Search results for ""pacific""

A new history of the United States that turns American exceptionalism on its head American Empire is a panoramic work of scholarship that presents a bold new global perspective on the history of the United States. Drawing on his expertise in economic history and the imperial histories of Britain and Europe, A. G. Hopkins takes readers from the colonial era to today to show how, far from diverging, the United States and Western Europe followed similar trajectories throughout this long period, and how America's dependency on Britain and Europe extended much later into the nineteenth century than previously understood. In a sweeping narrative spanning three centuries, Hopkins describes how the revolt of the mainland colonies was the product of a crisis that afflicted the imperial states of Europe generally, and how the history of the American republic between 1783 and 1865 was a response not to the termination of British influence but to its continued expansion. He traces how the creation of a U.S. industrial nation-state after the Civil War paralleled developments in Western Europe, fostered similar destabilizing influences, and found an outlet in imperialism through the acquisition of an insular empire in the Caribbean and Pacific. The period of colonial rule that followed reflected the history of the European empires in its ideological justifications, economic relations, and administrative principles. After 1945, a profound shift in the character of globalization brought the age of the great territorial empires to an end. American Empire goes beyond the myth of American exceptionalism to place the United States within the wider context of the global historical forces that shaped the Western empires and the world.

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With a pedigree going back over ten years, The Definitive Handbook of Business Continuity Management can rightly claim to be a classic guide to business risk management and contingency planning, with a style that makes it accessible to all business managers. Some of the original underlying principles remain the same – but much has changed. This is reflected in this radically updated third edition, with exciting and helpful new content from new and innovative contributors and new case studies bringing the book right up to the minute. This book combines over 500 years of experience from leading Business Continuity experts of many countries. It is presented in an easy-to-follow format, explaining in detail the core BC activities incorporated in BS 25999, Business Continuity Guidelines, BS 25777 IT Disaster Recovery and other standards and in the body of knowledge common to the key business continuity institutes. Contributors from America, Asia Pacific, Europe, China, India and the Middle East provide a truly global perspective, bringing their own insights and approaches to the subject, sharing best practice from the four corners of the world. We explore and summarize the latest legislation, guidelines and standards impacting BC planning and management and explain their impact. The structured format, with many revealing case studies, examples and checklists, provides a clear roadmap, simplifying and de-mystifying business continuity processes for those new to its disciplines and providing a benchmark of current best practice for those more experienced practitioners. This book makes a massive contribution to the knowledge base of BC and risk management. It is essential reading for all business continuity, risk managers and auditors: none should be without it.

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For the thousands of US sailors bound for the Pacific theatre of World War II, the Hawaiian Islands were the staging ground for an unknown fate. Their perception of Honolulu as a tropical paradise quickly deflated upon their arrival. The anticipation of a moonlit Diamond Head, available hula girls and free-flowing and affordable rum quickly materialized into crowded streets, beaches cordoned off with barbed wire and endless lines to nowhere. Still, as with many ports of call, diversions were plentiful, and set against the warm trade winds, sailors took advantage of them on their last stop to hell. Shore Leave is the first photobook to capture the Honolulu of this time and place. It is a one-of-a-kind visual document of a port that, for many sailors who passed through, was their initiation into manhood. Classic 1940s images of Hawaiian hula girls complement scrapbook photos of jaunty, uniformed sailors touring the island on a motorcycle or playing pool. Young women masquerading as bonafide hula girls pose with sailors in photobooth arcades, a ritual that for many would be the last human embrace before being deposited onto the battefield. Whether on the crowded streets of Waikiki or in line at the famed Black Cat Cafe, the young American men appear content for the moment with the liberties that their 48 hours away from the ship afforded. Meticulously culled from a 30-year collection of scrapbooks, photo albums and ephemera, Shore Leave—beautifully packaged with its clothbound, tipped-on cover—presents the dreams and realities of young men on their way to war in a Honolulu as exotic and forbidden as it was banal and lonely.

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The Martian meets 127 Hours in this powerfully humane thriller about a scuba diver who's been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.'Astoundingly great. Whalefall is, quite simply, a beautiful novel-a must-read story' - GILLIAN FLYNN'A crazy, and crazily enjoyable, beat-the-clock adventure story' - NEW YORK TIMES'Fantastically gripping . . . Smart, surreal, and powerfully humane' - OWEN KING'There is nothing else quite like Whalefall' - NEW SCIENTISTJay Gardiner has given himself a fool's errand: to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. He knows it's a long shot, but Jay feels it's the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad's death the previous year.The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid's tentacles and drawn into the whale's mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out - one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is an 'astoundingly great' (Gillian Flynn, New York Times bestselling author) thriller about a young man who has given up on life, only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.

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For decades the controversy has raged: Was the Pearl Harbor disaster a result of criminal negligence by military officers in the Pacific theater? Was it, as some have claimed, a deliberate plot by the President in Washington? It seems unlikely that a country could have so many warnings pointing to the danger, and yet be so unprepared for the event itself. American intelligence could read top-secret Japanese codes and the U.S. was therefore in a posistion to transmit vital information to American commanders throughout the world. Most of the time Washington was able to predict both Japan's diplomatic moves and its military deployments. But, as this carefully documented book shows, the outlines of danger look sharp today because the disaster has occurred, and an entirely different image emerges upon reconstructing in detail the intelligence picture as it looked to the participants before the event. In 1941 the pieces of the puzzle were dispersed in a number of government agencies. Some were lost in the noise of signals pointing in other directions—toward a Japanese advance southward or into Siberia; some were slowed by the normal barriers of bureaucracy; and some were silenced by security requirements. At the center of the decision no one had completed the puzzle. Above all, this book reminds us sharply that detecting a surprise attack will be more difficult in the era of the H-bomb. As the Foreword states: "The danger is not that we shall read the signals and indicators with too little skill; the danger is in a poverty of expectations—a routine obsession with a few dangers that may be familiar rather than likely."

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An unflinching examination of the moral and professional dilemmas faced by physicians who took part in the Manhattan Project.After his father died, James L. Nolan, Jr., took possession of a box of private family materials. To his surprise, the small secret archive contained a treasure trove of information about his grandfather’s role as a doctor in the Manhattan Project. Dr. Nolan, it turned out, had been a significant figure. A talented ob-gyn radiologist, he cared for the scientists on the project, organized safety and evacuation plans for the Trinity test at Alamogordo, escorted the “Little Boy” bomb from Los Alamos to the Pacific Islands, and was one of the first Americans to enter the irradiated ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Participation on the project challenged Dr. Nolan’s instincts as a healer. He and his medical colleagues were often conflicted, torn between their duty and desire to win the war and their oaths to protect life. Atomic Doctors follows these physicians as they sought to maximize the health and safety of those exposed to nuclear radiation, all the while serving leaders determined to minimize delays and maintain secrecy. Called upon both to guard against the harmful effects of radiation and to downplay its hazards, doctors struggled with the ethics of ending the deadliest of all wars using the most lethal of all weapons. Their work became a very human drama of ideals, co-optation, and complicity.A vital and vivid account of a largely unknown chapter in atomic history, Atomic Doctors is a profound meditation on the moral dilemmas that ordinary people face in extraordinary times.

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In the course of the twentieth century, no war looms as profoundly transformative or as destructive as World War II. Its global scope and human toll reveal the true face of modern, industrialized warfare. Now, for the first time, we have a comprehensive, single-volume account of how and why this global conflict evolved as it did. A War To Be Won is a unique and powerful operational history of the Second World War that tells the full story of battle on land, on sea, and in the air.Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett analyze the operations and tactics that defined the conduct of the war in both the European and Pacific Theaters. Moving between the war room and the battlefield, we see how strategies were crafted and revised, and how the multitudes of combat troops struggled to discharge their orders. The authors present incisive portraits of the military leaders, on both sides of the struggle, demonstrating the ambiguities they faced, the opportunities they took, and those they missed. Throughout, we see the relationship between the actual operations of the war and their political and moral implications.A War To Be Won is the culmination of decades of research by two of America’s premier military historians. It avoids a celebratory view of the war but preserves a profound respect for the problems the Allies faced and overcame as well as a realistic assessment of the Axis accomplishments and failures. It is the essential military history of World War II—from the Sino–Japanese War in 1937 to the surrender of Japan in 1945—for students, scholars, and general readers alike.

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How could the deteriorating trend of debt-driven world economy come to an end? What sort of logic is effectuating behind recent Chinese militaristic diplomacy in Asia-Pacific? Why Japan could not be a genuinely modern constitutionalist state, despite its spectacular economic comeback? The ancient ideology that once led successful Eastern civilization - yet still unknown to the West - is running all major economic powers in East Asia with a secretive political arrangement. Since the 19th century, war and turmoil continued elsewhere after the arrival of two modern ideologies in Europe - Communism and Fascism/Nazism. The World, however, prevented its politics from going to the total destruction of economy on earth, as Berlin Wall was duly dismantled by the people's power in Germany. Why a similar political solution cannot be expected in East Asia? The economic system that contributed so much to the expansion of Eastern Civilization for thousands of years and embedded in its religions, politics, social practice and culture, is emerging today to present an insoluble controversy in modern politics. We only can clarify the mechanism of such ancient ideology by concentrating on Political Economy - absent in modern social science, since the days of Thomas Robert Malthus and John Maynard Keynes. This research work explains about a forgotten progress in the history of mankind and its ongoing reality under disguised double standard of Japanese Liberal Democracy and Chinese Communism against powerless international legal system, existing and functioning without a spirit of global modernization. An essential reading for keen professionals to find out the decisive turn round of intensifying economic crisis in our hyper-technological world.

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Thanks to his direct naval experience, multi-million copy bestselling author Douglas Reeman is expertly placed to take you to the heart of the action in this all-action, non-stop tale of naval warfare. With his vivid characterisation and atmospheric storytelling, you'll feel you are in the midst of events yourself! Perfect for fans of Clive Cussler, Bernard Cornwell and Wilbur Smith.'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' -- Sunday Times'Mr Reeman writes with great knowledge about the sea and those who sail on it' -- The Times'Stirring stuff!' -- ***** Reader review'Very hard to put down and the reader gets drawn into the action' -- ***** Reader review'Fantastic' -- ***** Reader review'Gripping from beginning to the end' -- ***** Reader review'This is a book that you will not want to put down' -- ***** Reader review*******************************************************************************************************NOVEMBER, 1941: THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC.Lieutenant Ralph Trewin, D.S.C., arrives at Singapore as second-in-command of the shallow-draught gunboat, H.M.S. Porcupine.To Trewin, still shocked from wounds received during the evacuation of Crete, the gunboat and her five elderly consorts seem to symbolise the ignorance and blind optimism he finds in Singapore. And the captain of the Porcupine is as unwilling as the rest to take heed of Trewin's alarm, for to him the gunboat represents his last chance.The following month, the Japanese invade Malaya. In three months, Singapore, the impregnable fortress, knows the humiliation of surrender.Through the misery and despair of this bloody campaign, Trewin and his captain are forced to draw on each other's beliefs and weaknesses, and together they weld the little gunboat into a symbol of bravery and pride.

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Explore the diverse Indian Ocean in this beautifully illustrated children's book, for readers aged 9+The Indian Ocean is Earth's third biggest ocean, connecting Africa with Asia and Australia. Its warm waters are filled with unique wildlife visiting its famous islands, colourful coral reefs and dense mangrove forests. Many major cities surround the Indian Ocean and the ocean is an important part of life for their inhabitants, who often work in shipping, tourism or fishing. But the Indian Ocean is at particular risk from rising sea levels, as much of the land surrounding it as low-lying and floods are a constant threat.The oceans make up Earth's biggest habitat. More than 70 per cent of Earth's surface is covered by oceans and seas and they hold more than 97 per cent of Earth's water supply. Oceans drive the world's weather, provide half of the oxygen we breathe and provide food and livelihoods for more than a billion people.Blue Worlds explores each of the world's five oceans and major seas in detail, looking at the different features - from wildlife and weather to landscape - that make them all individual and unique. It also looks at the threats that they face, such as global warming, overfishing and pollution.Titles in the series: The Arctic Ocean, The Atlantic Ocean. The Indian Ocean, The Pacific Ocean, The Southern Ocean, Seas, Gulfs & BaysContents:The world's oceans Indian Ocean tour Seas, bays, gulfs and straits Coasts and islands Winds, currents and waves Indian Ocean explorers Indian Ocean wildlife The Ganges Delta Life on Madagascar Indian Ocean plants People and transport Indian Ocean riches Indian Ocean in danger Indian Ocean factsGlossaryIndex

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“Distinctive, original, fresh in in tone and manner, with a quaint whimsicality of feeling and expression.”—The New York TimesLife on the Western waterfront has always fascinated Max Miller, a special reporter for the San Diego Sun. Embraced by all the waterfront folk, he has joined them on their cruises, has learned the mystery of their crafts, and knows them like brothers.Max himself has become a part of the waterfront. Not a fishing boat ties up to the wharf without Max Miller getting the story. Not a submarine comes in, or an airplane soars out over the water without Max Miller being invited to go. He is one of the first men to climb up the ladder of the Pacific lines, especially when celebrities are aboard.A combination of newspaper reporter, philosopher and poet, the author writes his charming sketches in his “studio” upstairs in the tugboat office, where he can look out over his domain. But reporting is not simply a job with Max Miller, it is the greatest pleasure of his life. He delights in setting down his impressions of the Western shore, where life is a constant flux and reflux, seasonal, immutable and yet ever exciting—the departure of the Sardine Fleet, the hunt for elephant seals for the zoo, the sailing of the California fruit liners.I Cover the Waterfront was first published in the early 1930s and has since gone on to become a classic. It is as memorable for its unique stories as it is for its individual style—so keenly sensitive to the personalities of men and to the romantic environment of the harbor and deep-sea life.

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No person in the world is more recognizable than an American president. These men are larger than life, and as the leader of the free world they have the opportunity to shape history in ways that most of us cannot imagine. Some objects, such as the Resolute desk, Air Force One, or the presidential seal, are symbolic of the position itself, but each president has at least one artifact that largely defines his life and his presidency. For example, George Washington’s ill-fitting dentures plagued him for most of his life, affecting the very image of his face that we have all come to recognize. Millions of Americans were comforted by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” as he spoke into a radio microphone during the Great Depression and World War II. John F. Kennedy memorialized a coconut husk, with a message he wrote after his PT boat was destroyed in the Pacific Ocean, into a paperweight he kept on his desk in the Oval Office. Bill Clinton appeared on late night television playing the saxophone to appeal to younger voters. Exploring the American Presidency through 50 Historic Treasures brings together significant artifacts from the lives of the men who have led our nation through times of great prosperity and terrible tragedy. When we look at our presidents through the lens of the material culture they left behind, it humanizes them and creates relevance to our own lives. This book features full-color images of 50 artifacts that were chosen by the very people who work at presidential sites and historical museums, stewarding the legacies of our presidents.

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A “comprehensive…fascinating” (The New York Times Book Review) history of Asian Americans and their role in American life, by one of the nation’s preeminent scholars on the subject, with a new afterword about the recent hate crimes against Asian Americans.In the past fifty years, Asian Americans have helped change the face of America and are now the fastest growing group in the United States. But much of their long history has been forgotten. “In her sweeping, powerful new book, Erika Lee considers the rich, complicated, and sometimes invisible histories of Asians in the United States” (Huffington Post). The Making of Asian America shows how generations of Asian immigrants and their American-born descendants have made and remade Asian American life, from sailors who came on the first trans-Pacific ships in the 1500 to the Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. Over the past fifty years, a new Asian America has emerged out of community activism and the arrival of new immigrants and refugees. But as Lee shows, Asian Americans have continued to struggle as both “despised minorities” and “model minorities,” revealing all the ways that racism has persisted in their lives and in the life of the country. Published fifty years after the passage of the United States’ Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, these “powerful Asian American stories…are inspiring, and Lee herself does them justice in a book that is long overdue” (Los Angeles Times). But more than that, The Making of Asian America is an “epic and eye-opening” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) new way of understanding America itself, its complicated histories of race and immigration, and its place in the world today.

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In the past two decades, our understanding of the navigational and physiological feats that enable birds to cross immense oceans, fly above the highest mountains, or remain in unbroken flight for months at a stretch has exploded. What we’ve learned of these key migrations—how billions of birds circumnavigate the globe, flying tens of thousands of miles between hemispheres on an annual basis—is nothing short of extraordinary. Bird migration entails almost unfathomable endurance, like a sparrow-sized sandpiper that will fly nonstop from Canada to Venezuela—the equivalent of running 126 consecutive marathons without food, water, or rest—avoiding dehydration by "drinking" moisture from its own muscles and organs, while orienting itself using the earth’s magnetic field through a form of quantum entanglement that made Einstein queasy. Crossing the Pacific Ocean in nine days of nonstop flight, as some birds do, leaves little time for sleep, but migrants can put half their brains to sleep for a few seconds at a time, alternating sides—and their reaction time actually improves. These and other revelations convey both the wonder of bird migration and its global sweep, from the mudflats of the Yellow Sea in China to the remote mountains of northeastern India to the dusty hills of southern Cyprus. This breathtaking work of nature writing from Pulitzer Prize finalist Scott Weidensaul also introduces readers to those scientists, researchers, and bird lovers trying to preserve global migratory patterns in the face of climate change and other environmental challenges. Drawing on his own extensive fieldwork, in A World on the Wing Weidensaul unveils with dazzling prose the miracle of nature taking place over our heads.

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From the bestselling author of Hero Found comes the incredible true story of one of the greatest military rescues of all time, the 1945 World War II prison camp raid at Los Banos in the Philippines-a tale of daring, courage, and heroism that joins the ranks of Ghost Soldiers, Unbroken, and The Boys of Pointe du Hoc. In February 1945, as the U.S. victory in the Pacific drew nearer, the Japanese army grew desperate, and its soldiers guarding U.S. and Allied POWs more sadistic. Starved, shot and beaten, many of the 2,146 prisoners of the Los Banos prison camp in the Philippines-most of them American men, women and children-would not survive much longer unless rescued soon. Deeply concerned about the half-starved and ill-treated prisoners, General Douglas MacArthur assigned to the 11th Airborne Division a dangerous rescue mission deep behind enemy lines that became a deadly race against the clock. The Los Banos raid would become one of the greatest triumphs of that war or any war; hailed years later by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell: "I doubt that any airborne unit in the world will ever be able to rival the Los Banos prison raid. It is the textbook operation for all ages and all armies." Combining personal interviews, diaries, correspondence, memoirs, and archival research, Rescue at Los Banos tells the story of a remarkable group of prisoners-whose courage and fortitude helped them overcome hardship, deprivation, and cruelty-and of the young American soldiers and Filipino guerrillas who risked their lives to save them.

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Set on the edge of the Pacific and bursting with culture and life, Vancouver is a delight to explore. Immerse yourself in the best of the city with Moon Vancouver.* Explore the City: Navigate by neighbourhood or by activity with colour-coded maps, or follow one of our self-guided neighbourhood walks* See the Sights: Cycle along the coast at Stanley Park, kayak local waterways, learn about indigenous history at the Vancouver Museum of Anthropology, and soak in gorgeous nature views from atop Grouse Mountain* Get a Taste of the City: Sip a perfect pour-over coffee, browse the artistically arranged stalls at the Granville Island Public Market, or dig into some of the best Chinese food in North America * Bars and Nightlife: Sample local craft beer, enjoy cocktails on lush patios or in cozy speakeasies, and plug into Vancouver's artsy side with an eclectic lineup of everything from indie rock to world music* Local Advice: Vancouver expert Carolyn B. Heller shares her favourite places in her adopted city* Strategic Itineraries: See the best of Vancouver with itineraries designed for families, gourmands, history buffs, nature-lovers, and artists, with day trips to Victoria, Vancouver Island, and Whistler* Full-Colour Photos and Detailed Maps so you can explore on your own, plus an easy-to-read foldout map to use on the go* Handy Tools: Background information on the landscape, history, and culture, packaged in a book slim enough to fit in your coat pocketExperience the real Vancouver with Moon's practical tips and insider know-how.Hitting the road? Check out Moon Vancouver & Canadian Rockies Road Trip.

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In A Connected Metropolis Maxwell Johnson describes Los Angeles’s rise in the early twentieth century as catalyzed by a series of upper-class debates about the city’s connections to the outside world. By focusing on specific moments in the city’s development when tensions over Los Angeles’s connections, or lack thereof, emerged, Johnson ties each movement to two or three contemporary figures who influenced the debates at hand. The elites’ previous efforts to secure nationwide and global connections for Los Angeles were wildly successful following World War II. As a result, the city became a landing spot for African American migrants, Cambodian and Laotian refugees, and Mexican and Central American immigrants. Johnson argues that the city’s history is more defined by external relationships than previously understood, and those relationships have given the history of the city more continuity than originally recognized. At the turn of the twentieth century, the politics of connection revolved around initiatives to tie Los Angeles to other places both tangibly and metaphorically. Elites built tangible connections to secure, among other things, the water that irrigated the citrus farms of Los Angeles, the capital that propelled its businesses, and the people who migrated from the Midwest to buy its houses. To build metaphorical connections that located the city amid transcontinental and trans-Pacific movements, elites themselves often transcended nearby borders and pursued connections at will. Los Angeles stood as a focal point for elite ambitions, a place with a more ambivalent relationship to external connections. The true story of Los Angeles’s rise lies in the spectacular visions and rambunctious activism of a group of elite men dedicated to transforming a remote frontier town into a global metropolis.

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The Destroyer Escort was the smallest ocean-­going escort built for the United States Navy – a downsized destroyer with less speed, fewer guns, and fewer torpedoes than its big brother, the fleet destroyer. Destroyer escorts first went into production because the Royal Navy needed an escort warship which was larger than a corvette, but which could be built faster than a destroyer. Lacking the shipyards to build these types of ships in Britain, they ordered them in the US. Once the US unexpectedly entered World War II, its navy suddenly also needed more escort warships, even warships less capable than destroyers, and the destroyer escort was reluctantly picked to fill the gap. Despite the Navy’s initial reservations, these ships did yeoman service during World War II, fighting in both the Atlantic and Pacific, taking on both U-boat and Japanese submarines and serving as the early warning pickets against kamikazes later in the war. They also participated in such dramatic actions as the Battle of Samar (where a group of destroyers and destroyer escorts fought Japanese battleships and cruisers to protect the escort carriers they were shielding) and the capture of the U-505 (the only major naval vessel captured at sea by the US Navy). The destroyer escorts soldiered on after World War II in both the United States Navy and a large number of navies throughout the world, with several serving into the twenty-first century. This book tells the full story of these plucky ships, from their design and development to their service around the world, complete with stunning illustrations and contemporary photographs.

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Born to a prominent family in Havana but exiled to the United States as a girl, Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) is regarded as one of the most significant artists of the postwar era. During her too-brief career, she produced a distinctive body of work that includes drawings, installations, performances, photographs, and sculptures. Less well known is her remarkable and prolific production of films. This richly illustrated catalogue presents a series of sequential color stills from each of twenty-one original Super 8 films that have been newly preserved and digitized in high definition for the 2015 exhibition, combined with related photographs, and reference still images from all of the artist's 104 filmworks; together these illustrations sample the full range of the artist's film practice from 1971 to 1981. The book includes Mendieta's first published comprehensive filmography resulting from three years of collaborative research conducted by the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection and the University of Minnesota as well as original essays by John Perreault, Michael Rush, Rachel Weiss, Lynn Lukkas, Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, and Laura Wertheim Joseph. The first book-length treatment of Mendieta's moving-image practice, Covered in Time and History aims to locate her films centrally within her larger oeuvre and at the forefront of the multidisciplinary shifts that characterized visual arts practice during the 1970s. Published in association with the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota. Exhibition dates: University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA): November 9, 2016-February 12, 2017 NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdate: February 28-July 3, 2016 Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota: September 15-December 12, 2015

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Giant redwoods are American icons, paragons of grandeur, exceptionalism, and endurance. They are also symbols of conflict and negotiation, remnants of environmental battles over the limits of industrialization, profiteering, and globalization. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, logging operations have eaten away at the redwood forest, particularly areas covered by ancient giant redwoods. Today, such trees occupy a mere 120,000 acres. Their existence is testimony to the efforts of activists to rescue some of these giants from destruction. Very few conservation battles have endured longer or with more violence than on the North Coast of California, behind what locals call the Redwood Curtain. Defending Giants explores the long history of the Redwood Wars, focusing on the ways rural Americans fought for control over both North Coast society and its forests. Activists defended these trees not only because the redwood forest had dwindled in size, but also because, by the late twentieth century, the local economy was increasingly dominated by multinational corporations. The resulting conflict—the Redwood Wars—pitted workers and environmental activists against the rising tide of globalization and industrial logging in a complex war over endangered species, sustainable forestry, and, of course, the fate of the last ancient redwoods. Activists perched in trees and filed lawsuits, while the timber industry, led by Pacific Lumber, fought the lawsuits and used their power to halt reform efforts. Ultimately, the Clinton administration sidestepped Congress and the courts to negotiate an innovative compromise. In the process, the Redwood Wars transformed American environmental politics by shifting the balance of power away from Congress and into the hands of the executive branch.

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Barkcloth or tapa, a cloth made from the inner bark of trees, was widely used in place of woven cloth in the Pacific islands until the 19th century. A ubiquitous material, it was integral to the lives of islanders and used for clothing, furnishings and ritual artefacts. Material Approaches to Polynesian Barkcloth takes a new approach to the study of the history of this region through its barkcloth heritage, focusing on the plants themselves and surviving objects in historic collections. This object-focused approach has filled gaps in our understanding of the production and use of this material through an investigation of this unique fabric’s physical properties, transformation during manufacture and the regional history of its development in the 18th and 19th centuries.The book is the outcome of a research project which focused on three important collections of barkcloth at The Hunterian, University of Glasgow; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. It also looks more widely at the value of barkcloth artefacts in museum collections for enhancing both contemporary practice and a wider appreciation of this remarkable fabric. The contributors include academics, curators, conservators and makers of barkcloth from Oceania and beyond, in an interdisciplinary study which draws together insights from object-based and textual reseach, fieldwork and tapa making, and information on the plants used to make fibres and colourants.This book will be of interest to tapa makers, museum professionals including curators and conservators; academics and students in the fields of anthropology, museum studies and conservation; museum visitors and anyone interested in finding out more about barkcloth.

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In September 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland and initiated World War II, a strong strain of isolationism existed in Congress and across the country. The U.S. Army stood at fewer than 200,000 men—unprepared to defend the country, much less carry the fight to Europe and the Far East. And yet, less than a year after Pearl Harbor, the American army led the Allied invasion of North Africa, beginning the campaign that would defeat Germany, and the Navy and Marines were fully engaged with Japan in the Pacific.The story of America’s astounding industrial mobilization during World War II has been told. But what has never been chronicled before Paul Dickson’s The Rise of the G. I. Army, 1940-1941 is the extraordinary transformation of America’s military from a disparate collection of camps with dilapidated equipment into a well-trained and spirited army ten times its prior size in little more than eighteen months. From Franklin Roosevelt’s selection of George C. Marshall to be Army Chief of Staff to the remarkable peace-time draft of 1940 and the massive and unprecedented mock battles in Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Carolinas by which the skill and spirit of the Army were forged and out of which iconic leaders like Eisenhower, Bradley, and Clark emerged; Dickson narrates America’s urgent mobilization against a backdrop of political and cultural isolationist resistance and racial tension at home, and the increasingly perceived threat of attack from both Germany and Japan.An important addition to American history, The Rise of the G. I. Army, 1940-1941 is essential to our understanding of America’s involvement in World War II.

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Remarkable Treks is a compendium of exhilarating walks from around the planet – some lasting weeks, some lasting just a few days, but all of them set against spectacular backdrops. Following the same format as the award winning Remarkable Road Trips and Remarkable Bike Rides, Colin Salter has assembled 52 of the world's top-rated trails. The treks range in length from one-day hikes, to three-day hikes, to walks of almost expeditionary length. Thankfully, some of the longer routes, such as the Pacific Coast Trail in North America, which traverses the Rockies from Mexico to Canada, can be split up into sections. However for completists there are smaller challengers, such as the Pennine Way in England, which is never too far away from civilization, and by civilization we mean the pub. For the thrill-seeking backpackers there are the craggy peaks of Corsica (GR20 – which carries the ominous warning ‘some scrambling required’), or the hike up to Everest Base Camp. And for history buffs there is the Inca Trail in Peru or the 5-day hike to the Lost City of Teyuna in Colombia. Treks include: Samaria Gorge – Crete, Lycian Way – Turkey, Camino De Santiago – Spain, Routeburn Track – New Zealand, Laugavegur – Iceland, Torres Del Paine – Chile, Overland Track – Australia, Kungsleden – Sweden, West Highland Way – Scotland, John Muir Trail – USA, Alta Via 1 – Italy, Haute Route Pyrennes– Spain/France, Drakensberg Grand Traverse – South Africa, Western Way – Ireland, Via Dinerica – Albania/Bosnia/Croatia/Kosovo, GR221 Dry Stone Route – Majorca, Chilkoot Trail – USA/Canada, Toukbal Circuit – Morocco, Tour of the Matterhorn – Switzerland, Wadi Rum and Petra – Jordan.

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Revised and vastly improved edition of a book first published in 1991. Indeed this is virtually a new book compared to the original. It remains the most authoritative work on Darwin’s air war, and has been compiled from a wide range of sources worldwide, including Japan. This edition contains many new photos, most of them from private collections. The entire scope of Darwin’s air war is covered, beginning with the pre-war defence build-up. After the Pacific War began, Darwin was a key staging post in attempts to reinforce and defend Java, but this ended with the massive raid on 19th February 1942. This was the first of many raids, and the table at the end of the book has been updated to include not only raids but reconnaissances, some of which were previously unrecorded (Japanese records have added much to this volume). Soon greatly aided by radar, Darwin was defended first by USAAF P-40s of the 49th Fighter Group and later by RAAF and RAF Spitfires of No.1 Fighter Wing. As Allied strength steadily grew, offensive strikes were flown against the Japanese in Timor and surrounding islands by an assortment of types including Hudsons, Beaufighters and B-25s (including by No. 18 Dutch Squadron). Eventually USAAF and RAAF Liberators ranged deep into enemy territory. All in all this is a fascinating account of war in a theatre often overlooked. The book also includes a series of profiles which describe the experiences of pilots of several different nationalities. It is well foot-noted throughout and contains a lengthy list of sources.

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How chartered company-states spearheaded European expansion and helped create the world’s first genuinely global orderFrom Spanish conquistadors to British colonialists, the prevailing story of European empire-building has focused on the rival ambitions of competing states. But as Outsourcing Empire shows, from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, company-states—not sovereign states—drove European expansion, building the world’s first genuinely international system. Company-states were hybrid ventures: pioneering multinational trading firms run for profit, with founding charters that granted them sovereign powers of war, peace, and rule. Those like the English and Dutch East India Companies carved out corporate empires in Asia, while other company-states pushed forward European expansion through North America, Africa, and the South Pacific. In this comparative exploration, Andrew Phillips and J. C. Sharman explain the rise and fall of company-states, why some succeeded while others failed, and their role as vanguards of capitalism and imperialism.In dealing with alien civilizations to the East and West, Europeans relied primarily on company-states to mediate geographic and cultural distances in trade and diplomacy. Emerging as improvised solutions to bridge the gap between European rulers’ expansive geopolitical ambitions and their scarce means, company-states succeeded best where they could balance the twin imperatives of power and profit. Yet as European states strengthened from the late eighteenth century onward, and a sense of separate public and private spheres grew, the company-states lost their usefulness and legitimacy.Bringing a fresh understanding to the ways cross-cultural relations were handled across the oceans, Outsourcing Empire examines the significance of company-states as key progenitors of the globalized world.

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This new, thoroughly updated second edition of Bradt's Chile: the Carretera Austral is written by resident expert Hugh Sinclair and remains a unique guide to this stunning and remote part of the world, complete with information which in some instances has taken over a decade of experience to compile. This is the only guidebook focussed entirely on the magnificent and historic road uniting northern and southern Patagonia. The few hardy travellers that embark on this journey struggle to find even basic information about the region. The book provides visitors to the often-visited Bariloche and Chilean Lake District with a spectacular alternative means to reach the southern extremes of Patagonia. Completing three entirely new traverses of the Carretera Austral and speaking to countless visitors encountered along the way, the authors have updated the guide comprehensively while offering an expanded suggested itineraries section to aid in planning. Meanwhile increased focus on conservation is helping to preserve the region's pristine beauty. Packed with everything you need for a successful trip, from practical advice such as accommodation and eating options en-route to history, culture, trekking and rafting, new features and information including the Route of the Parks, details of new ferry services, coverage of islands previously not included, an expanded section on micro-breweries, new maps and further details on parks and reserves. Increasingly established as one of the definitive road-trips worldwide, the Carretera Austral continues to evolve, firmly placing it as the definitive means to travel between northern Patagonia and the deep south. Bradt's Carretera Austral offers everything you need to plan and complete a successful trip from the high Andes to the remote Pacific coast.

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The mutiny on HMS Bounty, in the South Pacific on 28 April 1789, is one of history's great epics - and in the hands of Peter FitzSimons it comes to life as never before.Commissioned by the Royal Navy to collect breadfruit plants from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies, the Bounty's crew found themselves in a tropical paradise. Five months later, they did not want to leave. Under the leadership of Fletcher Christian most of the crew mutinied soon after sailing from Tahiti, setting Captain William Bligh and 18 loyal crewmen adrift in a small open boat. In one of history's great feats of seamanship, Bligh navigated this tiny vessel for 3618 nautical miles to Timor.Fletcher Christian and the mutineers sailed back to Tahiti, where most remained and were later tried for mutiny. But Christian, along with eight fellow mutineers and some Tahitian men and women, sailed off into the unknown, eventually discovering the isolated Pitcairn Island - at the time not even marked on British maps - and settling there.This astonishing story is historical adventure at its very best, encompassing the mutiny, Bligh's monumental achievement in navigating to safety, and Fletcher Christian and the mutineers' own epic journey from the sensual paradise of Tahiti to the outpost of Pitcairn Island. The mutineers' descendants live on Pitcairn to this day, amid swirling stories and rumours of past sexual transgressions and present-day repercussions. Mutiny on the Bounty is a sprawling, dramatic tale of intrigue, bravery and sheer boldness, told with the accuracy of historical detail and total command of story that are Peter FitzSimons' trademarks.

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Fighting in the Dark is a new book about naval combat at night; the title also, however, signifies the overarching theme of the book, of moving from dark to light: in short, the process of mastering technological change during war. The authors start with the proposition that it is hard to hit an invisible target, particularly one in motion. In the nineteenth century, when ships relied upon visual signalling and vessels beyond hailing range were deaf and mute in the dark, night battles at sea were rare and largely accidental. Three inventions changed this: the torpedo, the searchlight, and the radio. These inventions at the end of the nineteenth and start of the twentieth centuries transformed naval warfare by making combat in the dark feasible and in some cases, desirable. The process by which navies used the dark and adapted it into a medium for effective combat was long and difficult, more so for some than others. This book is about that process and about how Russian, British, German, Italian, Japanese and US navies confronted the specific new challenges and adapted to unfamiliar situations and emerging technologies. Fighting in the Dark consists of chapters written by a group of highly respected naval historians, and the book's approach illuminates how different navies and cultures approached common problems. The fierce night-time battles that are described serve as a metaphor for the larger issues and the reader is led along a fascinating journey of naval warfare from the Russo-Japanese War, through WWI, to the Second World War, and from the Pacific to the English Channel.

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From Paul Kennedy, author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, one of the most acclaimed history books of recent decades, Engineers of Victory is a new account of how the tide was turned against the Nazis by the Allies in the Second World War. In January 1943 Churchill and Roosevelt met in Casablanca to review the Allies' war aims. To achieve unconditional surrender they had to overcome some formidable hurdles, from winning air command to 'hopping' across the Pacific islands. Eighteen months later, they had done what seemed impossible.Here Paul Kennedy reveals the role of the problem-solvers and middle-men who made it happen - like Major-General Perry Hobart, who invented the 'funny tanks' which flattened the D-Day beaches; or Captain 'Johnny' Walker, who worked out how to sink U-boats with a 'creeping barrage'. This book shows the conflict in an entirely new light.'Consistently original ... An important contribution to our understanding' Michael Beschloss, The New York Times Book Review'[Kennedy's] refreshing study ... asks the right questions, disposes of clichés and gives a rich account of neglected topics' David Edgerton, Financial Times'Colourfully and convincingly illustrates the ingenuity and persistence of a few people who made all the difference' Washington PostPAUL KENNEDY is one of the world's best-selling and most influential historians. He is the author or editor of nineteen books, including The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, which has been translated into over twenty languages, Preparing for the Twenty-First Century, The Parliament of Man and the now classic Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery.

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Picturing Apollo 11 is an unprecedented photographic history of the space mission that defined an era. Through a wealth of unpublicized and recently discovered images, this book presents new and rarely-seen views of the people, places, and events involved in the pioneering first moon landing of July 20, 1969.No other book has showcased as many never-before-seen photos connected with Apollo 11, or as many photos covering the activities from months before to years after the mission. Starting with the extensive preparations, these photographs show astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin training for the flight, as well as the stages of the massive Saturn V rocket arriving at the Kennedy Space Center for assembly. They capture the media frenzy over the unfolding story and the “moon fever” that gripped the nation.Also featured here are shots of incredible moments from the mission. In these images, spectators flock to Cape Canaveral. The rocket launches in a cloud of fire and thunder. Armstrong and Aldrin step out of the lunar module Eagle onto the surface of the moon. The command module Columbia splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, and the extraordinary voyage is celebrated around the world and in the following decades.Most of the photographs were selected from NASA archives and the collection of J. L. Pickering, the world’s largest private collection of U.S. human space flight images. The accompanying text details the scenes, revealing the astonishing scale and scope of activities that went into planning and executing the first moon landing. This book commemorates the historic mission and evokes the electric atmosphere of the time.

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A revealing and authoritative history that shows how Soviet whalers secretly helped nearly destroy endangered whale populations, while also contributing to the scientific understanding necessary for these creatures' salvation. The Soviet Union killed over 600,000 whales in the twentieth century, many of them illegally and secretly. That catch helped bring many whale species to near extinction by the 1970s, and the impacts of this loss of life still ripple through today's oceans. In this new account, based on formerly secret Soviet archives and interviews with ex-whalers, environmental historian Ryan Tucker Jones offers a complete history of the role the Soviet Union played in the whales' destruction. As other countries-especially the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Norway-expanded their pursuit of whales to all corners of the globe, Stalin determined that the Soviet Union needed to join the hunt. What followed was a spectacularly prodigious, and often wasteful, destruction of humpback, fin, sei, right, and sperm whales in the Antarctic and the North Pacific, done in knowing violation of the International Whaling Commission's rules. Cold War intrigue encouraged this destruction, but, as Jones shows, there is a more complex history behind this tragic Soviet experiment. Jones compellingly describes the ultimate scientific irony: today's cetacean studies benefitted from Soviet whaling, as Russian scientists on whaling vessels made key breakthroughs in understanding whale natural history and behavior. And in a final twist, Red Leviathan reveals how the Soviet public began turning against their own country's whaling industry, working in parallel with Western environmental organizations like Greenpeace to help end industrial whaling-not long before the world's whales might have disappeared altogether.

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This authoritative book, bringing together the reports of the Competitiveness Advisory Group, identifies actions to improve European competitiveness politically, economically and socially. The objective is to raise living standards and maintain social cohesion.The Competitiveness Advisory Group has the mission of advising the European Commission and the Heads of State and Government of the European Union. The members of this independent group, which includes leading industrialists, trade unionists, politicians and academics, have adopted a 'bottom-up' approach, seeking to draw lessons from the experience of countries, industries and firms: they rely on 'benchmarking' in order to identify best practice.In the context of increasing interdependence of world trade and consequent globalization of the international economy new policy prescriptions are required for growth and employment, greater efficiency and higher standards of living. In relation to this, the Group discusses the need to close the worldwide technology gap, for Europe to develop deeper relations with the fast growing Asia Pacific region and argues for greater European solidarity in international trade negotiations. Within the European Union itself, it emphasizes the need to achieve the internal market for the free flow of goods, services and people. In addition, it stresses that Europe needs to catch-up, construct and eventually lead the development of the information society in which workers are recognized as a major asset to be invested in. The Group concludes that, although unemployment remains high, European competitiveness now has a brighter future with the movement towards economic and monetary union, and the enlargement of the European Union eastwards.This book will be essential reading for policymakers, government advisers, industrialists and academics concerned with the future of European economies and societies.

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'It gripped me for a week. Incredible!' JANICE HALLETT, author of THE TWYFORD CODE An endlessly inventive murder mystery' ALEX PAVESI, author of EIGHT DETECTIVES 'Mind-bendingly brilliant. Agatha Christie on steroids!' TIM GLISTER, author of RED CORONA A LOCKED ROOM. A BRUTAL MURDER. AND A KILLER WHO CAN UNWIND TIME... In the former mining town of Black Lake, there is an old story about a shipwreck with only one survivor. His descendants have a unique ability: once in their lives - and only once - they can unwind the events of the previous six hours. More than two hundred years later, part-time police constable Ella Manning is attending a party at Black Lake Manor, the cliff-top mansion belonging to the local billionaire. When a raging storm sweeps in from the Pacific, she and several other guests find themselves trapped. And when their host is discovered brutally murdered in his study the next morning, the door locked from the inside, they turn to her to solve the crime. Pushing her detective skills to the limit, against the odds Ella is sure she has identified the killer... but then someone undoes time. With no memory of what she discovered before, her investigation begins again, with very different results. Which of her suspects is guilty? And is there something even more sinister she is yet to uncover? Can she solve the mystery before time runs out... again? A must-read for fans of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, The Sanatorium and And Then There Were None, Black Lake Manor will keep you feverishly turning the pages all night long!

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Explore the mighty Atlantic Ocean in this beautifully illustrated children's book, for readers aged 9+The huge Atlantic is Earth's second biggest ocean. It straddles the equator, linking the North and South America, Europe and Africa, and its waters vary from the icy Baltic Sea to the warm Caribbean. Under the waves, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has helped form volcanic islands in the ocean over the course of millions of years, including Iceland and the Azores. The Atlantic provides us with a wealth of fish and other natural resources, but today it is at great risk from overfishing and pollution, as well as climate change. The oceans make up Earth's biggest habitat. More than 70 per cent of Earth's surface is covered by oceans and seas and they hold more than 97 per cent of Earth's water supply. Oceans drive the world's weather, provide half of the oxygen we breathe and provide food and livelihoods for more than a billion people.Blue Worlds explores each of the world's five oceans and major seas in detail, looking at the different features - from wildlife and weather to landscape - that make them all individual and unique. It also looks at the threats that they face, such as global warming, overfishing and pollution.Titles in the series: The Arctic Ocean, The Atlantic Ocean. The Indian Ocean, The Pacific Ocean, The Southern Ocean, Seas, Gulfs & BaysContents:The blue planetAround the AtlanticBeneath the waves Volcanoes and islands Winds, weather and currents Exploring the Atlantic Atlantic wildlife The Sargasso Sea Atlantic green turtles People and transport Riches of the Atlantic Atlantic in danger Future Atlantic Atlantic facts Glossary Index

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Provides a state-of-the-art overview of international trade policy research The Handbook of Global Trade Policy offers readers a comprehensive resource for the study of international trade policy, governance, and financing. This timely and authoritative work presents contributions from a team of prominent experts that assess the policy implications of recent academic research on the subject. Discussions of contemporary research in fields such as economics, international business, international relations, law, and global politics help readers develop an expansive, interdisciplinary knowledge of 21st century foreign trade. Accessible for students, yet relevant for practitioners and researchers, this book expertly guides readers through essential literature in the field while highlighting new connections between social science research and global policy-making. Authoritative chapters address new realities of the global trade environment, global governance and international institutions, multilateral trade agreements, regional trade in developing countries, value chains in the Pacific Rim, and more. Designed to provide a well-rounded survey of the subject, this book covers financing trade such as export credit arrangements in developing economies, export insurance markets, climate finance, and recent initiatives of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This state-of-the-art overview: Integrates new data and up-to-date research in the field Offers an interdisciplinary approach to examining global trade policy Introduces fundamental concepts of global trade in an understandable style Combines contemporary economic, legal, financial, and policy topics Presents a wide range of perspectives on current issues surrounding trade practices and policies The Handbook of Global Trade Policy is a valuable resource for students, professionals, academics, researchers, and policy-makers in all areas of international trade, economics, business, and finance.

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Rising from the corporate wreckage of the 1970s, when even the nation's largest railroad filed for bankruptcy, American railroads are once again a major part of the global economy. Richard Saunders brings to life this amazing story of revitalization, showing how a combination of creatively structured aid from the public sector and talented private management gave railroads new momentum. By 2002, American railroads carried five times the tonnage they hauled in their former heyday, and they did this with one-tenth of the employees. How did this revolution happen? Saunders shows how limited, disciplined, and politically risky government intervention stabilized a sinking industry. Whatever their results for other industries, President Carter's deregulation and President Reagan's tax revisions restored the railroads' financial health. Container cars and other new technologies also helped to transform inefficient railroads into vibrant enterprises. Corporate strategies varied on the road to success, and even skilled managers encountered pitfalls, but the railroads' resurgence and growth proved to be unstoppable. After the merger mania of the mid-twentieth century, the main U.S. railroad systems evolved into seven transregional corporate giants. Of the "Super Seven," only four survived past the 1990s—the Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, and Burlington Northern–Santa Fe. These four set the standard at a time when no other major railroads could afford the new technologies needed to turn a profit. A sequel to Merging Lines, this engagingly written account brings the story of American railroads up to the twenty-first century. As American transport enters the twenty-first century, the iron horse that consolidated the Industrial Revolution once again flexes its muscle.

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Wedged between China, Korea, Japan, and the United States, the Russian Far East has for centuries been a meeting ground for Eurasian and American peoples and cultures. Conventionally regarded as perimeter, it is in fact a collage of overlapping borderlands with a distinct historical identity. Based on a quarter-century of research by a leading authority on the area, this is a monumental survey of Pacific Siberia from prehistoric times to the present. Drawing from political, diplomatic, economic, geographical, social, and cultural evidence, the book reveals that this vast, rugged, and supposedly insular land has harbored vibrantly cosmopolitan lifestyles. For over a millennium, Chinese culture found expression in Tungus, Mongol, and Korean polities. Russian penetration in the seventeenth century eventually turned the region into a colony sustained by state subsidies, foreign enterprise, and a mosaic of Ukrainian, Estonian, Finnish, German, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese communities. Tsarists and Soviet penal policies contributed to the diversity and volatility of Far Eastern society. Regional aspirations articulated by Siberian intellectuals, disingenuously institutionalized in a Far Eastern Republic (1920-22), survived lethal bouts of economic and demographic engineering to come to life again in the post-Soviet era. The Russian Far East today reverberates with autonomist rhetoric, but if the region is no longer an appanage, it is still far short of independence. For the time being, the robust tradition of cosmopolitanism is reinventing itself under the banner of capitalism. Reexamining twentieth-century history through a Far Eastern prism, the book offers fresh and often provocative perspectives on imperial rivalries, colonialism, revolution, civil war, and utopianism gone awry in Northeast Asia.

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Explore the mighty Atlantic Ocean in this beautifully illustrated children's book, for readers aged 9+The huge Atlantic is Earth's second biggest ocean. It straddles the equator, linking the North and South America, Europe and Africa, and its waters vary from the icy Baltic Sea to the warm Caribbean. Under the waves, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge has helped form volcanic islands in the ocean over the course of millions of years, including Iceland and the Azores. The Atlantic provides us with a wealth of fish and other natural resources, but today it is at great risk from overfishing and pollution, as well as climate change. The oceans make up Earth's biggest habitat. More than 70 per cent of Earth's surface is covered by oceans and seas and they hold more than 97 per cent of Earth's water supply. Oceans drive the world's weather, provide half of the oxygen we breathe and provide food and livelihoods for more than a billion people.Blue Worlds explores each of the world's five oceans and major seas in detail, looking at the different features - from wildlife and weather to landscape - that make them all individual and unique. It also looks at the threats that they face, such as global warming, overfishing and pollution.Titles in the series: The Arctic Ocean, The Atlantic Ocean. The Indian Ocean, The Pacific Ocean, The Southern Ocean, Seas, Gulfs & BaysContents:The blue planetAround the AtlanticBeneath the waves Volcanoes and islands Winds, weather and currents Exploring the Atlantic Atlantic wildlife The Sargasso Sea Atlantic green turtles People and transport Riches of the Atlantic Atlantic in danger Future Atlantic Atlantic facts Glossary Index

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In The Eclipse I Call Father: Essays on Absence, David Axelrod recalls a balmy night in May 1970 when he vowed to allow no one and nothing he loves to pass from this life without praise, even if it meant praising the most bewildering losses. In each of these fourteen essays Axelrod delivers on that vow as he ranges across topics as diverse as marriage, Japanese poetry, Craftsman design, Old English riddles, racism, extinction, fatherhood, mountaineering, predatory mega-fauna, street fighting, trains, the Great Depression, and the effects of climate change—accretions of absence that haunt the writer and will likewise haunt readers. The essays in this collection grew from a ten-year period when the author found himself periodically living and working abroad, wondering why foreign landscapes haunted him more than the familiar landscapes of the inland Pacific Northwest he called home. Each place had a long history of habitation, but at home he was blind, unable to see past the surfaces of things. Axelrod examines many aspects of that phenomenon in these pages, framing surface realities and imagining the scale and scope of that surface, but also trying to sense what is absent or changed, and how, despite its absence, the unseen accretes to ever-greater densities and persists as something uncanny. Curious, alert, and keenly observant, these essays probe the boundaries between what is here and what is gone, what is present and what is past, in elegant prose. Readers familiar with Axelrod's poetry will find a new facet of his lyrical gifts, while those encountering his work for the first time will be richly rewarded by the discovery of this Northwest literary talent.

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Pedro de Alvarado is best known as the right-hand man of Hernando Cortés in the conquest of Mexico (1519–21) and the ruthless conqueror of Guatemala some years later. Far less known is his intent to intrude in the conquest of Peru and lay claim to Quito, a wealthy domain in the far north of the Inca Empire. To this end, Alvarado constructed a massive fleet, which sailed south from Central America to what is now Ecuador, making landfall on 25 February 1534.Engaging both the European and Indigenous contexts in which Alvarado operated, George Lovell illuminates this gap in the record, narrating a dramatic story of greed and hubris. Upon reaching Ecuador, Alvarado’s formidable entourage – some five hundred Spanish combatants and two thousand Indigenous conscripts – marched from the Pacific coast to the Andean sierra. Though Quito was his intended destination, he never made it. During a treacherous transit across the mountains, Alvarado’s party was engulfed by heavy snowfall and numbing cold, which proved the expedition’s undoing. Those who survived the ordeal discovered that other Spaniards – Diego de Almagro and Sebastián de BeLalcázar, acting in allegiance with Francisco Pizarro – had reached Quito before them, thereby claiming first right of conquest. Believing he had no option, if strife between rival sides was to be avoided, Alvarado sold his costly machinery of war – men, horses, weaponry, and ships – to those who had beaten him to the prize. All but ruined, he returned humiliated to Central America.Death in the Snow brings to light the delusions of one headstrong conquistador and mourns the loss of untold Indigenous lives, casualties of Alvarado’s lust for fame and fortune.

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Cummiskey Alley brings together the best of Tom Sextons poems about the place where he was born and grew up, the mill-lined river city of Lowell, Massachusetts -- a place he never took his eye off, no matter his location. For most of his life hes been in Alaska, writing, teaching, editing a respected literary journal, and always observing the large and small wonders in the world. Hes filled many books with poems that tell us what hes seen and heard and felt. In the Northwest and around the Pacific Rim, Sexton is known as a premier poet of the natural world, from birds to mountains. But theres another side to this writer, a deep investigator and lyrical beat reporter whose subject is his working-class, ethnic-American hometown where hes returned regularly, sometimes anonymously to better absorb the facts and fill the blotter at the night desk in the hall of records. The poems hes drawn from memory and recent inspection stand for the experience of a thousand small industrial cities that were made by immigrants and often got knocked down by merciless economic winds, only to get their legs back under them and move forward. As universal as they may be, places like Lowell need a literature to call their own. The New York Times described Sexton as an atavistic avatar of how to look hard yet write simply. Merrimack Valley Magazine wrote: Each poem unveils something new, and at times breathtaking, about one of the Merrimack Valleys most diverse and interesting places . . . Sextons characters, relationships, and places spring from the page, brought to life by a tiny gesture or minute detail.

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After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Asia became an important theater of World War II—and because the Japanese had boxed in China, a key U.S. ally, and blocked the Burma Road out of India, the United States began looking for other ways to supply the war effort in China. In April 1942, the first American flights out of India launched in order to supply gasoline and other materiel to Allied fighting forces over the Himalayas and into China. Mountains over ten thousand feet. Unpredictable weather. Devasting crashes. Long odds. Perhaps the worst assignment for American pilots during World War II. For the next forty-two months, pilots—men including Gene Autry and Barry Goldwater—flew The Hump despite the difficulty of the terrain, the conditions, and the weather, throwing an important lifeline to the war in China, which helped bog down more than a million Japanese soldiers in China and kept them from the Pacific islands where the main American war effort was focused. By war’s end, some 5,000 American airmen delivered more than 650,000 tons of materiel to Chiang Kai-Shek’s Chinese forces and to the U.S. forces in China. This is the story of how a group of inexperienced pilots flew through some of the most challenging conditions in the world—and helped win World War II.Aluminum Alley is based on interviews with the last survivors of The Hump, oral histories, photos, reports, and other firsthand resources. It is a narrative with the immediacy and intimacy of memoir but the big-picture analysis of the best military history.

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Orphaned young, Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon after, in a violent raid, the tycoon's henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad.Battered, heartbroken, and yet defiant, Ming partners with a blind clairvoyant known only as the prophet. Together the two set out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge on the men who destroyed Ming, aided by a troupe of magic-show performers, some with supernatural powers, whom they meet on the journey. Ming blazes his way across the West, settling old scores with a single-minded devotion that culminates in an explosive and unexpected finale.Written with the violent ardor of Cormac McCarthy and the otherworldly inventiveness of Ted Chiang, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is at once a thriller, a romance, and a story of one man's quest for redemption in the face of a distinctly American brutality."In Tom Lin's novel, the atmosphere of Cormac McCarthy's West, or that of the Coen Brothers' True Grit, gives way to the phantasmagorical shades of Ray Bradbury, Charles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao, and Katherine Dunn's Geek Love. Yet The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu has a velocity and perspective all its own, and is a fierce new version of the Westward Dream." -Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn

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“No list of thrillers is complete without Robyn Harding,” proclaims Real Simple. Bestselling author of The Party delivers a riveting tale about the toxic relationship between two couples after a night of sexual shenanigans, and the manipulative teenager with an explosive secret at the centre of it all. Low Morrison is not your average teen. You could blame her hippie parents or her looming height or her dreary, isolated hometown on an island in the Pacific Northwest. But whatever the reason, Low just doesn’t fit in—and neither does Freya, an ethereal beauty and once-famous social media influencer who now owns the local pottery studio. After signing up for a class, Low quickly falls under Freya’s spell. And Freya, buoyed by Low’s adoration, is compelled to share her darkest secrets and deepest desires. Finally, both feel a sense of belonging...that is, until Jamie walks through the studio door. Desperate for a baby, she and her husband have moved to the island hoping that the healthy environment will result in a pregnancy. Freya and Jamie become fast friends, as do their husbands, leaving Low alone once again. Then one night, after a boozy dinner party, Freya suggests swapping partners. It should have been a harmless fling between consenting adults, one night of debauchery that they would put behind them, but instead, it upends their lives. And provides Low the perfect opportunity to unleash her growing resentment. Robyn Harding brings her acclaimed storytelling, lauded as “fast-paced, thrilling, gut-wrenching” by Taylor Jenkins Reid, bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six, to this dark and suspenseful thriller for fans of Megan Miranda and Lisa Jewell.

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Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild is a memoir of exploration and survival that will inspired you to better tend to the planet, even if it’s simply tending the soil in your own back yard! "By recounting her own wilderness immersion, animal tracking, and farming experiences, [Dawn Again] deftly traces a line from the incredible complexity of nature’s wisdom to humanity’s vital role as ecologically responsible stewards of the land." —Allan Savory, author of Holistic Management, Third Edition: A Commonsense Revolution To Restore Our Environment Dawn Again takes readers along Doniga's journey from unsettled teen to immersive nature school student to wildlife tracker to a cattlewoman on a mission to save the food system through regenerative agricultural practices that restore the soil and other non-human elements of the planet. One of the few female voices in both wilderness immersion and ranching, Dawn Again is a nature memoir that shares a young woman’s experience hitchhiking across the pacific northwest, waiting patiently to connect with a deer on its terms, and tracking in Alaska where she finally came face to face with white wolves and the rigor of wilderness survival. When Doniga tracks mountain lions with Erik, a rancher, she finds herself falling in love with more than just nature. She settles down on a cattle ranch on the California coast to start a family, and has to learn how to apply the deep lessons of the wild to her everyday life. Advocating for nature knowledge and ecological wisdom, Dawn Again dives into Doniga's real-life experiences as a woman, environmentalist, wilderness expert, woman rancher, mother, and producer in the food system.

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In this international bestseller from the critically acclaimed Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Amelia Earhart, the American aviation pioneer. When Amelia was young, she liked to imagine she could stretch her wings and fly away like a bird. As a grown woman, she set a new female world record for flying up to 14,000 feet. She also flew across the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, and eventually undertook the most dangerous mission of all: to fly all the way around the world. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the aviator's life.Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

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On 9 May 1912 the first airplane take-off from a ship was made from the deck of the HMS Hibernia. In July 1918, seven Sopwith Camels launched from the converted battlecruiser HMS Furious damaged the German airbase at Tønder and destroyed two zeppelins. The age of the carrier was born. In the interwar years the Lexington, Akagi and Courageous – class carriers were developed, but it was only during World War II that the aircraft carrier finally came into its own. Fleet carriers carrying 30–40 aircraft allowed the Japanese and US navies to project air power across the vast Pacific Ocean, with the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor presaging a new kind of warfare. With the sinking of hundreds of ships during World War II, including the German battleship Bismarck in 1941, by the end of the war carriers ruled the waves and the era of the battleship had passed. Aircraft Carriers features 52 of the most significant flat tops and amphibious assault ships built since the 1920s until the present day, from the USS Yorktown, which survived direct hits during the battle of Midway (1942), through the Falklands War veteran HMS Invincible, to the mighty Nimitz class, the core of the US Navy’s carrier battle groups today. Also included are significant amphibious assault ships, such as the USS Tarawa and French Mistral. Each entry includes a brief description of the ship’s development and history, a colour profile view or cutaway, key features and specifications. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, Aircraft Carriers is a colourful guide for the naval warfare enthusiast.

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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches comes another immersive, high-stakes contemporary fantasy. When eighteen-year-old witch Iris Gray accidentally enacts a curse that could have dire consequences, she must journey through the Pacific Northwest wilderness with a boy who hates witches to make sure her magic isn't unleashed on the world.After a night of magic turns deadly, Iris Gray vows to never let another person learn she's a witch. It doesn't matter that the Witches' Council found her innocent or that her magic was once viewed as a marvel-that night on the lake changed everything. Now settled in Washington, Iris hides who she really is and vents her frustrations by writing curses she never intends to cast. And while she loves working at the wildlife refuge she runs with her mother, she loathes Pike Alder, the witch-hating aspiring ornithologist who interns with them.When Pike makes a particularly hurtful comment, Iris concocts a cruel torment for him. But just as she's about to dispel it, an owl swoops down and steals the curse before flying far away from the refuge. The owl is a powerful amplifier, and if it dies, Iris's dark spell will be unleashed not only on Pike, but on everyone in the region.Forced to work together, Iris and Pike trek through the wilderness in search of the bird that could cost Pike his life. But Pike doesn't know the truth, and as more dangers arise in the woods, Iris must decide how far she's willing to go to keep her secrets safe.

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