Search results for ""Author Paul Fischer""

'This extraordinary tale of rivalry and celluloid . . . has fascinated cinéastes for years.' Kathryn Hughes, Sunday Times'Illuminating and thrilling.' The Spectator'Absorbing, forensic and jaw-dropping.' Total FilmIn 1888, Louis Le Prince shot the world's first motion picture in Leeds, England.In 1890, weeks before the planned public unveiling of his camera and projector, Le Prince boarded a train in France - and disappeared without a trace. His body was never found.In 1891, Thomas Edison - inventor of the lightbulb and the phonograph - announced that he had developed a motion-picture camera.Le Prince's family, convinced that Edison had stolen Louis's work, proceeded to sue the most famous inventor in the world. The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures excavates one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Victorian age and offers a revelatory rewriting of the birth of modern pictures.

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A Radio 4 Book of the Week.'Fascinating . . . filled with lively historical digressions.' New York Times 'Best True Crime of 2022'In 1888 Louis Le Prince shot the world's first motion picture in Leeds, England. In 1890, weeks before the public unveiling of his camera and projector - a year before Thomas Edison announced that the had invented a motion picture camera - Le Prince stepped on a train in France - and disappeared without a trace. He was never seen or heard from again. No body was ever found.Le Prince's family were convinced Edison had stolen Louis's work, and so they sued the most famous inventor in the world. By the time the lawsuit was over, Le Prince's own son was dead under suspicious circumstances - and modern Hollywood was being born.Paul Fischer's new book excavates one of the Victorian age's great unsolved mysteries, and in the process offers a revelatory rewriting of the birth of motion pictures.

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By blending multiple strands of thought into one ideology, Chinese Syncretists of the pre-imperial period created an essential guide to contemporary ideas about self, society, and government. Merging traditions such as Ruism, Mohism, Daoism, Legalism, and Yin-Yang naturalism into their work, Syncretists created an integrated intellectual approach that contrasts with other, more specific philosophies. Presenting the first full English translation of the earliest example of a Syncretist text, this volume introduces Western scholars to both the brilliance of the syncretic method and a critical work of Chinese leadership. Written by Shi Jiao, China's first syncretic thinker, during the Warring States Period of 481 to 221 BCE, Shizi is similar to Machiavelli's The Prince in that it dispenses wisdom to would-be rulers. It stresses the need for leaders to be detached and objective. It further encourages self-cultivation and effective government, recommending that rulers maintain self-discipline, hire reliable people, delegate power transparently, and promote others in an orderly fashion. The people, it is argued, will emulate their leader's wisdom and virtue, and a just and peaceful state will result. Paul Fischer provides an extensive introduction and a chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis of the text-outlining the importance of syncretism in Chinese culture-and explores the text's particular features, authorship, transmission, loss, and reconstruction over time. The Shizi set the stage for a long history of syncretic endeavor in China, and its study provides insight into the vital traditions of early Chinese philosophy. It is also a template for interpreting other well-known works, such as the Confucian Analects, the Daoist Laozi, the Mohist Mozi, and the Legalist Shang jun shu.

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