Search results for ""children""

'Marvellous . . . I read it with astonished delight . . . It is equally scholarly and entertaining.' - Jan Morris 'Quirky and compelling.' - The Times Once we've learned it as children, few of us think much of the alphabet and its familiar sing-song order. And yet the order of the alphabet, that simple knowledge that we take for granted, plays a major role in our adult lives. From the school register to the telephone book, from dictionaries and encyclopaedias to library shelves, our lives are ordered from A to Z. Long before Google searches, this magical system of organization gave us the ability to sift through centuries of thought, knowledge and literature, allowing us to sort, to file, and to find the information we have, and to locate the information we need. In A Place for Everything, acclaimed historian Judith Flanders draws our attention to both the neglected ubiquity of the alphabet and the long, complex history of its rise to prominence. For, while the order of the alphabet itself became fixed very soon after letters were first invented, their ability to sort and store and organize proved far less obvious. To many of our forebears, the idea of of organizing things by the random chance of the alphabet rather than by established systems of hierarchy or typology lay somewhere between unthinkable and disrespectful.A Place for Everything fascinatingly lays out the gradual triumph of alphabetical order, from its possible earliest days as a sorting tool in the Great Library of Alexandria in the third century BCE, to its current decline in prominence in our digital age of Wikipedia and Google. Along the way, the reader is enlightened and entertained with a wonderful cast of unknown facts, characters and stories from the great collector Robert Cotton, who denominated his manuscripts with the names of the busts of the Roman emperors surmounting his book cases, to the unassuming sixteenth- century London bookseller who ushered in a revolution by listing his authors by 'sirname' first.

Read more less

The captivating story of how a diverse group of women, including Janet Reno and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, broke the glass ceiling and changed the modern legal profession In Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers, award-winning legal historian Jill Norgren curates the oral histories of one hundred extraordinary American women lawyers who changed the profession of law. Many of these stories are being told for the first time. As adults these women were on the front lines fighting for access to law schools and good legal careers. They challenged established rules and broke the law’s glass ceiling.Norgren uses these interviews to describe the profound changes that began in the late 1960s, interweaving social and legal history with the women’s individual experiences. In 1950, when many of the subjects of this book were children, the terms of engagement were clear: only a few women would be admitted each year to American law schools and after graduation their professional opportunities would never equal those open to similarly qualified men. Harvard Law School did not even begin to admit women until 1950. At many law schools, well into the 1970s, men told female students that they were taking a place that might be better used by a male student who would have a career, not babies. In 2005 the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession initiated a national oral history project named the Women Trailblazers in the Law initiative: One hundred outstanding senior women lawyers were asked to give their personal and professional histories in interviews conducted by younger colleagues. The interviews, made available to the author, permit these women to be written into history in their words, words that evoke pain as well as celebration, humor, and somber reflection. These are women attorneys who, in courtrooms, classrooms, government agencies, and NGOs have rattled the world with insistent and successful demands to reshape their profession and their society. They are women who brought nothing short of a revolution to the profession of law.

Read more less

Magic, adventure, and a whole new world is waiting to be discovered! The perfect series for adventurers aged 9+ and fans of Michelle Harrison, Piers Torday and Jamie Littler. The Unmapped Chronicles will not only leave children entertained, but will also empower them to battle climate change and environmental issues.Where the map ends, the adventure begins . . . 11-year-old Zebedee Bolt is on the run. Again. Only this time it’s not the police who find him. It’s an evil harpy called Morg. And when she hauls him into Crackledawn, an Unmapped kingdom that conjures sunlight for our world, Zeb discovers running away only gets you so far. When magic’s involved, you’ve got to pick a side. And though Zeb vowed he wouldn’t trust anyone ever again, he didn’t expect to stumble aboard The Kerfuffle, an enchanted boat belonging to a girl called Oonie and her talking chameleon, Mrs Fickletint. Suddenly, Zeb finds himself on a voyage complete with silver whales, fire krakens and underwater palaces. Can he muster up enough trust in others, and in magic, to summon a dragon, find the Ember Scroll and defeat Morg once and for all? This is a story about saving the world but it’s also a story about trusting friends, and chameleons, even when kingdoms are falling apart. Praise for Abi Elphinstone!'Imaginative, adventurous and wonderful' Robin Stevens, author of A Murder Most Unladylike series 'The Unmapped Chronicles series is irresistible' Lauren St John, author of The White Giraffe 'Abi Elphinstone has created a complete world so believably and effortlessly, I can only marvel' Piers Torday, author of The Last Wild Trilogy 'Brimming with enchantment and adventure' Catherine Doyle, author of The Storm Keeper's Island ‘Abi Elphinstone is proving to be a worthy successor to C. S. Lewis’ The TimesAlso by Abi Elphinstone:The Dreamsnatcher The Shadow Keeper The Night Spinner Sky Song Winter Magic (anthology)Everdark (World Book Day)RumblestarJungledrop

Read more less

Winner of the 9+ category of the Sainsbury's Children's Book Award and shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award. What would you do if you could never leave your bubble? A poignant, heartwarming tale from inside the hospital walls that teaches children the importance of treating people with kindness and empathy. Perfect for fans of Wonder and The Boy At The Back of the Class.Amir is mad. He’s crazy. But the hospital wouldn’t let a crazy person in. They must have interviewed him and checked his qualifications. But maybe he didn’t even meet them? Maybe he hasn’t even come from India. He might have arrived on an alien spaceship and snuck in here in the middle of the night. Eleven-year-old Joe can't remember a life outside of his hospital room, with its beeping machines and view of London's rooftops. His condition means he's not allowed outside, not even for a moment, and his few visitors risk bringing life-threatening germs inside his 'bubble'. But then someone new enters his world and changes it for ever. THE BUBBLE BOY is the story of how Joe spends his days, copes with his loneliness and frustrations, and looks - with superhero-style bravery, curiosity and hope - to a future without limits. Expect superheroes, super nurses and a few tears from this truly unique story. ‘Poignant, hopeful and heartbreaking’ Fiona Noble – Children’s Editor, The Bookseller 'Deeply moving and utterly gripping . . . Stewart Foster carries off an astonishing feat of storytelling in this exceptional book' Julia Eccleshare, lovereading.co.uk ‘A gripping and deeply moving book’ Jamila Gavin, author of Coram Boy 'One thing we know about good books is their amazing ability to inspire empathy in the reader; to explore ideas and viewpoints that arise from experiences that are out of our own realm. The Bubble Boy does this with warmth, quirkiness and a light-hearted touch' The Guardian

Read more less

Expertly designed to develop early language and motor skills, discover exciting animals in this set of 16 colorful animal flash cards. Each card has a special touch and feel element to make learning fun for all the senses!With a vibrant image on every flashcard, DK's sturdy picture cards make learning about colors and shapes ever so fun ! Talking points on the back of each card reinforce learning while helping to familiarise children with all sorts of shapes and colors - expect a new favorite by the time they’ve finished the pack once or twice! These flash cards for toddlers age 1 - 2 also help to encourage a love of language learning from the start, as each word is repeated in four additional languages as well as English – Spanish, German, French, and Chinese – with a handy pronunciation guide next to each word. Celebrate your child’s curiosity as they: • Grow their language skills and learn animal vocabulary • Introduces kids to foreign languages from across the Globe, with simple words in English, Spanish, German, French, and Chinese on the cardbacks • Expertly designed to develop early language skills, boost information processing skills and help increase attention span • An easy to carry boxset of 16 picture cards, perfect for on-the-go learning! • Strong and sturdy cards, made to put up with babies and toddlers This set of My First Colors and Shapes flash cards contains an additional card for parent guidance with tips for creative learning games for you and your little one to share. Introduce your little one to their new favorite color with this set of amazing touch and feel flash cards!More in the SeriesLooking for more picture cards to keep little ones entertained, and help them grow? Well look no further! Grow your toddlers vocab with My First Words Picture Cards, or teach them all about colors and shapes with My First Things That Go!

Read more less

The amazing true story of a herd of elephants, the man who saved them, and the miracle of love that brought them home. One day in 1999, Lawrence Anthony and Françoise Malby hear that a herd of wild African elephants needs a new home. They welcome the elephants to their wildlife sanctuary—Thula Thula—with open arms. But the elephants are much less sure they want to stay. How will Lawrence prove to them that they are safe and loved? What follows is a gorgeously illustrated real-life story of a friendship . . . and the story of the miraculous way that love given freely will return—greater and more wonderful than it began. • TOUCHING ANIMAL FRIENDSHIPS: Owen and Mzee, Tarra and Bella, Rescue and Jessica . . . touching true stories of the emotional bonds possible between species are charming, and speak to the limitlessness of love. • ELEPHANT APPEAL: Elephants are one of the most fascinating and charming wild animals in all of nature. This heartwarming true story will intrigue and inspire children, and turn even the most reluctant readers into elephant enthusiasts. • CONSERVATION THEME: This book tells the true story of caring for one of the world's most beloved endangered animals: the African elephant. This book is a great, upbeat jumping-off point for discussions of the importance of preserving endangered species and their environments. • ENGAGING NONFICTION: There's no better way to get readers hooked on factual books than to offer them real-life stories with heart and meaning. • STRONG CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) emphasize learning about animal habitats/biomes in K–2 curriculums, while later grades address topics like conservation and endangered species. With a depth of research and an engaging, highly visual narrative, this book is an excellent resource for librarians and primary school educators. Perfect for: • Kindergarten and elementary school teachers • Parents and grandparents • Librarians • Lovers of animals, wildlife, and the natural world • Zoo and natural history museumgoers

Read more less

A comprehensive history of PTSD.Post-traumatic stress disorder—and its predecessor diagnoses, including soldier’s heart, railroad spine, and shell shock—was recognized as a psychiatric disorder in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The psychic impacts of train crashes, wars, and sexual shocks among children first drew psychiatric attention. Later, enormous numbers of soldiers suffering from battlefield traumas returned from the world wars. It was not until the 1980s that PTSD became a formal diagnosis, in part to recognize the intense psychic suffering of Vietnam War veterans and women with trauma-related personality disorders. PTSD now occupies a dominant place in not only the mental health professions but also major social institutions and mainstream culture, making it the signature mental disorder of the early twenty-first century. In PTSD, Allan V. Horwitz traces the fluctuations in definitions of and responses to traumatic psychic conditions. Arguing that PTSD, perhaps more than any other diagnostic category, is a lens for showing major historical changes in conceptions of mental illness, he surveys the conditions most likely to produce traumas, the results of those traumas, and how to evaluate the claims of trauma victims. Illuminating a number of central issues about psychic disturbances more generally—including the relative importance of external stressors and internal vulnerabilities in causing mental illness, the benefits and costs of mental illness labels, and the influence of gender on expressions of mental disturbance—PTSD is a compact yet comprehensive survey. The book will appeal to diverse audiences, including the educated public, students across the psychological and social sciences, and trauma victims who are interested in socio-historical approaches to their condition.Praise for Allan V. Horwitz’s Anxiety: A Short History“The definitive overview of the history of anxiety.”—Bulletin of the History of Medicine“A lucid, erudite and brisk intellectual history driven by a clear and persuasive central argument.”—Social History of Medicine“An enlightening tour of anxiety, set at a sensible pace, with an exceptional scholar and writer leading the way.”—Library Journal

Read more less

Completely hilarious … kind of The League of Gentlemen for kids' Zoe Ball Shabba me whiskers! It's a bold new look for Mr Gum, the best-selling cult classic, ready for a new generation of nibbleheads. Good evening and welcome to a tale of forests! Of legendary beasts! Of misbehaving children! Of caterpillars called Graham! And of a great big BEEFER of a cherry tree! But what dark secrets are hidden in that tree, where the leaves grow thick and green? Polly intends to find out, and she intends to find out by finding out. What will she find out? Read this book and you’ll find out! Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree is the seventh book in the internationally best-selling series by Andy Stanton, which has won everything from the Blue Peter Book Award (twice) to the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Red House Children’s Book Award. Don't miss Mr Gum's other villainously brilliant adventures… You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! Mr Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire Mr Gum and the Goblins Mr Gum and the Power Crystals Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear What's for Dinner, Mr Gum? Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree Mr Gum and the Secret Hideout Andy Stanton studied English at Oxford but they kicked him out. Before becoming a children’s writer he was a film script reader, a market researcher, an NHS lackey, a part-time sparrow and a grape. He is best known for the hilarious, bestselling and award-winning Mr Gum series and has also written picture books, including Danny McGee Drinks the Sea. Andy lives in North London and likes cartoons, books and music (even jazz). David Tazzyman studied illustration at Manchester Metropolitan University. As well as illustrating the Mr Gum series, he has illustrated many picture books Eleanor's Eyebrows, You Can't Take an Elephant on the Bus, Michael Rosen's Jelly Boots, Smelly Boots and My Mum's Growing Down by Laura Dockrill. He lives in Leicester with his wife and three sons.

Read more less

The Coombes School is renowned for its innovative approach, most significantly using the school grounds as an exceptional outdoor classroom. This book describes the elements, philosophy and ethos that characterize The Coombes School and give the school its individuality and particular flavor, and which have led to it being internationally acclaimed. The Coombes was until recently a Nursery/Infant setting but in September 2008 it amalgamated with its neighboring Junior School and now has 600 pupils aged from 3 to 11 years. The school serves a local military garrison and a semi-rural area situated south of Reading in Berkshire. It opened in 1971. Since its opening, the school has attracted attention from the media and the national and international educational world because of its innovatory nature. There is a strong commitment to the creative approach, and to practical, multi-sensory, experiential teaching and learning. The school welcomes hundreds of visitors each year from all over the world: teachers, education administrators, politicians, landscape architects, town planners. It also provides a training ground for prospective teachers, other students working towards careers with children or the caring professions, and work experience students from local secondary schools and the local university and colleges. As the school has developed, so has its outdoor setting. The founding head teacher, Susan Humphries, had an original vision of a school set in a future wood: a kindergarten. Over 37 years, the outdoor landscape of the school has been improved and developed so that it forms the school's largest classroom, in use throughout the year. The ecological, sustainable ethic underpins the school's work. The school dynamic changes all the time: it is a living organism that absorbs new thinking, responds to new trends, adjusts to, adapts and subverts Government requirements, reflects ongoing research and promotes its own. The Coombes does more than recognize change: it actively embraces and promotes it. It is the school's view that change is a sign of life and is absolutely inevitable: the staff endeavor to be proactive rather than reactive.

Read more less

"Replacing tyranny with justice, healing deep scars, exchanging hatred for hope . . . the women in This Was Not Our War teach us how."—William Jefferson ClintonThis Was Not Our War shares amazing first-person accounts of twenty-six Bosnian women who are reconstructing their society following years of devastating warfare. A university student working to resettle refugees, a paramedic who founded a veterans’ aid group, a fashion designer running two nonprofit organizations, a government minister and professor who survived Auschwitz—these women are advocates, politicians, farmers, journalists, students, doctors, businesswomen, engineers, wives, and mothers. They are from all parts of Bosnia and represent the full range of ethnic traditions and mixed heritages. Their ages spread across sixty years, and their wealth ranges from expensive jewels to a few chickens. For all their differences, they have this much in common: all survived the war with enough emotional strength to work toward rebuilding their country. Swanee Hunt met these women through her diplomatic and humanitarian work in the 1990s. Over the course of seven years, she conducted multiple interviews with each one. In presenting those interviews here, Hunt provides a narrative framework that connects the women’s stories, allowing them to speak to one another.The women describe what it was like living in a vibrant multicultural community that suddenly imploded in an onslaught of violence. They relate the chaos; the atrocities, including the rapes of many neighbors and friends; the hurried decisions whether to stay or flee; the extraordinary efforts to care for children and elderly parents and to find food and clean drinking water. Reflecting on the causes of the war, they vehemently reject the idea that age-old ethnic hatreds made the war inevitable. The women share their reactions to the Dayton Accords, the end of hostilities, and international relief efforts. While they are candid about the difficulties they face, they are committed to rebuilding Bosnia based on ideals of truth, justice, and a common humanity encompassing those of all faiths and ethnicities. Their wisdom is instructive, their courage and fortitude inspirational.

Read more less

This intellectual history of Standard Swahili explores the long-term, intertwined processes of standard making and community creation in the historical, political, and cultural contexts of East Africa and beyond. Morgan J. Robinson argues that the portability of Standard Swahili has contributed to its wide use not only across the African continent but also around the globe. The book pivots on the question of whether standardized versions of African languages have empowered or oppressed. It is inevitable that the selection and promotion of one version of a language as standard—a move typically associated with missionaries and colonial regimes—negatively affected those whose language was suddenly deemed nonstandard. Before reconciling the consequences of codification, however, Robinson argues that one must seek to understand the process itself. The history of Standard Swahili demonstrates how events, people, and ideas move rapidly and sometimes surprisingly between linguistic, political, social, or temporal categories. Robinson conducted her research in Zanzibar, mainland Tanzania, and the United Kingdom. Organized around periods of conversation, translation, and codification from 1864 to 1964, the book focuses on the intellectual history of Swahili’s standardization. The story begins in mid-nineteenth-century Zanzibar, home of missionaries, formerly enslaved students, and a printing press, and concludes on the mainland in the mid-twentieth century, as nationalist movements added Standard Swahili to their anticolonial and nation-building toolkits. This outcome was not predetermined, however, and Robinson offers a new context for the strong emotions that the language continues to evoke in East Africa. The history of Standard Swahili is not one story, but rather the connected stories of multiple communities contributing to the production of knowledge. The book reflects this multiplicity by including the narratives of colonial officials and anticolonial nationalists; East African clerks, students, newspaper editors, editorialists, and their readers; and library patrons, academic linguists, formerly enslaved children, and missionary preachers. The book reconstructs these stories on their own terms and reintegrates them into a new composite that demonstrates the central place of language in the history of East Africa and beyond.

Read more less

Concepts are critical for the development and marketing of products and services. They constitute the blueprint for these products and services, albeit at the level of consumers rather than at the technical level. A good product concept can help make the product a success by guiding developers and advertising in the right direction. Yet, there is a dearth of both practical and scientific information about how to create and evaluate concepts. There has been little or no focus on establishing knowledge bases for concepts. Concept development is too often relegated to the so-called “fuzzy front end.” Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development remedies this inattention to product concepts by providing a unique treatment of concepts for the business professional as well as for research scientists. The book begins with simple principles of concepts, moves forward to methods for testing concepts, and then on to more substantive areas such as establishing validity, testing internationally and with children, creating databases, and selling in new methods for concept testing. The book combines a “how to” business book with a detailed treatment of the different facets of concept research. As such, the book represents a unique contribution to business applications in food, and consumer research methods. The book is positioned specifically for foods, to maintain a focus on a coherent set of topics. Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development appeals to a wide variety of audiences: R&D, marketing, sensory analysts, and universities alike. Corporate R&D professionals will learn how to create strong concepts. Marketers will recognize how concepts are at the heart of their business. Sensory analysts will find the book a natural extension of their interest in product features. University students will understand how concept research is a critical part of the “consumer-connection.” Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development is the definitive, innovative text in describing how to create, analyze, and capitalize upon new product concepts.

Read more less

When lifelong friends Lucy D. Rosenfeld and Marina Harrison set off on their outings in the region, they are always on the lookout for the gifts that nature offers. Exploring Nature’s Bounty, their ninth collaboration, invites us to share the rich array of agricultural delights they’ve discovered within a two-hour radius of New York City—from beautiful vineyards to the latest in hydroponic greenhouses to peach-filled orchards to community farms and historic sites. The places chosen all welcome visitors who will see first hand the art of agriculture, pick their own produce, help out on the farm, or simply enjoy being outdoors so close to the city. Many of them are off-the-beaten-track locations where readers and their families can walk among rows of grapes, cornstalks, apple trees, and so much more. The sites range from traditional fruit orchards to greenhouses filled with water-grown tomatoes and basil to neatly ordered herb gardens in historic settings. Local vineyards make wineries fun and glamorous places to visit, whether on the North Fork of Long Island or in the Hudson Valley. Some venues focus on crop preservation—the American chestnut, for example—while others introduce readers to honey making and maple sugaring. Those interested in taking classes or seeing demonstrations will find places to do just that, and many activities are geared toward children, from corn mazes to hayrides to pumpkin picking. Rosenfeld and Harrison provide a list of festivals featuring local produce and, at the end of the book, a guide to choosing an outing that will best fit readers, their families, and their taste buds. Directions are provided in each write-up as well as information on schedules, guided tours, and walks within many of the sites.Exploring Nature’s Bounty focuses on the natural, the organic, the sustainable, and the close-at-hand. By avoiding places overrun with commercialism, it helps readers create their own adventures, enjoy time with family and friends, and connect to the farms that nourish us all.

Read more less

A century ago many Americans condemned envy as a destructive emotion and a sin. Today few Americans expect criticism when they express envy, and some commentators maintain that the emotion drives the economy. This shift in attitude is Susan Matt's central concern. Keeping up with the Joneses: Envy in American Consumer Society, 1890-1930 examines a key transition in the meaning of envy for the American middle class. Although people certainly have experienced envy throughout history, the expansion of the consumer economy at the turn of the twentieth century dramatically reshaped the social role of the emotion. Matt looks at how different groups within the middle class—men in white-collar jobs, bourgeois women, farm families, and children—responded to the transformation in social and cultural life. Keeping Up with the Joneses traces how attitudes about envy changed as department stores, mail-order catalogs, magazines, movies, and advertising became more prevalent, and the mass production of imitation luxury goods offered middle- and working-class individuals the opportunity to emulate upper-class life. Between 1890 and 1910 moralists sought to tame envy and emulation in order to uphold a moral economy and preserve social order. They criticized the liberal-capitalist preoccupation with personal striving and advancement and praised the virtue of contentment. They admonished the bourgeoisie to be satisfied with their circumstances and cease yearning for their neighbors' possessions. After 1910 more secular commentators gained ground, repudiating the doctrine of contentment and rejecting the notion that there were divinely ordained limits on what each class should possess. They encouraged everyone to pursue the objects of desire. Envy was no longer a sin, but a valuable economic stimulant. The expansion of consumer economy fostered such institutions as department stores and advertising firms, but it also depended on a transformation in attitudes and emotional codes. Matt explores the ways gender, geography, and age shaped this transformation. Bridging the history of emotions and the history of consumerism, she uncovers the connection between changing social norms and the growth of the consumer economy.

Read more less

Concord, Massachusetts, has long been heralded as the birthplace of American liberty and American letters. It was here that the first military engagement of the Revolutionary War was fought and here that Thoreau came to "live deliberately" on the shores of Walden Pond. Between the Revolution and the settlement of the little cabin with the bean rows, however, Walden Woods was home to several generations of freed slaves and their children. Living on the fringes of society, they attempted to pursue lives of freedom, promised by the rhetoric of the Revolution, and yet withheld by the practice of racism. Thoreau was all but alone in his attempt "to conjure up the former occupants of these woods." Other than the chapter he devoted to them in Walden, the history of slavery in Concord has been all but forgotten. In Black Walden: Slavery and Its Aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts, Elise Lemire brings to life the former slaves of Walden Woods and the men and women who held them in bondage during the eighteenth century. After charting the rise of Concord slaveholder John Cuming, Black Walden follows the struggles of Cuming's slave, Brister, as he attempts to build a life for himself after thirty-five years of enslavement. Brister Freeman, as he came to call himself, and other of the town's slaves were able to leverage the political tensions that fueled the American Revolution and force their owners into relinquishing them. Once emancipated, however, the former slaves were permitted to squat on only the most remote and infertile places. Walden Woods was one of them. Here, Freeman and his neighbors farmed, spun linen, made baskets, told fortunes, and otherwise tried to survive in spite of poverty and harassment. With a new preface that reflects on community developments since the hardcover's publication, Black Walden reminds us that this was a black space before it was an internationally known green space and preserves the legacy of the people who strove against all odds to overcome slavery and segregation.

Read more less

Throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, illegitimate offspring of elite families in colonial Spanish America appealed to the Council and Cámara of the Indies in Spain to purchase gracias al sacar legitimations. Their applications provided intimate testimony concerning their own lives, accounts of their parents' sexual relationships, and details regarding the impact of illegitimacy within their families and communities. Bourbon officials in Spain debated which petitions merited approval, and in the process forged policies concerning gender, sexuality, illegitimacy, and the family. Scattered throughout the Archive of the Indies, the petitions were difficult to locate until the author determined the pattern of how they were archived and was able to access this extraordinarily rich new source for Spanish American social history. For this book, she has not only analyzed the gracias al sacar documents of some 240 illegitimates, but also traced the histories of those involved in eighteen major archives in Spain, the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America. The collective biographies of the gracias al sacar parents, and of their illegitimate offspring—as infants, children, and adults—reveal a Hispanic mentality that consciously differentiated between the public and private spheres. Colonial elites distinguished between a private circle of family, kin, and intimate friends and a public world where status (honor) was negotiated with outside peers. This bifurcation was distinct yet permeable; an individual might "pass" to negotiate a public status different from a private reality. Thus, an unwed mother might enjoy the public reputation that she was a virgin, the bastard son of a priest might be treated as legitimate, and a mulatto could be transformed into someone white. The author explores how the probability for passing varied throughout the Spanish Empire, and how it narrowed as the eighteenth century drew to a close. She also demonstrates that the inability to conceptualize passing beyond the scope of the individual exacerbated social tensions prior to independence.

Read more less

Hannah Callender Sansom (1737–1801) witnessed the effects of the tumultuous eighteenth century: political struggles, war and peace, and economic development. She experienced the pull of traditional emphases on duty, subjection, and hierarchy and the emergence of radical new ideas promoting free choice, liberty, and independence. Regarding these changes from her position as a well-educated member of the colonial Quaker elite and as a resident of Philadelphia, the principal city in North America, this assertive, outspoken woman described her life and her society in a diary kept intermittently from the time she was twenty-one years old in 1758 through the birth of her first grandchild in 1788. As a young woman, she enjoyed sociable rounds of visits and conviviality. She also had considerable freedom to travel and to develop her interests in the arts, literature, and religion. In 1762, under pressure from her father, she married fellow Quaker Samuel Sansom. While this arranged marriage made financial and social sense, her father's plans failed to consider the emerging goals of sensibility, including free choice and emotional fulfillment in marriage. Hannah Callender Sansom's struggle to become reconciled to an unhappy marriage is related in frank terms both through daily entries and in certain silences in the record. Ultimately she did create a life of meaning centered on children, religion, and domesticity. When her beloved daughter Sarah was of marriageable age, Hannah Callender Sansom made certain that, despite risking her standing among Quakers, Sarah was able to marry for love. Long held in private hands, the complete text of Hannah Callender Sanson's extraordinary diary is published here for the first time. In-depth interpretive essays, as well as explanatory footnotes, provide context for students and other readers. The diary is one of the earliest, fullest documents written by an American woman, and it provides fresh insights into women's experience in early America, the urban milieu of the emerging middle classes, and the culture that shaped both.

Read more less

When a society or nation contains many cultures, large or small, with differing institutional and organizations networks, individuals and groups must, in order to successfully navigate their passages within and between cultures, learn to act and react to primary and secondary cultural orientations, which might be labeled dominant and super-ordinate or non-dominant and sub-ordinate. Under such a scenario, biculturalism exists. The essays in this volume offer fresh theoretical and methodological insights into biculturalism as an existing reality in many socieities. The authors present a variety of methodological strategies and techniques case studies, autoethnography, content analysis, participant observation, the national survey, and structured and unstructured interviews. Whereas some essays provide a brief history as a point of reference to aid the reader in understanding how and why biculturalism began and persists the beginning of biculturalism, others do not.All essays, whether written from social science or humanity perspectives, give the readers a glimpse into the bicultural world of a particular people or group. Hence, biculturalism is presented as it illustrates the world of the following: a female African American intellectual; German, Koreans, and Japanese immigrants, Koreans; South Asians; two autoethnographic bicultural case studies; issues of identity and biculturalism among Asians, Native Americans, whites, and African Americans in the U.S.; and, a content analysis of Spanish language programs for children, and essays analyzing biculturalism among Jewish Americans and African Americans, and a critique of Ralph Ellison's bicultural imperatives.Many of the essays will analyze class, ethnic, and gender issues as they relate to the idea of biculturality. The essays in this volume relate the bicultural experience and remind the reader that this bicultural experience may connect to ideas of acculturation, assimilation, marginality, identity, ambivalence, super-ordinate, sub-ordination, and issues related to insiders and outsiders, but a crucial theme in biculturalism is the existence of two cultural streams and the fact that individuals and groups may, over time, operate in both streams, and deftly move within and between each, as opportunities present themselves.

Read more less

One morning, Rabbit discovers a birthday parcel addressed to him. Inside is a Bible and on the flyleaf is written 'Read Me'. As he wonders at this odd present a brightly painted gypsy-style caravan hurtles down the road... and narrowly misses him. Rabbit picks up the book and joins the caravan travellers - Fred the horse, Caravan Bear and Whitby (female) the dog. The Animal's Caravan, has echoes of children's classics such as Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland as Rabbit leaves his home to set out on an unexpected journey - a journey to find friendship and make sense of the world around him. He also finds himself on a journey of faith as he and his new friends wrestle with some of the often difficult concepts in the bible, thereby gaining fresh insights and understanding of God's loving involvement and care for the world. The travelling life of the caravan and its occupants provide the opportunity for Rabbit to share these tales with other animals they meet and they join Caravan Bear, Whitby and Freddie in listening - and learning from - the stories. He is frequently interrupted by questions from his listeners, the kind of questions any child - or adult - might ask. The real and often humorous events that happen to Rabbit and his friends are mirrored by the stories from the Bible enabling children to realise that the stories have relevance and meaning today. Contents 1 A Cold Start 7 2 No Room at the Inn Luke 1-2 16 3 The Good Friend Luke 10 33 4 The Sheep Who Went Missing 46 Matthew 18; Luke 15 5 The Boastful Pharisee Luke 18 59 6 The Unmerciful Servant Matthew 18 68 7 The Poor Rich Man Luke 12 81 8 The Wise and Foolish Builders 97 Matthew 7, Luke 6 9 The Lost Son Luke 15 109 10 The Three Servants Matthew 25 125

Read more less

Introducing an off-beat guide to math from award-winning author and illustrator David Macaulay.Math is all around you…if you look closely enough! From computer games to bridges, shopping malls to game shows, mathematics truly is everywhere. David Macauley’s terrific troupe of curious mammoths will lead you through the basics of math, including numbers, calculation, geometry, measurement and so much more in this highly original guide to math for kids aged 8+. In Mammoth Math, not only will you learn the essential principles of math, you’ll enjoy learning about them too! From start to finish, the mammoths are your guide as they seek to understand the math! These intrepid demonstrators will go to incredible lengths to educate and entertain, as they wrestle with adding or subtracting numbers, measuring angles, creating a pie chart, solving equations, and much more.Observing and recording the mammoths’ behavior is best-selling illustrator David Macaulay. Renowned for his ability to explain complex ideas with simple genius, Macaulay captures the oddball humor of his subject matter, making Mammoth Math the perfect introduction to math for young learners to love. Discover math as you’ve never known it before, with: - Fun-filled illustrations show Macaulay’s mammoths exploring mathematical ideas demonstrating key mathematical principles in unusual and amusing ways.- An action-packed alternative to dry, unappealing math textbooks.- Supporting panels contain diagrams and extra information to aid understanding.- The book is divided into chapters, each focusing on a different branch of mathThe ideal math book for all children aged 8+ as well as for reluctant math learners who don’t think math is for them, Mammoth Math includes a highly original and unique approach to the subject, with over 60 topics covered in total, including numbers geometry, measurement and operations. Encompassing all-new illustrations featuring Macaulay’s trademark mammoths, familiar to readers of The Way Things Work - a best-selling book of David Macaulay’s, which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide!Join the math journey today! Solving the problem is only one mammoth ride away!

Read more less

However swiftly it passes, youth is always with us, a perpetual passing phase, an apprenticeship to the myriad ways of the world, subject of panegyrics and diatribes, romances and cautionary tales from antiquity to our day. This two-volume history is the first to present a comprehensive account of what youth has been in the West and what it has meant through the ages. Brought together by Giovanni Levi and Jean-Claude Schmitt, a company of gifted historians and social scientists traces the changing character and status of young people from the gymnasia of ancient Greece to the lycées of modern France, from the sweatshops of the industrial revolution to the crucibles of Nazi youth.Monumental in its scope, minute in its attention to detail, A History of Young People takes us into the sensational rituals surrounding youth in Roman antiquity (such as the Lupercalia, with its nudity and whipping) and into the chivalric trials awaiting the privileged young of the Middle Ages. Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan and Michel Pastoureau explore the elusive question of what defines youth, a concept that over time has reached from infancy to the age of forty. Elliott Horowitz and Renata Ago consider the young in the context of the family--within the different worlds of European Judaism and Catholicism through the Renaissance. Sabina Loriga takes us through three centuries of military experience to temper and complicate our assumptions about the youthful face of war. Michelle Perrot focuses on working-class youth, and Jean-Claude Caron on the young at school. The obedient and the rebellious are here, the cherished and the sacrificed, the children catapulted into adult responsibility, the adults who have yet to forsake the protections of childhood. What emerges in this history as never before is a vast, richly textured picture of youth as a changing constant of culture, society, economics, politics, and art, and as a uniquely complex experience of acculturation in every life.

Read more less

WINNER OF THE CWA GOLD DAGGER'Tremendously exciting.' RUTH RENDELL'Energetic and genre-stretching.' GUARDIANAN AURELIO ZEN MYSTERYPolice Commissioner Aurelio Zen has crossed swords with the establishment before - and lost. But from the depths of a mundane desk job in Rome he is unexpectedly transferred to Perugia to take over an explosive kidnapping case involving one of Italy's most powerful families.But nobody much wants Zen to succeed: not the local authorities, who view him as an interloper, and certainly not Miletti's children, who seem content to let the head of the family languish in the hands of his abductors - if he's still alive.'A brilliant read, enjoyed every page.' 5* reader review'Brilliantly plotted and beautifully written . . . Great background and attention to detail.' 5* reader review'If you like anything Italian you'll like this.' 5* reader review PRAISE FOR MICHAEL DIBDIN AND THE INSPECTOR ZEN SERIES:'He wrote with real fire.' IAN RANKIN'A maestro of crime writing.' SUNDAY TIMES'One of the genre's finest stylists . . . And Zen himself is a masterly creation: he is anti-heroic and pragmatic but obstinate, cunning and positively burdened with integrity.' GUARDIAN'Dibdin tells a rollicking good tale that you want both to read fast, because of its gripping storyline, and to linger over, to savour the evocative descriptions of place and mood.' INDEPENDENT'One of British crime fiction's most distinguished and distinctive voices.' ANDREW TAYLOR'Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader.' Ruth Rendell'Zen is one of the greatest creations of contemporary crime fiction.' OBSERVER'I love the way these books capture the atmosphere and contradictions of Italy.' 5* reader review'Aurelio Zen novels are a great treat.' 5* reader review'There is no better writer than Dibdin. His books are a joy to read.' 5* reader review'Love these books . . . I am sure you will get hooked too!' 5* reader review

Read more less

In Resonances, Instability, and Irreversibility: The LiouvilleSpace Extension of Quantum Mechanics T. Petrosky and I. Prigogine Unstable Systems in Generalized Quantum Theory E. C. G. Sudarshan, Charles B. Chiu, and G. Bhamathi Resonances and Dilatation Analyticity in Liouville Space Erkki J. Brandas Time, Irreversibility, and Unstable Systems in QuantumPhysics E. Eisenberg and L. P. Horwitz Quantum Systems with Diagonal Singularity I. Antoniou and Z. Suchanecki Nonadiabatic Crossing of Decaying Levels V. V. and Vl. V. Kocharovsky and S. Tasaki Can We Observe Microscopic Chaos in the Laboratory? Pierre Gaspard Proton Nonlocality and Decoherence in Condensed Matter --Predictions and Experimental Results C. A. Chatzidimitriou-Dreismann "We are at a most interesting moment in the history of science.Classical science emphasized equilibrium, stability, and timereversibility. Now we see instabilities, fluctuations, evolution onall levels of observations. This change of perspective requires newtools, new concepts. This volume invites the reader not to anenumeration of final achievements of contemporary science, but toan excursion to science in the making." --from the Foreword by I.Prigogine What are the dynamical roots of irreversibility? How can past andfuture be distinguished on the fundamental level of description?Are human beings the children of time --or its progenitors? Inrecent years, a growing number of chemists and physicists haveagreed that the solution to the problem of irreversibility requiresan extension of classical and quantum mechanics. There is, however,no consensus on which direction this extension should take toinclude the dynamical description of irreversible processes. Resonances, Instability, and Irreversibility surveys recentattempts --both direct and indirect --to address the problem ofirreversibility. Internationally recognized researchers report ontheir recent studies, which run the gamut from experimental tohighly mathematical. The subject matter of these papers falls intothree categories: classical systems with emphasis on chaos anddynamical instability, resonances and unstable quantum systems, andthe general problem of irreversibility. Presenting the cutting edge of research into some of the mostcompelling questions that face contemporary chemical physics,Resonances, Instability, and Irreversibility is fascinating readingfor professionals and students in every area of the discipline.

Read more less

Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide problem linked to numerous diseases affecting men, women, and children of all ages. Enormous progress in the study of vitamin D has been made since the first edition of this highly-acclaimed book was published nearly 20 years ago, and current research continues to draw headlines. Feldman and Pike’s Vitamin D, Fifth Edition continues to build on the successful formula from previous editions, taking the reader from the basic elements of fundamental research to the most sophisticated concepts in therapeutics. The two comprehensive volumes provide investigators, clinicians, and students with a comprehensive, definitive, and up-to-date compendium of the diverse scientific and clinical aspects of vitamin D, where each area is covered by both basic and clinical experts in the field. In Volume I: Biochemistry, Physiology and Diagnostics, international experts in endocrinology, bone biology, and human physiology take readers through the basic research of vitamin D. This impressive reference presents a comprehensive review of the multi-faceted actions of vitamin D relating both to skeletal and extra-skeletal action. Researchers from all areas of vitamin D will gain insight into how clinical observations and practices can feed back into the research cycle and will, therefore, be able to develop more targeted genomic, proteomic and metabolomic insights into the mechanisms of disease. Volume II: Health, Disease and Therapy authoritatively covers the evidence for new roles of vitamin D, ranging from organ transplantation to cancer, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and renal disease. The coverage is appropriately broad, drawing on aspects of internal medicine, pediatrics, nutrition, orthopedics, oncology, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, and immunology, as well as, new areas for vitamin D including liver metabolism, veterinary medicine and ICU care – including COVID-19. Clinical researchers will gain a strong understanding of the molecular basis for a particular disease and better understand future directions for research in this still-growing field.

Read more less

Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide problem linked to numerous diseases affecting men, women, and children of all ages. Enormous progress in the study of vitamin D has been made since the first edition of this highly-acclaimed book was published nearly 20 years ago, and current research continues to draw headlines. Feldman and Pike’s Vitamin D, Fifth Edition continues to build on the successful formula from previous editions, taking the reader from the basic elements of fundamental research to the most sophisticated concepts in therapeutics. The two comprehensive volumes provide investigators, clinicians, and students with a comprehensive, definitive, and up-to-date compendium of the diverse scientific and clinical aspects of vitamin D, where each area is covered by both basic and clinical experts in the field. In Volume I: Biochemistry, Physiology and Diagnostics, international experts in endocrinology, bone biology, and human physiology take readers through the basic research of vitamin D. This impressive reference presents a comprehensive review of the multi-faceted actions of vitamin D relating both to skeletal and extra-skeletal action. Researchers from all areas of vitamin D will gain insight into how clinical observations and practices can feed back into the research cycle and will, therefore, be able to develop more targeted genomic and proteomic insights into the mechanisms of disease. Volume II: Health, Disease and Therapy authoritatively covers the evidence for new roles of vitamin D, ranging from organ transplantation to cancer, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, and renal disease. The coverage is appropriately broad, drawing on aspects of internal medicine, pediatrics, nutrition, orthopedics, oncology, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, and immunology, as well as, new areas for vitamin D including sports medicine, opthalmology, veterinary medicine and ICU care – including COVID-19. Clinical researchers will gain a strong understanding of the molecular basis for a particular disease and better understand future directions for research in this still-growing field.

Read more less

The ambiguous intent of Henry James’s horror story The Turn of the Screw has fascinated and divided its readers since its publication in 1898. The division arises between the apparitionists and the nonapparitionists in interpretation of the plot and the characters. Thomas Mabry Cranfill and Robert Lanier Clark, Jr., have here taken up the argument and made an interpretation of their own. The authors carefully considered the mountainous critical comment, studied James’s statements regarding his intent, and minutely scrutinized the story itself. After all this probing of opinions and following of clues and observing of human beings in action, they have come out strongly on the side of the nonapparitionists. The authors base their conclusion on analyses of character, centrally that of the governess, whom they consider the protagonist of the fearsome drama, but peripherally those of Mrs. Grose, the children, the uncle in Harley Street, and even the deceased Miss Jessel and Peter Quint. Relentlessly they relate every episode, action, and speech to the character of the governess and her relationships with those around her at Bly, picturing her as a psychological “case” whose abnormal mental state brings to those around her the inescapable misery they all suffer.  The authors’ analysis unfolds as interestingly in terms of character and motive as if the reader did not already know what happens in James’s much-read story. It moves, moreover, with something of the same suspense as James’s horror tale, although the tension is intellectual rather than emotional. Each additional disclosure of evidence, the resolution of each situation, and the clarification of every puzzling ambiguity builds the analysis step-by-inevitable-step to its inescapable conclusion.  The style of the analysis is graceful, urbane, and witty. The introduction gives an excellent appraisal of literary comment on James’s story and an illuminating summary of the literary “war” over the meaning of it; the bibliography provides an impressive list of books and articles on this subject, annotated to indicate in what particular ways each makes a contribution to the controversy.

Read more less

For American teenagers, getting a driver’s license has long been a watershed moment, separating teens from their childish pasts as they accelerate toward the sweet, sweet freedom of their futures. With driver’s license in hand, teens are on the road to buying and driving(and maybe even crashing) their first car, a machine which is home to many a teenage ritual—being picked up for a first date, “parking” at a scenic overlook, or blasting the radio with a gaggle of friends in tow. So important is this car ride into adulthood that automobile culture has become a stand-in, a shortcut to what millions of Americans remember about their coming of age. Machines of Youth traces the rise, and more recently the fall, of car culture among American teens. In this book, Gary S. Cross details how an automobile obsession drove teen peer culture from the 1920s to the 1980s, seducing budding adults with privacy, freedom, mobility, and spontaneity. Cross shows how the automobile redefined relationships between parents and teenage children, becoming a rite of passage, producing new courtship rituals, and fueling the growth of numerous car subcultures. Yet for teenagers today the lure of the automobile as a transition to adulthood is in decline.Tinkerers are now sidelined by the advent of digital engine technology and premolded body construction, while the attention of teenagers has been captured by iPhones, video games, and other digital technology. And adults have become less tolerant of teens on the road, restricting both cruising and access to drivers’ licenses. Cars are certainly not going out of style, Cross acknowledges, but how upcoming generations use them may be changing. He finds that while vibrant enthusiasm for them lives on, cars may no longer be at the center of how American youth define themselves. But, for generations of Americans, the modern teen experience was inextricably linked to this particularly American icon.

Read more less

'Restlessly curious, insightful, and quirky, David Damrosch is the perfect guide to a round-the-world adventure in reading' Stephen GreenblattA transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, told through eighty classic and modern books'It is always a pleasure to talk about books with David Damrosch, who has read all of them, and he is so eloquent and understanding about them all' Orhan PamukInspired by Jules Verne's hero Phileas Fogg, David Damrosch, chair of Harvard's Department of Comparative Literature and founder of Harvard's Institute for World Literature, set out to counter a pandemic's restrictions on travel by exploring eighty exceptional books from around the globe. Following a literary itinerary from London to Venice, Tehran and points beyond, and via authors from Woolf and Dante to Nobel prizewinners Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka, Mo Yan and Olga Tokarczuk, he explores how these works have shaped our idea of the world, and the ways the world bleeds into literature.To chart the expansive landscape of world literature today, Damrosch explores how writers live in two very different worlds: the world of their personal experience, and the world of books that have enabled great writers to give shape and meaning to their lives. In his literary cartography, Damrosch includes compelling contemporary works as well as perennial classics, hard-bitten crime fiction as well as haunting works of fantasy, and the formative tales that introduce us as children to the world we're entering. Taken together, these eighty titles offer us fresh perspective on perennial problems, from the social consequences of epidemics to the rising inequality that Thomas More designed Utopia to combat and the patriarchal structures within and against which many of these books' heroines have to struggle, from the work of Murasaki Shikibu a millennium ago to that of Margaret Atwood today.Around the World in 80 Books is a global invitation to look beyond ourselves and our surroundings, and to see our world and its literature in new ways.

Read more less

WINNER OF THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2021SHORTLISTED FOR THE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022A NEW STATESMAN AND TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021'Deserves to remain the standard treatment of the subject in English for many decades to come' Roderick Beaton, Times Literary SupplementIn the exhausted, repressive years that followed Napoleon's defeat in 1815, there was one cause that came to galvanize countless individuals across Europe and the United States: freedom for Greece.Mark Mazower's wonderful new book recreates one of the most compelling, unlikely and significant events in the story of modern Europe. In the face of near impossible odds, the people of the villages, valleys and islands of Greece rose up against Sultan Mahmud II and took on the might of the imperial Ottoman armed forces, its Turkish cavalrymen, Albanian foot soldiers and the fearsome Egyptians. Despite the most terrible disasters, they held on until military intervention by Russia, France and Britain finally secured the kingdom of Greece.Mazower brilliantly brings together the different strands of the story. He takes us into the minds of revolutionary conspirators and the terrors of besieged towns, the stories of itinerant priests, sailors and slaves, ambiguous heroes and defenceless women and children struggling to stay alive amid a conflict of extraordinary brutality. Ranging across the Eastern Mediterranean and far beyond, he explores the central place of the struggle in the making of Romanticism and a new kind of politics that had volunteers flocking from across Europe to die in support of the Greeks. A story of how statesmen came to terms with an even more powerful force than themselves - the force of nationalism - this is above all a book about how people decided to see their world differently and, at an often terrible cost to themselves and their families, changed history.'Exquisite, impressive' The Times'Superbly subtle and thorough' Daily Telegraph

Read more less

An author and educator’s pioneering approach to helping autistic students find their voices through poetry—a powerful and uplifting story that shows us how to better communicate with people on the spectrum and explores how we use language to express our seemingly limitless interior lives.Adults often find it difficult to communicate with autistic students and try to “fix” them. But what if we found a way to help these kids use their natural gifts to convey their thoughts and feelings? What if the traditional structure of language prevents them from communicating the full depth of their experiences? What if the most effective and most immediate way for people on the spectrum to express themselves is through verse, which mirrors their sensory-rich experiences and patterned thoughts?May Tomorrow Be Awake explores these questions and opens our eyes to a world of possibility. It is the inspiring story of one educator’s journey to understand and communicate with his students—and the profound lessons he learned. Chris Martin, an award-winning poet and celebrated educator, works with non-verbal children and adults on the spectrum, teaching them to write poetry. The results have been nothing short of staggering for both these students and their teacher. Through his student’s breathtaking poems, Martin discovered what it means to be fully human.Martin introduces the techniques he uses in the classroom and celebrates an inspiring group of young autistic thinkers—Mark, Christophe, Zach, and Wallace—and their electric verse, which is as artistically dazzling as it is stereotype-shattering. In telling each of their stories, Martin illuminates the diverse range of autism and illustrates how each so-called “deficit” can be transformed into an asset when writing poems. Meeting these remarkable students offers new insight into disability advocacy and reaffirms the depth of our shared humanity. Martin is a teacher and a lifelong learner, May Tomorrow Be Awake is written from a desire to teach and to learn—about the mind, about language, about human potential—and the lessons we have to share with one other.

Read more less

"A crackling portrayal of everyday American heroines…A triumph." — Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story—a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network—from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig.A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith’s Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But when her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden reaches out and begs her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit.Four months later, Kate and seventeen other Smithies, including two trailblazing female doctors, set sail for France. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions—all of which immediately go astray. The chateau that was to be their headquarters is a half-burnt ruin. The villagers they meet are in desperate straits: women and children huddling in damp cellars, their crops destroyed and their wells poisoned. Despite constant shelling from the Germans, French bureaucracy, and the threat of being ousted by the British army, the Smith volunteers bring welcome aid—and hope—to the region. But can they survive their own differences? As they cope with the hardships and terrors of the war, Kate and her colleagues find themselves navigating old rivalries and new betrayals which threaten the very existence of the Unit.With the Germans threatening to break through the lines, can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?

Read more less

A Newbery Honor Book • BookPage Best Books • Chicago Public Library Best Fiction • Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee • Horn Book Fanfare • New York Times Notable Children’s Book • School Library Journal Best Book • Today Show Pick • An ALA Notable Book “A 10 out of 10 . . . Anyone interested in science, sibling relationships, and friendships will enjoy reading We Dream of Space.”—Time for Kids Newbery Medalist and New York Times–bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly transports readers to 1986 and introduces them to the unforgettable Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas in this pitch-perfect middle grade novel about family, friendship, science, and exploration. This acclaimed Newbery Honor Book is a great choice for readers of Kate DiCamillo, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Rebecca Stead. Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas are three siblings in seventh grade together in Park, Delaware. In 1986, as the country waits expectantly for the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, they each struggle with their own personal anxieties. Cash, who loves basketball but has a newly broken wrist, is in danger of failing seventh grade for the second time. Fitch spends every afternoon playing Major Havoc at the arcade on Main and wrestles with an explosive temper that he doesn’t understand. And Bird, his twelve-year-old twin, dreams of being NASA’s first female shuttle commander, but feels like she’s disappearing. The Nelson Thomas children exist in their own orbits, circling a tense and unpredictable household, with little in common except an enthusiastic science teacher named Ms. Salonga. As the launch of the Challenger approaches, Ms. Salonga gives her students a project—they are separated into spacecraft crews and must create and complete a mission. When the fated day finally arrives, it changes all of their lives and brings them together in unexpected ways. Told in three alternating points of view, We Dream of Space is an unforgettable and thematically rich novel for middle grade readers. We Dream of Space is illustrated throughout by the author.

Read more less

A sparklingly funny celebration of Hergé’s most beloved character via his legendary exclamations! Captain Haddock made his first appearance alongside Tintin in 1941, and in the course of the 80 years that followed, has gone on to become one of Hergé best loved characters. Clumsy, accident-prone, frequently intoxicated and almost always enraged, the Captain is perhaps best known for his colourful exclamations. ‘Blistering barnacles’ and ‘thundering typhoons’ have passed effortlessly from the pages of Hergés comics into the public consciousness. This brand-new book explores in joyful detail the Captain’s legendary tirades – and is the perfect way to discover, or rediscover, this extraordinary character and his unforgettable adventures. The Adventures of Tintin continue to charm since they first found their way into publication, and more than 230 million copies have been sold, proving that comic books have the same power to entertain children and adults in the 21st century as they did in the early 20th. Hergé (Georges Remi) was born in Brussels in 1907. Over the course of 54 years he completed over 20 titles in The Adventures of Tintin series, which is now considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, comics series of all time. Have you collected all the graphic novel adventures? Tintin in the Land of the SovietsTintin in AmericaTintin: Cigars of the PharaohTintin: The Blue LotusTintin: The Broken EarTintin: The Black IslandTintin: King Ottakar’s SceptreTintin: The Crab with the Golden ClawsTintin: The Shooting StarTintin: The Secret of the UnicornTintin: Red Rackham’s TreasureTintin: The Seven Crystal BallsTintin: Prisoners of the SunTintin: Land of Black GoldTintin: Destination MoonTintin: Explorers of the MoonTintin: The Calculus AffairTintin: The Red Sea SharksTintin in TibetTintin: The Castafiore EmeraldTintin: Flight 714 to SydneyThe Adventures of Tintin and the PicarosTintin and Alph-Art

Read more less

**AWARDED A MUMSNET RATED BADGE 2017** ‘Exceeded my expectations! In-depth introduction to weaning, including useful nutritional information, plus lots of lovely recipes appropriate to each stage of weaning – and the ones for toddlers are fantastic for the whole family to share, too!’Mumsnet Reviewer Weaning my little ones was a joyous, messy and occasionally testing experience! This book aims to help you through the next development phase: introducing your baby to the colourful, flavourful, wonderful world of food. The thought of weaning can be daunting to the most self-assured mums and dads. I know I felt that way, even with my third! But while every baby is different, one thing is the same for all parents: the importance of serving them delicious, nutritious dishes with minimal fuss and maximum benefits. There is no one-size-fits all approach and there are decisions to be made: spoon-feeding purees or baby-led weaning? What equipment don’t you need and where should you spend extra? With so much contradictory advice out there, I wanted to provide a go-to guide that arms you with everything you need to know as your baby starts on solids. You’ll read about the basics of good nutrition; techniques; equipment; ages and stages (what they can have, and when). I’ll also share my go-to recipes for the key stages in the first 15 months, developed over the process of weaning my three children. These are simple, easy-to-follow meals and plans that require minimal prep time, make the most of your ingredients and won’t break the bank. I’ve also provided recipes for the months and years that follow, including sections on feeding the entire family (the ultimate goal!) and the perfect things to serve at party time. There will be testing moments but there will be joyous ones too – I’ll never forget the look on my children’s faces when they first tasted baby rice! So take a deep breath, trust your intuition and dive in! Love, Holly xxx

Read more less

'Poor people get hit by cars too; they get evicted; they have their furniture repossessed; they can't pay their utility bills. But they do not have personal legal problems in the law school way. Nothing that happens to them breaks up or threatens to break up a settled and harmonious life. Poor people do not lead settled lives into which the law seldom intrudes; they are constantly involved with the law in its most intrusive forms. ... Poverty creates an abrasive interface with society; poor people are always bumping into sharp legal things. The law school model of personal legal problems, of solving them and returning the client to the smooth and orderly world in television advertisements, doesn't apply to poor people.' Stephen Wexler 'Practising Law for Poor People' The Yale Law Journal. Vol. 79: 1049, 1970. This book is concerned with the legal problems encountered by people whose lives are disadvantaged: disabled people, carers, homeless people, people on low incomes, people falling foul of immigration law ... it is a long list. People in this position often experience multiple and synchronous legal problems ('clustered problems') for which the traditional 'single issue' lawyering approach is ill equipped. Such people - to cite Stephen Wexler - 'do not lead settled lives into which the law seldom intrudes; they are constantly involved with the law in its most intrusive forms'. Their legal challenges don't come in single discrete packages (eg a personal injury claim, a house purchase, a divorce) but are multiple, interlinked and successional. No sooner has one problem been addressed than another is encountered. The research underpinning this work derives from a six-year study of the legal challenges experienced by disabled children and their families and of many more years trying (all too often unsuccessfully) to use the law to challenge the myriad social injustices that define the lot of those who live with disadvantage.

Read more less

The general store in late-nineteenth-century America was often the economic heart of a small town. Merchants sold goods necessary for residents' daily survival and extended credit to many of their customers; cash-poor farmers relied on merchants for their economic well-being just as the retailers needed customers to purchase their wares. But there was more to this mutual dependence than economics. Store owners often helped found churches and other institutions, and they and their customers worshiped together, sent their children to the same schools, and in times of crisis, came to one another's assistance.For this social and cultural history, Linda English combed store account ledgers from the 1870s and 1880s and found in them the experiences of thousands of people in Texas and Indian Territory. Particularly revealing are her insights into the everyday lives of women, immigrants, and ethnic and racial minorities, especially African Americans and American Indians.A store's ledger entries yield a wealth of detail about its proprietor, customers, and merchandise. As a local gathering place, the general store witnessed many aspects of residents' daily lives - many of them recorded, if hastily, in account books. In a small community with only one store, the clientele would include white, black, and Indian shoppers and, in some locales, Mexican American and other immigrants. Flour, coffee, salt, potatoes, tobacco, domestic fabrics, and other staples typified most purchases, but occasional luxury items reflected the buyer's desire for refinement and upward mobility. Recognizing that townspeople often accessed the wider world through the general store, English also traces the impact of national concerns on remote rural areas - including Reconstruction, race relations, women's rights, and temperance campaigns.In describing the social status of store owners and their economic and political roles in both small agricultural communities and larger towns, English fleshes out the fascinating history of daily life in Indian Territory and Texas in a time of transition.

Read more less

‘Through this extraordinary selection of photographs and accompanying text,we follow elephants on their journey from Ancient Rome to Coney Island and beyond. Across battlefields and city bridges, in railway cars and circus rings, adored, applauded and at times brutally mistreated, elephants have truly come to town.’ - James Attlee When Elephants Come to Town is a visual celebration of man’s timeless fascination with the world’s largest land animal through the medium of photography. The joy and excitement elephants arouse when they make an appearance in our lives is brought to life through a combination of iconic photographs by, amongst others, Garry Winogrand and unattributed, archival material. Rather than a series of contemporary nature photographs, the book is a collection of exceptional images from around the world of elephants in captivity, dating from Victorian times to the height of circus culture in the mid-20th century, many of them taken by anonymous photographers. Elephants parade through the streets and perform tricks in circuses and shows, their riders ranging from royalty to children, from showgirls to soldiers. In times of war they assist with logistics, shifting heavy loads, ploughing fields and hauling vehicles; in peacetime they add a touch of glamour and exoticism to locations as varied as casinos, hospital courtyards and amusement parks, and are in turn transformed into elephant-shaped buildings, mechanised automatons or balloons. In the essay that accompanies the photographs, acclaimed British author James Attlee describes the broader context of that relationship through the ages. In doing so, he doesn’t shy away from describing the abuse and poor living conditions captive elephants have had to endure; at the same time he evokes the depth of understanding that can exist between man and animal, often in the words of those who have experienced it first-hand. Intensely nostalgic, often poignant and always fascinating, these images capture the complexity of one of the planet’s most enduring inter-species relationships.

Read more less

A poignant story about how children’s play and creativity help children overcome the hardship of moving and changing country and heal one's soul.Danny, Molly and Marcus are three sparkling creative siblings, although each one expresses himself differently. Danny likes music and by singing and playing the guitar he can give voice to his feelings. Mercedes would always be found with a brush in hand, drawing out her emotions. What about Marcus? You see, Marcus is a great writer—he writes down all his thoughts and he can explore his deepest sorrows.One thing that the three very special siblings love is playing together and inventing a thousand different games, but there is something that worries them —soon they will move to a new, safer house in another country. Seeing their parents so sad and watching their house being reduced to boxes breaks their soul. However, they will discover that if they stick together, they will always have a loving home.Una historia conmovedora sobre cómo jugar y ser creativos ayuda a los niños a superar las dificultades de emigrar y a sanar el alma.Damián, Mercedes y Marcos son tres hermanos con una creatividad desbordante, aunque cada uno la expresa de una manera diferente. A Damián le gusta la música, y es que cantar y tocar la guitarra le permite contar lo que siente. A Mercedes siempre la veremos con un pincel en mano, sacando sus emociones pintando. ¿Y Marcos? Veréis, Marcos es un gran escritor y a través de las palabras escribe todos sus pensamientos y así puede conocerse a sí mismo mucho más.Estos tres hermanos tan especiales les encanta jugar juntos e inventarse mil juegos diferentes, pero hay algo que les preocupa… pronto se irán a una nueva casa. Ver a sus padres tan tristes y cómo su casa va quedando vacía les parte el alma, pero descubrirán que si están juntos, siempre van a tener un hogar.

Read more less

In the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Livingstone declaration, and the UN Social Protection Floor, this book deals jointly with multi-dimensional child poverty and social protection in Western and Central Africa. It focuses both on extent and types of social protection coverage and assesses various child poverty trends in the region. More importantly, it looks at social protection to prevent and address the consequences of child poverty. Child poverty is distinct, conceptually, and different, quantitatively, from adult poverty. It requires its own independent measurementotherwise half of the population in developing countries may be unaccounted for when assessing poverty reduction. This book posits that child poverty should be measured based on constitutive rights of poverty, using a multi-dimensional approach. The argument is supported by chapters actually applying and expanding this approach. In addition, the case is made that the underlying drivers of child poverty are inequality, lack of access to basic social services, and the presence of families without any type of social protection. As a result, the case for social protection in contributing to reduce and eliminate child protection and its consequences is made. Poverty reduction has been high on the international agenda since the start of the millennium. First as part of the MDGs and now included in the SDGs. However, in spite of a decline in the incidence of child poverty, the number of poor children is harder to reduce due to population dynamics. As a result, concomitant problems such as the increasing number of child brides, unregulated/dangerous migration, unabated child trafficking, etc. remain intractable. Understanding the root causes of child poverty and its characteristics in Western and Central Africa is fundamental to designing innovative ways to address it. It is also important to map the interventions, describe the practices, appreciate the challenges, recognize the limitations, and highlight the contributions of social protection and its role in dealing with child poverty. No practical policy recommendations can be devised without this knowledge.

Read more less

It can be easy to rush through life without fully appreciating what it has to offer. Many of us are not living our best life, because we are preoccupied with the past and the future. We can live our lives on autopilot, in an almost mechanical state, functioning without really thinking. When we live in the past it can be depressing, when we are fixated on the future it can sometimes cause anxiety. The present is the only time we can live in and that is sacred, so why miss it? If we spend all our waking hours glued to our phones, social media and devices we may miss the beauty right in front of us. Mindfulness helps develop our understanding of how our brain works, increases our concentration, our sense of calm and our compassion for ourselves and others. As a result, developing our practice makes us happier, healthier, and more skilful at responding to difficult emotions; overall, it increases our focus and enhances our performance. WE FEEL CONNECTED! This book shares with you seven mindfulness techniques that, with daily practice, will have a profound positive effect on your well-being and the young people in your care. The guidance is to practise each one of the techniques for a week over a period of six weeks and record what you notice. To maximise the benefits, at the end of the six weeks, make a plan of how you are going to integrate all the practices into your daily life, using the example at the back of the book as your guide. This script in the first instance is geared towards children at the top end of primary school (9-11 years of age), with the support of their parents/carers/teachers. The intention of this script is to improve the health and well-being of people of all ages, by equipping them with the well-being tools to live a healthier and happier life.

Read more less

The standard of congregational singing in mid-eighteenth-century parish churches was often in a parlous state, a situation viewed with alarm by many influential clergy and social commentators. In this authoritative study, Maggie Kilbey explores attempts to improve parochial music-making over the following century and the factors that played a part in their success or failure. Using Hertfordshire as a basis, original research by this respected author and historian uses a wide range of documentary evidence to reveal a complicated picture of influence and interaction between the gentry, clergymen and their parishioners. Her innovative approach to the social history of church music-making sheds light on interactions between militia and church bands, singers, organists, the role of charity school children and the use of barrel organs. Because of its proximity to London, Hertfordshire was particularly attractive to elites with an interest in the capital, and fell under the influence of metropolitan music-making more readily than less accessible parts of England. The involvement of both fashion-conscious and socially aware gentry was mirrored by those further down the social scale, and formed part of a complex pattern of support for church music-making. Unsurprisingly, this support was not universal, and often short-lived once initial enthusiasm or funding ran out. Consequently, although many attempts were made to ‘improve’ music-making in parish churches, sooner or later these were considered to be failures, swiftly forgotten - and then tried again. To make matters worse, church rate disputes hampered efforts to improve or sustain parish music-making during the nineteenth century, resulting in financial hardship for organists and other church musicians. Yet this was followed by an 1850s ‘singing craze’ which led to the formation of many church choirs, alterations to the church fabric, and installation of organs. This investigation into patterns of parochial music-making will appeal to both those with an interest in the history of music-making, and also those with a general interest in the social history of Hertfordshire.

Read more less

Frank Whitcombe, described as 'one of the greatest Welsh rugby league forwards of all time', played for Bradford Northern, Wales, and Great Britain. Adored by Bradford supporters and admired by the rugby league fraternity, such was his prowess that he was named in the Bradford Northern all-time greats team. The Indomitable Frank Whitcombe, lovingly tells the incredible story of a rugby league legend who was born and raised, as one of ten children in Grangetown, the heart of working-class Cardiff. Frank's rugby career, after a brief and successful spell as a boxer, began in rugby union, when he played for the British Army and London Welsh, as a deceptively nimble and skilful 18 stone forward. His talents were quickly spotted by rugby league scouts, and Frank was persuaded to 'go north' for GBP100 and two new suits, although the cost of buying himself out of the Army left him just GBP10, and the suits! Frank was made for rugby league and he enjoyed a glittering career in professional rugby, winning the RL Challenge Cup three times, the RL Championship three times and was capped 14 times by Wales.He quickly created a big impression on the Great Britain selectors and he was chosen for the famous 1946 'Indomitables' tour of Australia. Frank excelled as the tourists made history and won plaudits from antipodean fans and media alike as the team became the first, and to date only GB tourists, to win a rugby league Test Series, undefeated, 'down under'. After 331 games, Frank bowed-out of rugby with Bradford Northern, four days after playing in a Challenge Cup final at Wembley, in his last match at Odsal; a game which attracted 19,000 fans. He then turned to life as an RL administrator and publican before his life was tragically cut short by pneumonia at the age of only 44. Frank was a true giant of rugby league and this is the first book to tell his remarkable story.

Read more less

Patrick Kavanagh (1904–67) was one of Ireland’s foremost poets, best known for ‘The Great Hunger’ and novel Tarry Flynn. He is also remembered for his cantankerous, sometimes volatile nature, fuelled by alcohol. In A Poet in the House: Patrick Kavanagh at Priory Grove, a memoir by Elizabeth O’Toole, we encounter a new Patrick Kavanagh. In 1961, the poet lived with the O’Toole family in Stillorgan for six months at a crucial point in his life, when he was sober, industrious and, as the accompanying photographs will show, much loved by her children. Until now, no one has been aware of how close Kavanagh was to O’Toole and to her husband, James Davitt Bermingham O’Toole. Born and raised in China, Jim O’Toole was the author of Man Alive, a play about the inner workings of the ESB that created a storm of controversy in 1961. On the first night, Kavanagh told the audience that the press was ‘lily-livered’. This was not just ‘a local row’. One of the ESB’s top executives, Jim O’Donovan, was the IRA leader who negotiated a deal with the Nazis that threatened the existence of the State in 1940. Kavanagh’s relationship with O’Donovan and Jim O’Toole’s escape from Germany at the outbreak of the war are here revealed for the first time. Amongst many other revelations in the book is a hitherto unknown connection between the poet and Patricia Avis, novelist wife of the poet Richard Murphy, and lover of Philip Larkin and Desmond Williams. Although Elizabeth O’Toole is now ninety-six, her decidedly down-to-earth voice is that of a much younger woman. Her vivid recollections deepen and challenge the way we view Patrick Kavanagh. The influence of her book will tilt our perception of this passionate man. A contextual essay by the editor of the volume, playwright and novelist Brian Lynch, accompanies the memoir along with photographs from the early sixties.

Read more less

For half a century Sarah Josepha Hale was the most influential woman in America. As editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, Hale was the leading cultural arbiter for the growing nation. Women (and many men) turned to her for advice on what to read, what to cook, how to behave, and—most important—what to think. Twenty years before the declaration of women’s rights in Seneca Falls, NY, Sarah Josepha Hale used her powerful pen to promote women’s right to an education, to work, and to manage their own money.There is hardly an aspect of nineteenth-century culture in which Hale did not figure prominently as a pathbreaker. She was one of the first editors to promote American authors writing on American themes. Her stamp of approval advanced the reputations of Edgar Allan Poe, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. She wrote the first antislavery novel, compiled the first women’s history book, and penned the most recognizable verse in the English language, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”Americans’ favorite holiday—Thanksgiving—wouldn’t exist without Hale. Re-imagining the New England festival as a patriotic national holiday, she conducted a decades-long campaign to make it happen. Abraham Lincoln took up her suggestion in 1863 and proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving.Most of the women’s equity issues that Hale championed have been achieved, or nearly so. But women’s roles in the “domestic sphere” are arguably less valued today than in Hale’s era. Her beliefs about women’s obligations to family, moral leadership, and principal role in raising children continue to have relevance at a time when many American women think feminism has failed them. We could benefit from re-examining her arguments to honor women’s special roles and responsibilities.Lady Editor re-creates the life of a major nineteenth-century woman, whose career as a writer, editor, and early feminist encompassed ideas central to American history.

Read more less

Spot moose and porcupines on a secluded hike, relax in a candy-colored fishing village, and immerse yourself in Canada's maritime history with Moon Nova Scotia, New Brunswick & Prince Edward Island. Inside you'll find:* Flexible itineraries including a coastal road trip and a multi-week Nova Scotia adventure, designed for foodies, families, outdoor adventurers, history buffs, and more* Top experiences and activities: Take a scenic drive along the coast, tour North America's oldest working brewery, or stroll around the town that inspired Anne of Green Gables. Feast on fresh lobster, crab, and salmon or sample traditional Acadian rappie pie. Board and explore historic ships harbored at a UNESCO World Heritage Site or learn how to forge metal and spin cloth at the living history settlement of Kings Landing * Best outdoor adventures: Keep an eye out for the world's rarest whales, kayak along the craggy coast, and take in a colorful sunset on a harbor cruise. Hike through wildflower-filled meadows or bright fall foliage, kayak the alongside the craggy coast, or bike the beach boardwalks. Walk between giant sea stacks during low tide and let the sound of waves lull you to sleep at an oceanfront campsite * Strategic advice from Canadian Andrew Hempstead on when to go, where to stay, and how to get around* Full-color photos and detailed maps throughout* Background information on the environment, culture, and history* Essential tips for families with children, travelers with disabilities, and moreExperience the natural beauty and fascinating history of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island with Moon's expert tips and unique experiences.Expanding your trip? Try Moon Atlantic Canada or Moon Canadian Rockies.About Moon Travel Guides: Moon was founded in 1973 to empower independent, active, and conscious travel. We prioritize local businesses, outdoor recreation, and traveling strategically and sustainably. Moon Travel Guides are written by local, expert authors with great stories to tell-and they can't wait to share their favorite places with you.For more inspiration, follow @moonguides on social media.

Read more less

“Stimulating and inspiring. . . .” —Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of PeaceJournalist William J. Kole, reluctant but newly minted member of AARP, explores the looming era of super-aging—incredibly longer lifespans overall, and eight times more centenarians by the year 2050—through the lens of past, present, and future life at ages 50, 65, 80, and on to 100-plus. What happens to all of us when 65 is merely a life half-lived?By 2050, the world’s centenarian population—those aged 100 or more—will increase eightfold. Half of today’s 5-year-olds can expect to reach the same heights. It’s going to upend everything we thought we knew about health care, personal finance, retirement, politics, and more. Whether we’re 18 or 81, this tectonic demographic shift will affect us all. The Big 100 confronts readers with both the brightness and potential bleakness of a fate few of us thought possible. Journalist William Kole guides us on this journey into our future, an optimistic but sometimes fraught exploration of super-aging as the grandson of a centenarian. Along the way, there are expert sources, like Dr. Jane Goodall, longevity expert Dr. Thomas Perls, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and even 101-year-old influencer and fashionista Iris Apfel; along with surprises, including the truth about those so-called “Blue Zones” everyone thinks are centenarian factories. (Spoiler alert: They’re not.) And there’s the troubling truth that those reaching extreme longevity tend to be overwhelmingly white, a product of what experts deem the “weathering theory”: the idea that the health of African Americans begins to deteriorate in early adulthood as a physical consequence of socio-economic disadvantages. How long can we live? How long should we live? And what happens when 65 is merely a life half-lived?The Big 100 explores the most pressing questions of our super-aging future, and offers a glimpse of a reality that awaits us, our children, and our grandchildren.

Read more less

Advances in Medicine and Biology. Volume 157 opens with a study wherein the authors use guinea pig airway smooth muscle to demonstrate that testosterone blocks L type voltage dependent Ca2+ channels. Furthermore, in vivo experiments with sensitized guinea pigs show that bronchospasm induced by antigenic challenge was abolished by testosterone and its 5α and 5β-dihydrotestosterone metabolites. Following this, the authors evaluate the structural features of skeletal muscles in children and adults with various pathologies of the musculoskeletal system based on ultrasonography, considering periods of natural growth and involutive changes. An overview of the current state of research on fluoxetine for the treatment of anxiety alone or combined with depression is provided, along with its possible side effects. Also provided is scientific information is regarding the neurobiological bases of depression and therapeutic effects of fluoxetine during the different periods of menopause. This information could be useful in pharmacological strategies for the treatment of depression occurring in the menopausal women. One chapter focuses on how improved direct access to the liver protected inside the rib cage can be obtained in laparoscopic liver resection using its specific "Caudal approach", decreasing the risk of refractory ascites and liver failure, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma patients with chronic liver diseases. The nucleolus is packed with proteins involved in ribosome function and biogenesis, as well as other proteins involved in cell-cycle regulation, senescence and stress response. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of protein turnover in the nucleolus. As such, the authors discuss the nucleolus-localized protein degradation pathway, which is essential to ribosome production and cell-cycle progression. The concluding chapter focuses on the dye Congo red, which is used as a stain in microscopy to detect an abnormal material called amyloid. Amyloid consists of misfolded proteins that form fibrils which bind molecules of Congo red and orientate the molecules parallel to the long axis of the fibrils.

Read more less

'Obligatory reading for all parents of teenagers!' NIGELLA LAWSON'Bloody marvellous. Horribly familiar, funny, touching, sad, brutally honest...clutch this book to your stained T-shirt and never let it go.' JO BRAND'Terrific. A remarkable blend of hilarity and heartbreak with a really satisfying plot. Being childless never felt so good.' GRAHAM NORTON'Warm and witty... The competitive mothering, the hell that is other people's children, the fights and accusations of Homeland inquisition all rang deliciously true... a most entertaining read.' KATHY LETTE'Very poignant... A moving read as well as a funny one.' JANE GARVEY 'Honest, hilarious and painful' WOMAN & HOMEWarning!! This novel may lead you to make rash and life-changing decisions!**Probably don't read if you fear you may be ripe for liberation. Or if you sometimes wee when you laugh...First there was Having It All, then there was Bridget Jones' s Diary and I Don't Know How She Does It. Now there is Teenage Punchbag.I'm Just A Teenage Punchbag is a laugh-out-loud, sob-on-the bus journey through the so-called life of a middle-aged woman.Ciara is mother to three ungrateful, entitled teenagers, is married to steady Martin, a man with hairy udders, and is grieving for her mum who now lives in the wardrobe in a cardboard box from the crematorium. She finds solace in her anonymous blog, and in the daily chats she has with her mum's ashes (often the best conversations she has all day.)Despite the menopause, the invisibility of middle age and the daily self-esteem bashings, courtesy of her kids, Ciara manages to navigate the stormy waters of grief and family life - until her mask slips and she is cast out from the family bosom. She embarks on a mission to fulfil her mum's dying wishes to have her remains sprinkled from the top of the Empire State Building, finding company, distraction and - ultimately - herself in the process.If motherhood is a job - who says you can't resign?

Read more less