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Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller: Portrait of a Seventeenth-Century Rabbi (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)
by Joseph DavisThis study portrays a man and an age. Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller (1578-1654), author of the famous Mishnah commentary Tosafot yom tov, was a major talmudist, a disciple of the legendary Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague, and himself the distinguished chief rabbi of Prague and Cracow. The time in which he lived began as a ‘golden age’ for the Jews of Prague and the Jews of Poland, an age of prosperity and the rise of Jewish mysticism. During Heller’s lifetime, however, the golden age changed to darkness, and prosperity gave way to war, persecution, plague, and massacres. It was the end of the Middle Ages, the last generation before Spinoza and Shabbetai Zevi. Scholar, preacher, religious and communal leader, Heller embodied a religious and cultural ideal; he was the very model of a seventeenth-century rabbi. Born in Germany, he moved from one end of the world of Ashkenazi Jewry to the other, first to Prague, and then to Poland and the Ukraine. His life was enmeshed in a web of family ties, and bounded by complex rules of class and religion. His writing reflects not only the full heritage of medieval Jewish thought and its crystallization in the seventeenth century, but also the time and place in which he lived. In many ways, he exemplified his age, its achievements, and its limitations. Carefully researched and well written, Joseph Davis’s work is the definitive biography of Heller. He presents a richly detailed study of Heller’s worldview, his conception of Judaism, of the world around him, and of himself within it: the seventeenth century seen through seventeenth-century eyes. Heller was eyewitness to momentous, epoch-making events: the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War and the massacres of 1648. He lived through a time of tumultuous change. Texts such as the sermon in which Heller responded to the new astronomy of Brahe and Kepler, or a poem on the massacres of 1648 in which he enlarged the capacity of Hebrew poetry to express horror are significant in the larger context of Jewish and European history. Heller’s world-view was not static or motionless. His world changed greatly during his lifetime, and his views of it likewise changed greatly over the fifty years from his first writings to his last, from youth to middle age to old age. His personal circumstances also contributed to this: the experience of betrayal, arrest, imprisonment, the death of his children, and other misfortunes led him to wrestle with such questions as the differences between Jews and non-Jews and the meaning of suffering. Davis weaves these developments succinctly into a fascinating narrative that does full justice both to Heller and the momentous events he experienced.
Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation: A Biography (Galaxy Books)
by Merrill D. PetersonThe definitive life of Jefferson in one volume, this biography relates Jefferson's private life and thought to his prominent public position and reveals the rich complexity of his development. As Peterson explores the dominant themes guiding Jefferson's career--democracy, nationality, and enlightenment--and Jefferson's powerful role in shaping America, he simultaneously tells the story of nation coming into being.
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning: A Memoir (Penguin Modern Classics #2)
by Laurie LeeAs I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning is the moving follow-up to Laurie Lee's acclaimed Cider with RosieAbandoning the Cotswolds village that raised him, the young Laurie Lee walks to London. There he makes a living labouring and playing the violin. But, deciding to travel further a field and knowing only the Spanish phrase for 'Will you please give me a glass of water?', he heads for Spain. With just a blanket to sleep under and his trusty violin, he spends a year crossing Spain, from Vigo in the north to the southern coast. Only the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War puts an end to his extraordinary peregrinations . . .'He writes like an angel and conveys the pride and vitality of the humblest Spanish life with unfailing sharpness, zest and humour' Sunday Times 'There's a formidable, instant charm in the writing that genuinely makes it difficult to put the book down' New Statesman'A beautiful piece of writing' Observer
Basil Street Blues: A Family Story (Memoirs #1)
by Michael HolroydMichael Holroyd – the most famous biographer in Britain – turns his attention upon himself and his own family in Basil Street Blues (the title comes from the Basil Street Hotel where the author was conceived in the 1930s). Born into a family rich in eccentricity, Holroyd was largely brought up by his grandparents in Maidenhead because his exotic Swedish mother and reserved English father couldn't stand living together. (His grandparents' marriage provided no better model – his grandfather having had a four-year affair with a woman he met at a bus stop before coming back to his grandmother). Towards the end of Holroyd's parents' lives he persuaded them to write their own stories and using the results, plus his own memories and researches he has written this moving and self-revealing book.
Lytton Strachey By Himself: A Self-Portrait
by Lytton StracheyWhile working on his two-volume biography of Lytton Strachey, Michael Holroyd had access to the Strachey archives. From the same source he collected all Strachey's diaries and memoirs, which together in this volume form an intermittent but not disconnected autobiography. From childhood diaries to the introspective and often anguished records of late adolescence emerges an intimate self-portrait, valuable for its own sake and also for the light it sheds on the most gifted members of the Bloomsbury Group. In addition to the informal diaries, Strachey wrote and read to the Memoir Club two autobiographical essays (also published here) which may be judged among the finest and most characteristic of his writing.
The Marvellous Boy: The Life and Myth of Thomas Chatterton
by Linda KellyIn 1770, at the end of his tether, the seventeen-year-old poet Thomas Chatterton, penniless and starving, despairing of success and tormented by a sense of failure, committed suicide in his garret room.Within a few years he was transformed into a legend. In the dawning Romantic Movement, he became a symbol of some of its most powerful preoccupations - suicide, youth and neglected genius.During the two ensuing centuries, Chatterton has become one of the most famous of literary suicides. To the Romantics in the nineteenth century, the premature death of this precocious genius became a source of inspiration. His suicide inspired Vigny's melodramatic play Chatterton, and forty years later, Leoncavallo's opera spread to Italy. The Pre-Raphaelites, especially Rossetti, were fascinated by his death. In the twentieth century, the eccentric scholar and poet E. W. Meyerstein developed a lifelong passion for him.Linda Kelly explores the development, pervasiveness and astonishing persistence of the Chatterton legend, throwing new and revealing light on the writers and artists who admired him.'A book that leaves out nothing important and yet keeps us reading like a novel.' John Wain
The operas of Leos Janacek: The Commonwealth and International Library: Music Division
by Erik ChisholmThe Operas of Leoš Janáček presents the comprehensive analysis of Leoš Janáček's operas. This book presents a concise account of Janáček's extraordinary musical background and development as an operatic composer. Organized into seven chapters, this book begins with an overview of Janáček's visit to the London Zoo in 1926, which profoundly influenced his very personal compositional style when he recorded the different cries and sounds of animals in musical notation. This text then describes the nature of Janáček's last two operas, which are characterized by emotional stresses, psychological conflicts, and the turbulence of text and music. Other chapters describe pastoral symphony of the opera The Cunning Little Vixen, which is a touching and sincere tribute to the basic unity of all living creatures of nature. This book discusses as well the characteristic explosive musical prose writing of Janáček. This book is a valuable resource for musicians, instrumentalists, and composers.
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 18: 4 November 1790 to 24 January 1791 (PDF) (Papers of Thomas Jefferson #18)
by Thomas Jefferson Julian P. BoydVolume 18, covering part of the final session of the First Congress, shows Jefferson as Secretary of State continuing his effective collaboration with James Madison in seeking commercial reciprocity with Great Britain by threatening--and almost achieving--a retaliatory navigation bill. During these few weeks Jefferson produced a remarkable series of official reports on Gouverneur Morris' abortive mission to England, on the first case of British impressment of American seamen to be noticed officially, on the interrelated problems of Mediterranean trade and the American captives in Algiers, and on the French protest against the tonnage acts. All of these state papers reflected the consistency of Jefferson's aim to bolster the independence of the United States, to promote national unity, and even, as his report on the Algerine captives indicates, to lay the foundations for American maritime power. This volume reveals Jefferson's continuing interest in a unified system of weights and measures, his effort to create a mint, and his concern over executive proceedings in the Northwest Territory. It contains also his suggestions for the President's annual message and his first encounter, at the hands of Noah Webster, with Federalist ridicule of his interest in science. Despite his heavy official duties and the confusion into which his household was thrown when 78 crates of books, wines, and furniture arrived from France, Jefferson never failed to write his promised weekly letter to his daughters and son-in-law under the alternating plan which obligated each of them to write only once every three weeks. The record of this time of extraordinary pressure shows that Jefferson retained his usual equanimity except when, after a full two months, he failed to receive any scrap of writing from the little family at Monticello.
Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (Spike Milligan War Memoirs #1)
by Spike MilliganVolume one of Spike Milligan's legendary memoirs is a hilarious, subversive first-hand account of WW2'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' Guardian______________'At Victoria station the R.T.O. gave me a travel warrant, a white feather and a picture of Hitler marked "This is your enemy". I searched every compartment, but he wasn't on the train . . .' In this, the first of Spike Milligan's uproarious recollections of life in the army, our hero takes us from the outbreak of war in 1939 ('it must have been something we said'), through his attempts to avoid enlistment ('time for my appendicitis, I thought') and his gunner training in Bexhill ('There was one drawback. No ammunition') to the landing at Algiers in 1943 ('I closed my eyes and faced the sun. I fell down a hatchway'). Filled with bathos, pathos and gales of ribald laughter, this is a barely sane helping of military goonery and superlative Milliganese.______________ 'That absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man' Stephen Fry'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese 'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard 'Manifestly a genius, a comic surrealist genius and had no equal' Terry Wogan 'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin
All Creatures Great and Small: The Classic Memoirs of a Yorkshire Country Vet (All Creatures Great And Small Ser. #1)
by James HerriotThe first collection of memoirs from the author who inspired the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Fresh out of Glasgow Veterinary College, to the young James Herriot 1930s Yorkshire seems to offer an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world. But from his erratic new colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, to incomprehensible farmers, herds of semi-feral cattle, a pig called Nugent and an overweight Pekingese called Tricki Woo, James finds he is on a learning curve as steep as the hills around him. And when he meets Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, all the training and experience in the world can’t help him . . . Since they were first published, James Herriot’s memoirs have sold millions of copies and entranced generations of animal lovers. Charming, funny and touching, All Creatures Great and Small is a heart-warming story of determination, love and companionship from one of Britain’s best-loved authors.This edition contains If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet. 'I grew up reading James Herriot's books and I'm delighted that thirty years on, they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then' Kate Humble
Being Sam Frears: A Life Less Ordinary (Penguin Specials)
by Mary MountThis is Sam Frears' story.This is also the story of an actor, a rock-climber and a man born with an extremely rare genetic disorder only affecting Ashkenazi Jews. Sam was supposed to live to the age of 5. In February, he celebrated his 40th birthday.Challenged by blindness and a body under great stress, Sam Frears is trying to live an ordinary life under extraordinary circumstances His struggles and triumphs offer an illuminating look at the differences - and similarities - that make us human. For those who enjoyed My Left Foot and Stuart: A Life Backwards, this Penguin Special offers a fresh look at what it's like to be Sam.
A Black Boy at Eton (Black Britain: Writing Back)
by Dillibe Onyeama'The story [Onyeama] had to tell was so gripping and shocking, it wouldn't let me go . . . A remarkably well-written memoir' Bernardine Evaristo, from the IntroductionDillibe was the second black boy to study at Eton - joining in 1965 - and the first to complete his education there. Written at just 21, this is a deeply personal, revelatory account of the racism he endured during his time as a student at the prestigious institution. He tells in vivid detail of his own background as the son of a Nigerian judge at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, of his arrival at the school, of the curriculum, of his reception by other boys (and masters), and of his punishments. He tells, too, of the cruel racial prejudice and his reactions to it, and of the alienation and stereotyping he faced at such a young age. A Black Boy at Eton is a searing, ground-breaking book displaying the deep psychological effects of colonialism and racism.A title in the Black Britain: Writing Back series - selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.
Booker T. Washington: The Autobiographical Writings
by Louis R. HarlanThe most powerful black American of his time, this book captures him at his zenith and reveals his complex personality.
The Colossus: And Other Poems (Vintage International Ser.)
by Sylvia PlathOriginally published in 1960, The Colossus was the only volume of Sylvia Plath's poetry published before her death in 1963. Showing a scholarly dedication to the craft, the poems in this collection are brimming with originality and the startling imagery that would later confirm her status as one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. 'On every page, a poet is serving notice that she has earned her credentials and knows her trade.' Seamus Heaney 'She steers clear of feminine charm, deliciousness, gentility, supersensitivity and the act of being a poetess. She simply writes good poetry. And she does so with a seriousness that demands only that she be judged equally seriously . . . There is an admirable no-nonsense air about this; the language is bare but vivid and precise, with a concentration that implies a good deal of disturbance with proportionately little fuss.' A. Alvarez in the Observer
I Have America Surrounded: The Life Of Timothy Leary
by John HiggsThe brilliant first biography of the man President Nixon called 'the most dangerous man in America'.
Ilya Ehrenburg: Selections from People, Years, Life
by C. MoodyIlya Ehrenburg: Selections from People, Years, Life covers volumes of the memoirs of Ilya Ehrenburg, a Soviet writer who witnessed the major historical events both at home and abroad or of making the acquaintance of so many of the leading figures. The book describes the Russian culture of the earlier decades and several popular Russian writers and artists, including Sergei Yesenin, Vladimir Mayakovskii, Andrei Belyi, Andrei Remizov, and Vsevolod Meyerhol'd. The text also covers memoirs of Boris Pasternak Alexander Tairov, Marina Tsvetayeva, Osip Mandel'shtam, Isaak Babel’, and Robert Falk. The events during the purge of Jewish culture and during the eve of World War 2 are also covered in the book. Readers and historians interested in topics about the important aspects of Soviet culture will find the book useful.
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 18: 4 November 1790 to 24 January 1791
by Thomas Jefferson Julian P. BoydVolume 18, covering part of the final session of the First Congress, shows Jefferson as Secretary of State continuing his effective collaboration with James Madison in seeking commercial reciprocity with Great Britain by threatening--and almost achieving--a retaliatory navigation bill. During these few weeks Jefferson produced a remarkable series of official reports on Gouverneur Morris' abortive mission to England, on the first case of British impressment of American seamen to be noticed officially, on the interrelated problems of Mediterranean trade and the American captives in Algiers, and on the French protest against the tonnage acts. All of these state papers reflected the consistency of Jefferson's aim to bolster the independence of the United States, to promote national unity, and even, as his report on the Algerine captives indicates, to lay the foundations for American maritime power. This volume reveals Jefferson's continuing interest in a unified system of weights and measures, his effort to create a mint, and his concern over executive proceedings in the Northwest Territory. It contains also his suggestions for the President's annual message and his first encounter, at the hands of Noah Webster, with Federalist ridicule of his interest in science. Despite his heavy official duties and the confusion into which his household was thrown when 78 crates of books, wines, and furniture arrived from France, Jefferson never failed to write his promised weekly letter to his daughters and son-in-law under the alternating plan which obligated each of them to write only once every three weeks. The record of this time of extraordinary pressure shows that Jefferson retained his usual equanimity except when, after a full two months, he failed to receive any scrap of writing from the little family at Monticello.
Revival: Economic Methods And The Effectiveness Of Production (1971) (Routledge Revivals)
by E G Liberman Arlo SchultzThis title was first published in 1971: Aims to provide an exciting and psychologically penetrating account of the life of Russia's 18th century tsar/reformer and the theme of progress through violence in Russia.