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Secrets Under the Sun
by Nadia MarksSecrets Under the Sun is a stunning romantic mystery by the sea, from Nadia Marks, author of the bestselling Among the Lemon Trees.The truth will surprise you . . .On the island of Cyprus, in the small seaside town of Larnaka, three childhood friends have reunited for the funeral of Katerina, the much-loved old woman who had a profound effect on their lives.Eleni, Marianna and Adonis grew up together, as close as siblings. Although from humble beginnings – a housemaid from the age of thirteen – Katerina’s love, wisdom and guidance helped shape them all.Her loss leaves the friends bereft, but the funeral is not just a time to mourn and remember. Adonis’s mother decides that with Katerina’s death comes the time to share the family’s secrets and answer the riddles of their childhood. A story of deception, forbidden love and undying loyalty unravels. What she reveals will change everything . . .
A Commonwealth of Hope: The New Deal Response to Crisis (The American Moment)
by Alan LawsonDid the New Deal represent the true American way or was it an aberration that would last only until the old order could reassert itself? This original and thoughtful study tells the story of the New Deal, explains its origins, and assesses its legacy. Alan Lawson explores how the circumstances of the Great Depression and the distinctive leadership of Franklin D. Roosevelt combined to bring about unprecedented economic and policy reform. Challenging conventional wisdom, he argues that the New Deal was not an improvised response to an unexpected crisis, but the realization of a unique opportunity to put into practice Roosevelt’s long-developed progressive thought. Lawson focuses on where the impetus and plans for the New Deal originated, how Roosevelt and those closest to him sought to fashion a cooperative commonwealth, and what happened when the impulse for collective unity was thwarted. He describes the impact of the Great Depression on the prevailing system and traces the fortunes of several major social sectors as the drive to create a cohesive plan for reconstruction unfolded. He continues the story of these main sectors through the last half of the 1930s and traces their legacy down to the present as crucial challenges to the New Deal have arisen. Drawing from a wide variety of scholarly texts, records of the Roosevelt administration, Depression-era newspapers and periodicals, and biographies and reflections of the New Dealers, Lawson offers a comprehensive conceptual base for a crucial aspect of American history.
A Dictionary of the Space Age (New Series in NASA History (PDF))
by Paul DicksonThe launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 ushered in an exciting era of scientific and technological advancement. As television news anchors, radio hosts, and journalists reported the happenings of the American and the Soviet space programs to millions of captivated citizens, words that belonged to the worlds of science, aviation, and science fiction suddenly became part of the colloquial language. What’s more, NASA used a litany of acronyms in much of its official correspondence in an effort to transmit as much information in as little time as possible. To translate this peculiar vocabulary, Paul Dickson has compiled the curious lingo and mystifying acronyms of NASA in an accessible dictionary of the names, words, and phrases of the Space Age.Aviators, fighter pilots, and test pilots coined the phrases "spam in a can" (how astronauts felt prelaunch as they sat in a tiny capsule atop a rocket booster); "tickety-boo" (things are fine), and "the Eagle has landed" (Neil Armstrong’s famous quote when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon).This dictionary captures a broader foundation for language of the Space Age based on the historic principles employed by the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster’s New Third International Dictionary. Word histories for major terms are detailed in a conversational tone, and technical terms are deciphered for the interested student and lay reader. This is a must-own reference for space history buffs.
The Death of Kings: A John Madden Mystery (Inspector Madden series #5)
by Rennie AirthFrom the critically acclaimed author, Rennie Airth, comes the fifth John Madden mystery, The Death of Kings.I have reason to believe that the jade pendant accompanying this letter is the same one that disappeared from Miss Portia Blake's body in August 1938 . . . Since the piece could not have been stolen by the man who was hanged for Miss Blake's murder, the question arises: who else could have taken it? And why? 1949. An unsigned letter arrives on the desk of Chief Inspector Derry of the Canterbury police. Enclosed is a jade pendant, identical to the one that went missing from the body of Portia Blake, an actress murdered a decade previously. The case had been shut quickly at the time – the accused vagrant gave a written confession and was sentenced to the gallows - but in the police's haste to close the inquiry, the necklace was never recovered. Until now. Inspector Madden is asked to investigate the letter's worrying claims by his old friend, and former Chief Inspector, Angus Sinclair, who fears the wrong man may have been hanged on his watch. But with a world war separating Madden from the murder, the truth will not come easy . . .
"Sesame Street" and the Reform of Children's Television (PDF)
by Robert W. MorrowBy the late 1960s more than a few critics of American culture groused about the condition of television programming and, in particular, the quality and content of television shows for children. In the eyes of the reform-minded, commercial television crassly exploited young viewers; its violence and tastelessness served no higher purpose than the bottom line. The Children's Television Workshop (CTW)�and its fresh approach to writing and producing programs for kids�emerged from this growing concern. Sesame Street�CTW's flagship, hour-long show�aimed to demonstrate how television could help all preschoolers, including low-income urban children, prepare for first grade. In this engaging study Robert W. Morrow explores the origins and inner workings of CTW, how the workshop in New York scripted and designed Sesame Street, and how the show became both a model for network television as well as a thorn in its side. Through extensive archival research and a systematic study of sample programs from Sesame Street's first ten seasons, Morrow tells the story of Sesame Street's creation; the ideas, techniques, organization, and funding behind it; its place in public discourse; and its ultimate and unfortunate failure as an agent of commercial television reform.
A Chosen Calling: Jews in Science in the Twentieth Century (Medicine, Science, and Religion in Historical Context (PDF))
by Noah J. EfronScholars have struggled for decades to explain why Jews have succeeded extravagantly in modern science. A variety of controversial theories�from such intellects as C. P. Snow, Norbert Wiener, and Nathaniel Weyl�have been promoted. Snow hypothesized an evolved genetic predisposition to scientific success. Wiener suggested that the breeding habits of Jews sustained hereditary qualities conducive for learning. Economist and eugenicist Weyl attributed Jewish intellectual eminence to "seventeen centuries of breeding for scholars."Rejecting the idea that Jews have done well in science because of uniquely Jewish traits, Jewish brains, and Jewish habits of mind, historian of science Noah J. Efron approaches the Jewish affinity for science through the geographic and cultural circumstances of Jews who were compelled to settle in new worlds in the early twentieth century.Seeking relief from religious persecution, millions of Jews resettled in the United States, Palestine, and the Soviet Union, with large concentrations of settlers in New York, Tel Aviv, and Moscow. Science played a large role in the lives and livelihoods of these immigrants: it was a universal force that transcended the arbitrary Old World orders that had long ensured the exclusion of all but a few Jews from the seats of power, wealth, and public esteem. Although the three destinations were far apart geographically, the links among the communities were enduring and spirited. This shared experience�of facing the future in new worlds, both physical and conceptual�provided a generation of Jews with opportunities unlike any their parents and grandparents had known.The tumultuous recent century of Jewish history, which saw both a methodical campaign to blot out Europe's Jews and the inexorable absorption of Western Jews into the societies in which they now live, is illuminated by the place of honor science held in Jewish imaginations. Science was central to their dreams of creating new worlds�welcoming worlds�for a persecuted people.This provocative work will appeal to historians of science as well as scholars of religion, Jewish studies, and Zionism.
A Bloodless Victory: The Battle of New Orleans in History and Memory (Johns Hopkins Books on the War of 1812 (PDF))
by Joseph F. Stoltz IIIOnce celebrated on par with the Fourth of July, January 8thâ€�the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleansâ€�is no longer a day of reverence for most Americans. Although the United States’ stunning 1815 defeat of the British army south of New Orleans gave rise to the presidency of Andrew Jackson, the Democratic Party, and the legend of Jean Laffite, the battle has not been a national holiday since 1861. Joseph F. Stoltz III explores how generations of Americans have consciously revised, reinterpreted, and reexamined the memory of the conflict to fit the cultural and social needs of their time. Combining archival research with deep analyses of music, literature, theater, and film across two centuries of American popular culture, Stoltz highlights the myriad ways in which politicians, artists, academics, and ordinary people have rewritten the battle’s history. While these efforts could be nefariousâ€�or driven by political necessity or racial animusâ€�far more often they were simply part of each generations’ expression of values and world view. From Andrew Jackson’s presidential campaign to the occupation of New Orleans by the Union Army to the Jim Crow era, the continuing reinterpretations of the battle alienated whole segments of the American population from its memorialization. Thus, a close look at the Battle of New Orleans offers an opportunity to explore not just how events are collectively remembered across generations but also how a society discards memorialization efforts it no longer finds necessary or palatable.
Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed A Presidency
by Bill O'ReillyFrom the team of Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard, bestselling authors of the blockbuster Killing series, now comes Killing Reagan. This page-turning epic account of the career of President Ronald Reagan tells the vivid story of his rise to power -- and the forces of evil that conspired to bring him down.Just two months into his presidency, Ronald Reagan lay near death after a gunman's bullet came within inches of his heart. His recovery was nothing short of remarkable -- or so it seemed. But Reagan was grievously injured, forcing him to encounter a challenge that few men ever face. Could he silently overcome his traumatic experience while at the same time carrying out the duties of the most powerful man in the world?Told in the same riveting fashion as Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus and Killing Patton, Killing Reagan reaches back to the golden days of Hollywood, where Reagan found both fame and heartbreak, up through the years in California governor's mansion, and finally to the White House, where he presided over boom years and the fall of the Iron Curtain. But it was John Hinckley Jr.'s attack on him that precipitated President Reagan's most heroic actions. In Killing Reagan, O'Reilly and Dugard take readers behind the scenes, creating an unforgettable portrait of a great man operating in violent times.
Indifferent Heroes (Fairley Family #2)
by Mary HockingIt is 1939, and great changes come running to meet them all, snatching at their innocence and steadfast convictions and tossing them far away. Alice, Ben and Guy travel overseas, serving in the same war but on very different battlegrounds. For those who stay behind, Judith, Louise, Claire and Daphne, the struggle is to preserve the home, to keep things going, no matter what. But the sudden insecurity of the war confuses them. it gives them new strengths and fresh dreams, but leaves them still furiously hunting for a future, hoping that the old familiar beliefs will be patiently waiting for them to catch up again.In the second volume of Mary Hocking's excellent trilogy, England joins the world in its march to war, sweeping along the members of the Fairley household, their relations and friends.
Welcome Strangers (Fairley Family #3)
by Mary HockingAs the 1939-1945 war slows to a clumsy halt, a trembling world holds out its arms to welcome peace back home again. Alice Fairley, her friends and her family are surprised to find themselves so unprepared for peacetime. In a way, it's like starting all over again: all the things one was confident about have disappeared or changed shape somehow, while things which were acceptable, or even pleasant, now seem different, dull, irksome. Noisy whispers of spy-rings and foreign conspiracies provoke shockwaves of malice and stinging intolerance. The world has grown up. Quickly, they discover that the battle is not over yet . . . persistent spectres of duty and guilt pick their victims indiscriminately.
He Who Plays the King
by Mary HockingAs a child of seven, Richard of York, the future King Richard the Third, watched an even younger child coping determinedly with a large boarhound. Never again was Richard to have so clear a view of Henry Tudor, who, twenty-six years later, was to cost him his crown and his life at the Battle of Bosworth Field.Mary Hocking tells a story of kingship and king-making, of the entrenched rivalry between the houses of York and Lancaster, and of the lives of these two young claimants to the throne. Richard, a man of sharp wit and formidable energy, was a vigilant, unrelenting king, with little gift for friendship and only meagre support outside his native North Country. Henry, too, made no bid for popularity. He had learnt early on to expect little of life, and during his years of exile he remained patient, forbearing, yet shrewdly calculating, until the opportunity for action came.The 'integrity' of Henry, the 'villainy' of Richard and the mystery of the Princes in the Tower are reassessed in this absorbing novel, which creates a sense of history through convincing portraits of the men and women who made it. Mary Hocking has written not only a record of the last dramatic years of the Wars of the Roses but also a perceptive study of the trials and triumphs of human ambition.
The Very Dead of Winter
by Mary HockingIn this haunting novel, echoing mystery play and fairy tale, a family is forced to confront the grievances and emotional confusions of their shared past. In the very dead of winter they assemble at a remote country cottage enveloped by snow. Ostensibly they are celebrating Christmas, but festivities are marred by the presence of Konrad, who is dying. Florence, his manipulative wife, views Konrad's imminent death with annoyance; their two grown-up children bear the scars of this imperfect union. At the heart of the novel is Sophia, Florence's unorthodox sister and their host, who seems able to stand aside from family combat, yet guards a secret that has relevance for them all. Here, with characteristic insight and compassion, Mary Hocking unravels different kinds of love and need.
The Meeting Place
by Mary HockingToday I saw the strange woman again. For I am sure this poor ghost is, in fact, a woman. It is true she is dressed as a man, though no man I ever saw dressed in quite this fashion . . .When Clarice Mitchell arrives at an isolated farmhouse to rehearse a production of Pericles, she leaves the well-charted country behind. Entering a world as mysterious as the unregulated, unpredictable moorland, she finds herself in odd company and on the verge of strange discoveries.Who is the middle-aged woman in Victorian costume who watches her. And the wild-haired girl first glimpsed standing in a moorland pool and later on a journey? Why does the shadow of a priory long since gone still fall across the farm where Clarice is staying, and where once her old headmistress used to stay?As the stories of these unusual women interweave across the centuries - disturbing stories of violence and witchcraft, passion and prejudice, during the Wars of the Roses, in stifling Victorian England and in the present day - one woman has to come to terms with the impossible choices of the past.Crafted with all Mary Hocking's characteristic subtlety and skill, The Meeting Place is a spellbinding, moving novel.
The Crystal Bucket: Television Criticism From The Observer, 1976-79 (Picador Bks.)
by Clive JamesThe second instalment in Clive James’s TV criticism collection – The Crystal Bucket - earned him the title ‘Critic of the Year’ by the British Press Awards. Taking its title from Walter Raleigh’s The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage and is dedicated to the poet Peter Porter.
The Wedding Girls
by Kate ThompsonThe Wedding Girls is a heartwarming story of love and friendship in the East End, by Kate Thompson, the bestselling author of Secrets of the Singer Girls.If a wedding marks the first day of the rest of your life, then the story starts with the dress.It's 1936 and the streets of London's East End are grimy and brutal, but in one corner of Bethnal Green it is forever Hollywood . . . Herbie Taylor's photography studio is nestled in the heart of bustling Green Street. Tomboy Stella and troubled Winnie work in Herbie's studio; their best friend and hopeless romantic Kitty works next door as an apprentice dressmaker. All life passes through the studio, wishing to capture that perfect moment in time.Kitty works tirelessly to create magical bridal gowns, but with each stitch she wonders if she'll ever get a chance to wear a white dress. Stella and Winnie sprinkle a dusting of Hollywood glamour over happy newly-weds, but secretly dream of escaping the East End . . .Community is strong on Green Street, but can it stand the ultimate test? As clouds of war brew on the horizon, danger looms over the East End. Will the Wedding Girls find their happy ever afters, before it's too late?
The Allotment Girls
by Kate ThompsonThe Allotment Girls is an inspiring and heartwarming novel of wartime hardship, friendship and fortitude from Kate Thompson, author of the Secrets of the Sewing Bee.During the Second World War, life in the iconic Bryant & May match factory is grimy and tough. Annie, Rose, Pearl and Millie carry on making matches for the British Army, with bombs raining down around them.Inspired by the Dig for Victory campaign, Annie persuades the owners to start Bryant & May allotment in the factory grounds. With plenty of sweat and toil, the girls eventually carve out a corner of the yard into a green plot full of life and colour. In the darkest of times, the girls find their allotment a tranquil, happy escape. Using pierced dustbin lids to sieve through the shrapnel and debris, they bring about a powerful change, not just in the factory, but their own lives. As the war rages on, the garden becomes a place of community, friendship – and deceit. As the garden thrives and grows, so do the girls' secrets . . .
The Spy
by Andrew GrossThe Spy is a thrilling historical espionage story by the internationally bestselling author Andrew Gross.'Overwhelming, immersive, suspenseful' - Lee ChildFEAR It is 1943, and the Nazis’ stranglehold over Europe is starting to loosen. In a corner of Norway, work is underway at a remote mountain factory to alter that course . . . HEROISM Kurt Nordstrum is a courageous fighter who has lost everything. His fiancée. His unit. His cause. When Kurt learns of the Nazis’ atomic research in his homeland, he teams up with a group of patriotic fighters, driven by one goal: to disrupt activity at the heavily guarded factory. HEART Nordstrum must pull off the impossible if his team is to succeed. But in doing so, he must put the safety of one person at risk – the one he sees a life with. How far is he prepared to go, and how much is he willing to sacrifice?The Spy was previously published as The Saboteur.
The Invisible Mile
by David CoventryBased on a true story The Invisible Mile tells the poignant story of five Australian and New Zealand cyclists who in 1928 formed the first English-speaking team to ride in the Tour de France. They were gallant, under-resourced and badly outnumbered but taken deep to the heart by the French nation. The novel describes in a wonderful poetic and visceral voice what it was like to ride in this race (the chaos, danger and rivalries), the extraordinary lengths to which the riders pushed themselves, suffering horrific injuries, riding through the night in pitch dark, and the ways they staved off the pain, through camaraderie, through sexual conquest, through drink, and through drugs (cocaine for energy, opium for pain).Added to the team is the fictional narrator who is cycling towards his demons in a northern France still scarred by the First World War. His brother was a fighter pilot damaged by his experiences in France, his sister has died, and this self-imposed test of endurance is slowly and painfully bringing him to his final, invisible mile where memory eventually comes to collide with the past
Skullsworn (Chronicle Of The Unhewn Throne Ser. #4)
by Brian StaveleyFor one apprentice assassin, the clock is ticking . . .Pyrre Lakatur doesn’t like the description skullsworn. It doesn’t capture the beauty of her devotion to Ananshael, God of Death. And she’s not an assassin, but a priestess. Or she will be, if she can pass her final trial. The problem isn’t killing, as Pyrre has spent her life training for this. The problem is love. To pass the trial, she will have fourteen days to kill seven people detailed in an ancient song, including one true love, ‘who will not come again’. However, Pyrre has never been in love, time is short, and if she fails she’ll be given to her god. Pyrre’s not afraid to die, but she hates to fail. So a month before the trial begins, she returns to the violent city of her birth, where she once offered an abusive father to the god. Here Pyrre hopes to find love – and end it with the edge of her knife.
The Silk Weaver
by Liz Trenow1760, Spitalfields. Anna Butterfield’s life is about to change forever, as she moves from her idyllic Suffolk home to be introduced into London society. A chance encounter with a French silk weaver, Henri, draws her in to the volatile world of the city’s burgeoning silk trade. Henri is working on his ‘master piece’, to become a master weaver and freeman; Anna longs to become an artist while struggling against pressure from her uncle’s family to marry a wealthy young lawyer. As their lives become ever more intertwined, Henri realizes that Anna’s designs could give them both an opportunity for freedom. But his world becomes more dangerous by the day, as riots threaten to tear them apart forever . . .Inspired by real historical events and characters, Liz Trenow's The Silk Weaver is a captivating, unforgettable story of illicit romance in a time of enlightenment and social upheaval.
In Love and War
by Liz TrenowFrom the bestselling author of The Poppy Factory comes this moving novel that brings together a group of women in ways they could never have imagined.July, 1919. At the Hotel de la Paix in the small village of Hoppestadt, three women arrive at the end of the war, searching for traces of the men they have loved and lost to the battlefields of Ypres in Belgium.Ruby is just twenty-one, a shy Englishwoman looking for the grave of her husband. Alice is only a little older but brimming with confidence; she has travelled all the way from America, convinced her brother is in fact still alive. Then there’s Martha, and her son Otto, who are not all they seem to be . . .The three women in Liz Trenow’s In Love and War may have very different backgrounds, but they are united in their search for reconciliation: to resolve themselves to what the war took from them, but also to what life might still promise for the future . . .
Leadon Hill
by Richmal CromptonA deeply engaging portrait of village life with a matchless cast of characters, Leadon Hill bursts with all the light exuberance of Richmal Crompton’s Just William.The quiet English village of Leadon Hill is ruled by Miss Mitcham – a tiny, sharp old woman who sees and hears everything from behind her lace curtains, and brutally tears apart the lives and reputations of those who cross her.Amongst her victims is Marcia Faversham, wife to the fussy and uninspiring John and mother to three young children – sporty, overconfident Hugo, gentle Moyna, and little Tim who has been weakened by polio. When John leaves for a four-month fishing trip, Marcia dares to hope for a little tranquility, but changes are afoot in Leadon Hill; the house next door has been let to Helen West, a young, bohemian woman from Italy, and Miss Mitcham sets out to make her life very unpleasant indeed . . .
Millicent Dorrington
by Richmal CromptonWhen we first meet Millicent Dorrington she is a young lady on the verge of womanhood in inter-war England. The daughter of a wealthy mill-owner and one of five children – Gordon, Denis, Janet, Lorna, Cecily and Bunny – she is tormented by the high walls of their home, White Lodge, which hold her in. The young Millicent tells her father that she is destined for great things – that she is desperate to break free . . .But while Millicent’s siblings grow up, move on and experience life, their freedom confines her. Held back by the bonds of family, unable to leave her siblings behind, Millicent appears to miss out on the joys of life. But as time goes on, she becomes the centre that holds her family together. Perhaps Millicent’s great destiny was, after all, to remain at home; remain at one with those who love her most and see out her final days in the warmth of the White Lodge. Tender, humorous, gentle and quietly devastating, Richmal Crompton's Millicent Dorrington is the powerful story of a woman, a mother and a friend.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame: Classics Illustrated (Macmillan Collector's Library #10)
by Victor HugoRejected by fifteenth-century Parisian society, the hideously deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo believes he is safe under the watchful eye of his master, the Archdeacon Claude Frollo. But after Quasimodo saves the beautiful Romani girl Esmeralda from the gallows and brings her to sanctuary in the cathedral, he and Frollo's mutual desire for her puts them increasingly at odds, before compassion and cruelty clash with tragic results.An emotionally stirring story, Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is rightfully considered to be one of the finest novels ever written, and this beautiful edition, featuring an afterword by John Grant, is the perfect way to experience this unforgettable tale.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
The Lost Pilots: The Spectacular Rise and Scandalous Fall of Aviation's Golden Couple
by Corey MeadThe Sahara Desert, February 1962: the wreckage of a plane emerges from the sands revealing, too, the body of the plane’s long-dead pilot. But who was he? And what had happened to him?Baker Street, London, June 1927: twenty-five-year-old Jessie Miller had fled a loveless marriage in Australia, longing for adventure in the London of the Bright Young Things. At a gin-soaked party, she met Bill Lancaster, fresh from the Royal Air force, his head full of a scheme that would make him as famous as Charles Lindbergh, who has just crossed the Atlantic. Lancaster wanted to fly three times as far – from London to Melbourne – and in Jessie Miller he knew he had found the perfect co-pilot. By the time they landed in Melbourne, the daring aviators were a global sensation – and, despite still being married to other people, deeply in love. Keeping their affair a secret, they toured the world until the Wall Street Crash changed everything; Bill and Jessie – like so many others – were broke. And it was then, holed up in a run-down mansion on the outskirts of Miami and desperate for cash, that Jessie agreed to write a memoir. When a dashing ghostwriter Haden Clark was despatched from New York, the toxic combination of the handsome interloper, bootleg booze and jealousy led to a shocking crime. The trial that followed put Jessie and Bill back on the front pages and drove him to a reckless act of abandon to win it all back. The Lost Pilots is their extraordinary story, brought to vivid life by Corey Mead. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, and full of adventure, forbidden passion, crime, scandal and tragedy, it is a masterwork of narrative nonfiction that firmly restores one of aviation’s leading female pioneers to her rightful place in history.