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Bad Cop: New York's Least Likely Police Officer Tells All
by Paul BaconIn 2001, Paul Bacon was a typical young guy in New York: overeducated, liberal, hip, a little aimless. But when 9/11 came, he was galvanized into action. Feeling that he had to do something to help his fellow man, he raced to Ground Zero, where he stood around for several days before finally realizing that he had no skills that were of any use in a crisis. So he applied to the fire department-and was summarily rejected; he was too old, they said, and he couldn't do any pull-ups. So he decided to take what was available to him: He joined the NYPD.Bad Cop is Bacon's hilarious and thoughtful memoir of his three years among New York's Finest. Beginning with his tenure in the police academy (where he's mostly interested in pursuing the lovely cadet Clarabel - until he finds a surprising new love in the form of his service .357), it follows him through a reluctant apprenticeship and out onto the streets, where the sensitive former graphic designer is transformed into a rough-and-tumble Harlem beat cop. Brimming with great set pieces and amazing characters, this is both a love letter and a send-up of the squad that keeps New York safe - sometimes.
Bad Faith: A History of Family and Fatherland
by Carmen CallilBad Faith tells the story of one of history's most despicable villains and conmen - Louis Darquier, Nazi collaborator and 'Commissioner for Jewish Affairs', who dissembled his way to power in the Vichy government and was responsible for sending thousands of children to the gas chambers. After the war he left France, never to be brought to justice. Early on in his career Louis married the alcoholic Myrtle Jones from Tasmania, equally practised in the arts of fantasy and deception, and together they had a child, Anne whom they abandoned in England. Her tragic story is woven through the narrative. In Carmen Callil's masterful, elegiac and sometimes darkly comic account, Darquier's rise during the years leading up to the Second World War mirrors the rise of French anti-Semitism. Epic, haunting, the product of extraordinary research, this is a study in powerlessness, hatred and the role of remembrance.Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.
Bad Girls: A History of Rebels and Renegades
by Caitlin DaviesLONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING'Davies's absorbing study serves up just enough sensationalism - and eccentricity - along with its serious inquiry' SUNDAY TIMES'[A] revealing account of the jail's 164-year history' DAILY TELEGRAPH, 5* review'Insightful and thought-provoking and makes for a ripping good read' JEREMY CORBYN'A much-needed and balanced history' OBSERVER'Davies explores how society has dealt with disobedient women - from suffragettes to refugees to women seeking abortions - for decades, and how they've failed to silence those who won't go down without a fight' STYLISTSociety has never known what to do with its rebellious women. Those who defied expectations about feminine behaviour have long been considered dangerous and unnatural, and ever since the Victorian era they have been removed from public view, locked up and often forgotten about. Many of these women ended up at HM Prison Holloway, the self-proclaimed 'terror to evil-doers' which, until its closure in 2016, was western Europe's largest women's prison. First built in 1852 as a House of Correction, Holloway's women have come from all corners of the UK - whether a patriot from Scotland, a suffragette from Huddersfield, or a spy from the Isle of Wight - and from all walks of life - socialites and prostitutes, sporting stars and nightclub queens, refugees and freedom fighters. They were imprisoned for treason and murder, for begging, performing abortions and stealing clothing coupons, for masquerading as men, running brothels and attempting suicide. In Bad Girls, Caitlin Davies tells their stories and shows how women have been treated in our justice system over more than a century, what crimes - real or imagined - they committed, who found them guilty and why. It is a story of victimization and resistance; of oppression and bravery. From the women who escaped the hangman's noose - and those who didn't - to those who escaped Holloway altogether, Bad Girls is a fascinating look at how disobedient and defiant women changed not only the prison service, but the course of history.
A Bad Idea I'm About to Do: True Tales of Seriously Poor Judgment and Stunningly Awkward Adventure
by Chris GethardChris Gethard has often found himself in awkward situations most people, including you, probably would have safely avoided. The good news is now, thanks to this book, you can enjoy the painfully funny consequences of his unfortunate decisions at a safe distance. A Bad Idea I'm About to Do invites readers to join Chris as he navigates an adolescence and adulthood mired in hilariously ill-fated nerdom, and to take comfort in the fact that - as his experiences often prove - things could always be much, much worse.
Bad Influence: The hotly-anticipated debut memoir about growing up online - 'An ideal summer read' EVENING STANDARD
by Oenone Forbat'An ideal summer read' EVENING STANDARD'Equal parts insightful and entertaining - whatever your take on influencers, Bad Influence is a great read' YOMI ADEGOKEOenone didn't set out to become an influencer. The word barely existed when she started posting on Instagram at university to document her 'fitness journey' after a toxic relationship came to a messy end.In this humorous meditation on her digitized life, Oenone chronicles the pits and peaks of coming of age online. Grappling with modern-day issues on a public stage - from body image and personal boundaries to the limitations of online activism, Bad Influence examines what happens when your day-to-day reality becomes #content - and that #content pays your bills.It asks: can you truly be authentic online? Can social media be a force for good? Is it necessarily bad for our mental health?Written with wit, warmth and honesty, this is a candid account of what it really means to be an influencer, from someone still figuring it out: the good, the bad and the instagrammable.'Warm, juicy, and eye-opening, like having a chat with a best friend' ANNIE LORD'If ever a book captured the zeitgeist, this is it' GRACE CAMPBELL'Funny, warm and brilliantly engaging' LUCY VINE
Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace (VF VFX)
by Ayelet Waldman'I want to be in the company of her frank intelligence forever' Nigella LawsonIn our mothers' day there were good mothers, indifferent mothers, and occasionally, great mothers. Today we have only Bad Mothers: If you work, you're neglectful; if you stay home, you're smothering. If you discipline, you're buying them a spot on the shrink's couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as a "bad mother"?Writing with remarkable candor, and dispensing much hilarious and helpful advice along the way--Is breast best? What should you do when your daughter dresses up as a "ho" for Halloween?--Ayelet Waldman says it's time for women to get over it and get on with it in this wry, unflinchingly honest, and always insightful memoir on modern motherhood.
The Bad Mother
by Esther WalkerA hilariously honest, and rather sweary, book about parenting from the author of The Bad Cook.
Bad News: Never Mind, Bad News And Some Hope (The Patrick Melrose Novels #2)
by Edward St AubynBad News is the second of Edward St Aubyn's semi-autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels, adapted for TV for Sky Atlantic and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as aristocratic addict, Patrick.Twenty-two years old and in the grip of a massive addiction, Patrick Melrose is forced to fly to New York to collect his father’s ashes. Over the course of a weekend, Patrick’s remorseless search for drugs on the avenues of Manhattan, haunted by old acquaintances and insistent inner voices, sends him into a nightmarish spiral. Alone in his room at the Pierre Hotel, he pushes body and mind to the very edge – desperate always to stay one step ahead of his rapidly encroaching past.Bad News was originally published, along with Never Mind and Some Hope, as part of a three book omnibus also called Some Hope.
The Bad Room
by Jade KellyAfter years of physical and mental abuse, Jade thought her kindly foster mother would be the answer to her prayers. She was wrong … this is her staggering true story.
Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music
by Tim FalconerIn the tradition of Daniel Levitin’s This Is Your Brain on Music and Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia, Bad Singer follows the delightful journey of Tim Falconer as he tries to overcome tone deafness — and along the way discovers what we’re really hearing when we listen to music.Tim Falconer, a self-confessed “bad singer,” always wanted to make music, but soon after he starts singing lessons, he discovers that he’s part of only 2.5 percent of the population afflicted with amusia — in other words, he is scientifically tone-deaf. Bad Singer chronicles his quest to understand human evolution and music, the brain science behind tone-deafness, his search for ways to retrain the adult brain, and his investigation into what we really hear when we listen to music. In an effort to learn more about his brain disorder, he goes to a series of labs where the scientists who test him are as fascinated with him as he is with them. He also sets out to understand why we love music and deconstructs what we really hear when we listen to it. And he unlocks the secret that helps explain why music has such emotional power over us.
Bad Things in the Night
by Beth EllisA young girl at the mercy of her abusive stepfather and the religious community that protects him - Bad Things in the Night is a moving true story of pain and triumph.As a child Beth was imprisoned within a Jehovah's Witness family, kept away from her mother, forbidden from wearing a school skirt above her knees by day, abused by her stepfather at night. Years later, when she summons the courage to report her stepfather to the police for the first time, she is forced to relieve her childhood torment.Will Beth's fight for justice be worth the suffering reawakened?
Badiou Reframed: Interpreting Key Thinkers for the Arts
by Alex LingHe has been regarded with suspicion by some, as an anti-postmodernist who dared to write about unfashionable concepts such as truth and meaning. But in recent years, the philosopher Alain Badiou has risen in prominence, pioneering new ways to produce, conceptualise and discover art. Badiou Reframed is an original book about an original thinker which applies - for the first time - Badiou's philosophy to the visual arts. The six central concepts of this philosophy - 'being and appearing', 'event and subject' and 'truth and ethics' - are elucidated through detailed analysis of a range of visual artworks, including Marcel Duchamp's readymades, the abstract paintings of Kazimir Malevich and Mark Rothko, Banksy's contemporary street art, the sculpture of Alberto Giacometti, Stephane Mallarme's visual poetry and Victor Fleming's classic film The Wizard of Oz. In focusing on Badiou's critical relationship with the visual arts, Alex Ling reinterprets and represents not only the man, but art itself.
The Badness of King George
by Judith SummersJudith Summers' life is about to change dramatically.Her five-year relationship with her on-off boyfriend has finally ended. Her son, Joshua, is off to university, and for the first time since her husband died she's living alone. Well, not entirely alone. She still has George, her King Charles Spaniel. Judith knows she needs a new challenge. But how free can she ever be with George in tow? He is, of course, immensely lovely. But he's also spoilt, lazy, and prone to flouncing around the house like a fluffed-up diva.But then, during a chance encounter , Judith finds out about Many Tears, a dog rescue centre. Before she knows it, she has joined a nationwide network of canine foster carers. Far from having Judith all to himself, George suddenly finds he has to share his owner with lots of other less fortunate dogs. And he's finding adjusting to this new way of life a bit of a challenge...
A Bag of Marbles: The Graphic Novel
by Joseph JoffoWhen Joseph Joffo was ten years old, his father gave him and his brother fifty francs and instructions to flee Nazi-occupied Paris and, somehow, get to the south where France was free. Previously out of print, this book is a captivating and memorable story; readers will instinctively find themselves rooting for these children caught in the whirlwind of World War II.
Bageye at the Wheel: A 1970s Childhood in Suburbia
by Colin GrantTo his fellow West Indians who assemble every weekend for the all-night poker game at Mrs Knight's, he is always known as Bageye. There aren't very many black men in Luton in 1972 and most of them gather at Mrs Knight's - Summer Wear, Pioneer, Anxious, Tidy Boots - each has his nickname. Bageye already finds it a struggle to feed his family on his wage from Vauxhall Motors, but now his wife Blossom has set her heart on her sons going to private school and she will not settle for anything less.This is the story of a feckless father seen through the eyes of his ten-year-old son. It’s a wry and gently comedy about unfulfilling day jobs and late night poker games, of illegal mini-cabs and small-scale drug-dealing. And it is also about a family struggling to belong and a vivid tale of growing up in a vanished world of 1970s suburbia.
Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life
by Alan CummingBaggage is the story of Alan Cumming’s life in Hollywood, taking us through the highs and lows of his career, from his struggle with mental health and failed relationships to encounters with legends (Liza! X Men! Gore Vidal! Kubrick! Spice Girls!). Cumming shows how every experience – each bad decision or moment of sensual joy – has shaped who he is today: a happy, flawed, vulnerable, fearless middle-aged man, with a lot of baggage. Startlingly honest, both poignant and joyous, Baggage shines a light on how to embrace the complicated messiness of life.
Baggage: My Childhood (ebook)
by Janet Street-PorterBrilliant, brave, controversial, combative, intellectual - just how do you become Janet Street-Porter? In this mesmerising account of growing up in post-war London there is poignancy, mystery - and a trademark black humour. BAGGAGE will touch readers at many levels; it is as edgy and fearless as Janet Street-Porter herself.
Baggage of Empire: Reporting politi and industry in the shadow of imperial decline
by Martin AdeneyBorn just as the British Empire was taking its last breaths, Martin Adeney was part of the 'twilight generation' caught between the imperial and postimperial ages, forced to navigate the insecurities - political, economic and cultural - faced by the British as we struggled to understand and adapt to our diminished place in the world order.A compelling blend of memoir and narrative history, Baggage of Empire leads us through the crumbling ruins of great industries and imperial trade cities; from the retreat of the northern newspaper empires to an almost exclusively southern, metropolitan viewpoint; through the tumultuous dominance and decline of the trade unions; to the rise of Thatcherism and big business.From the unique vantage point his career as a journalist has given him, particularly as industrial editor of BBC TV, Adeney notes that many of the issues that preoccupied us in the late '60s and early '70s - including immigration, housing, education, industry and communications - remain the daily currency of our political discourse. Despite all of our material prosperity and cultural self-confidence, we are all burdened, in one way or another, by the baggage of empire.
Baghdad Diaries
by Nuha al-RadiDuring the Gulf War in 1991, through long nights of relentless bombing and the disappearance of all amenities, Iraqi artist Nuha al-Radi began keeping a diary from her Baghdad home. She captures scenes of surreal intensity as birds fly upside down, citizens feast royally on food about to spoil and randy dogs receive fan letters thanks to CNN. The diaries continue throughout the ensuing bleak years under sanctions, depicting the difficulties of day-to-day survival but also the funny and macabre goings-on about town. Her entries continue into exile and end in November 2002. 'I searched for recent books about Iraq that described it as a real country. I found only one, the excellent Baghdad Diaries' Edward Said 'Those who wish to see what the experience of bombardment and sanctions are like should look here.' Guardian 'Something of what sanctions mean for ordinary Iraqis ... Records the daily struggle for survival.' Times Literary Supplement 'I read Baghdad Diaries at a gulp and was left feeling very humble. I hope many people will read this book and note the futility of war.' Mary Wesley
The Baker's Daughter: Timeless Recipes From Four Generations of Bakers
by Louise JohncoxLouise Johncox comes from a long line of bakers and confectioners. As a child she would sit on a flour tin at her father's side and eat whatever was fresh from the oven - a hot bread roll or a fluffy piece of sponge - and when her father, a master baker, retired, Louise decided it was time to capture his wisdom and baking expertise, writing down his recipes for the first time and preserving his magical legacy for her children.With a Foreword by Albert Roux, The Baker's Daughter weaves Louise's delightful childhood memories of life in her family tea shop with her father's delicious recipes for you to try at home, honed by over forty years of instinct and experience. From classic cream cakes and traditional buns, to celebration cakes, handcrafted chocolates and her father's signature cream meringues, these recipes come laden with the sights, smells and warmth of the tea room and bakehouse.Louise shares more stories about her family teashop in her ebook memoir A Life Shaped By Cakes: The Memoir of The Baker's Daughter.'An affectionate memoir that will both entertain with stories from a bygone world of tea and cakes and inspire people to bake' Albert Roux, OBE, KFO
Balance: A Story of Faith, Family, and Life on the Line
by Nik WallendaNik Wallenda, "King of the High Wire," doesn't know fear. As a seventh generation of the legendary Wallenda family, he grew up performing, entertaining, and pushing the boundaries of gravity and balance. When Nik was four years old, he watched a video from 1978 of his great grandfather, Karl Wallenda, walking between the towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in Puerto Rico, stumbling, and falling to his death because of improper rigging. When Nik heard his father quote his great-grandfather-"Life is on the wire, everything else is just waiting"-the words resonated deep within his soul and he vowed to be a hero like Karl Wallenda. Balance is the theme of Nik's life: between his work and family, his faith in God and artistry, his body and soul. It resonates from him when performing and when no one is looking. When walking across Niagara Falls, he prayed aloud the entire time, and to keep his lust for glory and fame in check, Nik returned to the site of his performance the next day and spent three hours cleaning up trash left by the crowd. Nik Wallenda is an entertainer who wants to not only thrill hearts, but to change hearts for Christ. Christ is the balance pole that keeps him from falling.Nik Wallenda is an entertainer who wants to not only thrill hearts, but to change hearts for Christ. Christ is the balance pole that keeps him from falling.
Balancing Acts: Behind the Scenes at the National Theatre
by Nicholas HytnerThe Sunday Times BestsellerThis is the inside story of twelve years at the helm of Britain’s greatest theatre.It is a story of lunatic failures and spectacular successes such as The History Boys, War Horse and One Man, Two Guvnors; of opening the doors of the National Theatre to a broader audience than ever before, and changing the public’s perception of what theatre is for. It is about probing Shakespeare from every angle and reinventing the classics. About fostering new talent and directing some of the most celebrated actors of our times. Its cast includes the likes of Alan Bennett, Maggie Smith, Mike Leigh, Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren. Intimate, candid and insightful, Balancing Acts is a passionate exploration of the art and alchemy of making theatre.
Baldwin
by Roy JenkinsFirst published in 1984, this is the first biography of Stanley Baldwin for more than ten years, although there had been four in the preceding decade. This is strange, for Baldwin has recently begun to swim back into fashion. In part this is a function of growing nostalgia for his period of power, the 1920s and 1930s. Still more, however, it is " because Mrs Thatcher's brand of Conservative leadership has made him an object of contrasting interest in a way that Harold Macmillan's or Edward Heath's never did. When a new exponent of an alternative style temporarily achieves notice, it is now frequently suggested that he might be a new Baldwin. This reappraisal is therefore appropriately timed. It is written by a skilled political biographer, from a non-Conservative, although not personally unsympathetic, standpoint.Baldwin was born in 1867, the son of a rich Worcestershire ironmaster, and educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He then worked in the family business for twenty years. Although the most self-conscious countryman amongst British Prime Ministers of the past hundred years or more, he was not a country squire and never owned more than a few acres of land. He did not enter the House of Commons until he was forty, and was not even a junior minister until the threshold of fifty. Less than six years later, in 1923, he became Prime Minister and dominated British politics for the next fifteen years - the only man of this century to hold the highest office three times.
Ballad and the Plough: A Portrait of the Life of the Old Scottish Farmtouns
by David Kerr CameronThe era of the great farms of Scotland is over now. They flourished for nearly eighty years from the mid 19th century, and those years are renowned for the strength of their characters and the legendary status of their stories. Probably the finest and richest aspect of bothy life was the ballad. Often sentimental, sometimes simplistic, they nevertheless give unrivalled detail about a vanished way of life and work. Quoting generously from the ballads, David Kerr Cameron has written a book rich in anecdote and insight. The working day was hard and long, and mealtimes consisted mainly of porridge and potatoes. Yet laughter and generosity of spirit were commonplace. For these communities, horses were as important as people, and tens of thousands of noble Clydesdales helped to cultivate the land. Ploughmen, dairymaids, bailiffs and shepherds all appear in the pages of this unique testament to the Scottish countryside. Together with Willie Gavin, Crofter Man and The Cornkister Days, this volume forms a remarkable trilogy on life in rural Scotland.
The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth: A Life
by Frances WilsonThe prize-winning biography of Wordsworth's beloved sister, champion, muse who was at the heart of the Romantic movement in Britain - reissued to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Dorothy's birth.'Genius ... Its own kind of heaven.' New York Times 'A most beautiful, deep, and humble study of incredibly complex people.' Oliver Sacks Dorothy Wordsworth is an enigma. William's beloved sister was his muse, champion, and most valued reader. She is mythologised as a self-effacing spinster and saintly amanuensis, yet Thomas De Quincey described her as 'all fire and ardour'. Dorothy sacrificed a traditional life to share in her brother's world of words. In her Grasmere Journals, she vividly recorded their intimate life together in the Lake District, marked by a startling freedom from social convention. The tale that unfolds in her brief, electric entries reveals an intense bond between siblings, culminating in Dorothy's collapse on William's wedding day - after which the woman who once strode the hills in all weathers retreated inside the house for the last three decades of her life.In her magisterial biography, Frances Wilson uses the compressed emotion of Dorothy's journals to evoke the rich interior world of a woman determined to live on her own terms - one who deserves her own place in the history of the Romantic movement. 'Intelligent and intriguing ... A portrait of a peculiar, passionate, yet meticulous woman which is hauntingly strange.' Sunday Telegraph'Passion is the keynote of Wilson's fine biography ... Brims with the personality of [an] extraordinary woman ... Thrilling.' Sunday Times'This beautiful, wise biography draws Dorothy from her hiding places. She emerges as a passionate figure.'Daily Telegraph'Gripping ... Bold, witty, scholarly and speculative.' Margaret Drabble