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Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776
by Richard R. BeemanIn 1774 American independence was hardly inevitable--indeed, most Americans found it neither desirable nor likely. When delegates from the thirteen colonies gathered in September 1774, they were, in the words of John Adams, "a gathering of strangers. " With their differing interests and cultural perspectives, perhaps the only thing that bound them together was their common identity as subjects of the British Crown. But as they confronted the array of political, diplomatic, and military challenges facing them during the twenty-two months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, they gradually shed both their provincial and their British identities and became leaders of an American cause. With narrative verve and deep historical understanding, Richard R. Beeman tells the remarkable story of how the delegates to the Continental Congress, through courage and compromise, came to dedicate their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the forging of American independence.
Army of Empire: The Untold Story of the Indian Army in World War I
by George Morton-JackDrawing on untapped new sources, the first global history of the Indian Expeditionary Forces in World War IWhile their story is almost always overlooked, the 1.5 million Indian soldiers who served the British Empire in World War I played a crucial role in the eventual Allied victory. Despite their sacrifices, Indian troops received mixed reactions from their allies and their enemies alike-some were treated as liberating heroes, some as mercenaries and conquerors themselves, and all as racial inferiors and a threat to white supremacy. Yet even as they fought as imperial troops under the British flag, their broadened horizons fired in them new hopes of racial equality and freedom on the path to Indian independence. Drawing on freshly uncovered interviews with members of the Indian Army in Iraq and elsewhere, historian George Morton-Jack paints a deeply human story of courage, colonization, and racism, and finally gives these men their rightful place in history.
Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses
by Sarah GristwoodTo contemporaries, the Wars of the Roses were known collectively as a "cousins' war.” The series of dynastic conflicts that tore apart the ruling Plantagenet family in fifteenth-century England was truly a domestic drama, as fraught and intimate as any family feud before or since. As acclaimed historian Sarah Gristwood reveals in Blood Sisters, while the events of this turbulent time are usually described in terms of the male leads who fought and died seeking the throne, a handful of powerful women would prove just as decisive as their kinfolks' clashing armies. These mothers, wives, and daughters were locked in a web of loyalty and betrayal that would ultimately change the course of English history. In a captivating, multigenerational narrative, Gristwood traces the rise and rule of the seven most critical women in the wars: from Marguerite of Anjou, wife of the Lancastrian Henry VI, who steered the kingdom in her insane husband's stead; to Cecily Neville, matriarch of the rival Yorkist clan, whose son Edward IV murdered his own brother to maintain power; to Margaret Beaufort, who gave up her own claim to the throne in favor of her son, a man who would become the first of a new line of Tudor kings.A richly drawn, absorbing epic, Blood Sisters is a tale of hopeful births alongside bloody deaths, of romance as well as brutal pragmatism. It is a story of how women, and the power that women could wield, helped to end the Wars of the Roses, paving the way for the Tudor age-and the creation of modern England.
The Periodic Table of Feminism
by Marisa BateA cleverly nerdy review of feminist history told through the wide range of women who have shaped it, from Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Oprah to Beyoncé and The Spice GirlsA quirky, intelligent, and stylish review of the feminist movement, told through the stories of standout figures who have shaped it, The Periodic Table of Feminism charts the impact of female leaders from Betty Friedan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Michelle Obama and Oprah. Using the periodic table as a categorical device, the featured women are divided into "chemical" groups to show how the women and the battles they fought speak to each other across time and geography: Precious Metals: the face of the movements, like Simone De Beauvoir and Gloria SteinemCatalysts: Pioneers and fire-starters, like Susan B. Anthony and Sheryl SandbergConductors: The organizers, like Sojourner Truth and Rebecca SolnitDiatomics: Women working together, like The Spice Girls and The Women's Equality PartyStabilizers: Pacifists, like Margaret Atwood, Lindy West, and Eve EnslerExplosives: Radicals, anarchists, and violent uprisers, like Adrienne Rich and Roxane GayRejectors: "I am not a feminist" proclaimers, like Alice Walker and Sarah Jessica ParkerWith clever "top 10" lists--such as Feminists in Fiction, Feminists Before Feminism, Best Women's Marches, and Male Feminists--plus 120 meme-ready illustrations and inspiring pull quotes, this essential guide to feminism offers courage and inspiration for a new generation.
How to Cook a Dragon: Living, Loving, and Eating in China
by Linda FuriyaWhen Linda Furiya decided to move to China with her boyfriend at the age of thirty, she hoped to find romance and ethnic kinship. Expecting common ground with locals as an Asian American, Furiya struggled with her ambition as a food writer in a nation where notions of race and gender are set in stone. During the six years she lived in Beijing and Shanghai, Furiya experienced a wide range of experiences-loneliness, isolation, friendship, and love-tied together by one common theme: food.Ultimately, Furiya surpassed these challenges and found inspiration from the courageous Chinese women who graced her life. The sensuous experience of preparing and eating authentic Chinese cuisine follows Furiya throughout her journey, and ultimately reveals the intimate, nurturing side of the Chinese culture and people. Part insightful memoir, part authentic cookbook, How to Cook a Dragon is a revealing look at race, love, and food in China.
Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription: Notes and Asides from National Review
by William F. Buckley Jr.National Review has always published letters from readers. In 1965 the magazine decided that certain letters merited different treatment, and William F. Buckley, the editor, began a column called "Notes & Asides” in which he personally replied to the most notable and outrageous correspondence. Culled from four decades of the column, Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription includes exchanges with such well-known figures as Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, John Kenneth Galbraith, A. M. Rosenthal, Auberon Waugh, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. , and many others. There are also hilarious exchanges with ordinary readers, as well as letters from Buckley to various organizations and government agencies. Combative, brilliant, and uproariously funny, Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription represents Buckley at his mischievous best.
The Cooper's Wife Is Missing
by Joan Hoff Marian YeatesIn 1895 twenty-six-year-old Bridget Cleary disappeared from her cottage in rural County Tipperary and remained missing for several days. At last her body was discovered, bent, broken, and badly burned in a shallow grave. Within a few days, her unimaginable story came to light: for almost a week before her death she had been confined, starved, threatened, physically and verbally abused, exorcised, and finally burned to death by her husband, father, aunt, cousins, and neighbors, who had collectively confused a simple flu with possession by the fairies. In The Cooper's Wife Is Missing, Joan Hoff and Marian Yeates try to make sense of this outlandish, unfathomable, medieval "trial" and murder. Drawing on firsthand accounts, contemporary newspaper reports, police records, trial testimony, and a rich wealth of folklore, they weave a mesmerizing fireside tale of magic, madness, and mystery. This is narrative history at its evocative best.
The Thorn Necklace: Healing Through Writing and the Creative Process
by Francesca Lia Block Grant FaulknerFor devotees of Bird by Bird and The Artist's Way, a memoir-driven guide to healing through the craft of writingFrancesca Lia Block is the bestselling author of more than twenty-five books, including the award-winning Weetzie Bat series. Her writing has been called "transcendent" by The New York Times, and her books have been included in "best of" lists compiled by Time magazine and NPR. In this long-anticipated guide to the craft of writing, Block offers an intimate glimpse of an artist at work and a detailed guide to help readers channel their own experiences and creative energy. Sharing visceral insights and powerful exercises, she gently guides us down the write-to-heal path, revealing at each turn the intrinsic value of channeling our experiences onto the page. Named for the painting by Frida Kahlo, who famously transformed her own personal suffering into art, The Thorn Necklace offers lessons on life, love, and the creative process.
The Lonely War: One Woman's Account of the Struggle for Modern Iran
by Nazila FathiAs a nine-year-old Tehrani schoolgirl during the Iranian Revolution, Nazila Fathi watched her country change before her eyes. The revolutionaries--most of them poor, uneducated, and radicalized--seized jobs, housing, and positions of power, transforming Iranian society practically overnight. But this socioeconomic revolution had an unintended effect. As Fathi shows, the forces unleashed in 1979 inadvertently created a robust Iranian middle class, one that today hungers for more personal freedoms and a renewed relationship with the outside world. And unless an international confrontation allows Iranian leaders to justify an internal crackdown, this internal pressure for reform will soon set the country on a more stable track. In The Lonely War, Fathi describes Iran’s awakening alongside her own, revealing how moderates are retaking the country--and how foreign powers can aid their progress.
T.R.: The Last Romantic
by H. W. BrandsFrom the New York Times bestselling author, an acclaimed biography of President Teddy RooseveltLauded as "a rip-roaring life" (Wall Street Journal), TR is a magisterial biography of Theodore Roosevelt by bestselling author H.W. Brands. In his time, there was no more popular national figure than Roosevelt. It was not just the energy he brought to every political office he held or his unshakable moral convictions that made him so popular, or even his status as a bonafide war hero. Most important, Theodore Roosevelt was loved by the people because this scion of a privileged New York family loved America and Americans.And yet, according to Brands, if we look at the private Roosevelt without blinders, we see a man whose great public strengths hid enormous personal deficiencies; he was uncompromising, self-involved, and a highly imperfect brother, husband, and father. Beautifully written, and powerfully moved by its subject, TR is the classic biography of one of America's greatest and most complex leaders.
The Last Warrior: Andrew Marshall and the Shaping of Modern American Defense Strategy
by Andrew F. Krepinevich Barry D. WattsAndrew Marshall is a Pentagon legend. For more than four decades he has served as Director of the Office of Net Assessment, the Pentagon's internal think tank, under twelve defense secretaries and eight administrations. Yet Marshall has been on the cutting edge of strategic thinking even longer than that. At the RAND Corporation during its golden age in the 1950s and early 1960s, Marshall helped formulate bedrock concepts of US nuclear strategy that endure to this day; later, at the Pentagon, he pioneered the development of "net assessment"-a new analytic framework for understanding the long-term military competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. Following the Cold War, Marshall successfully used net assessment to anticipate emerging disruptive shifts in military affairs, including the revolution in precision warfare and the rise of China as a major strategic rival of the United States.In The Last Warrior, Andrew Krepinevich and Barry Watts-both former members of Marshall's staff-trace Marshall's intellectual development from his upbringing in Detroit during the Great Depression to his decades in Washington as an influential behind-the-scenes advisor on American defense strategy. The result is a unique insider's perspective on the changes in US strategy from the dawn of the Cold War to the present day.Covering some of the most pivotal episodes of the last half-century and peopled with some of the era's most influential figures, The Last Warrior tells Marshall's story for the first time, in the process providing an unparalleled history of the evolution of the American defense establishment.
Ministers at War: Winston Churchill and His War Cabinet
by Jonathan SchneerIn May 1940, with France on the verge of defeat, Britain alone stood in the path of the Nazi military juggernaut. Survival seemed to hinge on the leadership of Winston Churchill, whom the King reluctantly appointed Prime Minister as Germany invaded France. Churchill’s reputation as one of the great twentieth-century leaders would be forged during the coming months and years, as he worked tirelessly first to rally his country and then to defeat Hitler. But Churchill--regarded as the savior of his nation, and of the entire continent--could not have done it alone. As prize-winning historian Jonathan Schneer reveals inMinisters at War, Churchill depended on a team of powerful ministers to manage the war effort as he rallied a beleaguered nation. Selecting men from across the political spectrum--from fellow Conservative Anthony Eden to leader of the opposing socialist Labor Party Clement Attlee--Churchill assembled a War Cabinet that balanced competing interests and bolstered support for his national coalition government. The group possessed a potent blend of talent, ambition, and egotism. Led and encouraged by Churchill, the ministers largely set aside their differences, at least at first. As the war progressed, discord began to grow. It reached a peak in 1945: with victory seemingly assured, Churchill was forced by his Minsters at War to dissolve the Government and call a General Election, which, in a shocking upset, he lost to his rival Attlee. Authoritatively recasting our understanding of British high politics during World War II, Schneer shows that Churchill managed the war effort by managing his team of supremely able yet contentious cabinet members. The outcome of the war lay not only in Churchill’s individual brilliance but also in his skill as an executive, and in the collective ability of men who muted their personal interests to save the world from barbarism.
To Repair a Broken World: The Life of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah
by Dvora HacohenThe authoritative biography of Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah, introduces a new generation to a remarkable leader who fought for women’s rights and the poor. Born in Baltimore in 1860, Henrietta Szold was driven from a young age by the mission captured in the concept of tikkun olam, “repair of the world.” Herself the child of immigrants, she established a night school, open to all faiths, to teach English to Russian Jews in her hometown. She became the first woman to study at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and was the first editor for the Jewish Publication Society. In 1912 she founded Hadassah, the international women’s organization dedicated to humanitarian work and community building. A passionate Zionist, Szold was troubled by the Jewish–Arab conflict in Palestine, to which she sought a peaceful and equitable solution for all. Noted Israeli historian Dvora Hacohen captures the dramatic life of this remarkable woman. Long before anyone had heard of intersectionality, Szold maintained that her many political commitments were inseparable. She fought relentlessly for women’s place in Judaism and for health and educational networks in Mandate Palestine. As a global citizen, she championed American pacifism. Hacohen also offers a penetrating look into Szold’s personal world, revealing for the first time the psychogenic blindness that afflicted her as the result of a harrowing breakup with a famous Talmudic scholar. Based on letters and personal diaries, many previously unpublished, as well as thousands of archival documents scattered across three continents, To Repair a Broken World provides a wide-ranging portrait of a woman who devoted herself to helping the disadvantaged and building a future free of need.
Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, And The Future Of America
by Thomas FlemingA vivid narrative history of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and their infamous duelDuel is a remarkable retelling of the fatal 1804 duel between former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr. Thomas Fleming takes the reader into the post-revolutionary world of the early nineteenth century, a chaotic and fragile time in the young country as well as a time of tremendous global instability. The success of the French Revolution and the proclamation of Napoleon as First Consul for Life had enormous impact on men like Hamilton and Burr, feeding their own political fantasies at a time of perceived Federal government weakness and corrosion. Their hunger for fame spawned antagonisms that wreaked havoc on themselves and their families and threatened to destabilize the fragile young American republic. From that poisonous brew came the tangle of regret and anger and ambition that drove the two men to their murderous confrontation in Weehawken, New Jersey. This is popular narrative history at its most authoritative, and authoritative history at its most readable--a must for readers interested in Hamilton, Burr, and America's early history.
Heir to the Empire City: New York and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt
by Edward P. KohnTheodore Roosevelt is best remembered as AmericaOCOs prototypical ocowboyOCO presidentua Rough Rider who derived his political wisdom from a youth spent in the untamed American West. But while the great outdoors certainly shaped RooseveltOCOs identity, historian Edward P. Kohn argues that it was his hometown of New York that made him the progressive president we celebrate today. During his early political career, Roosevelt took on local Republican factions and Tammany Hall Democrats alike, proving his commitment to reform at all costs. He combated the cityOCOs rampant corruption, and helped to guide New York through the perils of rabid urbanization and the challenges of accommodating an influx of immigrantsuexperiences that would serve him well as president of the United States. A riveting account of a man and a city on the brink of greatness, "Heir to the Empire City" reveals that RooseveltOCOs true education took place not in the West but on the mean streets of nineteenth-century New York.
Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir
by Jennette FuldaAfter undergoing gall bladder surgery at age twenty-three, Jennette Fulda decided it was time to lose some weight. Actually, more like half her weight. At the time, Jennette weighed 372 pounds.Jennette was not born fat. But, by fifth grade, her response to a school questionnaire asking "what would you change about your appearance" was "I would be thinner." Sound familiar?Half-Assed is the captivating and incredibly honest story of Jennette's journey to get in shape, lose weight, and change her life. From the beginning-dusting off her never-used treadmill and steering clear of the donut shop-to the end with her goal weight in sight, Jennette wows readers with her determined persistence to shed pounds and the ability to maintain her ever-present sense of self.
The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace
by David B. WoolnerA revealing portrait of the end of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life and presidency, shedding new light on how he made his momentous final policy decisionsThe first hundred days of FDR's presidency are justly famous, often viewed as a period of political action without equal in American history. Yet as historian David B. Woolner reveals, the last hundred might very well surpass them in drama and consequence.Drawing on new evidence, Woolner shows how FDR called on every ounce of his diminishing energy to pursue what mattered most to him: the establishment of the United Nations, the reinvigoration of the New Deal, and the possibility of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. We see a president shorn of the usual distractions of office, a man whose sense of personal responsibility for the American people bore heavily upon him. As Woolner argues, even in declining health FDR displayed remarkable political talent and foresight as he focused his energies on shaping the peace to come.
Tango: An Argentine Love Story
by Camille CusumanoTango is a memoir by a woman who loved, lost, got mad, and decided to dance. The book traces the author's fall, redemption, and renewal through tango. After a violent encounter with her ex's new girlfriend, Camille Cusumano decided she had some serious soul-searching to do. She took off for Buenos Aires intending to stay a few short weeks, but when her search for inner peace met with her true passion for tango, she realized she'd need to stay in Argentina indefinitely. Tango chronicles Camille's experience falling in love with a country through the dance that embodies intensity, freedom, and passion-all pivotal to her own process of self-discovery. From the charm of local barrios to savory empanadas, Camille whole-heartedly embraces the ardent culture of Argentina, and soon a month-long escape turns into a year-long personal odyssey. Slowly letting go of her anger through a blend of tango, Zen, and a burgeoning group of friends, she discovers that her fierceness and patience can exist in harmony as she learns how to survive in style when love falls apart.
Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu
by Anshel PfefferA deeply reported biography of the scandal-plagued Israeli Prime Minister, showing that we cannot understand Israel--its history, present, and future--without first understanding the life and worldview of the man who leads itBenjamin Netanyahu is embroiled in numerous scandals, all of his own making, and may soon be ousted from the office he has held longer than any prior Israeli Prime Minister outside of David Ben Gurion. But Bibi, as he is known by friend and foe alike, is no stranger to controversy. For many in Israel and elsewhere, he is an embarrassment, a threat to democracy, even a precursor to Donald Trump. He nevertheless continues to dominate Israeli public life--and he may yet survive his current crises, the most challenging of his career. How can we explain Netanyahu's rise, his hold on Israeli politics, and his outsized role on the world's stage?In Bibi, the Haaretz journalist Anshel Pfeffer argues that we must view Netanyahu as representing the triumph of the underdogs in the Zionist enterprise. Born in 1949, one year after the state of Israel itself, Netanyahu came of age in a nation dominated by liberal, secular Zionists. Yet Netanyahu's grandfather and father bequeathed to him a brand of Zionism integrating Jewish nationalism and religious traditionalism, and he identified with the groups at the margins of Israeli society: right-wing Revisionists, orthodox, Mizrahi Jews, and small-time professionals living in the new towns and cities dotting the Israeli landscape. Netanyahu cultivated each faction individually and then fused them into a coalition that has frequently proven unstoppable in Israeli politics.Netanyahu is also a child of America, where he spent many years as a young man, and where he learned the techniques of modern political campaigns as well as the necessity of controlling the media cycle. The product of the affluent East Coast Jewish community and the Reagan era, Netanyahu's politics and worldview were formed as much by American Cold War conservatism as by his family's hardline right-wing Zionism.As Pfeffer demonstrates in this penetrating biography, Netanyahu's influence will endure even if his career soon comes to an end. The Israel he has helped make is a hybrid of ancient phobia and high-tech hope, tribalism and globalism--just like the man himself.
Thoughtful Gardening
by Robin Lane FoxIn Thoughtful Gardening, award-winning historian and Financial Times gardening columnist Robin Lane Fox takes readers on a delightful journey through each season of the gardening year. From fending off vine-weevils to visiting Yves Saint Laurent’s private gardens in Marrakech, Fox imbues each of his musings with grace, sophistication, and charm. Essential reading for anyone planting a new garden or taking stock of one after several years, Thoughtful Gardening offers expert advice and a touching reminder of the power of art and literature to deepen what we see and experience in nature. Combining a vast understanding of horticulture with witty and stylish storytelling, these vignettes form--season by season--a rich reflection on the lessons, challenges, and joys of life with a green thumb.
Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents
by Elisabeth EavesSpanning fifteen years of travel, beginning when she is a sophomore in college, Wanderlust documents Elisabeth Eaves's insatiable hunger for the rush of the unfamiliar and the experience of encountering new people and cultures. Young and independent, she crisscrosses five continents and chases the exotic, both in culture and in romance. In the jungles of Papua New Guinea, she loses herself-literally-to an Australian tour guide; in Cairo, she reconnects with her high school sweetheart, only to discover the beginning of a pattern that will characterize her life over the long-term: while long-distance relationships work well for her, traditional relationships do not.Wanderlust, however, is more than a chronological conquest of men and countries: at its core, it's a journey of self-discovery. In the course of her travels, Eaves finds herself and the sense of home she's been lacking since childhood-and she sheds light on a growing culture of young women who have the freedom and inclination to define their own, increasingly global, lifestyles, unfettered by traditional roles and conventions of past generations of women.
The Secret Sex Life of a Single Mom
by Delaine Moore"The Secret Life of a Newly Single Mother" is the funny and empowering story of the physical and spiritual self-discovery that results from Moore's sexual awakening--a humorous, thoughtful exploration of what it means to be a mother and a sexual being.
The Drive: Searching for Lost Memories on the Pan-American Highway
by Teresa BruceThe Drive follows Teresa Bruce on her 2003 road trip through Mexico and onto the Pan American Highway, in a rickety camper with her old dog and new husband in tow. Bruce first set off on the exact same route in 1973, her parents at the helm and their two young daughters in tow, as a reaction to the accidental death of their youngest child, Bruce's brother John John. Her attempt to follow the route, using her mother's travel journal as an anecdotal guide, is as much about her need for exploration as it is about trying to understand her parents and their pain, and to finally begin to heal her own wounds over the accident. Bruce is immensely talented in bringing scenery of Central and South America to life-countries from Mexico and Guatemala to Bolivia and Argentina are detailed with her innate attention to detail and sense of storytelling. The Drive details a really incredible journey through these beautiful, at times corrupt and war-torn countries, across roads that are as likely to be barricaded by guerrillas or washed out by floods as they are to be passable. The Drive is travel writing at its best, combining moments of deep heartbreak with unimaginable joy over a panoply of unforgettable settings.
The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius
by Joyce ChaplinFamous, fascinating Benjamin Franklin-he would be neither without his accomplishments in science. In this authoritative intellectual biography of America’s most brilliant and cosmopolitan Founding Father, Joyce Chaplin considers Franklin’s scientific work as a career in its own right as well as the basis of his political thought. The famous kite and other experiments with electricity were only part of Franklin’s accomplishments. He charted the Gulf Stream, made important observations in meteorology, and used the burgeoning science of "political arithmetic” to make unprecedented statements about America’s power. Even as he stepped onto the world stage as an illustrious statesman and diplomat in the years leading up to the American Revolution, his fascination with nature was unrelenting.
The Invention of Medicine: From Homer to Hippocrates
by Robin Lane FoxA preeminent classics scholar revises the history of medicine.Medical thinking and observation were radically changed by the ancient Greeks, one of their great legacies to the world. In the fifth century BCE, a Greek doctor put forward his clinical observations of individual men, women, and children in a collection of case histories known as the Epidemics. Among his working principles was the famous maxim "Do no harm." In The Invention of Medicine, acclaimed historian Robin Lane Fox puts these remarkable works in a wider context and upends our understanding of medical history by establishing that they were written much earlier than previously thought. Lane Fox endorses the ancient Greeks' view that their texts' author, not named, was none other than the father of medicine, the great Hippocrates himself. Lane Fox's argument changes our sense of the development of scientific and rational thinking in Western culture, and he explores the consequences for Greek artists, dramatists and the first writers of history. Hippocrates emerges as a key figure in the crucial change from an archaic to a classical world. Elegantly written and remarkably learned, The Invention of Medicine is a groundbreaking reassessment of many aspects of Greek culture and city life.