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Charles Darwin: Origins And Arguments (Pocket Essential Ser.)
by Bill PriceThe publication of The Origin of Species in 1859 was the culmination of more than twenty years of work by Charles Darwin and the ideas he presented in it would lead to a fundamental change in the way we think about life on earth. Evolution, as it came to be known, described how the extraordinary variety of life could develop and adapt by natural means rather than being entirely the creation of a supreme being. It was controversial at the time and now, as the bicentenary of Darwin's birth approaches in 2009, it remains the subject of bitter argument, with the opposing sides of the debate, the supporters of Darwinian evolution like Richard Dawkins and the proponents of intelligent design, as polarised as they have ever been. Bill Price looks at the origins of Darwin's theory and the arguments that have surrounded it ever since.
Charles Darwin: The Concise Story of an Extraordinary Man
by Tim M. BerraTwo hundred years after Charles Darwin's birth (February 12, 1809), this thoroughly illustrated, yet concise biography reveals the great scientist as husband, father, and friend. Tim M. Berra, whose "Darwin: The Man" lectures are in high demand worldwide, tells the fascinating story of the person and the idea that changed everything. Berra discusses Darwin’s revolutionary scientific work, its impact on modern-day biological science, and the influence of Darwin’s evolutionary theory on Western thought. But Berra digs deeper to reveal Darwin the man by combining anecdotes with carefully selected illustrations and photographs. This small gem of a book includes 20 color plates and 60 black-and-white illustrations, along with an annotated list of Darwin’s publications and a chronology of his life.
Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life (Andanzas Ser.)
by Lyndall GordonIn this groundbreaking and unconventional biography, Lyndall Gordon dismantles the insistent image of Charlotte Bronte as a modest Victorian lady, the slave to duty in the shadow of tombstones, revealing instead a strong and fiery woman who shaped her own life and transformed it into art. 'Sensitive, open-minded, vivid, full of psychological insight, [Gordon's] book is a brilliant reappraisal of Charlotte Bronte's life, work, and the flow between the two . . . It is also a deeply moving story' Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times
Chasing Killers: Three Decades of Cracking Crime in the UK's Murder Capital
by Joe JacksonGlasgow is known as the murder capital of Britain and no one understands why better than Joe Jackson. For over 30 years, Jackson worked the crime beat, first as a uniformed cop then as a seasoned murder squad detective. In this hard-hitting memoir of his most memorable cases, he reveals the reality behind chasing killers and other crooks in 'No Mean City'.As a young cop, Jackson was threatened by Glasgow's most ruthless gangster, Arthur Thomson, and, as a fresh detective, he took part in the hunt for Bible John, Glasgow's most shadowy serial killer. He locked up more than his fair share of paedophiles and sex beasts along the way and, as a veteran Senior Investigating Officer, he cracked the hardest homicide nut there is: a murder without a body. Jackson's investigations have grabbed headlines, while his 'collars' have filled jails.Chasing Killers will shock readers with its behind-the-scenes look at how murder probes are run. Every case is related with candour and humour, and is laced with the kind of detail that only an expert can provide. Joe Jackson has been called the real-life Taggart, but this is no TV fantasy - this is real city police work: concrete hard, soot black and blood red.
Class, Power and the State in Capitalist Society: Essays on Ralph Miliband (PDF)
by Clyde W. Barrow Peter Burnham Paul WetherlyRalph Miliband was a leading contributor to the development of Marxist political theory in the late twentieth century, particularly on the state, democracy, class analysis and socialist politics. His writings remain highly influential in twenty-first century social and political theory. Class, Power and the State in Capitalist Society brings together, for the first time, a collection of essays to re-examine and evaluate the central themes in Miliband's work. The editors' introduction traces the development of Miliband's thought and identifies key themes and debates. The essays that follow deal with the New Left, Labourism, the potential for a new socialist organization, the 'instrumentalist' theory of the state, the debate with Poulantzas, the 'withering away' of the state, American exceptionalism, and policy making. The book finishes with a critical reflection on the issues raised in the collection.
The Classmates: Privilege, Chaos, and the End of an Era
by Geoffrey DouglasFifty years ago, in the fall of 1957, two thirteen-year-old boys were enrolled at an elite, boys-only New England boarding school. One of them, descended from wealth and eminence, would go on to Yale, then to a career as a navy officer and Vietnam war hero, and finally to the U.S. Senate, from where he would fall just short of the White House. The other was a scholarship student, a misfit giant of a boy from a Pennsylvania farm town who would suffer shameful debasements at the hands of his classmates, then go on to a solitary and largely anonymous life as a salesman of encyclopedias and trailer parts--before dying, alone, twelve months after his classmate's narrow loss on Election Day 2004. It is around these two figures, John Kerry and a boy known here only as Arthur, the bookends of a class of one hundred boys, that Geoffrey Douglas--himself a member of that boarding-school class--builds this remarkable memoir. His portrait of their lives and the lives of five others in that class--two more Vietnam veterans with vastly divergent stories, a federal judge, a gay New York artist who struggled for years to find his place in the world, and Douglas himself--offers a memorable look back to a generation caught between the expectations of their fathers and the sometimes terrifying pulls of a society driven by war, defiance, and self-doubt. The class of 1962 was not so different from any other, with its share of swaggerers and shining stars, outcasts and scholarship students. Its distinction was in its timing: at the precise threshold of the cultural and political upheavals of the late 1960s. The world these boys had been trained to enter and to lead, a world very similar to their fathers', would be exploded and recast almost at the moment of their entrance--forcing choices whose consequences were sometimes lifelong. Douglas's chronicle of those times and choices is both a capsule history of an era and a literary tour de force.
Cleopatra the Great: The woman behind the legend
by Joann FletcherCleopatra the Great tells the story of a turbulent time and the extraordinary woman at its centre. She was Greek by descent – the last, and greatest, Egyptian pharaoh. But our understanding of her has been obscured by Roman propaganda, Shakespearean tragedy and Hollywood, with little attempt to tell her true story – until now. In the first biography for over thirty years, Joann Fletcher draws on a wealth of overlooked detail and the latest research to reveal Cleopatra as she truly was, from her first meeting with Julius Caesar to her legendary death by snakebite.Bringing the ancient world to life, Cleopatra the Great is full of tantalising details about the Pharaoh’s infamous banquets, her massive library, her goddess outfits, beauty regimes and hairstyles. Joann Fletcher discovers the real woman behind the myth.
Cliff: An Intimate Portrait of a Living Legend
by Stafford Hildred Tim EwbankFifty years ago he was just the boy Harry Webb, performing in a local youth club. Now he is Sir Cliff Richard, the first rock star to be knighted, with a massive international fan base and a top ten hit in each of the last six decades. Yet, despite his huge public persona, the man himself remains a reserved and private figure.Unflinching in its portrayal of the man behind the musical icon, this revealing biography marks fifty years of music from the first British pop star. His fellow musicians, co-stars, directors and Cliff himself talk candidly about his musical ascendance, the women in his life, his religious beliefs and his lasting regret that he has never broken America.
Cochrane the Dauntless: The Life and Adventures of Thomas Cochrane, 1775-1860
by David CordinglyPatrick O'Brian, C.S. Forester and Captain Marryat all based their literary heroes on Thomas Cochrane, but Cochrane's exploits were far more daring and exciting than those of his fictional counterparts. He was a man of action, whose bold and impulsive nature meant he was often his own worst enemy. Writing with gripping narrative skill and drawing on his own travels and original research, Cordingly tells the rip-roaring story of a flawed Romantic hero who helped define his age.
The Collegians: Crime Classics (Atlantic Classic Crime)
by Gerald GriffinYoung Hardress Cregan is a collegian and a rogue, with a wicked, roving eye. Although he is courting his wealthy cousin Anne, he has also embarked on a passionate love affair with the lowly - but very beautiful - Eily O'Connor. Hardress knows that his family would never approve of this match and he should abandon his new fancy. But his lust overwhelms his conscience and he embarks on a fatal deception - secretly marrying Eily while succumbing to his mother's machinations and becoming engaged to Anne. How will Hardress extricate himself from this dilemma? Together with his hunchback half-brother, Danny Mann, he hatches a deadly conspiracy...Originally published in 1829, and inspired by a celebrated criminal case, The Collegians was a sensation in its day. It made Killarney a tourist attraction, and its thrilling plot - involving love, rivalry, secrecy, and betrayal - inspired many imitations.
Coltrane: The Story of a Sound
by Ben RatliffNo other jazz musician has proved so inspirational and so fascinating as Coltrane. Ben Ratliff, jazz critic for the New York Times, has written the first book to do justice to this great and controversial music pioneer. As well as an elegant narrative of Coltrane's life Ratliff does something incredibly valuable - he writes about the saxophonist's unique sound.
Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story
by Christina ThompsonCome On Shore and We Will Kill And Eat You All is a sensitive and vibrant portrayal of the cultural collision between Westerners and Maoris, from Abel Tasman's discovery of New Zealand in 1642 to the author's unlikely romance with a Maori man. An intimate account of two centuries of friction and fascination, this intriguing and unpredictable book weaves a path through time and around the world in a rich exploration of the past and the future that it leads to.
Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story
by Christina ThompsonA beautifully written, fiercely intelligent and boldly conceived book that puts the author's unlikely marriage to a Maori man into the context of the history of Western colonization of New Zealand and the South Pacific. Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All is the story of the cultural collision between Westerners and the Maoris of New Zealand, told partly as a history of the complex and bloody period of contact between Europeans and the Maoris in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and partly as the story of Christina Thompson's marriage to a Maori man. As an American graduate student studying history in Australia, Thompson traveled to New Zealand and met a Maori known as "Seven." Their relationship is one of opposites: he is a tradesman, she is an intellectual; he comes from a background of rural poverty, she from one of middleclass privilege; he is a "native," she descends directly from "colonizers." Nevertheless, they shared a similar sense of adventure and a willingness to depart from the customs of their families and forge a life together on their own. In this book, which grows out of decades of reading and research, Thompson explores cultural displacement through the ages and the fascinating history of Europeans in the South Pacific, beginning with Abel Tasman's discovery of New Zealand in 1642 and Cook's circumnavigation of 1770. Transporting us back and forth in time and around the world, from Australia to Hawaii to tribal New Zealand and finally to a house in New England that has ghosts of its own, Come on Shore brings to life a lush variety of characters and settings. Yet at its core, it is the story of two people who meet, fall in love, and are forever changed."A multilayered, highly informative and insightful book that blends memoir, historical and travel narrative...vivid and meticulously researched."--San Francisco Chronicle
Come Sunday
by Isla MorleyShort listed for the best First Book Award of the Africa Region Commonwealth Writer's Prize, Isla Morley's debut novel plays into one of our largest fears: what happens when a child is killed. Abbe Deighton has lost her bearings. Once a child of South Africa and now settled in Hawaii married to a minister, she is chafing against the expectations of her life, her husband's congregation, her marriage and the constant demands of motherhood. But in an instant, beginning with the skid of tyres, Abbe's life is transformed when her three-year-old daughter is killed, triggering a seismic grief that cuts a swathe through the landscape of her life. Clawing its way through the strata of grief comes the memory of another tragedy, one that has been tucked away for twenty years. If Abbe is to find a way through blame and guilt and find redemption she must confront the last summer of her youth. It is a journey that will take her back to the continent of her childhood bringing her face-to-face with her past, to the old witchdoctor's hut where curses were cast, secrets kept and a crime concealed. Abbe will have to make the harshest of choices, choices which blur the lines of life and death, responsibility and forgiveness, murder and self-defence, in order to find her true homeland.
Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd
by Mark BlakeThe acclaimed, definitive biography of Pink Floyd, from their iconic beginnings in psychedelic, Swinging London to their historic reunion at the Live8 concert ("The most complete, insightful, and current account of Pink Floyd...nearly as essential as the music itself."--Austin Chronicle)Mark Blake draws on his own interviews with band members as well as the group's friends, road crew, musical contemporaries, former housemates, and university colleagues to produce a riveting history of one of the biggest rock bands of all time. We follow Pink Floyd from the early psychedelic nights at UFO, to the stadium-rock and concept-album zenith of the seventies, to the acrimonious schisms of the late '80s and '90s. Along the way there are fascinating new revelations about Syd Barrett's chaotic life at the time of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the band's painstaking and Byzantine recording sessions at Abbey Road, and the fractious negotiations to bring about their fragile, tantalizing reunion in Hyde Park. Meticulous, exacting, and ambitious as any Pink Floyd album, Comfortably Numb is the definitive account of this most adventurous--and most English--rock band.
Commando
by Chris TerrillChris Terrill is a man in search of his limit. He's 55 years old. He is not a soldier. He is being trained by the Royal Marines and he is going to Afghanistan. The only difference is that instead of a gun, Chris will be holding a camera and filming the whole ordeal for a major TV series.The Royal Marines Commando training base in Lympstone Devon, has a famous motto: '99.9% need not apply'. Of those who start training, after a very tough selection process, nearly 50% fail to make it through the most gruelling physical tests of any armed forces in the world in an eight month training regime. The elite who do eventually pass out are generally eighteen years old and at the peak of physical condition. But Chris Terrill is the exception: this book will tell of his heroic struggle to become the oldest man to win the coveted Royal Marines Commando Green Beret and enter the record books.And after six months of hell, what next? Chris will follow the raw recruits on a tour to Southern Afghanistan. He will tell the story in book and film of the fears and hopes of the youngsters as they are plunged into one of the planet's most dangerous wars in the outlaw mountain terrain of Helmand Province. He will tell of ferocious battles against the Taliban, of firefights, of jaw-dropping heroism, British sang froid and humour and tragedy as causalities are suffered -- all from the unique perspective of a civilian who has achieved the ultimate accolade: to be accepted as an honorary Royal Marines Commando. Commando is a brilliant account of modern war on the front line.
Complete Essays (Dover Value Editions Ser.)
by Francis BaconWise, witty, and immensely readable, these short but thought-provoking discourses examine life, death, and everything in between: truth, adversity, love, superstition, health, ambition, fame, and many other timeless topics. Francis Bacon — renowned as a scientist, scholar, and statesman — regarded the world as a puzzle to be solved. During the transition between the Renaissance and the early modern era, his methods of inductive reasoning exercised an enormous influence on seventeenth-century Europe. In these essays, Bacon effectively applied his scientific approach of observation and interpretation to human behavior.Bacon originally intended the essays as personal notes, to be shared only with a few friends. He was persuaded to publish an initial installment in 1597, and the volume's continuing popularity led to his revised and enlarged version of 1625. This edition features all 58 essays of the later version, offering a splendid combination of style and substance.
Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes
by Andrew LycettGround-breaking biography of the creator of fiction's best loved detectiveThough Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is recognised the world over, for decades he was overshadowed by his creation, Sherlock Holmes - one of literature's most enduring characters. Conan Doyle was a man of many contradictions. Romantic, energetic, idealistic and upstanding, he could also be selfish and foolhardy. Lycett assembles the many threads of Conan Doyle's life, including the lasting impact of his domineering mother and his alcoholic father; his affair with a younger woman while his wife lay dying; and his fanatical pursuit of scientific data to prove and explain various supernatural phenomena.Lycett combines access to new material with assiduous research and penetrating insight to offer the most comprehensive, lucid and sympathetic portrait yet of Conan Doyle's personal journey from student to doctor, from world-famous author to ardent spiritualist.
The Cornkister Days: A Portrait of a Land and its Rituals
by David Kerr CameronWith a knowledge and a skill that reveals his passion for the land and its people, David Kerr Cameron picks his way through the rural upheavals and developments of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries towards the landscape we recognise today. In doing so he provides a wide-sweeping and unforgettable view of our rural history and completes his great rural trilogy portraying the old farming landscapes of Scotland’s North-east Lowlands. Both nostalgia and great understanding are revealed as the author recalls a society based on the plough, a society that moved ‘against the tapestry of the year: ‘This was the backcloth against which the farmtoun folk lived out their days; its seasons and rituals governed their lives, and ultimately their destinies. Here now is that story, the story of a landscape all but lost before the onward march of agri-business and agri-technology.’ The days recalled are the days of the Clydesdale horse and the hired man, the cottar and crofter, the farmtoun tenant and his laird.
The Craft of Theatre: Seminars And Discussions In Brechtian Theatre (Biography And Autobiography Ser.)
by Ekkehard SchallThe Craft of Theatre is a first-hand account by one of the greatest actors and directors of the Berliner Ensemble, whose work with the company spanned over forty years. It offers an unparalleled insight to working on Brecht's texts and in some of the great Brechtian roles and will appeal to actors, directors and students of theatre. Ekkehard Schall's life was devoted to the theatre. In this autobiographical memoir, he offers a lifetime of experience, expertise and memories of working with some of the great German writers, actors and directors of the twentieth century. A member of the Berliner Ensemble established by Bertolt Brecht and his wife Helene Weigel in 1949, Ekkehard Schall worked on numerous productions of Brecht's plays and others with the Ensemble between 1952 and 1995. In the 1970s and 80s he combined the roles of leading actor and deputy director of the Ensemble. In all he played over sixty roles and achieved greatest success in the role as Arturo Ui, a role he played over 500 times.The Craft of Theatre: Seminars and Discussions in Brechtian Theatre offers the reader a lively account of Schall's work, of his insights and his appreciation of the Brechtian roles he assumed, and of the work of Germany's most important theatre. The Craft of Theatre is an important addition to Brechtian studies and to the biography of Germany's most totemic theatre.'When you see Schall at work during his two-hour performance, it's as if you were watching Brecht himself on stage. Schall's technical skills embody all of Brechtian dramatic theory and practice, just as Brecht's thoughts and opinions infuse his performances.' NewYork City Tribune
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
by Muhammad YunusIn the last two decades, free markets have swept the globe. But traditional capitalism has been unable to solve problems like inequality and poverty. In Muhammad Yunus' groundbreaking sequel to Banker to the Poor, he outlines the concept of social business-business where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today's most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick, and protecting the planet. Creating a World Without Poverty reveals the next phase in a hopeful economic and social revolution that is already underway.
Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Biography
by Dave ZimmerCrosby, Stills & Nash created some of the most indelible songs and beautiful harmonies of the late 1960s and early 1970s: "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Woodstock," "Teach Your Children."This copiously illustrated account of the trio's personal and musical history tells the story behind the songs. Longtime CSN chronicler Dave Zimmer, with the full cooperation of the band, traces all of the performers from their musical roots to their first song together in L.A.'s storied Laurel Canyon; from their addition of Neil Young to Woodstock; and through their stormy years of creative conflicts, reunions, and reconciliations.This edition celebrates the trio's 40th anniversary and includes over 300 photos.
Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Biography
by Dave ZimmerCrosby, Stills & Nash created some of the most indelible songs and beautiful harmonies of the late 1960s and early 1970s: "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Woodstock," "Teach Your Children."This copiously illustrated account of the trio's personal and musical history tells the story behind the songs. Longtime CSN chronicler Dave Zimmer, with the full cooperation of the band, traces all of the performers from their musical roots to their first song together in L.A.'s storied Laurel Canyon; from their addition of Neil Young to Woodstock; and through their stormy years of creative conflicts, reunions, and reconciliations.This edition celebrates the trio's 40th anniversary and includes over 300 photos.
The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States, and the Next Revolution
by Daniel EriksonThere are few international relationships as intimate, as passionate-and as dysfunctional-as that of the United States and Cuba. In The Cuba Wars, Cuba expert Daniel Erikson draws on extensive visits and conversations with both Cuban government officials and opposition leaders-plus key players in Washington and Florida-to offer an unmatched portrait of a small country with outsized importance to Americans and American policy.
Cut: The True Story Of An Abandoned, Abused Little Girl Who Was Desperate To Be Part Of A Family
by Cathy GlassMillion-copy bestselling author Cathy Glass tells the story of Dawn, a sweet and seemingly well-balanced girl whose outward appearance masks a traumatic childhood of suffering at the hands of the very people who should have cared for her.