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Unbroken: My story of survival from 7/7 Bombings to Paralympic success
by Martine Wright‘Tears of sorrow will roll down your face, only to be followed by tears of laughter. You will be filled with awe at the unbreakable spirit of Martine Wright.’ CLARE BALDINGBy turns heart-breaking and heart-warming, Unbroken is the remarkable true story of a woman who turned trauma and tragedy into hope. The autobiography of 7/7 bombings survivor and GB Paralympian, Martine Wright. On the morning of 7th July 2005, Martine Wright’s life changed forever. As she boarded an eastbound circle line train at Moorgate station, amid the busy rush-hour, she didn’t pay attention to her fellow passengers. At 8.49am, one of those passengers detonated a suicide bomb that would kill seven people in the carriage, part of a wider attack on London claiming 52 lives that became known as the 7/7 bombings. Martine was, in fact, the last person to be brought out alive from the atrocities. She lost 80 per cent of her blood, was in a coma for ten days and underwent ten months of surgery. Not only did Martine survive her horrific injuries but, having never played sport seriously before, she took up sitting volleyball as part of her rehabilitation and went on to represent Great Britain at the Paralympics in London 2012 – a deeply poignant moment that marked her journey from tragedy to triumph. Since then Martine has become a national figure: a formidable, powerful, brilliantly funny, hugely engaging heroine who has come back – almost literally – from the dead. In 2012 she was awarded the Helen Rollason award at the Sports Personality of the Year and in 2015 the Independent voted her one of ’50 most powerful women in British Sport’. Beyond her phenomenal sporting achievements, Martine continues to change the lives of those around her as a charity fundraiser and inspirational speaker.
Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South
by Mary Herring WrightMary Herring Wright's memoir adds an important dimension to the current literature in that it is a story by and about an African American deaf child. The author recounts her experiences growing up as a deaf person in Iron Mine, North Carolina, from the 1920s through the 1940s. Her story is unique and historically significant because it provides valuable descriptive information about the faculty and staff of the North Carolina school for Black deaf and blind students from the perspective of a student as well as a student teacher. In addition, this engrossing narrative contains details about the curriculum, which included a week-long Black History celebration where students learned about important Blacks such as Madame Walker, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and George Washington Carver. It also describes the physical facilities as well as the changes in those facilities over the years. In addition, Sounds Like Home occurs over a period of time that covers two major events in American history, the Depression and World War II. Wright's account is one of enduring faith, perseverance, and optimism. Her keen observations will serve as a source of inspiration for others who are challenged in their own ways by life's obstacles.
Sounds Like Home: Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South
by Mary Herring WrightOriginally published in 1999, Sounds Like Home adds an important dimension to the canon of deaf literature by presenting the perspective of an African American deaf woman who attended a segregated deaf school. Mary Herring Wright documents her life from the mid-1920s to the early 1940s, offering a rich account of her home life in rural North Carolina and her education at the North Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind, which had a separate campus for African American students. This 20th anniversary edition of Wright’s story includes a new introduction by scholars Joseph Hill and Carolyn McCaskill, who note that the historical documents and photographs of segregated Black deaf schools have mostly been lost. Sounds Like Home serves “as a permanent witness to the lives of Black Deaf people.”
Gardens of Stone: My Boyhood in the French Resistance
by Michael Wright Stephen GradyAn extraordinary wartime memoir, combining the best kind of adventure story with a coming of age testimony of unforgettable resonance and poignancy. September 2011, Halkidiki, Northern Greece. A solitary 86 year-old man gazes across an Aegean headland, knowing that he must finally confront his past. He begins to write... September 1939, Nieppe, Northern France. 14 year-old Stephen is living with his family, 25 kilometres from Ypres. His French mother battles with her encroaching blindness. Failing to escape the advancing German army, his English father can no longer look after the war graves that cast so heartbreaking a shadow across the region. Stephen and his friend Marcel embark upon their great adventure: collecting souvenirs from strafed convoys and crashed Messerschmitts. But their world turns dark when arrested and imprisoned for sabotage and threatened with deportation or the firing squad. Upon his release, and still only 16, Stephen is recruited by the French Resistance. Growing up under the threat of imminent betrayal, he learns the arts of clandestine warfare, and - in a moment that haunts him still - how to kill... Such was the impact of Stephen Grady's work for the French Resistance, (especially during the countdown to D-Day and its bloody aftermath) that he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the American Medal of Freedom.
The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion
by N. T. WrightThe renowned scholar, Anglican bishop, and bestselling author widely considered to be the heir to C. S. Lewis contemplates the central event at the heart of the Christian faith--Jesus' crucifixion--arguing that the Protestant Reformation did not go far enough in transforming our understanding of its meaning.In The Day the Revolution Began, N. T. Wright once again challenges commonly held Christian beliefs as he did in his acclaimed Surprised by Hope. Demonstrating the rigorous intellect and breathtaking knowledge that have long defined his work, Wright argues that Jesus' death on the cross was not only to absolve us of our sins; it was actually the beginning of a revolution commissioning the Christian faithful to a new vocation--a royal priesthood responsible for restoring and reconciling all of God's creation. Wright argues that Jesus' crucifixion must be understood within the much larger story of God's purposes to bring heaven and earth together. The Day the Revolution Began offers a grand picture of Jesus' sacrifice and its full significance for the Christian faith, inspiring believers with a renewed sense of mission, purpose, and hope, and reminding them of the crucial role the Christian faith must play in protecting and shaping the future of the world.
Paul: In Fresh Perspective
by N. T. WrightThe letters of the Apostle Paul changed the world like no others before or since, and they continue to strike us afresh with their panoramic vision of human history and destiny.Preeminent New Testament scholar and churchman N. T. Wright here offers a fresh perspective on the Apostle Paul's content and convictions. Wright ranks Paul as "one of the most powerful and seminal minds of the first or any century," endlessly engaging and perennially elusive. Yet, with recent research, Wright argues, we can now sketch with confidence a new and more nuanced picture of the Apostle and the radical way in which his encounter with Jesus redefined his life, his whole thought-world, his mission, and his expectations for a world made new in Christ. The result: a masterful, engaging, and enlightening portrait that situates Paul in his time and for our own.
Paul: A Biography (The\new Testament For Everyone Ser.)
by N. T. WrightIn this definitive biography, renowned Bible scholar, Anglican bishop, and bestselling author N. T. Wright offers a radical look at the apostle Paul, illuminating the humanity and remarkable achievements of this intellectual who invented Christian theology—transforming a faith and changing the world.For centuries, Paul, the apostle who "saw the light on the Road to Damascus" and made a miraculous conversion from zealous Pharisee persecutor to devoted follower of Christ, has been one of the church’s most widely cited saints. While his influence on Christianity has been profound, N. T. Wright argues that Bible scholars and pastors have focused so much attention on Paul’s letters and theology that they have too often overlooked the essence of the man’s life and the extreme unlikelihood of what he achieved.To Wright, "The problem is that Paul is central to any understanding of earliest Christianity, yet Paul was a Jew; for many generations Christians of all kinds have struggled to put this together." Wright contends that our knowledge of Paul and appreciation for his legacy cannot be complete without an understanding of his Jewish heritage. Giving us a thoughtful, in-depth exploration of the human and intellectual drama that shaped Paul, Wright provides greater clarity of the apostle’s writings, thoughts, and ideas and helps us see them in a fresh, innovative way.Paul is a compelling modern biography that reveals the apostle’s greater role in Christian history—as an inventor of new paradigms for how we understand Jesus and what he accomplished—and celebrates his stature as one of the most effective and influential intellectuals in human history.
How We Invented the Airplane: An Illustrated History
by Orville WrightIt was the realization of a dream as old as mankind. On December 17, 1903, two bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, achieved the first sustained, powered, heavier-than-air flight in a machine of their own design and construction. This book offers a concise and fascinating history of that remarkable accomplishment, much of it in the words of the inventors themselves. The heart of the book is Orville Wright's personal account, written in connection with an obscure lawsuit filed against the U.S. government. Long forgotten until a typewritten copy was discovered among the Wright papers at the Library of Congress, it is the best, most detailed account of how the Wright brothers succeeded in creating the machine that lifted man into the sky on wings.The brothers first became interested in the problem of flight after reading about the glider experiments of Otto Lilienthal, a 19th-century German engineer. Experimenting first with kites and gliders, they developed a revolutionary wing design that helped solve the crucial problem of maintaining lateral equilibrium. Later, they added a movable rudder that eliminated the tendency of the machine to go into a tailspin. In addition to these critical innovations, the two inventors developed new accurate tables of "life" pressures and an original theory of air propellers. Slowly, methodically, with patience, perseverance, ingenuity, and inspired invention, they solved the problems that had defeated so many experimenters before them.Finally, on a gusty winter day in North Carolina, the Wright brothers flew their little motor-driven biplane off the sand at Kitty Hawk (actually Kill Devil Hills) and into the pages of history. Although the first flight lasted only about 12 seconds and covered barely 120 feet, it was the first time a machine carrying a man and driven by a motor had lifted itself from the ground in controlled free flight. A new era had begun and the world would never be the same again.The achievement of the Wright brothers is placed in historical context in the absorbing and informative introduction to this volume, written by Fred C. Kelly, author of two standard works on the Wrights. Mr. Kelly has also written an illuminating commentary, including fascinating anecdotes about the Wrights, their personalities and later aspects of their career. As an extra bonus, a lively popular account of the Wrights' success, written in 1908 by both brothers, has been included in an Appendix. Enhanced by 76 photographs, including many rare views of the Wrights and their flying machines, this book offers a thrilling reading experience for anyone interested in aviation, its pioneers, or the mechanics of flights.
Against the Water: A surfing champion's inspirational journey to Olympic glory
by Owen WrightThe gut-wrenching story of how one of Australia&’s finest surfers overcame a brain injury and despair to win an Olympic medal. On the morning of 10 December 2015, Owen Wright entered the water at Pipeline, Hawaii, determined to become a world champion. But after being pounded by a set of monstrous waves, he ended up fighting for life and facing extensive brain trauma. In this inspirational memoir, Wright chronicles the events leading up to that fateful day, as well as the months and years that followed as he battled to regain basic functioning, and eventually the capacity to compete again at the apex of surfing.Against the Water carries the reader back to Wright&’s boyhood in the tiny town of Culburra, where his father, determined to raise champions, turned family life into a kind of boot camp. While eccentric, his father&’s methods bore fruit: the Wrights of Culburra would become Australian surfing royalty. Owen&’s story lays bare the complex relationship with his father – the adoration, the fight for independence, the fallings out, and the reconciliations. Told in a spare, intimate style, Against the Water is the moving account of an athlete who refused to accept that his best days were behind him and raises fundamental questions around family and competition. What, ultimately, is our duty to our children? At what point does bravery become folly? And how much should we sacrifice for the sake of another? &‘Owen was a childhood phenom who grew into the ultimate family man. In between this transition, he took on the world, charged crazy waves, suffered a huge brain injury, and finished off with the all-time sporting comeback!&’ Mick Fanning, three-time world champion surfer &‘Whatever it is that Owen is getting himself into, he seems to do it with little to no fear and a massive smile on his face. He&’s an inspirational guy, to put it lightly. Owen is one special human!&’ Liam Hemsworth, actor &‘Owen Wright has to be the most inspiring person I&’ve ever met. His story is one of a childhood prodigy, to facing a near-death experience, to Australian hero . . . This book will inspire and motivate anyone who has had to face adversity whilst following their dreams.&’ Kita Alexander, singer-songwriter &‘[A] true fighter&’s spirit!' Luke Rockhold, UFC middleweight champion, two-time jiu-jitsuworld champion, three-time strikeforce middleweight champion
American Hunger
by Richard WrightAmerican Hunger, published posthumously in 1977, was originally intended as the second volume of Black Boy.
Black Boy (P. S. Series)
by Richard Wright<P>Richard Wright grew up in the woods of Mississippi, with poverty, hunger, fear, and hatred. He lied, stole, and raged at those around him; at six he was a "drunkard," hanging about taverns. <P>Surly, brutal, cold, suspicious, and self-pitying, he was surrounded on one side by whites who were either indifferent to him, pitying, or cruel, and on the other by blacks who resented anyone trying to rise above the common lot. <P>Black Boy is Richard Wright's powerful account of his journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South. <P>It is at once an unashamed confession and a profound indictment-a poignant and disturbing record of social injustice and human suffering. <P>[This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 11-12 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
Black Boy: A Memoir (P. S. Ser.)
by Richard WrightA controversial, celebrated, and classic text of American autobiography, Black Boy is a subtly crafted narrative of Richard Wright's journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South. Enduring poverty, hunger, fear, abuse, and hatred while growing up in Mississippi, Wright was desperate for a different way of life and headed north, eventually coming to Chicago, where he forged a new path and began his career as a writer. At the end of the book, Wright sits pencil in hand, determined to &“hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo.&” Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
Black Boy [Seventy-fifth Anniversary Edition] (P. S. Ser.)
by Richard WrightA special 75th anniversary edition of Richard Wright's powerful and unforgettable memoir, with a new foreword by John Edgar Wideman and an afterword by Malcolm Wright, the author’s grandson.When it exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, Black Boy was both praised and condemned. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that “if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy.” Yet from 1975 to 1978, Black Boy was banned in schools throughout the United States for “obscenity” and “instigating hatred between the races.”Wright’s once controversial, now celebrated autobiography measures the raw brutality of the Jim Crow South against the sheer desperate will it took to survive as a black boy. Enduring poverty, hunger, fear, abuse, and hatred while growing up in the woods of Mississippi, Wright lied, stole, and raged at those around him—whites indifferent, pitying, or cruel and blacks resentful of anyone trying to rise above their circumstances. Desperate for a different way of life, he may his way north, eventually arriving in Chicago, where he forged a new path and began his career as a writer. At the end of Black Boy, Wright sits poised with pencil in hand, determined to “hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo.” Seventy-five year later, his words continue to reverberate. “To read Black Boy is to stare into the heart of darkness,” John Edgar Wideman writes in his foreword. “Not the dark heart Conrad searched for in Congo jungles but the beating heart I bear.” One of the great American memoirs, Wright’s account is a poignant record of struggle and endurance—a seminal literary work that illuminates our own time.
A Life with Words: A Writer's Memoir
by Richard WrightFrom the acclaimed writer of the beloved Clara Callan comes a beautifully crafted, charming portrait of the writing life. Combining his characteristic wit and self-deprecation with his extraordinary imagination and insight, Richard B. Wright has created a deeply affecting memoir that reads like a novel.As a small, watchful boy growing up in a working class family in Midland, Ontario, during the Second World War, Wright gradually discovered that he saw the world through different eyes. His intellectual and sexual awakenings, his exploits as a young salesman in Canadian publishing, his painful struggles to become a writer--all of this is balanced against the extraordinary reception that in the 1970s greeted his first novel, The Weekend Man, which was published around the world to great acclaim. In spite of the sometimes crippling depression that haunted him and the ups and downs of the mid-life writer, he would finally achieve overwhelming success with Clara Callan, the Giller-winning work that swept every award in Canada and revitalized his career. Lovers of Wright's work will appreciate behind-the-scenes glimpses of his craft in individual novels and his exploration of how a writer transmutes experience into art. And readers will enjoy his thoughtful exploration of the essential role of storytelling in our lives. A Life with Words is both a celebration of the writing life and a deeply personal--at times revelatory--invitation into the world of the imagination.
Our Man in Tehran: The Truth Behind the Secret Mission to Save Six Americans During the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Ambassador Who Worked with the CIA to Bring Them Home
by Robert WrightThe world watched with fear in November 1979, when Iranian students infiltrated and occupied the American embassy in Tehran. The Americans were caught entirely by surprise, and what began as a swift and seemingly short-lived takeover evolved into a crisis that would see fifty four embassy personnel held hostage, most for 444 days. As Tehran exploded in a fury of revolution, six American diplomats secretly escaped. For three months, Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador to Iran-along with his wife and embassy staffers-concealed the Americans in their homes, always with the prospect that the revolutionary government of Ayatollah Khomeini would exact deadly consequences. The United States found itself handcuffed by a fractured, fundamentalist government it could not understand and had completely underestimated. With limited intelligence resources available on the ground and anti-American sentiment growing, President Carter turned to Taylor to work with the CIA in developing their exfiltration plans. Until now, the true story behind Taylor's involvement in the escape of the six diplomats and the Eagle Claw commando raid has remained classified. InOur Man in Tehran,Robert Wright takes us back to a major historical flashpoint and unfolds a story of cloak-and-dagger intrigue that brings a new understanding of the strained relationship between the Unites States and Iran. With the world once again focused on these two countries, this book is the stuff of John le Carreacute; and Daniel Silva made real.
Balloonomania Belles: Daredevil Divas Who First Took to the Sky
by Sharon WrightAward-winning journalist Sharon Wright presents a fascinating account of the fabulous eighteenth and nineteenth-century female pioneers of balloon flight. More than a century before the first airplane took flight, women were heading for the heavens in crazy, inspired contraptions that brought both danger and glory. Women were in the vanguard of the “Balloonomania” craze that took hold in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, sweeping across Europe and then the world. Their exploits were a vital element of our first voyages into the sky. In a time when women’s lives were often severely limited by law and convention, these intrepid pioneers took on an exhilarating quest for spectacle, adventure, and danger. From the perilous ascent in 1784 by feisty French teenager Elisabeth Thible, female aeronauts have never looked back . . . or down. But who were these brave women who fearlessly—and scandalously—took to the air? In Balloonomania Belles, journalist Sharon Wright reveals the hair-raising adventures of the first flying women in a book that celebrates the brightest stars of an extraordinary era in human achievement.
The Lost History of the Lady Aeronauts
by Sharon Wright&“A simply brilliant history that rescues from undeserved obscurity a roster of pioneering women in the very beginning of the age of aviation.&” —Midwest Book Review From have-a-go Georgians to emancipated Edwardians, the lady aeronauts were actresses, writers, heiresses, scientists, engineers, explorers, showgirls and suffragettes. These unsung trailblazers for female freedom enjoyed lives shot through with sheer courage and joie de vivre. Yet they were all but forgotten. Hold on tight for a white-knuckle balloon ride through their remarkable real-life stories . . . &“You couldn&’t want for a better antidote to pinkness than these tales of girls and women unleashing their pluck and inventiveness in the unregulated age of balloonomania . . . This is history at its most satisfying.&” —Damesnet &“Sharon Wright tells a fabulous tale, and has uncovered some terrific stories of long forgotten heroines of the air. Some stories are comic, many are tragic, many are a bit of both, and she tells it brilliantly.&” —Bristol Post &“History has never been so much fun!&” —What&’sHerName Podcast
Mother of the Brontës: When Maria Met Patrick - 200th Anniversary Edition
by Sharon WrightThe groundbreaking biography of Maria Branwell reveals a remarkable woman who has been lost in the shadows of her gifted children, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. The witty, clever and intrepid Cornish lady of letters, lover of Patrick and mother of genius has been missing for too long. The extraordinary Brontës were a family like no other and it all began when Maria met Patrick.
Simeon's Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till
by Simeon Wright Herb BoydNo modern tragedy has had a greater impact on race relations in America than the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old black boy from Chicago whose body was battered beyond recognition and dumped in the Tallahatchie River while visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, in 1955. This grotesque crime became the catalyst for the civil rights movement. Simeon Wright saw and heard his cousin Emmett whistle at Caroline Bryant at a grocery store; he was sleeping in the same bed with him when her husband came in and took Emmett away; and he was at the sensational trial. Simeon's Story tells what it was like to grow up in Mississippi in the 1940s; paints a vivid portrait of Moses Wright, Simeon's father, a preacher who bravely testified against the killers; explains exactly what happened during Emmett's visit to Mississippi, clearing up a number of common misperceptions; and shows how the Wright family lived in fear after the trial, and how they endured the years afterward. Simeon's Story is the gripping coming-of-age memoir of a man who was deeply hurt by the horror of his cousin's murder and, through prayer and hope, has come to believe that it's now time to tell it like it was.
Play Pretty Blues
by Snowden WrightThe mysteries of blues legend Robert Johnson's live and death long ago became myth. Part researched reconstruction, part vivid imagination, this lyrical novel brings Johnson alive through the voices of his six wives, revealing the husband and son inside the legend, illuminating the vacuum Johnson left in the worlds of those who loved him and those he would never meet.
Peacemakers (People You Need To Know #2)
by Susanna WrightBe inspired by 20 of the world's most famous advocates for peace. Discover the lives of ten female and ten male peace-makers from throughout history and from around the world. This book is the perfect introduction to some of the most dramatic and world-changing lives of people who have made a huge impact through the advocation of peace. Stunning artwork brings to life ten male and ten female peacemakers from across history and from around the world.Clear, concise text presents their significant contribution to our world alongside the stand-out biographical information from their fascinating lives.
Philosophers (People You Need To Know #1)
by Susanna WrightThink outside of the box with 20 of the world's brilliant thinkers. Discover the lives of ten female and ten male philosophers from throughout history and from around the world. Philosophers is a perfect introduction to philosophy and some of the most dramatic and world-changing lives that challenged the thinking around reason, race, gender, politics, difference and diversity. Which philosopher felt that thinking proved he existed? Which philosopher wants us to abolish all governments? Who set the groundwork for the feminist movement? Who should we blame for anxiety? Meet Gargi Vachaknavi in India, the Greeks, such as Socrates and Aristotle, then Descartes, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Nietzsche, Arendt, de Beauvoir, Fanon and Piper - just to name a few! Beautiful and characterful portraits help bring to life these important thinkers and their contributions to our world. Clear, concise text presents key philosophical concepts alongside the stand-out biographical information from fascinating thinkers.
Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde
by Thomas WrightAn entirely new kind of biography, Built of Book explores the mind and personality of Oscar Wilde through his taste in books. This intimate account of Oscar Wilde's life and writings is richer, livelier, and more personal than any book.