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Barça: The inside story of the world's greatest football club
by Simon Kuper'This is a masterfully written history of the world's greatest football club. Més que un book!' - GARY LINEKERFrom the bestselling co-author of Soccernomics comes the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful football club in the world - and how that envied position now hangs in the balance.Barça is not just the world's most popular sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organisations on the planet. With almost 250 million followers on social media and 4 million visitors to its Camp Nou stadium each year, there's little wonder its motto is 'More than a club'. But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona has transformed from regional team to global powerhouse, becoming a model of sporting excellence and a consistent winner of silverware.Simon Kuper unravels exactly how these transformations took place. He outlines the organisational structure behind the club's business decisions, and details the work of its coaches, medics, data analysts and nutritionists who have revolutionised the sporting world. And, of course, he studies the towering influence of the club's two greatest legends, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi.Like many leading global businesses, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets, granting few outsiders a view behind the scenes. But, after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given unprecedented access to the inner sanctum and to the people who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top. Erudite, personal, and capturing all the latest successes and upheavals, his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond football to understand Barça as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon."I began my research thinking I was going to be explaining Barca's rise to greatness, and Ihave, but I've also ended up charting the decline and fall."
The Barcelona Reader: Cultural Readings of a City
by Enric Bou Jaume SubiranaOver the last twenty years there has been a growing international interest in the city of Barcelona. This has been reflected in the academic world through a series of studies, courses, seminars, and publications. The Barcelona Reader hinges together a selection of the best academic articles, written in English, about the city, and its main elements of identity and interest: art, urban planning, history and social movements. The book includes scholarly essays about Barcelona that can be of interest to the student and the general public alike. It focuses on cultural representations of the city: the arts (including literature) provide a complex yet discontinuous portrait of the city, similar to a patchwork. The authors selected create a kaleidoscope of views and voices thus presenting a diverse yet inclusive Barcelona portrait. The Barcelona Reader offers a multifaceted assessment that will be essential reading for anyone interested in this iconic city.
The Barcelona Reader: Cultural Readings of a City
by Enric Bou and Jaume SubiranaOver the last twenty years there has been a growing international interest in the city of Barcelona. This has been reflected in the academic world through a series of studies, courses, seminars, and publications. The Barcelona Reader hinges together a selection of the best academic articles, written in English, about the city, and its main elements of identity and interest: art, urban planning, history and social movements. The book includes scholarly essays about Barcelona that can be of interest to the student and the general public alike. It focuses on cultural representations of the city: the arts (including literature) provide a complex yet discontinuous portrait of the city, similar to a patchwork. The authors selected create a kaleidoscope of views and voices thus presenting a diverse yet inclusive Barcelona portrait. The Barcelona Reader offers a multifaceted assessment that will be essential reading for anyone interested in this iconic city.
The Bard: Robert Burns - A Biography
by Robert CrawfordNo writer is more charismatic than Robert Burns and no biographer has captured his energy, brilliance and radicalism as well as Robert Crawford does in The Bard. To his international admirers Burns was a genius, a hero, a warm-hearted friend; yet to the mother of one of his lovers he was a wastrel, to a fellow poet he was 'sprung...from raking of dung', and to his political enemies a 'traitor'. Drawing on a surprising variety of untapped sources - from rediscovered poetry by Burns to manuscript journals, correspondence, interviews and oratory by his contemporaries - this new biography presents the remarkable life, loves and struggles of the great poet.With a poet's insight and a shrewd sense of human drama, Robert Crawford outlines how Burns combined a childhood steeped in the peasant song-culture of rural Scotland with a consummate linguistic artistry to become not only the world's most popular love poet but also the controversial master poet of modern democracy. Written with accessible élan and nuanced attention to Burns's poems and letters, The Bard is the story of an extraordinary man fighting to maintain a sly sense of integrity in the face of overwhelming pressures. This incisive, intelligent biography startlingly demonstrates why the life and work of Scotland's greatest poet still compels the attention of the world a quarter of a millennium after his birth.
The Bard: Robert Burns, A Biography
by Robert CrawfordNo writer is more charismatic than Robert Burns. Wonderfully readable, The Bard catches Burns's energy, brilliance, and radicalism as never before. To his international admirers he was a genius, a hero, a warm-hearted friend; yet to the mother of one of his lovers he was a wastrel, to a fellow poet he was "sprung . . . from raking of dung," and to his political enemies a "traitor." Drawing on a surprising number of untapped sources--from rediscovered poetry by Burns to manuscript journals, correspondence, and oratory by his contemporaries--this new biography presents the remarkable life, loves, and struggles of the great poet. Inspired by the American and French Revolutions and molded by the Scottish Enlightenment, Burns was in several senses the first of the major Romantics. With a poet's insight and a shrewd sense of human drama, Robert Crawford outlines how Burns combined a childhood steeped in the peasant song-culture of rural Scotland with a consummate linguistic artistry to become not only the world's most popular love poet but also the controversial master poet of modern democracy. Written with accessible elan and nuanced attention to Burns's poems and letters, The Bard is the story of an extraordinary man fighting to maintain a sly sense of integrity in the face of overwhelming pressures. This incisive biography startlingly demonstrates why the life and work of Scotland's greatest poet still compel the attention of the world a quarter of a millennium after his birth.
Bard of Erin: The Life of Thomas Moore
by Ronan KellyColm Tóibín has called Thomas Moore 'the most influential figure in shaping the Irish political psyche'. In Bard of Erin, Ronan Kelly tells the story of Moore's extraordinary life - from humble beginnings in Dublin to glittering social and literary success in London (at one point his popularity was eclipsed only by that of Sir Walter Scott and his close friend Lord Byron). Ronan Kelly's biography is a gripping and definitive account of a great romantic figure.'A stirring tale of the diminutive would-be duellist whom his friend Byron described as "Masking and humming, / Fifing and drumming, / Guitarring and strumming" in a way we'd not quite see again until the rise of Bob Dylan' Paul Muldoon, TLS Books of the Year'Thanks to Ronan Kelly's enthralling new biography, [Moore] is about to become an important part of our cultural landscape again ... There hasn't been a better biography published in Ireland for many a year' Irish Independent'Vividly absorbing ... an enthusiastic, persuasive and highly readable attempt to restore a full picture of the man ... Everything in this eloquent and intelligent life shows that Moore's achievement decisively transcended the "poetical"' Roy Foster, The Times'a major reassessment ... scholarly and comprehensive ... Kelly makes it clear what fun Moore was' Irish Daily Mail'This new biography of Thomas Moore delights in the reading. Ronan Kelly has done his groundwork well ... A substantial, highly readable examination of the life, social development and cultural significance of a figure who occupies a pivotal position in Irish history, both as an Irish writer of the Romantic period and as "Ireland's National Poet" of a pre-partition era' Sunday Business Post'Definitive ... a fascinating story' John Montague, Irish Times
Barefaced Lies and Boogie-Woogie Boasts
by Harriet Vyner Jools HollandJools Holland has had a fascinating life. From playing on bomb sites as a boy in the East End, to skiving off school and then selling millions of records with Squeeze, the first twenty years of his life were eventful, chaotic and colourful. Then came The Tube with Paula Yates, the seminal live music programme that propelled him to fame. Over the following three decades, Jools succeeded in placing himself at the epicentre of a global community comprising just about anybody who is anybody in music. Through Later with Jools Holland, the longest-running music programme on television, he has given British TV debuts to countless now world famous bands. Packed with hilarious anecdotes written in Holland’s own inimitable style and laced with quirky insights and deliciously acute detail, this autobiography by one of Britain’s most gifted and debonaire musicians is not just for music fans, but for anyone who is looking for something several cuts above the conventional showbiz memoir.
Barefoot at the Lake: A Memoir Of Summer People And Water Creatures
by Bruce FogleA beautiful memoir of summer people and water creatures, which illustrates the formative effects of nature on children by an author who has forged a career caring for animals. For readers of Raynor Winn's THE SALT PATH, John Lewis-Stemple's STILL WATER and Gerald Durrell's MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS.Year after year the family returns to the lake. The children, barefoot and free, explore its sun-drenched wilderness.Bruce Fogle recounts his childhood summers spent at the family cabin by the lake. In an atmospheric new foreword, Bruce's son, wildlife presenter Ben Fogle, shares his experiences spending summers in the very same cabin.The summer Bruce turns ten seems, at first, like any other: swimming out to the raft, watching the gulls, frogs and herons, catching crayfish. But just when he thinks that life is perfect, everything begins to change, and over the course of two months both the harshness of the adult world and the patterns of the natural world reveal themselves.Barefoot at the Lake is not only a beautifully written boy's-eye view of the animals, humans and landscape of his youth, it is also delightfully funny, with a moving wisdom at its heart.
Barefoot Empress
by Vikas KhannaDiscover the life of the remarkable Karthyayani Amma, who went to school for the first time at the age of 96 and surprised the entire country by topping the Kerala government's literacy examination with a record-breaking score of 98 out of 100. Amma hails from Haripad in Alappuzha district, where she swept the streets outside temples in her village for a living. One day, she met Sathi, an educationist, who enrolled her in school. Amma studied hard and stood first, ahead of 43,300 students who appeared for the examination. In 2019 she became a Commonwealth of Learning Goodwill Ambassador. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar by President Ram Nath Kovind on Women's Day in March 2020. Her inspirational story is proof that it is never too late to realise your dreams.
Barefoot in Mullyneeny: A Boyâs Journey Towards Belonging
by Bryan GallagherBryan Gallagher's reminiscences of the Ireland of his youth, first heard on Radio 4's 'Home Truths', transport you to a world of boyhood pranks, playground politics and the confusion of growing up in a land that is every bit as magical and captivating as the stories he has to tell.
Barefoot in the Bindis
by Angela WalesA circle of pine trees, a sagging wire fence, and a roof that was once painted red. ‘There it is,’ said Dad. In 1953, after doctors prescribed fresh country air for his health, Scottish-born Robert Wales uprooted his young family from the city life of Sydney and set out to establish a sheep farm in the bush. What he lacked in experience and expertise, he made up for in enthusiasm. Or so he hoped. When the family arrived on a lonely hill in northern New South Wales, they had no electricity, no running water, no telephone and no choice but to make that tangle of bush their home. From Angela Wales, eldest of the five kids, comes this extraordinarily vivid and evocative account of the next ten years as they tried to tame six thousand acres and navigate the challenges of country life. Filled with drama and hilarity, joy and back-breaking toil, Barefoot in the Bindis portrays a childhood spent in the bush, and is a sensational picture of Australia past.
The Barefoot Lawyer: The Remarkable Memoir of China’s Bravest Political Activist
by Chen GuangchengIt was like a scene out of a thriller: one morning in April 2012, China’s most famous political activist—a blind, self-taught lawyer—climbed over the wall of his heavily guarded home and escaped. For days, his whereabouts remained unknown; after he turned up at the American embassy in Beijing, a furious round of high-level negotiations finally led to his release and a new life in the United States. Chen Guangcheng is a unique figure on the world stage, but his story is even more remarkable than we knew. The son of a poor farmer in rural China, blinded by illness when he was an infant, Chen was fortunate to survive a difficult childhood. But despite his disability, he was determined to educate himself and fight for the rights of his country’s poor, especially a legion of women who had endured forced sterilizations under the hated 'one child' policy. Repeatedly harassed, beaten, and imprisoned by Chinese authorities, Chen was ultimately placed under house arrest. After a year of fruitless protest and increasing danger, he evaded his captors and fled to freedom. Both a riveting memoir and a revealing portrait of modern China, this passionate book tells the story of a man who has never accepted limits and always believed in the power of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle.
Barefoot Pilgrimage
by Andrea CorrAndrea Corr’s Barefoot Pilgrimage is a compelling and honest memoir.
Barefoot Soldier
by Johnson Beharry VCBorn in 1979 in Grenada as one of eight children, living in a two-bedroom hut, surviving on meagre meals of beans and rice and walking barefoot, three miles to school. At 13 Johnson Beharry quit school and worked as a decorator and labourer. In 1999 he scraped together the airfare for England and joined the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment. He served six months in Kosovo, three months in Northern Ireland and then went to Iraq. On 1 May 2004, Beharry helped assist a foot patrol caught in a series of ambushes. His vehicle was hit by multiple rocket propelled grenades but he drove through the ambush and extracted his wounded colleagues from the vehicle, all the time exposed to further enemy fire. He was cited on this occasion for 'valour of the highest order'. While back on duty on 11 June 2004, a rocket propelled grenade hit Beharry's vehicle incapacitating his commander and injuring several of the crew. Despite his very serious head injuries, Beharry took control of his vehicle and drove it out of the ambush area before losing consciousness. He required brain surgery for his head injuries, and he was still recovering when he was awarded the VC in March 2005.
The Bargain from the Bazaar: A Family's Day of Reckoning in Lahore
by Haroon K. UllahAwais Reza is a shopkeeper in Lahore's Anarkali Bazaar-the largest open market in South Asia-whose labyrinthine streets teem with shoppers, rickshaws, and cacophonous music.But Anarkali's exuberant hubbub cannot conceal the fact that Pakistan is a country at the edge of a precipice. In recent years, the easy sociability that had once made up this vibrant community has been replaced with doubt and fear. Old-timers like Awais, who inherited his shop from his father and hopes one day to pass it on to his son, are being shouldered aside by easy money, discount stores, heroin peddlers, and the tyranny of fundamentalists.Every night before Awais goes to bed, he plugs in his cell phone and hopes. He hopes that the city will not be plunged into a blackout, that the night will remain calm, that the following morning will bring affluent and happy customers to his shop and, most of all, that his three sons will safely return home. Each of the boys, though, has a very different vision of their, and Pakistan's, future.The Bargain from the Bazaar-the product of eight years of field research-is an intimate window onto ordinary middle-class lives caught in the maelstrom of a nation falling to pieces. It's an absolutely compelling portrait of a family at risk-from a violently changing world on the outside and a growing terror from within.
Barking at Winston
by Barry StoneWhen Bruce, an abandoned collie-cross puppy, is adopted by a lively family, he encounters more affection than ever before in his short life.With humour and a unique charm, he describes his life with his loving but troubled owners, and offers a sometimes hilarious insight into the world from a dog's point of view. But when the family is threatened, Bruce lends a paw, and uses his canine second sight to guide the family through some difficult times. Already a sleeper success, Barking At Winston is an authentic and endearing tale of one family and their canine friend.
Barney Greatrex: From Bomber Command to the French Resistance - the stirring story of an Australian hero
by Michael VeitchThe incredible untold World War II story of Australian hero BARNEY GREATREX - from Bomber Command to French Resistance fighter. A school and university cadet in Sydney, Barney Greatrex signed up for RAF Bomber Command in 1941, eager to get straight into the very centre of the Allied counterattack. Bombing Germany night after night, Barney's 61 Squadron faced continual enemy fighter attacks and anti-aircraft fire - death or capture by the Nazis loomed large. Very few survived more than 20 missions, and it was on his 20th mission, in 1944, that Barney's luck finally ran out: he was shot down over occupied France.But his war was far from over. Rescued by the French Resistance, Barney seized the opportunity to carry on fighting and joined the Maquis in the liberation of France from the occupying German forces, who rarely took prisoners.Later, Barney was awarded the French Legion of Honour, but for seventy years he said almost nothing of his incredible war service - surviving two of the most dangerous battlefronts. Aged 97, Barney Greatrex revealed his truly great Australian war story to acclaimed bestselling author Michael Veitch.'fascinating . . . Veitch brings the story vividly to life' Sydney Morning Herald Pick of the Week'Veitch has done a wonderful job . . . a fast-paced and thrilling tale' Daily Telegraph
Barnheart: The Incurable Longing for a Farm of One's Own
by Jenna WoginrichA laugh-out-loud funny, and yet often poignant, memoir about a young woman&’s quest for a farm of her own and her challenges in finding a permanent home for herself and her animals.
Barnhill: a novel
by Norman BissellGeorge Orwell left post-war London for Barnhill, a remote farmhouse on the Isle of Jura, to write what became Nineteen Eighty-Four. He was driven by a passionate desire to undermine the enemies of democracy and make plain the dangers of dictatorship, surveillance, doublethink and censorship. Typing away in his damp bedroom overlooking the garden he curated and the sea beyond, he invented Big Brother, Thought Police, Newspeak and Room 101 – and created a masterpiece. Barnhill tells the dramatic story of this crucial period of Orwell’s life. Deeply researched, it reveals the private man behind the celebrated public figure – his turbulent love life, his devotion to his baby son and his declining health as he struggled to deliver his dystopian warning to the world.
Barometer of Fear: An Insider’s Account of Rogue Trading and the Greatest Banking Scandal in History
by Alexis StenforsThe LIBOR affair has been described as the 'biggest banking scandal in history', a deception affecting not only banks but also corporations, pension funds and ordinary people.But was this just the tip of the iceberg? Was the scandal the work of a few 'bad apples' or an inevitable result of a financial system rotten to its core? Labelled 'one of the world's most infamous rogue traders' in the wake of a mis-marking scandal, Alexis Stenfors went on to rebuild his life and now guides us through the shadowy world of modern banking, providing an insider's account of the secret practices – including the manipulation of foreign exchange rates – which have allowed banks to profit from systematic deception. Containing remarkable and often shocking insights derived from his own experiences in the dealing room, as well as his spectacular fall from grace at Merrill Lynch, Barometer of Fear draws back the curtain to a realm that for too long has remained hidden from public view.
Barometer of Fear: An Insider’s Account of Rogue Trading and the Greatest Banking Scandal in History
by Alexis StenforsThe LIBOR affair has been described as the 'biggest banking scandal in history', a deception affecting not only banks but also corporations, pension funds and ordinary people.But was this just the tip of the iceberg? Was the scandal the work of a few 'bad apples' or an inevitable result of a financial system rotten to its core? Labelled 'one of the world's most infamous rogue traders' in the wake of a mis-marking scandal, Alexis Stenfors went on to rebuild his life and now guides us through the shadowy world of modern banking, providing an insider's account of the secret practices – including the manipulation of foreign exchange rates – which have allowed banks to profit from systematic deception. Containing remarkable and often shocking insights derived from his own experiences in the dealing room, as well as his spectacular fall from grace at Merrill Lynch, Barometer of Fear draws back the curtain to a realm that for too long has remained hidden from public view.
The Baroness: The Search for Nica the Rebellious Rothschild
by Hannah RothschildA Rothschild by birth and a Baroness by marriage, beautiful, spirited Pannonica - known as Nica - seemed to have it all: children, a handsome husband and a trust fund. But in the early 1950s she heard a piece by the jazz legend Thelonious Monk. The music overtook her like a magic spell, and she abandoned her marriage to go and find him. Arriving in New York, Nica was shunned by society but accepted by the musicians. They gave her friendship; she gave them material and emotional support. Her convertible Bentley was a familiar sight outside the clubs and she drank whisky from a hip flask disguised as a Bible. Her notoriety was sealed when drug-addicted saxophonist Charlie Parker died in her apartment. But her real love was reserved for Monk, whom she cared for until his death in 1982.The Baroness traces Nica's extraordinary, thrilling journey - from England's stately homes to the battlefields of Africa, passing under the shadow of the Holocaust, and finally to the creative ferment of the New York jazz scene. Hannah Rothschild's search to solve the mystery of her rebellious great aunt draws on their long friendship and years of meticulous research and interviews. It is part musical odyssey, part dazzling love story.
Barracoon: The Story Of The Last "black Cargo"
by Zora Neale HurstonAbducted from Africa, sold in America. “A deeply affecting record of an extraordinary life”- Daily Telegraph A major literary event: a newly published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, with a foreword from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker.
Barrel Fever: Stories And Essays
by David SedarisIn David Sedaris's world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz and the National Enquirer, Sedaris's collection of stories and essays is a rollicking tour through the American Zeitgeist: a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a teenage suicide tried to incite a lynch mob at her funeral; and in his essays, David Sedaris considers the hazards of rewards of smoking, writing for Giantess magazine, and living with his scrappy brother Paul, aka 'The Rooster'.With a perfect eye and a voice infused with as much empathy as wit, Sedaris writes and reads stories and essays that target the soulful ridiculousness of our behaviour. Barrel Fever is like a blind date with modern life - and anything can happen.
Barrie: How a rescue dog and her owner saved each other
by Sean LaidlawThe remarkable true story that became a viral news sensation.Former Royal Engineer Sean Laidlaw was working as a bomb disposal expert in Syria when he heard whimpering from the rubble of a school that had exploded and collapsed. Upon further inspection he found that the source of the noise was a tiny, abandoned puppy, surrounded by her four dead siblings. A terrified Barrie initially rejected Sean's advances - but he refused to give up. He made sure she was safe and brought her food and drink, and cordoned off the area to ensure it was safe from explosives. After a few days Barrie grew to trust Sean and eventually the two became inseparable in the three months he was in Syria.Sean had to return to the UK, leaving Barrie behind. When his contract wasn't renewed he knew he had to bring Barrie home. The two created an unbreakable bond and they were reunited in emotional scenes that have made headlines all over the world. Sean credits Barrie with helping him with his PTSD and their story is a powerful reminder of the incredible bond that dogs and humans have, and how both can save the other.