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Giacomo Puccini
by Conrad WilsonGiacomo Puccini (1858--1924), composer of such popular operas as La Bohème and Madame Butterfly, is most renowned for his gift as a melodist. With his final opera, Turandot, Puccini composed the last Italian work in the genre to hold a firm place in the international repertoire. The author draws attention to the felicity, daring and extraordinary colouring of his music, countering the view held during Puccini's lifetime that he was a retrogressive who aimed to shock. Puccini is shown to have been a new force in musical drama, and yet a man who remained insecure about his creative powers. Conrad Wilson's book is a polemical, passionate and rational attempt to set the man from Lucca among the immortal greats.
A Giacometti Portrait
by James LordWhen we look at a painting hanging on an art-gallery wall, we see only what the artist has chosen to disclose -- the finished work of art. What remains mysterious is the process of creation itself -- the making of the work of art. Everyone who has looked at paintings has wondered about this, and numerous efforts have been made to discover and depict the creative method of important artists. A Giacometti Portrait is a picture of one of the century's greatest artists at work.<P> James Lord sat for eighteen days while his friend Alberto Giacometti did his portrait in oil. The artist painted, and the model recorded the sittings and took photographs of the work in its various stages. What emerged was an illumination of what it is to be an artist and what it was to be Giacometti -- a portrait in prose of the man and his art. A work of great literary distinction, A Giacometti Portrait is, above all, a subtle and important evocation of a great artist.
GI Joe & Lillie: Remembering a Life of Love and Loyalty
by Joseph S. BonsallIn the early morning hours of June 6, tens of thousands of boys from the shores of Maine, the rivers of Mississippi, and the lakes of Minnesota were taking a boat ride that would go down in history. With the ocean spray in their faces and hearts practically beating out of their chests, American G.I.s peers through the mist and saw the beaches of France. The Allied invasion of Hitlers Europe was on! A skinny kid from Philly checked his rifle for the umpteenth time and swallowed hard. A strip of beach codenamed Utah lay just ahead.... The 1944 D-Day landings preserved freedom all over the world and affected countless individual lives including G.I. Joe and his wife, Lillie. After the war, G.I. Joe and Lillie settled into a life that included two children. Old wounds, though, never quite let G.I. Joe leave France. Nightmares and crippling injuries left him with only one true friend, but she was all he'd ever need. Lillie embarked on a decades-long love affair, from the moment she saw that skinny boy from Philly in an army hospital. Five days of courtship and 55 years of marriage strengthened by faith saw to that. Lillie prayed daily for her husband and children in the difficult years ahead. Together, they made it all the way home. In Lillie's America, it was sacrifice that preserved cherished freedoms, and loyalty kept families united and strong. Lillie's steadfast faith and heartfelt devotion is a lesson for our time. This story of patriotism, bravery abroad and at home, and most of all, deep commitment, sets in a gold frame the very essence of America. The story of G.I. Joe and Lillie helps us all remember that true love never, ever dies.
GI Brides: The Wartime Girls Who Crossed The Atlantic For Love (Gi Brides Ser. #1)
by Duncan Barrett Nuala CalviThey left everything behind to follow their hearts. . . . True stories that illuminate the experiences of British war brides in America after World War IIAmerican soldiers stationed in the UK came away winning more than just a war, they also won the hearts of young women across Britain. At the end of World War II, more than 70,000 GI brides followed the men they'd married—men they barely knew—to begin a new life in the United States. Meet four of these women:Sylvia Bradley, a loyal, bright-eyed optimist Rae Brewer, a resourceful, quick-witted tomboyMargaret Boyle, an English beauty who faced down every challengeGwendolyn Rowe, a brave woman ahead of her timeThough all made the bold choice to leave family and the world they knew, the journey each experienced was unique—ranging from romantic to heartbreaking.Fascinating and unforgettable, GI Brides pays homage to these brave women, propelled by love and hope, who embarked on an adventure that would change their lives.
GI Brides: An Exclusive E-book Short Story (GI Brides #1)
by Duncan Barrett Nuala CalviShe left everything behind to follow her heart … The enthralling true story of a British war bride after World War II.June Baker saw the American soldier walking toward her. In the gray of wartime England, he looked out of place—as if a blond movie star had just dropped out of the sky. They had a whirlwind courtship, and June fell in love with and married Borgy, the handsome GI from St. Charles, Missouri. She eagerly anticipated her new life in America. But when the war ended, June was horrified to learn they'd be moving to Germany—land of the enemy—instead. And just like that, June's unexpected journey began …June's story is a bonus installment of the international bestseller GI Brides.
The GI Bride
by Iris Jones SimantelDiscover the remarkable memoir by GI Bride and bestselling author Iris Jones Simantel. Iris had escaped the Blitz but now lived in crippling poverty after the war - until a chance meeting changed her life. Aged just sixteen, she fell in love and married US soldier Bob Irvine. And soon after she set sail for a new life in America.It was the 1950s, the land of hope, dreams and Doris Day movies. But Iris ended up in a cramped Chicago bungalow, shared with Bob's parents. With a baby on the way and a husband turning daily into a stranger, Iris was wracked by homesickness. Trapped and desperately lonely, she had to make a fresh start, in a country where hope and opportunity thrived.In this dramatic sequel to the Sunday Times bestseller, Far From the East End, we follow young Iris Jones Simantel from London to New York, Chicago and Las Vegas in her struggle to find work, love and a sense of belonging in a foreign land.Iris Simantel is the acclaimed winner of the Saga Magazine 'Life Story' competition, beating several thousand entries to publish her first memoir Far From the East End. Iris grew up in Dagenham and South Oxhey (with an evacuation to Wales in between) before marrying her GI husband Bob and moving to Chicago. She now resides in Devon where she enjoys writing as a pastime.
The Ghosts That Haunt Me: Memories of a Homicide Detective
by Steve RyanAfter years working in homicide, retired Toronto detective Steve Ryan reflects on six cases he will never forget.Retired detective Steve Ryan worked in Toronto’s homicide squad for over a decade. For Ryan, the stories of Toronto’s most infamous crimes were more than just a headline read over morning coffee — they were his everyday life. After investigating over one hundred homicides, Ryan can never forget the tragedies and the victims, even after his retirement from the police force. In The Ghosts That Haunt Me, he reflects on six of the many cases that greatly impacted him — seven people whose lives were senselessly taken — and that he still thinks about nearly every day. While the stories are hard to tell for Ryan, they were harder to live through. Yet somewhere between the crimes and the heartache is a glimmer of hope that good eventually does prevail and that healing can come after grief.
Ghosts on the Roof: Selected Journalism
by Whittaker Chambers Terry Teachout Milton HindusWhittaker Chambers is one of the most controversial figures in modern American history a former Communist spy who left the party, testified against Alger Hiss before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and wrote a classic autobiography, Witness. Dismissed by some as a crank, reviled by others as a traitor, Chambers still looms as a Dostoevskian figure over three decades after his death in 1961. A man of profound pessimism, rare vision, and remarkable literary talents, his continuing importance was attested to when Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded him the Medal of Freedom in 1984. Ghosts on the Roof, originally published in 1989, brings together more than fifty short stories, essays, articles, and reviews that originally appeared in Time, Life, National Review, Commonweal, The American Mercury, and the New Masses. Included are essays on Karl Marx, Reinhold Niebuhr, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, George Santayana, Dame Rebecca West, Ayn Rand, and Greta Garbo. These show Chambers at his best, as a peerless historian of ideas.
Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI
by Ryan SmithsonIn this extraordinary and harrowing memoir, follow one GI’s tour of duty as Ryan Smithson brings readers inside a world that few understand. This is no ordinary teenager’s story. Instead of opting for college life, Ryan Smithson joined the Army Reserve when he was seventeen. Two years later, he was deployed to Iraq as an Army engineer.His story—and the stories of thousands of other soldiers—is nothing like what you see on CNN or read about in the New York Times. This unforgettable story about combat, friendship, fear, and a soldier’s commitment to his country peels back the curtain on the realities of war in a story all Americans should read.
The Ghosts of Walter Crockett
by W. Edward CrockettPortland-native Ed Crockett’s memoir, The Ghosts of Walter Crockett, captures the joy of youth, love of family, and a quest for redemption as they play out against a backdrop of poverty, uncertainty, and the ever-present specter of an alcoholic and homeless father whose flaws, choices, and fate haunt a young man and tear at his confidence. With love, compassion, and the clarity of time, Crockett writes with unflinching honesty about his life, his siblings, his neighborhood, the eccentric wisdom of his mother, and daily life in a working-class Maine city before it emerged as one of the trendiest spots in America.
Ghosts of the White House
by Cheryl HarnessGeorge Washington's ghost pulls a girl out of her school White House tour and takes her on a personal tour of the building, introducing her to the ghosts of previous presidents and to the history of the White House and the United States.
Ghosts of the Fireground: Echoes of the Great Peshtigo Fire and the Calling of a Wildland Firefighter
by Peter M LeschakIn October 1871, a massive forest fire incinerated the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin. It was the deadliest fire in North American history, an event so intense that its release of energy was not approximated until the advent of thermo-nuclear weapons. At least 1,200 people perished—some in bizarre and disturbing ways—and the actual number of fatalities is unknown, perhaps as many as 1,500 were lost. Since the Great Chicago Fire occurred at the same time, Peshtigo was overshadowed and almost forgotten. In 2000, veteran wild-land firefighter Peter Leschak was faced with a hot and challenging fire season, tasked with the leadership of a helitack crew—an airborne fire team expected to be the “tip of the spear” on wildfire initial attacks. During that long summer he studied Father Peter Pernon’s eyewitness account of the Pehstigo holocaust, and using his knowledge and experience as a firefighter, Leschak placed himself in Pernin’s shoes, as much as possible being transported to the firestorm of 1871. Ghosts of the Fireground tells both tales: the horrific saga of Peshtigo, and the modern battles of a wildfire helicopter crew, seamlessly intertwining the stories to enhance them both.
Ghosts of Revolution: Rekindled Memories of Imprisonment in Iran
by Shahla TalebiIn this powerful memoir, Talebi (religious studies, Arizona State U. ) recounts her time as a political prisoner in her homeland, Iran. First a prisoner of the Shah during his last years in power, then (for a much longer time) held in the Islamic Republic's infamous Nevin Prison, the author sacrificed a decade of her life for her political activities. Talebi shares with readers how she and other prisoners withstood their own suffering and retained hope and humanity in those dark years, often with brutal honesty. While this book will clearly have great appeal for readers interested in Iran's recent history, it also has much to say to anyone concerned with the issues of government-sanctioned torture and violence in any country. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Ghosts of Manila: The Fateful Blood Feud Between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
by Mark KramWhen Muhammad Ali met Joe Frazier in Manila for their third fight, their rivalry had spun out of control. The Ali-Frazier matchup had become a madness, inflamed by the media and the politics of race. When the "Thrilla in Manila" was over, one man was left with a ruin of a life; the other was battered to his soul. Mark Kram covered that fight for Sports Illustrated in an award-winning article. Now his riveting book reappraises the boxers -- who they are and who they were. And in a voice as powerful as a heavyweight punch, Kram explodes the myths surrounding each fighter, particularly Ali. A controversial, no-holds-barred account, Ghosts of Manila ranks with the finest boxing books ever written.
The Ghosts of K2: The Race for the Summit of the World's Most Deadly Mountain
by Mick ConefreyAt 28,251 ft, K2 might be almost 800 ft shorter than Everest, but it's a far harder climb. In this definitive account, Mick Conefrey grippingly describes the early attempts to reach the summit and provides a fascinating exploration of the first ascent's complex legacy. From the ill-fated efforts of drug-addicted occultist Aleister Crowley to Achille Compagnoni and Lindo Lacedelli, the Italian duo who finally made it to the summit, The Ghosts of K2 charts how a slew of great men became fixated on this legendary mountain.Through exclusive interviews with surviving team members and their families, and unrivaled access to diaries and letters that have been archived around the world, Conefrey evokes the true atmosphere of the Savage Mountain and explores why it remains the 'mountaineer's mountain', despite a history steeped in controversy and death. Wrought with tension, and populated by tragic heroes and eccentric dreamers, The Ghosts of K2 is a masterpiece of mountaineering literature.
The Ghosts of Italy, First Edition
by Angela PaolantonioThe Ghosts of Italy is Angela Paolantonio's memoir of how she first discovers and then returns to live in the remote mountain village in Southern Italy where her grandparents were born. She sets out late one November, just after having celebrated Thanksgiving alone on a rooftop in Rome, the spirit of her ancestors guiding her in. "I really didn't know I was searching for anything till I got here," she says. "Then I realized what I was missing and what it meant." Angela Paolantonio's archetypal journey to the village of the ghosts of her ancestors is a unique yet universal woman's story. She ventures across the threshold of a lost world, reclaims it, and falls deeply in love along the way - with the town and its residents, the landscape, and the Handsome Man from Macchiursi. She follows the clues to rediscover her spirit and the spirit of her grandmother, and namesake, whose memory had been lost to her, locked inside her father's heart.
Ghosts of Home: The Afterlife of Czernowitz in Jewish Memory
by Marianne Hirsch Leo SpitzerIn this original blend of history and communal memoir, Marianne Hirsch, a literary critic and the daughter of Czernowitz Holocaust survivors, and Leo Spitzer, a historian and Hirsch's husband, chronicle the city's survival in personal, familial, and cultural memory.
The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America
by Karen AbbottThe epic true crime story of the most successful bootlegger in American history and the murder that shocked the nation. <P><P>The early days of Prohibition, long before Al Capone became a household name, a German immigrant named George Remus quits practicing law and starts trafficking whiskey. Within two years he's a multi-millionaire. <P><P> The press calls him "King of the Bootleggers," writing breathless stories about the Gatsby-esque events he and his glamorous second wife, Imogene, host at their Cincinnati mansion, with party favors ranging from diamond jewelry for the men to brand-new cars for the women. <P><P>By the summer of 1921, Remus owns 35 percent of all the liquor in the United States. Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt is determined to bring him down. Willebrandt's bosses at the Justice Department hired her right out of law school, assuming she'd pose no real threat to the cozy relationship they maintain with Remus. <P><P> Eager to prove them wrong, she dispatches her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, to look into his empire. It's a decision with deadly consequences. <P><P>With the fledgling FBI on the case, Remus is quickly imprisoned for violating the Volstead Act. Her husband behind bars, Imogene begins an affair with Dodge. Together, they plot to ruin Remus, sparking a bitter feud that soon reaches the highest levels of government--and that can only end in murder. <P><P> Combining deep historical research with novelistic flair, The Ghosts of Eden Park is the unforgettable, stranger-than-fiction story of a rags-to-riches entrepreneur and a long-forgotten heroine, of the excesses and absurdities of the Jazz Age, and of the infinite human capacity to deceive. <P><P><b> A New York Times Bestseller </b>
Ghosts in the Garden
by Beth Kephart William Sulit?National Book Award nominee Beth Kephart's new book is an enchanting midlife meditation on aging, identity, and memory set against the backdrop of Chanticleer garden in Pennsylvania. On the morning of her forty-?rst birthday, Kephart -- a mother, a wife, and a writer pressured by deadlines -- finds herself at Chanticleer, one of the world's most celebrated pleasure gardens. She knows little of the language of flowers. She cannot name the birds in the trees. She is a stranger among the gardeners and the people passing by. And yet she understands that she has somehow found her way to a place that can teach her about life and growth, about the past and the future. Week after week, she returns to Chanticleer -- recalling her childhood self, mulling over legacy and soul, striking up friendships with gardeners and conversations with other visitors. Succored by the seasons and the weather, she finds the grace in approaching middle age. There are lessons in seeds, and she finds them. There are lessons in letting go. Kephart writes about questions we all ask ourselves: How do we remember who we used to be? How do we imagine who we'll become? Have we lived our lives as we set out to? What legacies do we wish to leave behind? The book spans a two-year cycle, and each chapter is accompanied by a gorgeous black-and-white photograph of Chanticleer by William Sulit. Ghosts in the Garden pulses with possibility and purpose, with wisdom that is ageless and transcendent.
Ghosts in a Photograph: A Chronicle
by Myrna KostashIn Ghosts in a Photograph, award-winning nonfiction writer Myrna Kostash delves into the lives of her grandparents, all of whom moved from Galicia, now present-day Ukraine, to Alberta at the turn of the twentieth century. Discovering a packet of family mementos, Kostash begins questioning what she knows about her extended families’ pasts and whose narrative is allowed to prevail in Canada.This memoir, however, is not just a personal story, but a public one of immigration, partisan allegiance, and the stark differences in how two sets of families survive in a new country: one as homesteaders, the other as working-class Edmontonians. Working within the gaps in history—including the unsolved murder in Ukraine of her great uncle—Kostash uses her remarkable acumen as a writer and researcher to craft a probable narrative to interrogate the idea of straightforward and singular-voiced pasts and the stories we tell ourselves about where we come from.Rich in detail and propelled by vital curiosity, Ghosts in a Photograph is a determined, compelling, and multifaceted family chronicle.
Ghosts by Daylight
by Janine Di GiovanniAn enthralling, deeply moving memoir from one of our foremost American war correspondents.Janine di Giovanni has spent most of her career--more than twenty years--in war zones recording events on behalf of the voiceless. From Sarajevo to East Timor, from Sierra Leone to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia, she has been under siege and under fire.Along the way she meets Bruno, a French reporter whose spirit and audacity are a match for her own. Their love affair spans nearly a decade and a dozen armed conflicts before they settle in Paris to raise a family. But Janine soon learns that a life lived in war is inevitably haunted. Bruno struggles with physical and emotional pain, and Janine, a new mother and wife in Paris, is afraid both for Bruno and herself and for the work that they do--and doubtful that she can hold their lives together.With stunning scenes of action, heart-wrenching accounts of profound love, personal loss, and redemption, Ghosts by Daylight tells the unforgettable story of a passionate life lived to the fullest.From the Hardcover edition.
Ghosts by Daylight: A Modern-Day War Correspondent's Memoir of Love, Loss, and Redemption
by Janine Di GiovanniJanine di Giovanni has spent most of her career--more than twenty years--in war zones recording events on behalf of the voiceless. From Sarajevo to East Timor, from Sierra Leone to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia, she has been under siege and under fire.Along the way she meets Bruno, a French reporter whose spirit and audacity are a match for her own. Their love affair spans nearly a decade and a dozen armed conflicts before they settle in Paris to raise a family. But Janine soon learns that a life lived in war is inevitably haunted. Bruno struggles with physical and emotional pain, and Janine, a new mother and wife in Paris, is afraid for both Bruno and herself and for the work that they do--and doubtful that she can hold their lives together.With stunning scenes of action and heart-wrenching accounts of profound love, personal loss, and redemption, Ghosts by Daylight tells the unforgettable story of a passionate life lived to the fullest.
The Ghostly Tales of the Berkshires (Spooky America)
by Robert OakesGhost stories from the Berkshires have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery! Welcome to the spooky Berkshires! Stay Alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms. Did you know that at the Mount, the former home of famous author Edith Wharton, a shadowy phantom haunts the halls? Or that a ghost train still steams through the Hoosac Tunnel? Can you believe there's a top-hatted ghost who wakes guests in the night at the historic Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge? Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see the Berkshires forever, and have you sleeping with the lights on!
The Ghostly Tales of Philadelphia (Spooky America)
by Beth Landis HesterGhost stories from the City of Brotherly Love have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery! Welcome to the spooky streets of Philadelphia! Stay Alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms. Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Philly forever, and have you sleeping with the lights on!
The Ghostly Tales of Panama City (Spooky America)
by Patricia HeyerGhost stories from Northwest Florida have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery! Welcome to the spooky beaches and piers of Panama City! Stay Alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms. Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Panama City forever, and have you sleeping with the lights on!