When the Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, Japanese newspapers had to use a special, exalted word to refer to his death, and had to depict his life uncritically, as one beginning in turbulence but ending in magnificent accomplishment. To do otherwise would have exposed them to terrorism from the vigilant right wing. Yet this insightful book by a Japanese-American scholar who grew up in both cultures reveals the hidden fault lines in the realm of the dying emperor by telling the stories of three unlikely dissenters: a supermarket owner who burned the national flag; an aging widow who challenged the state's "deification" of fallen soldiers; and the mayor of Nagasaki, who risked his career and his life by suggesting that Hirohito bore some responsibility for World War II.From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 53
SynopsisThe compelling new saga fromThe Sunday Times best selling author.When Helen Redwood is tragically widowed, she and her daughter, Chloe, move to Liverpool to be closer to her family. But it is tending her beautiful garden with her handsome young gardener, Rex Kenwright, that ultimately saves Helen from grief. No stranger to bereavement himself, Rex finds comfort in Helen's company but it is seventeen-year-old Chloe who steals his heart.It is the swinging sixties, however, and Chloe has dreams of her own. When she announces that she is pregnant and moving in with her boyfriend, Adam Livingstone, she has no idea of the effect this will have on those she loves. Nor does she anticipate the rocky road to happiness that lies ahead... Views: 53
At age seventeen, Helen Pendleton considered herself to be a modern woman, eager to embrace the new century. While the normal path for a female in her New York town was matrimony and children, she shocked her parents by planning to attend college and hoping to eventually become a schoolteacher. So when her neighbor, Albert, surprised her by proposing marriage, she was smugly confident in her decision to decline his offer. Yet time and adversity changed everything. Three years later, with her parents deceased, and college a fading memory, she and her sister, Violet, are in dire straits. Their father's business is bankrupt, and they're losing their home. Violet's erratic behavior compounds the situation. She suffers from wild mood swings and carouses at night with young men who will only get her into trouble. Helen is desperate and would do anything to protect her sister from scandal. As she reaches her lowest ebb, she receives a letter from Albert. After she spurned him, he and his family moved west, pursuing their dream of homesteading in the Dakotas. When he hears of her dilemma, he offers marriage again, tempting her with tales of his prosperous ranch and the fine house he's built for her out on the prairie. With Helen out of ideas or options, she accepts his proposal. She?s abandoned her prior certainty that she can be free and independent, and she?s anxious to get Violet out of the city, feeling that her sister's condition will improve in the quiet serenity of the country. But Albert has lied to Helen about his life on the Great Plains. He has no aptitude for ranching, and his family?s homestead is a bleak, barren place where wind, weather, and isolation guarantee that their survival is always in question. Helen arrives in the Dakotas, with an ill, destructive Violet in tow, thinking they'll benefit from the security and leisure Albert has promised. So she's unprepared for the grueling reality that awaits. Trapped in a downward spiral of work and worry, and wed to a man she could never love, she must find the inner strength to endure the hand that fate has dealt her. Bestselling novelist, Cheryl Holt, paints a world of triumph and tragedy, of joy and sorrow, where people are tested to their limits and the best and worst of humanity is revealed. Mud Creek is a tremendous, accessible, and heartrending book that whirls to a gripping climax, featuring Ms. Holt's most memorable characters in years. Views: 53
A snowstorm leaves Splash and her motorbike stranded in a desolate countryside. She is rescued by Louise Lovedrool, who reluctantly takes her home where she is introduced to the odd 'family', who delight in strange behaviour including cross-dressing, bondage, voyeurism and all manner of strange sexual goings on. Louise's father decides he wants Splash to stay, to be part of the group. Splash has other ideas - but snow, cold and with a lack of clothes has a strange growing fascination with strict erotic bondage prevent her doing what she wants! Views: 53
The Iron Lady, the definitive Margaret Thatcher biography, is available just in time for the movie starring Meryl Streep as one of the most infamous figures in postwar politics. Whether you love her or hate her, Margaret Thatcher's impact on twentieth-century history is undeniable. From her humble, small-town upbringing to her rise to power as the United Kingdom's first female prime minister, to her dramatic fall from grace after more than three decades of service, celebrated biographer John Campbell delves into the story of this fascinating woman's life as no one has before. The result of more than nine years of meticulous research, The Iron Lady is the only balanced, unvarnished portrait of Margaret Thatcher, one of the most vital and controversial political figures of our time.Review"Anyone who really wants to know what happened between 1979 and 1990 should read this book."(John Rentoul )"Superbly researched...unlike so many others is neither hagiography nor hatchet-job, and probably gets closer to the truth than any...magnificently told."(Michael Dobbs )"The best book yet written about Lady Thatcher."(Frank Johnson )"An enormously useful achievement...every twist and turn of her political life is here."(Matthew Paris )"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and indeed arguing with it, because it has reminded me why many of us would never have wanted her to give up."(William Hague ) About the AuthorJohn Campbell is a leading political biographer. His other books include Lloyd George, Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown, and Edward Heath, for which he won the NCR Book Award. He lives in England. Views: 53
