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How Churchill Waged War: The Most Challenging Decisions of the Second World War
by Allen PackwoodAn analytical investigation into Prime Minister Winston Churchill&’s decision-making process during every stage of World War II. When Winston Churchill accepted the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, he insisted in also becoming Minister of Defence. This, though, meant that he alone would be responsible for the success or failure of Britain&’s war effort. It also meant that he would be faced with many monumental challenges and utterly crucial decisions upon which the fate of Britain and the free world rested. With the limited resources available to the UK, Churchill had to pinpoint where his country&’s priorities lay. He had to respond to the collapse of France, decide if Britain should adopt a defensive or offensive strategy, choose if Egypt and the war in North Africa should take precedence over Singapore and the UK&’s empire in the East, determine how much support to give the Soviet Union, and how much power to give the United States in controlling the direction of the war. In this insightful investigation into Churchill&’s conduct during the Second World War, Allen Packwood, BA, MPhil (Cantab), FRHistS, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, enables the reader to share the agonies and uncertainties faced by Churchill at each crucial stage of the war. How Churchill responded to each challenge is analyzed in great detail and the conclusions Packwood draws are as uncompromising as those made by Britain&’s wartime leader as he negotiated his country through its darkest days.
Louis XIV: The Real Sun King
by Aurora von Goeth Jules HarperA concise, straightforward biography of the seventeenth-century French monarch and his seventy-two-year reign. Innovator. Tyrant. Consummate showman. Passionate lover of women. After the death of King Louis XIII in 1643, the French crown went to his first-born son and heir, four-year old Louis XIV. In the extraordinary seventy-two years that followed, Louis le Grand—France&’s self-styled &“Sun King&”—ruled France and its people, leaving his unique and permanent mark on history and shaping fashion, art, culture and architecture like none other before. This frank and concise book gives the reader a personal glimpse into the Sun King&’s life and times as we follow his rise in power and influence: from a miraculous royal birth no one ever expected to the rise of king as absolute monarch, through the evolution of the glittering Château de Versailles, scandals and poison, four wars and many more mistresses . . . right up to his final days. Absolute monarch. Appointed by God. This is Louis XIV, the man. We will uncover his glorious and not-so-glorious obsessions. His debilitating health issues. His drive and passions. And we will dispel some myths, plus reveal the people in his intimate circle working behind the scenes on the Louis propaganda machine to ensure his legacy stayed in the history books forever. This easy-to-read narrative is accompanied by a plethora of little-known artworks, so if you&’re a Louis XIV fan or student, or just eager to know more about France&’s most famous king, we invite you to delve into court life of seventeenth-century French aristocracy, the period known as Le Grand Siècle—&“The Grand Century.&”
Gallipoli Victoria Cross Hero: The Price of Valour: The Triumph and Tragedy of Hugo Throssell VC
by John HamiltonThe WWI biography of a Victory Cross recipient who fought bravely at Gallipoli, only to be shunned after the war for speaking out against it. The son of a former Premier of Western Australia, Hugo Throssell volunteered to join the Imperial Australian Force during the Great War. He was shipped to Gallipoli in 1915 with the 10th Australian Light Horse Regiment, which fought in a dismounted role. He was involved in the famous charge of the 10th Light Horse at the Battle of the Nek and the Battle of Hill 60. Throssell was severely wounded during the Battle of Hill 60, but refused to leave his post until the fighting was over. As soon as his wounds were dressed, he went back into the firing line until he was ordered to stand down by the Medical Officer. His determination saved his battalion at a critical moment. After the war, Throssell became an outspoken opponent of war, for which he was widely condemned. It also made employment difficult and he fell into debt. When he tried to pawn his Victoria Cross, he was offered only ten shillings. He committed suicide at forty-nine. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this is a moving tale of heroism and tragedy.
Gunboat Command: The Biography of Lieutenant Commander Robert Hichens DSO* DSC** RNVR
by Antony HichensThis biography draws heavily on the personal diaries of the subject, Robert Hichens (or Hitch as he was universally known).After a brief description of his early life, time at Oxford, his motor racing achievements (including trophies at Le Mans in his Aston Martin) and RN training, the book focuses on his exceptional wartime experiences. Hitch was the most highly decorated RNVR officer of the war with two DSOs, three DSCs and three Mentions in Despatches. He was recommended for a posthumous VC. We read of his early days in vulnerable minesweepers and the Dunkirk Dynamo operation, (his first DSC).In late 1940 he joined Coastal Forces serving in the very fast MGBs, soon earning his own command and shortly after command of his Flotilla. He was the first to capture an E-Boat. His successful leadership led to many more successes and his reputation as a fearless and dynamic leader remains a legend today.The book contains detailed and graphic accounts of running battles against the more heavily armed E-boats. Tragically he was killed in action in April 1943, having refused promotion and a job ashore.
Caracalla: A Military Biography
by Ilkka SyvänneThis biography of the Roman Emperor Caracalla challenges his tyrannical reputation with a revealing narrative of his social reforms and military campaigns. Caracallahas one of the worst reputations of any Roman Emperor. Many ancient historians were very hostile, and the 18th century English historian Edward Gibbon even dubbed him the common enemy of mankind. Yet his reign was considered by at least one Roman author to be the apogee of the Roman Empire. He was guilty of many murders and massacres—including that of his own brother, ex-wife and daughter. Yet he instituted the Antonine Constitution, granting citizenship to all free men in the Empire. He was also popular with the army, improving their pay and cultivating the image of sharing their hardships. Historian Ilkka Syvanne explains how the biased ancient sources in combination with the stern looking statues of the emperor have created a distorted image of the man. He then reconstructs a chronology of Caracalla&’s reign, focusing on his military campaigns and reforms, to offer a balanced view of his legacy. Caracalla offers the first complete overview of the policies, events and conflicts he oversaw and explains how and why these contributed to the military crisis of the third century.
Albert Ball VC: The Fighter Pilot Hero of World War I
by Colin PengellyAn action-packed military biography of a British fighter pilot and his rise through ranks during World War I. World War I pilot Albert Ball&’s invincible courage and determination made him a legend not only in Britain but also amongst his enemies, to whom the sight of his lone Nieuport Scout brought fear. Ball enlisted in the British army in 1914 with the 2/7th Battalion (Robin Hoods) of the Sherwood Foresters, Notts, and Derby Regiment. By October, 1914, he had reached the rank of Sergeant and then became Second-Lieutenant to his own battalion in the same month. In June, 1915, he trained as a pilot in Hendon. Then in October, he obtained Royal Aero Club Certificate and was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He further trained at Norwich and Upavon, being awarded the pilot&’s brevet in January, 1916. In May, he opened his score, shooting down an Albatros C-type over Beaumont. Days later he shot down two LVG C-types, while flying his Nieuport 5173. Captain Albert Ball made his final flight on May 7, 1917, when he flew as part of an eleven-strong hunting patrol into action against Jagdstaffel 11, led by Lothar Von Richthofen. Albert was pursuing the Albatros Scout of Lothar, who crash-landed, wounded. Then many witnessed Albert dive out of a cloud and crash. He died minutes later in the arms of a French girl, Madame Cecille Deloffre. Ball rose from obscurity to the top rank of contemporary fighter pilots in only 15 months. In that period, he had been awarded the MC, DSO, and two Bars, and was credited with at least 44 victories.
Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice, and Observations
by Peter MillerA love letter to the small shop, and shop owners everywhere, by beloved bookseller Peter Miller.For more than four decades, Peter Miller has run a design bookshop that shares his name in Seattle. He has also written three of his own books, manuals about cooking and about food and about eating together. In Shopkeeping, Miller writes for the first time about his other love: shopkeeping."There is a tradition of shopkeeping, a tradition of codes, etiquette, and customs. For the most part, it is an oral history, passed along, person to person. You learn to be a retailer—not by going to college, but by going to work. You learn from people who have learned how to run a shop." [from the Introduction]Over ten chapters, Miller crafts stories from the bookshop floor with wry humor and skillful storytelling. Readers will laugh out loud as they come to understand along the way that small shops characterize our towns and cities, making them unique, special, and worth visiting and living near. An essay collection for book and bookshop lovers, small business owners, and Seattle natives, transplants, and visitors, Shopkeeping captures the art and heart of running a local shop cherished by the community that surrounds it.
Queer Power Couples: On Love and Possibility
by Hannah Murphy WinterThis photographic celebration of queer love and excellence gathers fourteen LGBTQ+ power couples, offering a glimpse into the journeys that led to their meaningful relationships and thriving careers.From designer Debbie Millman’s ardent courtship of writer Roxane Gay to the romantic and creative relationship forged between Perfume Genius bandmates Mike Hadreas and Alan Wyffels on stage during their first world tour, this beautiful book offers a closer look into the lives of fourteen inspiring LGBTQ+ couples and the meet-cutes, success stories, and personal reflections that made them the role models they are today. These icons come from a range of backgrounds—they are trailblazers who lead research labs, kitchens, and news organizations; create life-giving art and music; and tell queer stories in award-winning books, films, and television shows.With in-depth original interviews by journalist Hannah Murphy Winter and intimate photography by their wife, Billie Winter, this diverse collection is a jubilant celebration of queer love and an empowering reminder to younger LGBTQ+ generations of their limitless possibilities.AMAZING PROFILES: This superlative collection features more than twenty-five queer leaders in film and TV, the music industry, journalism, academia, fine art, and nonprofits. Read about showrunner ND Stevenson and comic artist Molly Knox Ostertag, astrologer Chani Nicholas and nonprofit founder Sonya Passi, director Anthony Hemingway and actor Steven Norfleet, chefs Aisha Ibrahim and Samantha Beaird, and many more inspiring figures. BEAUTIFUL IMAGES: Intimate, joyful, and moving, the photography of Billie Winter captures a diverse group of queer icons in the worlds they have built for themselves. Her candid, organic images of the couples share intimate moments of laughter, conversation, and comfortable silence. And at the end of every photoshoot, she asked the couples to photograph each other — capturing the couples' love and connection with a vulnerability that only they could. This gorgeous book presents LGBTQ+ relationships in all their multiplicity.OWN VOICES: This is a book about queer power couples created by a queer couple. In-depth original interviews conducted by journalist Hannah Murphy Winter offer insightful context into the lives and careers of the LGBTQ+ changemakers, and photographs by her wife, Billie Winter, capture genuine, unscripted moments between the subjects. This is a meaningful gift for queer folks, allies who want to learn more about queer culture, and anyone who wants to uplift the stories of the LGBTQ+ community.Perfect for:Queer young people and adults and their loved onesAllies, advocates, and activistsFans of portrait anthologies and storytelling projects like Humans of New YorkFans of LGBTQ+ photography books like Loving: a Photographic History of Men In Love 1850s–1950s, We Are Everywhere, and Queer Love In ColorGift-giving for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Pride Month, and other special occasions
The Boy From Clearwater: Book 2
by Pei-Yun YuThe "glorious" sequel to Freeman Award-winning The Boy from Clearwater After his imprisonment in Green Island, Kun-lin struggles to pick up where he left off ten years earlier. He reconnects with his childhood crush Kimiko and finds work as an editor, jumping from publisher to publisher until finally settling at an advertising company. But when manhua publishing becomes victim to censorship, and many of his friends lose their jobs, Kun-lin takes matters into his own hands. He starts a children’s magazine, Prince, for a group of unemployed artists and his old inmates who cannot find work anywhere else. Kun-lin’s life finally seems to be looking up... but how long will this last? Forty years later, Kun-lin serves as a volunteer at the White Terror Memorial Park, promoting human rights education. There, he meets Yu Pei-Yun, a young college professor who provides him with an opportunity to reminisce on his past and how he picked himself up after grappling with bankruptcy and depression. With the end of martial law, Kun-lin and other former New-Lifers felt compelled to mobilize to rehabilitate fellow White Terror victims, forcing him to face his past head-on. While navigating his changing homeland, he must conciliate all parts of himself––the victim and the savior, the patriot and the rebel, a father to the future generation and a son to the old Taiwan––before he can bury the ghosts of his past. P R A I S E ★ "Yu, Zhou, and King bear glorious witness to little-known tragic history by empathetically spotlighting an everyday superhero who survived—and thrives." –Booklist (starred) ★ "An accessible, timely account of Taiwan’s struggles for democracy and human rights as experienced through a personal lens." –Kirkus (starred) "Triumphant and rewarding." –Foreword
A Summer with Pascal
by Antoine CompagnonFrom an eminent scholar, a spirited introduction to one of the great polymaths in the history of Europe.Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) is best known in the English-speaking world for his contributions to mathematics and physics, with both a triangle and a law in fluid mechanics named after him. Meanwhile, the classic film My Night at Maud’s popularized Pascal’s wager, an invitation to faith that has inspired generations of theologians. Despite the immensity of his reputation, few read him outside French schools. In A Summer with Pascal, celebrated literary critic Antoine Compagnon opens our minds to a figure somehow both towering and ignored.Compagnon provides a bird’s-eye view of Pascal’s life and significance, making this volume an ideal introduction. Still, scholars and neophytes alike will profit greatly from his masterful readings of the Pensées—a cornerstone of Western philosophy—and the Provincial Letters, in which Pascal advanced wry theological critiques of his contemporaries. The concise, taut chapters build upon one another, easing into writings often thought to be forbidding and dour. With Compagnon as our guide, these works are not just accessible but enchanting.A Summer with Pascal brings the early modern thinker to life in the present. In an age of profound existential doubt and assaults on truth and reason, in which religion and science are so often crudely opposed, Pascal’s sophisticated commitment to both challenges us to meet the world with true intellectual vigor.
Zhou Enlai: A Life
by Jian ChenThe definitive biography of Zhou Enlai, the first premier and preeminent diplomat of the People’s Republic of China, who protected his country against the excesses of his boss—Chairman Mao.Zhou Enlai spent twenty-seven years as premier of the People’s Republic of China and ten as its foreign minister. He was the architect of the country’s administrative apparatus and its relationship to the world, as well as its legendary spymaster. Richard Nixon proclaimed him “the greatest statesman of our era.” Yet Zhou has always been overshadowed by Chairman Mao. Chen Jian brings Zhou into the light, offering a nuanced portrait of his complex life as a revolutionary, a master diplomat, and a man with his own vision and aspirations who did much to make China, as well as the larger world, what it is today.Born to a declining mandarin family in 1898, Zhou received a classical education and as a teenager spent time in Japan. As a young man, driven by the desire for China’s development, Zhou embraced the communist revolution as a vehicle of China’s salvation. He helped Mao govern through a series of transformations, including the disastrous Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. Yet, as Chen shows, Zhou was never a committed Maoist. His extraordinary political and bureaucratic skill, combined with his centrist approaches, enabled him to mitigate the enormous damage caused by Mao’s radicalism.When Zhou died in 1976, the PRC that we know of was not yet visible on the horizon; he never saw glistening twenty-first-century Shanghai or the broader emergence of Chinese capitalism. But it was Zhou’s work that shaped the nation whose influence and power are today felt in every corner of the globe.
A Black Girl in the Middle: Essays on (Allegedly) Figuring It All Out
by Shenequa Golding'Growing up in Queens, I didn't know being named Shenequa was considered "ghetto" or uncouth. It was only later in life that I realized I was being judged by a decision I had no control over... I will examine the double-standard Black girls with big names like Shenequa face, and the quick math we have to calculate when trying to de-escalate drama.'In A BLACK GIRL IN THE MIDDLE, a timely, compelling, and blazingly honest essay collection, Shenequa Golding holds up her magnifying glass to both her own experiences and those of young Black women everywhere. With her trademark wit and originality, Shenequa covers identity-searching themes of white supremacy, feminism, misogyny, love, sex and heartbreak. But this isn't just a book about Black women's trauma, it is also a book that embraces and celebrates the things that make Black women different. For readers of SLAY IN YOUR LANE, Candice Brathwaite and Issa Rae.
Hypochondria: What's Behind the Hidden Costs of Healthcare in America
by Hal Rosenbluth Marnie HallA hypochondriac CEO shares his journey through the broken American healthcare system, analyzing its costliness and proposing a solution.New York Times–bestselling author Hal Rosenbluth is the maverick executive behind Take Care Health Systems, the former president of Walgreens Health and Wellness and the now chairman and CEO of New Ocean Health Solutions. He is also a hypochondriac who amassed 227 medical claims in just two years. In Hypochondria: What&’s Behind the Hidden Costs of Healthcare in America, Rosenbluth and co-author Marnie Hall venture through Rosenbluth&’s 227 claims. They take a brutally honest, but humorous journey from the evolution of Rosenbluth&’s global management firm to his onset of Type 2 Diabetes, a tale woven with sleeping meds, nocturnal PB&J sandwiches, and anti-anxiety drugs; to founding a company with the youngest Johnson & Johnson president and his most recent entry to digital healthcare.Hypochondria is not just a memoir. Along the way, the authors address the broader impact that each stakeholder—health plans, providers, health systems, and big pharma—have on the nation&’s overstressed healthcare system. The book also offers a well-rounded guide to the traditional and not-so-typical solutions that can help people manage illness anxiety. Entertaining and enlightening, Hypochondria opens a new dialogue about how the U.S. can get better at managing health and arresting costs of care, which includes promoting greater discussion amongst patients, families, providers, employers, and healthcare executives. This book should serve as a beacon for change, unraveling the commercialization of healthcare, dissecting Big Pharma&’s role in America&’s pill-popping culture, and proposing alternative, disruptive solutions.
The Mango Chronicle
by Ricardo José González-RothiIn an entangled exodus to freedom during a nuclear missile crisis, a young boy' s Cuban Huck-Finn-childhood is upended. After a decades-long struggle with identity, he transitions from refugee to “ good” American, returning to his roots for redemption. He left his birthplace during a nuclear missile crisis. As a refugee in a foreign land he struggles to adjust to a new set of life circumstances. The author recollects his childhood in his Cuban barrio from the eyes of a child, and then decades later, from the vantage of a grown adult. From stealing a rowboat and being nearly capsized by a Russian tanker, to befriending an old fisherman who tells him a haunting tale, to being bullied by a neighborhood thug, to cockfights gone wrong, to witnessing the plight of political prisoners during an invasion, to dealing with the injustices of growing up in a machismo and homophobic culture, he led a Cuban Huck Finn childhood. Arriving in a foreign land which is at times unwelcoming, he struggles to assimilate while preserving his native soul. Eventually he finds redemption upon circling back to his roots when he returns to the island.
A Black Girl in the Middle: Essays on (Allegedly) Figuring It All Out
by Shenequa Golding'Growing up in Queens, I didn't know being named Shenequa was considered "ghetto" or uncouth. It was only later in life that I realized I was being judged by a decision I had no control over... I will examine the double-standard Black girls with big names like Shenequa face, and the quick math we have to calculate when trying to de-escalate drama.'In A BLACK GIRL IN THE MIDDLE, a timely, compelling, and blazingly honest essay collection, Shenequa Golding holds up her magnifying glass to both her own experiences and those of young Black women everywhere. With her trademark wit and originality, Shenequa covers identity-searching themes of white supremacy, feminism, misogyny, love, sex and heartbreak. But this isn't just a book about Black women's trauma, it is also a book that embraces and celebrates the things that make Black women different. For readers of SLAY IN YOUR LANE, Candice Brathwaite and Issa Rae.
Bread and Bibles: D.L. Moody's Evangelism and Social Action
by Gregg QuiggleWhen I was at work in the City Relief Society, before the fire, I used to go to a poor sinner with the Bible in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other. –D. L. MoodyDwight Lyman Moody was a preacher, pastor, and visionary whose impact is still felt around the world. He was a servant to poor and immigrant communities, an evangelist who traveled the globe, and a champion of Christian education—Moody founded Moody Publishers and he started three schools, including Moody Bible Institute, which has trained more missionaries than any other single institution in the United States. Dr. Gregg Quiggle explores the life and legacy of a man who helped shape American evangelicalism. Taking a focused and in-depth look at the social vision and missionary work—triumphs and failures—of D. L. Moody, Quiggle tells the story of a man whose impact continues to this day.
A Look at My Life
by Eileen AgarA beautiful new edition of the long out-of-print autobiography of the pioneering Surrealist artist Eileen Agar. Whether dancing on the rooftops in Paris, sharing ideas with Pablo Picasso, or gathering starfish on the beaches of Cornwall, Eileen Agar transformed the everyday into the extraordinary. Her legacy as a pioneering figure in the surrealist movement is firmly established, and her work continues to captivate audiences with its otherworldly beauty and imaginative power. Agar’s life was no less extraordinary than her art. In A Look at My Life, she traces her life from her birth in Argentina to the late 1980s. She gives an intimate account of very different worlds: grand house parties in Buenos Aires and Belgravia as a young girl give way to la vie bohème in London and Paris and a peripatetic existence with her lifelong partner, Hungarian writer Joseph Bard. She enjoyed enriching friendships with contemporaries Paul Nash, Ezra Pound, Evelyn Waugh, Gertrude Hermes, and Henry Moore, while a summer spent in the South of France with Picasso, Lee Miller, and Man Ray had a lasting impact. Agar introduces them and many others into the narrative of her artistic development; above all, it is Agar’s own unwavering resilience, infectious energy, and drive that permeates this compelling memoir. Bringing her work to life in all its vibrancy and variety, this updated autobiography is populated with Agar’s personal selection of photographs of family, friends, and lovers alongside over fifty color illustrations of collages, paintings, and assemblages spanning her life’s work.
Quilting Through Life: Patterns and Prose for Every Stage of Life (Spiral Bound to Lay Flat)
by Jenny DoanStep-by-step quilting instructions and personal stories to inspire both seasoned pros and new quilters alike.America's quilter, Jenny Doan, has always believed that quilts are more than fabric and stitches. They become keepers of memories, milestones, and stories; creating profound connections across generations.By alternating personal stories with detailed step-by-step guidance on how you can make quilts for all of life's milestones—from new births, to marriages, to loss and grief—Jenny comes alongside you to share the joy and transformative power of quilting in her passionate and innovative way.With beautiful, full-color images and easy-to-follow diagrams to help you with your own projects, Quilting Through Life is a creative and authentic guidebook to the art of quilting. It's an art designed to be shared with family and friends, crafted from the scraps of memories, laughter, and tears. It's an art that allows us to express how we feel, create something beautiful, and extend the warmth in our hearts to wrap around those we love.From choosing your fabrics and selecting a pattern to creating mitered corners, Quilting Through Life will walk you through how to stitch a legacy of love for every stage of life.
The Way You Make Me Feel: Love in Black and Brown
by Nina Sharma&“Nina Sharma&’s thoughtful debut is equal parts memoir, criticism, and long-ranging conversation with a new friend. A love story for the ruminative reader that is generous with both scrutiny and romance.&” —Melissa Febos, author of Girlhood, winner of the National Book Critics Circle AwardA hilarious and moving memoir in essays about love and allyship, told through one Asian and Black interracial relationshipWhen Nina Sharma meets Quincy while hitching a ride to a friend&’s Fourth of July barbecue, she spots a favorite book, Maxine Hong Kingston&’s The Woman Warrior, in the back seat of his cramped car, and senses a sadness from him that&’s all too familiar to her. She is immediately intrigued—who is this man? In The Way You Make Me Feel, Sharma chronicles her and Quincy&’s love story, and in doing so, examines how their Black and Asian relationship becomes the lens through which she moves through and understands the world.In a series of sensual and sparkling essays, Sharma reckons with caste, race, colorism, and mental health, moving from her seemingly idyllic suburban childhood through her and Quincy&’s early sweeping romance in the so-called postracial Obama years and onward to their marriage. Growing up, she hears her parents talk about the racism they experienced at the hands of white America—and as an adult, she confronts the complexities of American racism and the paradox of her family&’s disappointment when she starts dating a Black man. While watching The Walking Dead, Sharma dives into the eerie parallels between the brutal death of Steven Yeun&’s character and the murder of Vincent Chin. She examines the trailblazing Mira Nair film Mississippi Masala, revolutionary in its time for depicting a love story between an Indian woman and a Black man on screen, and considers why interracial relationships are so often assumed to include white people. And as she and Quincy decide whether to start a family, they imagine a universe in which Vice President Kamala Harris could possibly be their time-traveling daughter.Written with a keen critical eye and seamlessly weaving in history, pop culture, and politics, The Way You Make Me Feel reaffirms the idea that allyship is an act of true love.
The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness
by Kenn KaufmanRenowned naturalist Kenn Kaufman examines the scientific discoveries of John James Audubon and his artistic and ornithologist peers to show how what they saw (and what they missed) reflects how we perceive and understand the natural world.Raging ambition. Towering egos. Competition under a veneer of courtesy. Heroic effort combined with plagiarism, theft, exaggeration, and fraud. This was the state of bird study in eastern North America during the early 1800s, as a handful of intrepid men raced to find the last few birds that were still unknown to science. The most famous name in the bird world was John James Audubon, who painted spectacular portraits of birds. But although his images were beautiful, creating great art was not his main goal. Instead, he aimed to illustrate (and write about) as many different species as possible, obsessed with trying to outdo his rival, Alexander Wilson. George Ord, a fan and protégé of Wilson, held a bitter grudge against Audubon for years, claiming he had faked much of his information and his scientific claims. A few of Audubon&’s birds were pure fiction, and some of his writing was invented or plagiarized. Other naturalists of the era, including Charles Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon), John Townsend, and Thomas Nuttall, also became entangled in the scientific derby, as they stumbled toward an understanding of the natural world—an endeavor that continues to this day. Despite this intense competition, a few species—including some surprisingly common songbirds, hawks, sandpipers, and more—managed to evade discovery for years. Here, renowned bird expert and artist Kenn Kaufman explores this period in history from a new angle, by considering the birds these people discovered and, especially, the ones they missed. Kaufman has created portraits of the birds that Audubon never saw, attempting to paint them in that artist&’s own stunning style, as a way of examining the history of natural sciences and nature art. He shows how our understanding of birds continues to gain clarity, even as some mysteries persist from Audubon&’s time until ours.
Mi Little Golden Book sobre Lionel Messi (Little Golden Book)
by Roberta Ludlow¡Ayuda a tu niño a soñar en grande con esta biografía en español sobre el futbolista argentino Lionel Messi de Little Golden Book! ¡Las biografías de Little Golden Book representan la introducción perfecta a los libros no-ficción para lectores jóvenes, ¡así como entusiastas de todas las edades!Help your little one dream big with this Spanish language Little Golden Book biography about Argentine professional footballer Lionel Messi! Little Golden Book biographies are the perfect introduction to nonfiction for young readers!Este Little Golden Book sobre Lionel Messi —el delantero y jugador estrella de Argentina, FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, y Inter Miami quien es ampliamente reconocido como uno de los mejores jugadores de fútbol de todos los tiempos— es una inspiradora historia para narrar en voz alta a los pequeños lectores.This Little Golden Book about Lionel Messi--the record-smashing star forward for Argentina, FC Barcelona, and Paris Saint-Germain who is widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time--is an inspiring read-aloud for young readers.Look for more Little Golden Book biographies:Simone BilesJackie RobinsonMisty Copeland
First Love: Essays on Friendship
by Lilly DancygerA bold, poignant essay collection that treats women&’s friendships as the love stories they truly are, from the critically acclaimed author of Negative Space&“Fiercely felt and finely etched.&”—Leslie Jamison, New York Times bestselling author of The Empathy ExamsLilly Dancyger always thought of her closest friendships as great loves, complex and profound as any romance. When her beloved cousin was murdered just as both girls were entering adulthood, Dancyger&’s devotion to the women in her life took on a new urgency—a desire to hold her friends close while she still could. In First Love, this urgency runs through a striking exploration of the bonds between women, from the intensity of adolescent best friendship and fluid sexuality to mothering and chosen family.Each essay in this incisive collection is grounded in a close female friendship in Dancyger&’s life, reaching outward to dissect cultural assumptions about identity and desire, and the many ways women create space for each other in a world that wants us small. Seamlessly weaving personal experience with literature and pop culture—ranging from fairy tales to true crime, from Anaïs Nin and Sylvia Plath to Heavenly Creatures and the &“sad girls&” of Tumblr—Dancyger&’s essays form a kaleidoscopic story of a life told through friendships, and an expansive interrogation of what it means to love each other.Though friendship will never be enough to keep us safe from the dangers of the world, Dancyger reminds us that love is always worth the risk, and that when tragedy strikes, it&’s our friends who will help us survive. In First Love, these essential bonds get their due.
The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness
by Andy McCulloughThe definitive biography of Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, examining the genesis of his brilliance, his epic quest to win the World Series, and his singular place within the evolving baseball landscape—based on exclusive interviews with Kershaw and more than 200 others. More than any baseball player of his generation, Clayton Kershaw has embodied the burden of athletic greatness, the prizes and perils that await those who strive for it all. He is a three-time Cy Young award winner, the first pitcher to win National League MVP since Bob Gibson, and a surefire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. Many of his peers consider him the greatest pitcher to ever climb atop a big-league mound. In an age when baseball became more impersonal, a sport altered by adherence to algorithms and actuarial tables, Kershaw personified the game&’s lingering humanity, with his joy and suffering on display each October as he chased a championship. He pitched through pain, placing his future at risk on the game&’s grandest stages. He endeared himself to teammates and foes alike with his refusal to make excuses, with his willingness to shoulder the blame when he failed. And he only further impressed them when he returned, year after year, even as his body broke down from the strain of his profession. The journey captivated fans in Los Angeles and beyond, so much so that when the Dodgers finally won a title in 2020, the baseball world exulted in his triumph. The Last of His Kind traces Kershaw&’s path from a boyhood fractured by divorce to his development as one of the most-heralded pitching prospects in Texas history to his emergence in Los Angeles as the spiritual heir to Sandy Koufax. But the book also charts Kershaw&’s place in baseball&’s changing landscape, as his own stubbornness butted against the game&’s evolution. The story of baseball in the 21st century can be told through Kershaw&’s career, from his apprenticeship with icons like Joe Torre and Greg Maddux, to his wary relationship with the implementation of analytics, to his victimhood in the 2017 sign-stealing scandal at the hands of the Houston Astros. The game has changed so much during Kershaw&’s illustrious career. To understand how baseball is played today, and how it got that way, you must understand the journey of Clayton Kershaw.
The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit
by Julian RandallThis brilliant, adult nonfiction debut from the acclaimed MG author and poet weaves two personal narratives of recovery and reclamation, spliced with a dazzle of pop-cultureThe Dead Don&’t Need Reminding is a braided story of Julian Randall&’s return from the cliff edge of a harrowing depression and his determination to retrace the hustle of a white-passing grandfather to the Mississippi town from which he was driven amid threats of tar and feather. Alternatively wry, lyrical, and heartfelt, Randall transforms pop culture moments into deeply personal explorations of grief, family, and the American way. He envisions his fight to stay alive through a striking medley of media ranging from Into the Spiderverse and Jordan Peele movies to BoJack Horseman and the music of Odd Future. Pulsing with life, sharp, and wickedly funny, The Dead Don&’t Need Reminding is Randall&’s journey to get his ghost story back.
A Light in the Darkness: The Music and Life of Joaquín Rodrigo
by Javier Suárez-Pajares Walter Aaron ClarkA composer of singular vision. Joaquín Rodrigo (1901–1999) is best known as the composer of one of the most popular works of music in the twentieth century—the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra. It’s been featured in movies and television commercials and remains a staple of concert programs for orchestras around the world. Miles Davis said, “After listening to it for a couple of weeks…I couldn’t get it out of my mind,” and he used it as inspiration for his album Sketches of Spain. But as Javier Suárez-Pajares and Walter Aaron Clark reveal in this musical biography—the first complete study in English—Rodrigo’s work and influence extend far beyond that singular composition. A Light in the Darkness takes us through Rodrigo’s childhood in Valencia, the onset of blindness at the age of three, and the beginnings of his musical education. He achieved some early success in Spain as a composer before moving to Paris in 1927 to advance his studies, following in the footsteps of other eminent Spanish composers like Isaac Albéniz, Joaquín Turina, and Manuel de Falla. There he enrolled in courses with composer Paul Dukas, met the woman who would become his wife, and earned the respect and friendship of Falla, who became his champion. Along the way, Rodrigo’s musical voice developed and matured as his horizons widened. Suárez-Pajares and Clark present a definitive account of the making of Rodrigo’s celebrated guitar concerto, even as they capture the breadth of Rodrigo’s compositional output, from solo works for piano and guitar through chamber music and vocal works to concertos and orchestral pieces. As they demonstrate, Rodrigo’s music is unmistakably Spanish, but with his own unique accent. Rodrigo’s life and career spanned a period of great tumult in Spain, and he had to navigate strong, shifting political and cultural currents—before, during, and after Franco. An authoritative life of one of the twentieth century’s great musical geniuses, A Light in the Darkness becomes a stunning tale of how art gets made under even the most challenging circumstances.