweet and spicy enough to win over the whole campus. However, close proximity to the notorious heartbreaker brings everything Kiki thought she knew about her own heart into question. Why does throwing out her stringent romantic rulebook suddenly so tempting?Will she find it in her to resist?A fresh, utterly addictive rom-com from Sunday Times bestselling author Bola Babalola, Honey & Spice is full of delicious tension and romantic intrigue that will make you weak at the knees.'Romance will never be dead, as long as Bolu is writing it' JESSIE BURTON'Everything you could ever want from a romance and more - the vibes are simply immaculate' ZOELLA'Charming and funny' OBSERVER'The book many have been waiting for' LIZZIE DAMILOLA BLACKBURN'Kiki compares her feelings for Malakai as like swallowing a star. That's a bit how I felt after reading this messy but joyful book' THE TIMES'Breathes new life into the genre with its vibrant characters and sexy, authentic voice' RED'Smart, sexy and energetic' EMMA GANNON'This book is so addictive' ANNIE LORDWHY READERS LOVE HONEY & SPICE'Sweet and spicy' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'How modern chick flicks should, and probably will, look like' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Warm, funny and sweet. I see a lot of myself & experiences in the main character Kiki - and we love that kind of representation' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Funny, hot, thought-provoking' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Read more less

“The perfect summer read” (USA TODAY) begins with a shocking tragedy that results in three generations of the Adler family grappling with heartbreak, romance, and the weight of family secrets across the course of one summer. “Rachel Beanland is a writer of uncommon wit and wisdom, with a sharp and empathetic eye for character. She’ll win you over in the most old fashioned of ways: She simply tells a hell of a story.” —Rebecca Makkai, Pulitzer Finalist for The Great BelieversAtlantic City, 1934. Every summer, Esther and Joseph Adler rent their house out to vacationers escaping to “America’s Playground” and move into the small apartment above their bakery. Despite the cramped quarters, this is the apartment where they raised their two daughters, Fannie and Florence, and it always feels like home. Now Florence has returned from college, determined to spend the summer training to swim the English Channel, and Fannie, pregnant again after recently losing a baby, is on bedrest for the duration of her pregnancy. After Joseph insists they take in a mysterious young woman whom he recently helped emigrate from Nazi Germany, the apartment is bursting at the seams. Esther only wants to keep her daughters close and safe but some matters are beyond her control: there’s Fannie’s risky pregnancy—not to mention her always-scheming husband, Isaac—and the fact that the handsome heir of a hotel notorious for its anti-Semitic policies, seems to be in love with Florence. When tragedy strikes, Esther makes the shocking decision to hide the truth—at least until Fannie’s baby is born—and pulls the family into an elaborate web of secret-keeping and lies, bringing long-buried tensions to the surface that reveal how quickly the act of protecting those we love can turn into betrayal. Based on a true story and told in the vein of J. Courtney Sullivan’s Saints for All Occasions and Anita Diamant’s The Boston Girl, Beanland’s family saga is a breathtaking portrait of just how far we will go to in order to protect our loved ones and an uplifting portrayal of how the human spirit can endure—and even thrive—after tragedy.

Read more less

“In recent years,” writes TransAfrica executive director Randall Robinson in the preface to this volume, “there has been no graver moral-political crisis facing the world than apartheid.” For that reason, the prospect of representative democracy in South Africa ranks as one of the most extraordinary sociopolitical achievements of the late twentieth century. Throughout much of the era of repressive white rule, the United States has maintained a complex and often supportive geopolitical and economic relationship with South Africa’s notorious apartheid regime. As that regime comes to its inevitable end, the role of U.S. policy—from the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 to the release of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela in 1990—can now be examined and understood. South Africa and the United States: The Declassified History makes available, for the first time, the most important internal U.S. government documents on U.S. policy toward South Africa over the last thirty years. Obtained by the National Security Archive through the Freedom of Information Act, this rich and revealing collection includes formerly top secret presidential decision directives, CIA memoranda, State Department policy papers, embassy cables, Defense Intelligence Agency assessments, and other recently declassified documents. Taken together, they dramatically record years of U.S. efforts to prop up the Afrikaner regime, and the evolution of Washington’s policies in the face of mounting domestic and international opposition to the world’s last racially based political system. Among the many revelations in this remarkable volume are details of the Reagan administration’s secret propaganda plan to defuse public and congressional support for economic sanctions; the U.S. role in the development of South Africa’s nuclear weapons capability; and Henry Kissinger’s controversial diplomatic and covert campaigns throughout the southern African region. The context for the declassified documents in South Africa and the United States is provided by concise, authoritative essays on U.S. sanctions policy, the history of nuclear collaboration, and U.S. reaction to upheavals in Angola, Mozambique, and elsewhere in the region. To supplement the narrative and the documents, the volume also provides an in-depth chronology and comprehensive glossaries. The result is an accessible and intriguing documentary history of one of the most significant international issues of our time.

Read more less

Ever wonder what history’s monarchs would say if you could talk to them? Well wonder no more, as historical monarchs are interviewed from the grave in this hilarious children's graphic novelWelcome to Corpse Talk, the chat show with a difference - all of the guests are dead! Your host, Adam Murphy interviews magnificent monarchs throughout history in this hilarious graphic novel and talk-show style book.Inside the pages of this delightful graphic novel for kids, you’ll discover: • Humorous text, in the format of an exchange between the interviewer and interviewee • Full-page illustrations offer more detail on the broader cultural and historical context surrounding the monarch’s stories - from the workings of Ramesses II’s empire to the gruesome timeline of Henry VIII’s (mostly) unfortunate brides • A diverse selection of rancorous rulers from around the world, from the Sultan Saladin and Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di to Pharaoh Cleopatra and Empress Matilda Bring history to life! Have you heard of Montezuma, the last ruler of the Aztecs? Or wondered why Queen Victoria was not amused? Find out in this exciting graphic novel! Delve into the lives of famous rulers like Cleopatra, Ramesses II, Henry VIII, and Mary Antoinette who all made ructions in their ruling days. Writer Adam Murphy explores the why, the what, and what were you thinking of these monarchs’ most notorious decisions and behaviors. Just for fun, Adam peppers in a few silly and funny questions to amuse young readers in this hilarious history book for kids. Bold and expressive illustrations by Adam and Lisa Murphy bring historical events to life, literally! The humorous text in this kid’s comic book makes learning history fun and entertaining. Whether you’re a fan of these superb sovereigns or just love a good story, this history book will not fail to inspire you and make you laugh.‘Dig up’ even more fun!DK's Corpse Talk series is a hilarious series of graphic novels for kids that delves into the history of dead famous people in the format of questions and answers. Other books in this series include Corpse Talk: Groundbreaking Women and Corpse Talk: Groundbreaking Scientists.

Read more less

In this young readers' edition, a rising New York Times reporter tells the compelling story of the Compton Cowboys, a group of African-American men and women who defy stereotypes and continue the proud, centuries-old tradition of black cowboys in the heart of one of America’s most notorious cities.In Compton, California, ten black riders on horseback cut an unusual profile, their cowboy hats tilted against the hot Los Angeles sun. They are the Compton Cowboys, their small ranch one of the very last in a formerly semirural area of the city that has been home to African-American horse riders for decades. To most people, Compton is known only as the home of rap greats NWA and Kendrick Lamar, hyped in the media for its seemingly intractable gang violence. But in 1988 Mayisha Akbar founded The Compton Jr. Posse to provide local youth with a safe alternative to the streets, one that connected them with the rich legacy of black cowboys in American culture. From Mayisha’s youth organization came the Cowboys of today: black men and women from Compton for whom the ranch and the horses provide camaraderie, respite from violence, healing from trauma, and recovery from incarceration.The Cowboys include Randy, Mayisha’s nephew, faced with the daunting task of remaking the Cowboys for a new generation; Anthony, former drug dealer and inmate, now a family man and mentor, Keiara, a single mother pursuing her dream of winning a national rodeo championship, and a tight clan of twentysomethings—Kenneth, Keenan, Charles, and Tre—for whom horses bring the freedom, protection, and status that often elude the young black men of Compton. The Compton Cowboys is a story about trauma and transformation, race and identity, compassion, and ultimately, belonging. Walter Thompson-Hernández paints a unique and unexpected portrait of this city, pushing back against stereotypes to reveal an urban community in all its complexity, tragedy, and triumph.In addition to reading about the Compton Cowboys, kids will get to see them and the horses that saved their lives. This book includes an 8-page insert of color photos by the author, Whiting Grant winner and New York Times reporter Walter Thompson-Hernández.

Read more less

'For anyone who enjoyed Hillbilly Elegy or Educated, Unfollow is an essential text' - Louis Theroux'Such a moving, redemptive, clear-eyed account of religious indoctrination' - Pandora Sykes'A nuanced portrait of the lure and pain of zealotry' New York Times'Unfolds like a suspense novel . . . A brave, unsettling, and fascinating memoir about the damage done by religious fundamentalism' NPRA Radio Four Book of the Week Pick for June 2021As featured on the BBC documentaries, 'The Most Hated Family in America' and 'Surviving America's Most Hated Family'It was an upbringing in many ways normal. A loving home, shared with squabbling siblings, overseen by devoted parents. Yet in other ways it was the precise opposite: a revolving door of TV camera crews and documentary makers, a world of extreme discipline, of siblings vanishing in the night.Megan Phelps-Roper was raised in the Westboro Baptist Church - the fire-and-brimstone religious sect at once aggressively homophobic and anti-Semitic, rejoiceful for AIDS and natural disasters, and notorious for its picketing the funerals of American soldiers. From her first public protest, aged five, to her instrumental role in spreading the church's invective via social media, her formative years brought their difficulties. But being reviled was not one of them. She was preaching God's truth. She was, in her words, 'all in'.In November 2012, at the age of twenty-six, she left the church, her family, and her life behind.Unfollow is a story about the rarest thing of all: a person changing their mind. It is a fascinating insight into a closed world of extreme belief, a biography of a complex family, and a hope-inspiring memoir of a young woman finding the courage to find compassion for others, as well as herself.---More praise for Unfollow'A beautiful, gripping book about a singular soul, and an unexpected redemption' - Nick Hornby'A modern-day parable for how we should speak and listen to each other' - Dolly Alderton'Her journey - from Westboro to becoming one of the most empathetic, thoughtful, humanistic writers around - is exceptional and inspiring' - Jon Ronson'A gripping story, beautifully told . . . It takes real talent to produce a book like this. Its message could not be more urgent' Sunday Times

Read more less

Baron Roman Fedorovich von Ungern-Sternberg (1885–1921) was a Baltic German aristocrat and tsarist military officer who fought against the Bolsheviks in Eastern Siberia during the Russian Civil War. From there he established himself as the de facto warlord of Outer Mongolia, the base for a fantastical plan to restore the Russian and Chinese empires, which then ended with his capture and execution by the Red Army as the war drew to a close. In The Baron’s Cloak, Willard Sunderland tells the epic story of the Russian Empire’s final decades through the arc of the Baron’s life, which spanned the vast reaches of Eurasia. Tracking Ungern’s movements, he transits through the Empire’s multinational borderlands, where the country bumped up against three other doomed empires, the Habsburg, Ottoman, and Qing, and where the violence unleashed by war, revolution, and imperial collapse was particularly vicious. In compulsively readable prose that draws on wide-ranging research in multiple languages, Sunderland re-creates Ungern’s far-flung life and uses it to tell a compelling and original tale of imperial success and failure in a momentous time. Sunderland visited the many sites that shaped Ungern’s experience, from Austria and Estonia to Mongolia and China, and these travels help give the book its arresting geographical feel. In the early chapters, where direct evidence of Ungern’s activities is sparse, he evokes peoples and places as Ungern would have experienced them, carefully tracing the accumulation of influences that ultimately came together to propel the better documented, more notorious phase of his career. Recurring throughout Sunderland’s magisterial account is a specific artifact: the Baron’s cloak, an essential part of the cross-cultural uniform Ungern chose for himself by the time of his Mongolian campaign: an orangey-gold Mongolian kaftan embroidered in the Khalkha fashion yet outfitted with tsarist-style epaulettes on the shoulders. Like his cloak, Ungern was an imperial product. He lived across the Russian Empire, combined its contrasting cultures, fought its wars, and was molded by its greatest institutions and most volatile frontiers. By the time of his trial and execution mere months before the decree that created the USSR, he had become a profoundly contradictory figure, reflecting both the empire’s potential as a multinational society and its ultimately irresolvable limitations.

Read more less

As one of the greatest rock icons of all time, Gregg Allman has lived it all and then some. Now, he tells the unflinching story of his life, laying bare the unvarnished truth about his wild ride that has spanned across the years. The story begins simply: with Gregg and his older brother, Duane, growing up in the South, raising hell with their guitars, and drifting from one band to another. But all that changed when Duane and Gregg came together with four other men to forge something new-a unique sound shaped by soul, rock, and blues and brimming with experimentation; a sound not just of a band, but of a family. Bringing to life the carefree early days of the Allman Brothers Band, Gregg holds nothing back-from run-ins with the law to meeting girls on the road, from jamming at the Fillmore East to experimenting with drugs. Along the way, he goes behind the scenes of some of the greatest rock music ever recorded, without shying away from the infamous and painful deaths of his brother, Duane, and Allman Brothers bassist Berry Oakley. Speaking for the first time about the profound impact that his brother's death had on him, Gregg offers a tribute to Duane that only a younger brother could write, showing how, to this day, he still confronts the grief of losing his big brother, even as Duane continues to guide and inspire him. Setting the record straight about the band's struggles in the face of death, Gregg shows how the decision to persevere came with a heavy price. While the rock and roll excesses of drugs, alcohol, and personality clashes led to a series of breakups that culminated with the band's permanent reunion in 1989, Gregg fought his own battle with substance abuse and failed marriages, including his tabloid-frenzied relationship with Cher, before finally cleaning up once and for all. Capturing the Allman Brothers' ongoing, triumphant resurgence as well as his own recent fight against hepatitis C, Gregg presents a story as honest as it is fascinating, providing a glimpse inside one of the most beloved and notorious bands in the history of rock music and demonstrating how, through it all, the road goes on...forever.

Read more less

‘A spooky rollercoaster of a book. Lots of twists and turns – I loved it’ Simon McCleave ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ No one expected them to go there. The question is: will any of them leave? Six friends travel to a remote island north of the Scottish Highlands for an old school reunion. They’ve rented The Lighthouse – a stunning, now abandoned building that was once notorious for deaths at sea. On the first evening, someone goes missing. The group search all through the night to no avail. But when the five remaining friends return to the lighthouse early the next morning, they are shocked to find James inside. He’s looks terrified – but won’t say a word about where he’s been. The party vow to put the strange night behind them and enjoy the rest of their stay, but when more unexplained things begin to occur, tensions escalate. It’s clear James knows something, but nothing will persuade him to give up the secrets of the island. Is he protecting his friends from a terrible truth, or leading them into more danger? A chilling and powerfully atmospheric suspense novel with a gothic edge, perfect for fans of The Hunting Party and The Sanatorium. Readers have been ensnared by The Lighthouse… ‘Such a strong sense of place…vivid and atmospheric’ CAROLINE CORCORAN ‘Charming, old-fashioned and eerily atmospheric’ DAILY MAIL ‘So creepy it kept me awake!’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Claustrophobic and eerie – it kept me guessing!’ NELL PATTISON ‘Wonderfully atmospheric, slow creeping menace, with a chilling edge’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Creepy, tense and so, so atmospheric’ ANDREA MARA ‘Twisty, creepy, impossible to put down – your head will spin’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A claustrophobic atmosphere, mounting suspense and twists and turns that will keep you hooked’ VICKI BRADLEY ‘So many what ifs, twists and turns and nail-biting suspense’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A brilliant page-turner’ CLOSER ‘Doesn’t let you go until the unexpected conclusion – a 5 star read’ Reader Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read more less