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The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq
by Emma SkySHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2016SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2015Emma Sky was working for the British Council during the invasion of Iraq, when the ad went around calling for volunteers. Appalled at what she saw as a wrongful war, she signed up, expecting to be gone for months. Instead, her time in Iraq spanned a decade, and became a personal odyssey so unlikely that it could be a work of fiction. Quickly made civilian representative of the CPA in Kirkuk, and then political advisor to General Odierno, Sky became valued for her outspoken voice and the unique perspective she offered as an outsider. In her intimate, clear-eyed memoir of her time in Iraq, a young British woman among the men of the US military, Emma Sky provides a vivid portrait of this most controversial of interventions, exploring how and why the Iraq project failed.
Guantánamo Diary: The Fully Restored Text (Canons #73)
by Mohamedou Ould SlahiNow a major motion picture called The Mauritanian 'A vision of hell, beyond Orwell, beyond Kafka' JOHN LE CARRÉ The first and only diary written by a Guantánamo detainee during his imprisonment, now with previous censored material restored. Mohamedou Ould Slahi was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay in 2002. There he suffered the worst of what the prison had to offer, including months of sensory deprivation, torture and sexual assault. In October 2016 he was released without charge. This is his extraordinary story.
Little Weirds
by Jenny Slate'Magical' - Mindy Kaling'Delicious' - Amy Sedaris'Funny and poignant and beautiful' - John Mulaney'It made me remember I was alive' - George SaundersTo see the world through Jenny Slate's eyes is to see it as though for the first time, shimmering with strangeness and possibility. As she will remind you, we live on an ancient ball that rotates around a bigger ball made up of lights and gases that are science gases, not farts (don't be immature). Heartbreak, confusion and misogyny stalk this blue-green sphere, yes, but it is also a place of wild delight and unconstrained vitality, a place where we can start living as soon as we are born, and we can be born at any time. In her dazzling, impossible-to-categorize debut, Jenny channels the pain and beauty of life in writing so fresh, so new and so burstingly alive, we catch her vision like a fever and bring it back out into the bright day with us, and everything has changed.
Wolf Boys: Two American Teenagers and Mexico's Most Dangerous Drug Cartel
by Dan SlaterA chilling true story of two American teens recruited as killers for a Mexican cartel, and their pursuit by an increasingly disillusioned detective.At first glance, Gabriel Cardona is an exemplary American teenager: athletic, bright, handsome and charismatic. But his Texas town is poor and dangerous, and it isn't long before Gabriel abandons his promising future for the allure of the Zetas, a drug cartel with roots in the Mexican military. Meanwhile, Mexican-born Detective Robert Garcia has worked hard all his life and is now struggling to raise his family in America. As violence spills over the border, Detective Garcia's pursuit of the Zetas puts him face to face with the urgent consequences of a war he sees as unwinnable.In Wolf Boys, Dan Slater takes readers on a harrowing, moving, and often brutal journey into the heart of the Mexican drug trade - from the Sierra Madre mountaintops to the smuggling ports of Veracruz, from cartel training camps and holiday parties to the dusty alleys of South Texas. Ultimately though, Wolf Boys is the intimate and vivid story of the 'lobos': teens turned into pawns for cartels. A non-fiction thriller, it reads with the emotional clarity of a great novel, yet offers its revelations through extraordinary reporting.
Toast: The Story Of A Boy's Hunger (Stranger Thane Ser.)
by Nigel SlaterNow a critically-acclaimed play at London’s The Other Palace Theatre. ‘Remarkable' Observer 'Acutely observed, poignant and beautifully written' Daily Telegraph
The Great Charles Dickens Scandal
by Professor Michael SlaterCharles Dickens was regarded as the great proponent of hearth and home in Victorian Britain, but in 1858 this image was nearly shattered. With the breakup of his marriage that year, rumors of a scandalous relationship he may have conducted with the young actress Ellen "Nelly" Ternan flourished. For the remaining twelve years of his life, Dickens managed to contain the gossip. After his death, surviving family members did the same. But when the author's last living son died in 1934, there was no one to discourage rampant speculation. Dramatic revelations came from every corner—over Nelly's role as Dickens's mistress, their clandestine meetings, and even about his possibly fathering an illegitimate child by her.This book presents the most complete account of the scandal and ensuing cover-up ever published. Drawing on the author's letters and other archival sources not previously available, Dickens scholar Michael Slater investigates what Dickens did or may have done, then traces the way the scandal was elaborated over succeeding generations. Slater shows how various writers concocted outlandish yet plausible theories while newspapers and book publishers vied for sensational revelations. With its tale of intrigue and a cast of well-known figures from Thackeray and Shaw to Orwell and Edmund Wilson, this engaging book will delight not only Dickens fans but also readers who appreciate tales of mystery, cover-up, and clever detection.
Whispering Hope - Marie's Story: The True Story of the Magdalene Women
by Marie Slattery Steven O'Riordan"At the conclusion of my discussions with one group of the Magdalene Women one of those present sang 'Whispering Hope'. A line from that song stays in my mind - 'when the dark midnight is over, watch for the breaking of day'.Let me hope that this day and this debate heralds a new dawn for all those who feared that the dark midnight might never end."- Taoiseach Enda Kenny's State apology to the Magdalene women. On 19 February 2013 the Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised to the women who had been incarcerated in Ireland's Magdalene laundries. And, in the audience, listening patiently for the words she'd been fighting to hear was Marie Slattery.For Marie was only 12 years old when she was confined at the Good Shepherd laundry in Sundays Well in Cork in 1972. From there she was sent to The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity in Dublin. The harrowing physical and psychological abuse she endured in the institutions, run on behalf of the State, led to a lifetime of shame and secrecy.Now, in WHISPERING HOPE, Marie tells her story for the first time. Her fight for justice and forged friendships with other survivors has enabled her to move forward and have her voice heard in this immensely powerful narrative that shines a light on a dark chapter in Ireland's history.Inspirational and moving, this is the story of a remarkable woman brave enough to confront her past and strong enough to not let it define her.
Whispering Hope: The True Story of the Magdalene Women
by Marie Slattery Steven O'Riordan Diane Croghan Nancy Costello Kathleen Legg Marina Gambold Sue Leonard"At the conclusion of my discussions with one group of the Magdalene Women one of those present sang 'Whispering Hope'. A line from that song stays in my mind - 'when the dark midnight is over, watch for the breaking of day'.Let me hope that this day and this debate heralds a new dawn for all those who feared that the dark midnight might never end."Taoiseach Enda Kenny's State apology to the Magdalene women.On 19 February 2013 the Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologized to the women who had been incarcerated in Ireland's Magdalene laundries. In the audience sat Steven O'Riordan, a documentary filmmaker and founder of the charity Magdalene Survivors Together. And by his side, waiting patiently for the words they'd been fighting to hear, were some of the women he had helped.For Nancy, Kathleen, Diane, Marie and Marina were confined in Magdalene laundries throughout Ireland during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The harrowing physical and psychological abuse they endured in the institutions, run on behalf of the State, led to a lifetime of shame and secrecy.Now, in WHISPERING HOPE, these women tell their stories for the first time. Their fight for justice and forged friendships has enabled them to move forward and have their voices heard, their individual accounts weaving together in an immensely powerful narrative that shines a light on a dark chapter in Ireland's history.Inspirational and moving, this is the story of five women brave enough to confront their past and strong enough to not let it define them.
Before The Knife: Memories Of An African Childhood
by Carolyn SlaughterCarolyn Slaughter is the author of ten critically acclaimed novels, but for the last twelve years she has been completely silent. She had become conscious that there was something hidden in her past that had always haunted her fiction but which she had never fully faced. This powerful memoir is the result of confronting the truth about her traumatic childhood.Carolyn's father was in the colonial service, but he lacked power and was ashamed of his Irish origins. In private, he was capable of acts of absolute sadism. When Carolyn was small, they lived comfortably in Swaziland having left India during the Partition. But when she turned six, things changed. Her mother gave birth to another daughter and they were posted to a remote area in the Kalahari desert. Bereft of a civilized social life, her mother plunged into a deep depression and turned completely away from Carolyn. While her older sister found friends and left for boarding school, Carolyn suffered a desperate sense of abandonment and loss and turned to the landscape of the Kalahari itself for solace. The stark fact that Carolyn was first raped by her father at the age of six is contained within the prologue and epilogue of this book. What lies in between is the story of an extraordinary childhood in Africa and a moving depiction of the complexities at the root of our relationships with mother, father, siblings. Despite its sometimes harrowing contents, it is a work of great, dangerous beauty.
Circulation and Control: Artistic Culture and Intellectual Property in the Nineteenth Century
by Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire And Will SlauterThe nineteenth century witnessed a series of revolutions in the production and circulation of images. From lithographs and engraved reproductions of paintings to daguerreotypes, stereoscopic views, and mass-produced sculptures, works of visual art became available in a wider range of media than ever before. But the circulation and reproduction of artworks also raised new questions about the legal rights of painters, sculptors, engravers, photographers, architects, collectors, publishers, and subjects of representation (such as sitters in paintings or photographs). Copyright and patent laws tussled with informal cultural norms and business strategies as individuals and groups attempted to exert some degree of control over these visual creations. With contributions by art historians, legal scholars, historians of publishing, and specialists of painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic arts, this rich collection of essays explores the relationship between intellectual property laws and the cultural, economic, and technological factors that transformed the pictorial landscape during the nineteenth century. This book will be valuable reading for historians of art and visual culture; legal scholars who work on the history of copyright and patent law; and literary scholars and historians who work in the field of book history. It will also resonate with anyone interested in current debates about the circulation and control of images in our digital age.
With the Old Breed: The World War Two Pacific Classic
by Eugene B SledgeThe inspiration behind the HBO series THE PACIFICThis was a brutish, primitive hatred, as characteristic of the horror of war in the Pacific as the palm trees and the islands...Landing on the beach at Peleliu in 1944 as a twenty-year-old new recruit to the US Marines, Eugene Sledge can only try desperately to survive. At Peleliu and Okinawa - two of the fiercest and filthiest Pacific battles of WWII - he witnesses the dehumanising brutality displayed by both sides and the animal hatred that each soldier has for his enemy.During temporary lapses in the fighting, conditions on the islands mean that the Marines often can't wash, stay dry, dig latrines, or even find time to eat. Suffering from constant fear, fatigue, and filth, the struggle of simply living in a combat zone is utterly debilitating.Yet despite horrendous conditions Sledge finds time to keep notes that he would later turn into a book. Described as one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war, With the Old Breed tells with compassion and honesty of the cruelty, bravery and deaths of the men he fought alongside, and of his own journey from patriotic innocence to battle-scarred veteran.'Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir, With The Old Breed. He became a chronicler, a historian, a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacific - the terror, the camaraderie, the banal and the extraordinary - into terms we mortals can grasp' Tom Hanks
A Funny Old Life: An Anecdotal Romp Through the Sailing Career of Des Sleightholme
by Des SleightholmeDes Sleightholme, former Editor of Yachting Monthly" for many years, is well known for his irreverent outlook on the Establishment and for his unfailing eye for the funny side of things; here he takes on a hilarious anecdotal romp through his sailing life.From childhood efforts to get afloat at all costs - "if it floats stand on it" - to the tribulations of running a charter boat, the wandering narrative moves from the high drama of a force ten dismasting to the farce of a shattered toilet bowl. The author has a connoisseur's eye for a cock-up."
Somebody to Love?: A Rock-and-Roll Memoir
by Grace Slick Andrea CaganA candid autobiography of the great rock diva of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, revealing her wild life at the forefront of the Sixties and Seventies counterculture.She has been called rock and roll's original female outlaw, as famous for her bad behavior as for her haunting singing voice. In her 25-year career as a musician, Grace Slick charted dozens of hits and sold millions of albums. From "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" to "Sarah" and "Miracles", the songs she performed became the anthems of a generation.Whether describing her antics at the White House with Abbie Hoffman or the unforgettable experience that was Woodstock, Slick's recollections have the same rich imagery found in her lyrics. In this provocative narrative, readers will discover the many sides of Grace Slick: as artistic pioneer; she records songs with Jerry Garcia and David Crosby; as practitioner of freedom and rebellion; she sleeps with Jim Morrison and gets arrested for DUI on three separate occasions (without actually being in a car); and as a loving mother to actress China Kantner, she tries to balance casual friendship with parental wisdom.Slick offers a revealing self-portrait of the complex woman behind the rock-outlaw image, and delivers a behind-the-scenes, no-holds-barred view of the people and spirit that defined a quarter-century of American pop culture. Wildly funny, candid, and evocative, Somebody to Love?tells what it was really like during, and after, the Summer of Love-and how one remarkable woman survived it all to remain today as vibrant and rebellious as ever.
Get Me the Urgent Biscuits: An Assistant’s Adventures in Theatreland
by Sweetpea Slight'A sparkling memoir ... A delight from start to finish' NINA STIBBE 'Anyone who loves the theatre will love this book' ZOË WANAMAKER In 1980s London, Sweetpea Slight is en route to drama school when she is snapped up to work as an assistant to the maverick theatre producer Thelma Holt. Full of wit, charm and backstage intrigue, her irresistible memoir of the resulting twenty years is at once the poignant story of a young woman coming of age, and an exhilarating journey down the rabbit hole into the enchanting world of theatre.
Pimp: The Story Of My Life (Canons Ser.)
by Iceberg SlimIn this astonishing account, Iceberg Slim reveals the secret inner world of the pimp, and the smells, sounds, fears and petty triumphs of his world. A legendary figure of the Chicago underworld, this is his story: from defending his mother against the men in their lives to becoming a giant of the streets. A seething tale of brutality, cunning and greed, Pimp is a harrowing portrait of life on the wrong side of the tracks, and a rich warning from a true survivor.
Defeat Into Victory: (Pan Military Classics Series) (The\great Commanders Ser.)
by William SlimField Marshal William Slim stands alongside Montgomery as the outstanding British field commander of World War II. Defeat Into Victory is his classic account of the Burma campaign: a story of retreat, attrition and final hard-fought victory over the Japanese. Told by a commander always at the centre of events, this is a narrative which captures both the high drama and the harsh reality of war.
The Scent of Flowers at Night: a stunning new work of non-fiction from the bestselling author of Lullaby
by Leïla Slimani'Night is the land of reinvention, whispered prayers, erotic passions. Night is the place where utopias have the scent of the possible, where we no longer feel constrained by petty reality. Night is the country of dreams where we discover that, in the secrecy of our heart, we are host to a multitude of voices and an infinity of worlds...'Over one night, alone in the Punta della Dogana Museum in Venice, Leïla Slimani grapples with the self as it is revealed in solitude. In a place of old and new, she confronts her past and her present, through her life as a Moroccan woman, as a writer, and as a daughter. Surrounded by art, she explores what it means to behold and clasp beauty; enveloped by night, she confronts the meaning of life and death.Translated from the French by Sam Taylor
Andrew Lang: Writer, Folklorist, Democratic Intellect
by Dr John SloanIn a remarkable literary career, Andrew Lang challenged the increasing specialism that accompanied the advance of modernity and science in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, authoring an extraordinary body of rigorous, scholarly works in the fields of social anthropology, folklore, Homeric studies, history, and religion, while simultaneously turning out novels, poems for periodicals, and inexhaustible columns of prose journalism to make money. He was widely regarded as one of the most influential men of letters and reviewers of his day. He was a founding member and later President of the Folklore Society, and, with his wife, helped transform the taste in children's literature with their anthologized fairy stories for young people. G. K. Chesterton, paying tribute on Lang's death in 1912 to the scale and diversity of his legacy to the humanities, compared him to a 'kind of Indian god with a hundred hands'. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished correspondence and new sources of information, this first full biography of Lang documents in compelling detail his double existence as a scholar and journalist, the intellectual impact of his cross-disciplinary approach to learning and writing, and the critical controversies he courted as a writer and thinker to advance knowledge in the human sciences. The book also throws new light on Lang's personal life: on the uncomfortable legacy of his grandfather, whose notorious part in the Sutherland Clearances earlier in the century left its mark on the family; on the enduring influence on him of his early Scottish education and its generalist traditions of learning; and on his friendships with fellow writers, among them Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, Rider Haggard, Edmund Gosse, Rhoda Broughton, and William Henley. The result is a fascinating portrait of a man who lived one of the most productive lives in literature, sought to make knowledge available to everyone, and bridged, as no other, the university and the literary world, the proverbial 'Grub Street and the ivory tower'.
Andrew Lang: Writer, Folklorist, Democratic Intellect
by Dr John SloanIn a remarkable literary career, Andrew Lang challenged the increasing specialism that accompanied the advance of modernity and science in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, authoring an extraordinary body of rigorous, scholarly works in the fields of social anthropology, folklore, Homeric studies, history, and religion, while simultaneously turning out novels, poems for periodicals, and inexhaustible columns of prose journalism to make money. He was widely regarded as one of the most influential men of letters and reviewers of his day. He was a founding member and later President of the Folklore Society, and, with his wife, helped transform the taste in children's literature with their anthologized fairy stories for young people. G. K. Chesterton, paying tribute on Lang's death in 1912 to the scale and diversity of his legacy to the humanities, compared him to a 'kind of Indian god with a hundred hands'. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished correspondence and new sources of information, this first full biography of Lang documents in compelling detail his double existence as a scholar and journalist, the intellectual impact of his cross-disciplinary approach to learning and writing, and the critical controversies he courted as a writer and thinker to advance knowledge in the human sciences. The book also throws new light on Lang's personal life: on the uncomfortable legacy of his grandfather, whose notorious part in the Sutherland Clearances earlier in the century left its mark on the family; on the enduring influence on him of his early Scottish education and its generalist traditions of learning; and on his friendships with fellow writers, among them Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, Rider Haggard, Edmund Gosse, Rhoda Broughton, and William Henley. The result is a fascinating portrait of a man who lived one of the most productive lives in literature, sought to make knowledge available to everyone, and bridged, as no other, the university and the literary world, the proverbial 'Grub Street and the ivory tower'.
Sailing Alone Around the World
by Joshua SlocumJoshua Slocum's epic solo voyage around the world in 1895 in the 37 foot sloop Spray stands as one of the greatest sea adventures of all time. It remains one of the major feats of singlehanded voyaging, and has since been the inspiration for the many who have gone to sea in small boats. Starting from Boston in 1895, by the time he dropped anchor in Newport, Rhode Island over three years after his journey began, he had cruised some 46,000 miles entirely by sail and entirely alone. Slocum's account of his epic voyage is a classic of sailing literature, acclaimed as an unequalled masterpiece of vital yet disciplined prose. It will be welcomed by admirers of his legendary achievement. 'It is a timeless work that can be read again and again, and a story that totally absorbs the reader with it's enormity and honest endeavour' RNSA Journal'Slocum's prose is a model of its kind: honest, vivid, salty, and at times, lyrical' Traditional Boats and Tall Ships'One of the all-time classic sailing narratives' Classic Boat
Voyage of the Liberdade
by Joshua SlocumIn 1890, the author became the first person to circumnavigate the globe alone. This is the account of one of his lesser-known but no less remarkable sea journeys. From the Publisher: Great 19th-century mariner's thrilling, account of the wreck of his ship off the coast of South America, the 35-foot brave little craft he built from the wreckage, and its remarkable, danger-fraught voyage home. A 19th-century maritime classic brimming with courage, ingenuity, and daring. Easy-to-read and fast-paced.
Iron Ambition: Lessons I've Learned from the Man Who Made Me a Champion
by Larry Sloman Mike TysonThe story of the relationship between the most devastating heavyweight boxer in history and the mentor who made him.When legendary boxing trainer Cus D'Amato saw thirteen-year-old Mike Tyson spar in the ring, he proclaimed 'That's the heavyweight champion of the world'. D'Amato played a huge role in Tyson's formative years, legally adopting him at age sixteen, and shaping him both physically and mentally after years of living in poverty. He would train the young boxer for several years, dying just months before Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history.In Iron Ambition, Tyson shares the life lessons that D'Amato passed down to him and reflects on how the trainer's words of wisdom continue to resonate with him outside the ring. The book also chronicles Cus's courageous fight against the mobsters who controlled boxing, revealing more than we've ever know about this singular cultural figure.
Social Stratification in Poland: Eight Empirical Studies (Routledge Revivals)
by Kazimierz M. Slomczynski Tadeusz K. KrauzeThe American press and American television news have been filled with stories from Gdansk, Warsaw, Krakow, Lódz, and other Polish cities and towns. The names of a number of Polish leaders have become almost as familiar to Americans as the names of their own leaders, and the word " Solidarity" has acquired an important new meaning for Americans as well as Poles. The editor's identify that this interest of the American public has not been matched by corresponding interest from American sociologists, stating that Polish society is seldom mentioned either in major scholarly journals or in the textbooks written for students. This collection of studies seeks to address some of this issue, looking at works and the systems in Poland since 1956.
Social Stratification in Poland: Eight Empirical Studies (Routledge Revivals)
by Kazimierz M. Slomczynski Tadeusz K. KrauzeThe American press and American television news have been filled with stories from Gdansk, Warsaw, Krakow, Lódz, and other Polish cities and towns. The names of a number of Polish leaders have become almost as familiar to Americans as the names of their own leaders, and the word " Solidarity" has acquired an important new meaning for Americans as well as Poles. The editor's identify that this interest of the American public has not been matched by corresponding interest from American sociologists, stating that Polish society is seldom mentioned either in major scholarly journals or in the textbooks written for students. This collection of studies seeks to address some of this issue, looking at works and the systems in Poland since 1956.