Search results for ""Author Antony Shugaar""

Top Secret is definitely not the right word for the International Spy Museum—its launch in 2002 made news and it has been high-profile ever since, with attendance growing by leaps and bounds. The International Spy Museum Handbook of Practical Spying has already been declassified to the delight of those in the need-to-know. Now, following up on that success, here’s an illustrated biographical who’s who of spydom from biblical days to recent times. I Lie for a Living is a regular rogue’s gallery of history’s most accomplished intriguers and intelligence operatives, famous and infamous alike. It’s amazing how colourful some of these characters are, like 16th century playwright, brawler and secret agent Christopher Marlow or Virginia Hall and Josephine Baker, femmes fatales both. Organized into ten thematic chapters, this light-hearted but clear-eyed look at lone-wolf moles, double agents, and intricate triple-crosses unmasks a wide-ranging roster from covert patriots whose unheralded heroism sometimes cost them their lives to mercenary traitors for sale to the highest bidder, like Benedict Arnold or Aldrich Ames.

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Bjorn lives in a cave. The walls are soft, the ground is comfortable, and just in front there is new grass and a rough tree, perfect for back-scratching. A Bear Named Bjorn takes us into the forest with Bjorn the bear and his friends. One day the animals have their eye tests and try on the humans' lost spectacles. Another, they just sit, watching the leaves and playing cards on a tree stump. And on party night the animals borrow clothes hanging on the camping ground line-and return everything carefully in the morning, only a little bit used. Bjorn's thoughtful bear logic and small eccentricities are the heart of these mischievous chapters that are by turns contemplative and comical, odes to both nature and "human" nature. Winner of the coveted Pepite des Petits prize 2016 and a White Raven selection 2017. Contemplative and comical stories from Bjorn's forest for early readers.

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A springtime fresh picture book about a good day out with friends—climbing mountains, swimming and singing—and the difference between storytelling and lies. Lisette and her friend Bobbi the lizard have never told a lie. But they are eager to try—it might be fun! They tell Popof they are going for a trip to the mountains. When Popof decides to come too, they realise they’ll have to make the mountain. A liar needs to improvise. In this funny story about imaginative play with friends, Lisette’s creativity and quick thinking make for a wonderful day out. Gently exploring the differences between storytelling and little white lies and the importance of good intentions, this picture book is ideal to read aloud with preschoolers. With illustrations that convey a range of mood and emotion, the animal friends are brimming with personality and childlike playfulness. Other books from Catharina Valckx: Lisette’s Green Sock Zanzibar Bruno

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It is 1977. A new force is terrorising Rome - a mob of reckless, ultraviolent youths known as La Banda della Magliana. As the gang ruthlessly take control of Rome's heroin trade, they begin an inexorable rise to power. Banda della Magliana intend to own the streets of Rome - unless their internal struggles tear them apart. Based on Rome's modern gangland history, Romanzo Criminale fearlessly confronts Italy's Age of Lead: war on the streets and terrorism, kidnappings and corruption at the highest levels of government.

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***A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR***  The Bastards face their hardest challenge yet Sometimes it takes facing a formidable adversary to truly know one’s worth. The Bastards of Pizzofalcone may have found just that: when the brutal murder of a baker rattles the city, they are ready to investigate. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do to prove themselves to their community. But this time the police are divided: for the special anti-mob branch, the local mafia is doubtlessly responsible for the crime, but the Bastards are not so sure and think there may be another reason for the murder of the renowned artisan, whose traditionally baked bread attracted customers from far and wide. A rivalry between the policeman and the magistrate is formed, one that, in the end, will extend to more than just their work lives.

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This new instalment in Maurizio de Giovanni’s bestselling “Bastards of Pizzofalcone” series unfolds during the crisp beginning of April in contemporary Naples. A baby is left abandoned beside a dumpster. A young Ukrainian maid fights torrents of greed and frustration with the world around her. Small animals begin to disappear off the streets. The task of solving these mysteries is entrusted to a team of policemen in which few believe: the Bastards of Pizzofalcone. De Giovanni is one of Europe’s most renowned and versatile mystery writers. His award-winning and bestselling novels, all of which take place in Naples, engage readers in gripping tales of Europe’s most fabled, atmospheric, dangerous, and lustful city.

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When Life in Peactime opens, on May 29, 2015, engineer Ivo Brandani is sixty-nine years old. He's disillusioned and angry but morbidly attached to life. As he makes a day-long trip home from his job in Sharm el Sheik reconstructing the coral reefs of the Red Sea using synthetics, he reflects on both the brief time he sees remaining ahead and on everything that has happened already in his life to which he can never quite resign himself. We see his slow bureaucratic trudge as a civil servant, long summer vacations on a Greek island, his twisted relationship with his first boss, the turmoil and panic attacks he faced during the student uprisings in 1968 that pushed him away from philosophy and into engineering, and his fearful childhood as a postwar evacuee. A close-up portrait of an ordinary existence, Life in Peacetime offers a new look at the postwar era in Italy and the fundamental contradictions of a secure, middle-class life.

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Italy is a country of free political institutions, yet it has become a nation of servile courtesans, with Silvio Berlusconi as their prince. This is the controversial argument that Italian political philosopher and noted Machiavelli biographer Maurizio Viroli puts forward in The Liberty of Servants. Drawing upon the classical republican conception of liberty, Viroli shows that a people can be unfree even though they are not oppressed. This condition of unfreedom arises as a consequence of being subject to the arbitrary or enormous power of men like Berlusconi, who presides over Italy with his control of government and the media, immense wealth, and infamous lack of self-restraint. Challenging our most cherished notions about liberty, Viroli argues that even if a power like Berlusconi's has been established in the most legitimate manner and people are not denied their basic rights, the mere existence of such power makes those subject to it unfree. Most Italians, following the lead of their elites, lack the minimal moral qualities of free people, such as respect for the Constitution, the willingness to obey laws, and the readiness to discharge civic duties. As Viroli demonstrates, they exhibit instead the characteristics of servility, including flattery, blind devotion to powerful men, an inclination to lie, obsession with appearances, imitation, buffoonery, acquiescence, and docility. Accompanying these traits is a marked arrogance that is apparent among not only politicians but also ordinary citizens.

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Roberto Saviano returns to the streets of Naples and the boy bosses who run them in Savage Kiss, the hotly anticipated follow-up to The Piranhas, the bestselling novel and major motion picture.Nicolas Fiorilla and his gang of children – his paranza – control the squares of Forcella after their rapid rise to power. But it isn’t easy being at the top.Now that the Piranhas have power in the city, they must undermine the old families of the Camorra and remain united among themselves. Every paranzino has his own vendettas and dreams to pursue – dreams that might go beyond the laws of the gang. A new war may be about to break out in this city of cut-throat bargaining, ruthless betrayal, and brutal revenge. Saviano continues the story of the disillusioned boys of Forcella, the paranzini ready to give and receive kisses that leave a taste of blood.Saviano’s Gomorrah was a worldwide sensation, and The Piranhas, called ‘raw and shocking’ by the New York Times Book Review, captured readers with its tale of raw criminal ambition, told with ‘openhearted rashness’ (Elena Ferrante). Savage Kiss, which again draws on the skills of translator Antony Shugaar, is a thrilling story from the brilliant Italian novelist.

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'He is skilful. He is outspoken. He is Zlatan' New York Times'He is an amazing talent, one of the best around' Pep GuardiolaFootball's most prolific and controversial goalscorer has nothing left to prove on the pitch. There is only one Zlatan.In the decade since his megaselling memoir I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he has played at Paris Saint-Germain (2012-2016), Manchester United (2016-2018), LA Galaxy (2018-2019) and Milan (2020-). This outrageous and hilarious follow-up is bursting with personal confessions and revealing anecdotes about the world's best players and managers.Packed with revelations, in Adrenaline we hear for the first time what Zlatan really thinks about his time in the Premier League and what it was like to score that glorious bicycle kick against England. We hear about the club he very nearly signed for, and see his hilarious run-ins with the French media - and the French in general, really. Plus so much more.Zlatan transports you into the world of top-flight football like no one else. Filled with revelations - including Zlatan's life lessons on happiness, friendship and love - you'll be talking about this book a long time after finishing it.I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Bestseller September 2011

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Analogical thought is fundamental to creativity. The use of analogy can help to solve problems, make connections between disciplines, and use those relations to form original solutions. In Analogy and Design, Andrea Ponsi considers the role of analogical thought in architectural design. Almost all work on design and architecture is the result of analogical thinking, with respect to systems derived from nature, technical and scientific models, artistic experiences, and above all past models of architecture or objects. Ponsi considers the history of architecture through a series of examples that demonstrate the value of analogy as both creative technique and didactic tool. As an architect and product designer, Ponsi himself operates on a set of principles he terms ""analogous design""?a theory he developed that involves breaking down images into abstract elements, analyzing them, and then conceptually reassembling them in another form as a sort of parallel composition. In Analogy and Design, he looks at the principal models designers have utilized as their reference from the beginning to our own day: primary analogies, that is to say the human body, nature, and the abstract universe of signs; disciplinary analogies, taken from already existing examples of architecture and design; and analogies from outside the field, such as from music, literature, and the visual arts. The components are very different, but they maintain a similar relationship to each other. This methodology, Ponsi maintains, can be applied to compositions of a wide variety of types, including buildings, landscapes, household products, furniture, music, and literature. Merging scientific and academic research?so often limited to a specialized audience?Analogy and Design lays down the principles of analogous design, enabling a student or practitioner to ""see"" works and materials in a new way.

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A heinous, double murder in a squalid apartment on the wrong side of town pits Inspector Lojacono, Di Nardo and the rest of the motley collection of cops known as the 'bastards' of the Pizzofalcone precinct against their superiors, the press, and the local political hierarchy. Only by bringing the killer to justice can they save their reputations and the department. De Giovanni is one of the most versatile, prolific, and successful European mystery in Europe.

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Ranging from the imperial palaces of ancient China and the bakeries of fourteenth-century Genoa and Naples all the way to the restaurant kitchens of today, Pasta tells a story that will forever change the way you look at your next plate of vermicelli. Pasta has become a ubiquitous food, present in regional diets around the world and available in a host of shapes, sizes, textures, and tastes. Yet, although it has become a mass-produced commodity, it remains uniquely adaptable to innumerable recipes and individual creativity. Pasta: The Story of a Universal Food shows that this enormously popular food has resulted from of a lengthy process of cultural construction and widely diverse knowledge, skills, and techniques. Many myths are intertwined with the history of pasta, particularly the idea that Marco Polo brought pasta back from China and introduced it to Europe. That story, concocted in the early twentieth century by the trade magazine Macaroni Journal, is just one of many fictions umasked here. The true homelands of pasta have been China and Italy. Each gave rise to different but complementary culinary traditions that have spread throughout the world. From China has come pasta made with soft wheat flour, often served in broth with fresh vegetables, finely sliced meat, or chunks of fish or shellfish. Pastasciutta, the Italian style of pasta, is generally made with durum wheat semolina and presented in thick, tomato-based sauces. The history of these traditions, told here in fascinating detail, is interwoven with the legacies of expanding and contracting empires, the growth of mercantilist guilds and mass industrialization, and the rise of food as an art form. Whether you are interested in the origins of lasagna, the strange genesis of the Chinese pasta bing or the mystique of the most magnificent pasta of all, the timballo, this is the book for you. So dig in!

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To many readers of The Prince, Machiavelli appears to be deeply un-Christian or even anti-Christian, a cynic who thinks rulers should use religion only to keep their subjects in check. But in Machiavelli's God, Maurizio Viroli, one of the world's leading authorities on Machiavelli, argues that Machiavelli, far from opposing Christianity, thought it was crucial to republican social and political renewal--but that first it needed to be renewed itself. And without understanding this, Viroli contends, it is impossible to comprehend Machiavelli's thought. Viroli places Machiavelli in the context of Florence's republican Christianity, which was founded on the idea that the true Christian is a citizen who serves the common good. In this tradition, God participates in human affairs, supports and rewards those who govern justly, and desires men to make the earthly city similar to the divine one. Building on this tradition, Machiavelli advocated a religion of virtue, and he believed that, without this faith, free republics could not be established, defend themselves against corruption, or survive. Viroli makes a powerful case that Machiavelli, far from being a pagan or atheist, was a prophet of a true religion of liberty, a way of moral and political living that would rediscover and pursue charity and justice. The translation of this work has been funded by SEPS - Segretariato Europeo per le Pubblicazioni Scientifiche.

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From the earliest times, successive waves of foreign invaders have left their mark on Italy. Beginning with Germanic invasions that undermined the Roman Empire and culminating with the establishment of the modern nation, Girolamo Arnaldi explores the dynamic exchange between outsider and “native,” liberally illustrated with interpretations of the foreigners drawn from a range of sources. A despairing Saint Jerome wrote, of the Sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410, “My sobs stop me from dictating these words. Behold, the city that conquered the world has been conquered in its turn.” Other Christian authors, however, concluded that the sinning Romans had drawn the wrath of God upon them.Arnaldi traces the rise of Christianity, which in the transition from Roman to barbarian rule would provide a social bond that endured through centuries of foreign domination. Incursions cemented the separation between north and south: the Frankish conquerors held sway north of Rome, while the Normans settled in the south. In the ninth century, Sicily entered the orbit of the Muslim world when Arab and Berber forces invaded. During the Renaissance, flourishing cities were ravaged by foreign armies—first the French, who during the siege of Naples introduced an epidemic of syphilis, then the Spanish, whose control preserved the country’s religious unity during the Counter-Reformation but also ensured that Italy would lag behind during the Enlightenment.Accessible and entertaining, this outside-in history of Italy is a telling reminder of the many interwoven strands that make up the fabric of modern Europe.

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In 1918, Woodrow Wilson’s image as leader of the free world and the image of America as dispenser of democracy spread throughout Italy, filling an ideological void after the rout of Caporetto and diverting attention from a hapless ruling class. Wilson’s popularity depended not only on the modernity of his democratic message, but also on a massive propaganda campaign he conducted across Italy, using as conduits the American Red Cross, the YMCA, and the Committee on Public Information.American popularity, though, did not ensure mutual understanding. The Paris peace negotiations revealed the limits of policies on both sides, illustrated most clearly in Wilson’s disastrous direct appeal to the Italian public. The estranged countries pulled inward, the Americans headed toward isolationism, the Italians toward fascism.Rossini sets the Italian-American political confrontation within the full context of the two countries’ cultural perceptions of each other, different war experiences, and ideas about participatory democracy and peace. A stellar example of the new international history, this timely book highlights the impact of American ideology and sense of mission in the world.

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'With the open-hearted rashness that belongs to every true writer, Saviano returns to tell the story of the fierce and grieving heart of Naples.' Elena FerranteIn Naples, a new kind of gang rules the streets: the ‘Paranze’, the ‘Children’s Gangs’, groups of teenage boys who divide their time between Facebook or playing Call of Duty on their PlayStations and patrolling the streets armed with pistols and AK-47s, terrorizing local residents in order to mark out the territories of their Mafia bosses.From the author of ZeroZeroZero comes the eye-opening The Piranhas, which tells the story of the rise of one such gang and its leader, Nicolas – known to his friends and enemies as the ‘Maharajah’. But Nicolas’s ambitions reach far beyond doing other men’s bidding: he wants to be the one giving orders, calling the shots, and ruling the city. But the violence he is accustomed to wielding and witnessing soon spirals out of his control . . .

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Jack and George are resting quietly when BOOM! A huge and strange ball lands beside them. “What’s that, Jack?” “I don’t know, George. Maybe it’s a rock?” No—too soft. But it rolls. Fast! Jack, George and the ball roll right off the cliff and now it’s a parachute. But watch out, they’re going to land in the river… Jack and George have a brilliant day full of adventure with this object that changes with the landscape. But what is it? It doesn’t matter, it was fun trying to figure it out. This bright and funny book is a game of twists and turns, with a joyful refrain and vivid artwork to capture every toddler’s imagination.

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Every night, at nine o’clock, wherever he is, Mr. Bianchi, an accountant who often has to travel for work, calls his daughter and tells her a bedtime story. But since it's still the 20th century world of pay phones, each story has to be told in the time that a single coin will buy. Reminiscent of Scheherazade and One Thousand and One Nights, Gianni Rodari’s Telephone Tales is composed of many stories––in fact, seventy short stories, with one for each phone call. Each story is set in a different place and a different time, with unconventional characters and a wonderful mix of reality and fantasy. One night, it’s a carousel so beloved by children that an old man finally sneaks on to understand why, and as he sails above the world, he does. Or, it’s a land filled with butter men, roads paved with chocolate, or a young shrimp who has the courage to do things in a different way from what he's supposed to do. Awarded the Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1970, Gianni Rodari is widely considered to be Italy’s most important children’s author of the 20th century. Newly re-illustrated by Italian artist Valerio Vidali (The Forest), Telephone Tales entertains, while questioning and imagining other worlds.Winner of the 2021 Batchelder Award and the 2020 Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s English Translation Prize

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