The first twenty-five years of Churchill’s life were full of adventure: night marches, cavalry charges, skirmishes on the North West Frontier, escape from a Boer prisoncamp and a visit to the Cuban War. Acknowledged as his best book, his zest for life bursts right off the page of My Early Life. Yet this is more than just an adventure story. It is an elegiac portrayal of the halcyon period of Edwardian content before the First World War, and deeply revealing of one of the dominating personalities of the twentieth century. Here lie the roots of that restless, questing energy and dauntless ambition, born of absent parents and miserable schooling. Views: 10
The extraordinary and eventful personal account of the life of Pearl S. Buck, the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for LiteratureOften regarded as one of Pearl S. Buck's most significant works, My Several Worlds is the memoir of a major novelist and one of the key American chroniclers of China. Buck, who was born to missionary parents in 1892, spent much of the first portion of her life in China, experiencing the Boxer Rebellion first hand and becoming involved with the society with an intimacy available to few outside observers. The book is not only an important reflection on that nation's modern history, but also an account of her re-engagement with America and the intense activity that characterized her life there, from her prolific novel-writing to her loves and friendships to her work for abandoned children and other humanitarian causes. As alive with incident as it is illuminating in its philosophy, My Several Worlds is essential reading for travelers and... Views: 10
A wealthy painter finds his inspiration, and tumultuous love, in a girl he meets by chanceAt the turn of the century, an upper-class painter from Philadelphia goes searching for inspiration. He finds his muse on a farm—the farmer's beautiful and humble daughter. His portrait of her becomes one of his most inspired works, but his passion for the illiterate girl doesn't stop at the easel: He returns to marry her and settle down to country life—a journey that means bridging enormous gaps between their cultures, breaking from his parents, and creating tension between their friends. Pearl S. Buck compassionately imagines both sides of the complex marriage, and in addition, creates a wonderfully vivid picture of America leading up to the Second World War. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author's estate. Views: 10
The book centres on Ian Fleming the man, his contradictions and his public and private personality. It examines the man behind the myth and how in particular he managed (unsuccessfully at first) to create a film franchise that has lasted over fifty years. It considers Fleming's reputation as a writer, the 'formula method' he perfected and the formula's reliance on the recycling of real individuals and events as well as the occasional reliance on plagiarism. It uniquely accesses a number of closed and recently opened government files that shed light on previously unknown wartime operations such as the Air Ministry's top secret 'Operation Grand Slam', which was used in Goldfinger. Views: 10
Open Season is a thrilling, eye-opening insider's view of a little-known facet of the political campaign process: the multi-million dollar opposition research industry, or oppo as it's called. For sixteen years authors Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian have been digging up dirt on political candidates across the country, from presidential appointees to local school board hopefuls. Open Season is a fascinating, riveting, sometimes funny, sometimes shocking look at the unseen side of political campaigning—a remarkable chronicle of a year in the life of two guys on a dedicated hunt to uncover the buried truths that every American voter has a right to know. Views: 10
A brief yet definitive new biography of one of film's greatest legends: perfect for readers who want to know more about the iconic star but who don't want to commit to a lengthy work.He was the very first icon of the silver screen and is one of the most recognizable of Hollywood faces, even a hundred years after his first film. But what of the man behind the moustache? Peter Ackroyd's new biography turns the spotlight on Chaplin's life as well as his work, from his humble theatrical beginnings in music halls to winning an honorary Academy Award. Everything is here, from the glamor of his golden age to the murky scandals of the 1940s and eventual exile to Switzerland. There are charming anecdotes along the way: playing the violin in a New York hotel room to mask the sound of Stan Laurel frying pork chops and long Hollywood lunches with Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. This masterful brief biography offers fresh revelations about one of the most familiar faces... Views: 9
BLOODY VENGEANCE IN CAIRO'S.UNDERWORLD.
In a small, stinking African jail Nick Carter successfully carried out the first part of the assignment — the murder of a Russian agent. Now a second AXE man could accomplish Phase II — get the microfilm, the secret plans for Novigrom, Russia's fastest fighter plane, into the free world.
But AXE's man was butchered in Cairo, brutally and apparently inexplicably. Now Nick has to complete the assignment-recover the microfilm and find the sadistic killer.
To help him, AXE assigned Fayeh, a golden-skinned Egyptian Interpol agent… to feed Nick information, they sent Thinman, a depraved addict who walked the narrow line between the law and the underworld for his daily fix… to test Nick, they pitted him against the New Brotherhood, the Arab version of the Mafia.
The New Brotherhood was the most lethal syndicate Nick had ever encountered. He only hoped he would live to tell about it… Views: 9
London Under is a wonderful, atmospheric, imaginative, oozing short study of everything that goes on under London, from original springs and streams and Roman amphitheaters to Victorian sewers, gang hideouts, and modern tube stations. The depths below are hot, warmer than the surface, and this book tunnels down through the geological layers, meeting the creatures, real and fictional, that dwell in darkness--rats and eels, monsters and ghosts. When the Underground's Metropolitan Line was opened in 1864, the guards asked for permission to grow beards to protect themselves against the sulfurous fumes, and named their engines after tyrants--Czar, Kaiser, Mogul--and even Pluto, god of the underworld. To go under London is to penetrate history, to enter a hidden world. As Ackroyd puts it, "The vastness of the space, a second earth, elicits sensations of wonder and of terror. It partakes of myth and dream in equal measure."From the Hardcover... Views: 9
On 1 July 1916, after a five-day bombardment, 11 British and 5 French divisions launched their long-awaited 'Big Push' on German positions on high ground above the Rivers Ancre and Somme on the Western Front. Some ground was gained, but at a terrible cost. In killing-grounds whose names are indelibly imprinted on 20th-century memory, German machine-guns - manned by troops who had sat out the storm of shellfire in deep dugouts - inflicted terrible losses on the British infantry.The British Fourth Army lost 57,470 casualties, the French Sixth Army suffered 1,590 casualties and the German 2nd Army 10,000. And this was but the prelude to 141 days of slaughter that would witness the deaths of between 750,000 and 1 million troops.Andrew Roberts evokes the pity and the horror of the blackest day in the history of the British army - a summer's day-turned-hell-on-earth by modern military technology - in the words of casualties, survivors, and the bereaved. Views: 9
Clara I lost Dax Trenton years ago. No one could tell me where he’d gone, or who took him. When my father moved us out to Southern California for a job I figured that would be the end of it. That was until the day before I started college. Dax Trenton was not only standing in my kitchen — but he was living right smack next door. He taunted me with his revolving door of women. He insisted on having me up close and far away. I tried to stay away. But does a moth really stay away from the flame? Even when he does the unthinkable, when Dax pursues — I submit. Dax She doesn’t know I recognize her. I know exactly who that very well-formed woman is that teases and torments me from her next door window. Clara Parker was my breath and everything I’d ever wanted—until she betrayed me. Now I’m out for revenge, and I will have it. All over her very creamy, soft, and supple flesh. What neither of us is expecting is to fall face first in love with one another. Or maybe we were always in love, who the hell knows? I just know that when it’s all laid out, Clara, broken or whole, will be mine. What I didn’t count on was an enemy from both our pasts showing up to break us.
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Though raised Catholic, in the early 1950s Jack Kerouac became fascinated with Buddhism, an interest that would have a profound impact on his ideas of spirituality and their expression in his writing from Mexico City Blues to The Dharma Bums. Published for the first time in book form, Wake Up is Kerouac's retelling of the story of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who as a young man abandoned his wealthy family and comfortable home for a lifelong search for Enlightenment. As a compendium of the teachings of the Buddha, Wake Up is a profound meditation on the nature of life, desire, wisdom, and suffering. Distilled from a wide variety of canonical scriptures, Wake Up serves as both a concise primer on the concepts of Buddhism and as an insightful and deeply personal document of Kerouac's evolving beliefs. It is the work of a devoted spiritual follower of the Buddha who also happened to be one of the twentieth century's most influential novelists. Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha will be... Views: 9
