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John Bartlow Martin
by Ray E. BoomhowerDuring the 1940s and 1950s, one name, John Bartlow Martin, dominated the pages of the "big slicks," the Saturday Evening Post, LIFE, Harper's, Look, and Collier's. A former reporter for the Indianapolis Times, Martin was one of a handful of freelance writers able to survive solely on this writing. Over a career that spanned nearly fifty years, his peers lauded him as "the best living reporter," the "ablest crime reporter in America," and "one of America's premier seekers of fact." His deep and abiding concern for the working class, perhaps a result of his upbringing, set him apart from other reporters. Martin was a key speechwriter and adviser to the presidential campaigns of many prominent Democrats from 1950 into the 1970s, including those of Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and George McGovern. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic during the Kennedy administration and earned a small measure of fame when FCC Chairman Newton Minow introduced his description of television as "a vast wasteland" into the nation's vocabulary.
John Bascom and the Origins of the Wisconsin Idea
by J. David HoevelerIn the Progressive Era of American history, the state of Wisconsin gained national attention for its innovative economic and political reforms. Amidst this ferment, the "Wisconsin Idea" was popularized--the idea that a public university should improve the lives of people beyond the borders of its campus. Governor Robert La Follette routinely consulted with University of Wisconsin researchers to devise groundbreaking programs and legislation. Although the Wisconsin Idea is often attributed to a 1904 speech by Charles Van Hise, president of the University of Wisconsin, David Hoeveler argues that it originated decades earlier, in the creative and fertile mind of John Bascom. A philosopher, theologian, and sociologist, Bascom deeply influenced a generation of students at the University of Wisconsin, including La Follette and Van Hise. Hoeveler documents how Bascom drew concepts from German idealism, liberal Protestantism, and evolutionary theory, transforming them into advocacy for social and political reform. He was a champion of temperance, women's rights, and labor, all of which brought him controversy as president of the university from 1874 to 1887. In a way unmatched by any leader of a major American university in his time, Bascom outlined a social gospel that called for an expanded role for state governments and universities as agencies of moral improvement. Hoeveler traces the intellectual history of the Wisconsin Idea from the nineteenth century to such influential Progressive Era thinkers as Richard T. Ely and John R. Commons, who believed university researchers should be a vital source of expertise for government and citizens.
John Billington, Friend of Squanto
by Clyde Robert BullaA young Pilgrim boy is always causing trouble for Plymouth Colony until one day his mischief results in more friendly relations with the Indians.
John Brown
by W. E. B. Du BoisContains the original (1909) edition of the text and six related documents. The life of one of America's most well-known and controversial abolitionists is examined by one of its most brilliant black intellectuals and activists. Du Bois (1868-1963) defended Brown from accusations as a demagogue and radical, suggesting that his greatest crime was that he demanded freedom for the oppressed.
John Brown (Modern Library Classics)
by W. E. B. Du Bois David R. RoedigerA moving cultural biography of abolitionist martyr John Brown, by one of the most important African-American intellectuals of the twentieth century. In the history of slavery and its legacy, John Brown looms large as a hero whose deeds partly precipitated the Civil War. As Frederick Douglass wrote: "When John Brown stretched forth his arm ... the clash of arms was at hand." DuBois's biography brings Brown stirringly to life and is a neglected classic.
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry (Cornerstones of Freedom)
by Brendan JanuaryOn October 16, 1859, John Brown led an "army" of eighteen men to an attack on Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). Brown's hope was to cause a slave rebellion in the surrounding area, which would spread throughout the South. Escaped slaves would then establish their own free state in the Allegheny Mountains, which are part of the Appalachian Mountain system and stretch from Virginia into Pennsylvania. Brown's raid was unsuccessful -- he was captured, tried for crimes against the State of Virginia, convicted, and hung by the end of that year. However, he succeeded in his desire to bring about a definitive answer to the "question" of slavery. His raid on Harpers Ferry deepened the division between northerners who opposed slavery and southerners who wished to preserve their way of life.
John Brown's Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confession of John E. Cook
by Steven LubetA &“compulsively readable&” account of the fugitive who betrayed John Brown after the bloody abolitionist raid on Harper&’s Ferry (Booklist, starred review).John Brown&’s Spy tells the nearly unknown story of John E. Cook, the person John Brown trusted most with the details of his plans to capture the Harper&’s Ferry armory in 1859. Cook was a poet, a marksman, a boaster, a dandy, a fighter, and a womanizer—as well as a spy. In a life of only thirty years, he studied law in Connecticut, fought border ruffians in Kansas, served as an abolitionist mole in Virginia, took white hostages during the Harper&’s Ferry raid, and almost escaped to freedom. For ten days after the infamous raid, he was the most hunted man in America with a staggering one-thousand dollar bounty on his head.Tracking down the unexplored circumstances of John Cook&’s life and disastrous end, Steven Lubet is the first to uncover the full extent of Cook&’s contributions to Brown&’s scheme. Without Cook&’s participation, the author contends, Brown might never have been able to launch the insurrection that foreshadowed the Civil War. Had Cook remained true to the cause, history would have remembered him as a hero. Instead, when Cook was captured and brought to trial, he betrayed John Brown and named fellow abolitionists in a full confession that earned him a place in history&’s tragic pantheon of disgraced turncoats.&“Lubet is especially effective at capturing the courtroom drama . . . A crisply told tale fleshing out one of American history&’s more intriguing footnotes.&” —Kirkus Reviews&“Take[s] readers on a ride through the frantic days surrounding Brown&’s raid that will make them &‘feel&’ the moment as much as understand it.&” —Library Journal (starred review)
John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant
by Raymond Lamont-BrownA century after Queen Victoria's death, debate still rages surrounding her relationship with her gillie, John Brown. Were they ever married? What was the extraordinary hold he had over her? This biography aims to shed new light on these questions and to discover the truth behind Brown's hold on his royal employer. Following the death of Prince Albert in 1861, the Queen found solace in the companionship of John Brown, who had commenced his royal employment as a stable hand. He became "The Queen's Highland Servant" in 1865 and rose to be the most influential member of the Scottish Royal Household. While the Queen could be brusque and petulant with her servants, family and minsters, she submitted to Brown's fussy organisation of her domestic life, his bullying and familiarity without a murmur. Despite warnings of his unpopularity with her subjects by one Prime Minister, the Queen was adamant that Brown would not be sacked. The Queen's confidence was rewarded when Brown saved her from an assassination attempt, after which he was vaunted as a public hero. The author reveals the names of republicans and disaffected courtiers who related gossip about Queen Victoria and John Brown and their purported marriage and child, and identifies those who plotted to have Brown dismissed. Based on research in public, private and royal archives, as well as diaries and memoirs of those who knew Brown and interviews with his surviving relatives, this text analyses the relationship between Queen Victorian and Brown.
John Brown: We Came To Free The Slaves (Americans & the Spirit Of A Nation)
by Anne E. SchraffThis story will captivate and inspire your readers. John Brown hated slavery. On October 16, 1859, he and his armed followers took a violent stand against it. John Brown led his raiding party to the armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, with the intent of inciting slave rebellions throughout the South. However, within two days, ten of his men would be killed and Brown was arrested. Although the Harpers Ferry raid failed, John Brown had struck a blow against slavery. A staunch abolitionist his entire life, John Brown gave his life to end an evil that had existed in the United States for over two hundred years.
John Browning: Man and Gun Maker
by James BarringtonThe man behind every gun manufactured today.John Browning was the most influential gun designer who ever lived. After building his first firearm aged thirteen, he went on to create a series of radical blueprints for pistols, rifles and machine guns that changed the way wars were fought and streets were policed.But who was the man behind the weapons? How did he manage to revolutionise the way guns worked? And what drove him to keep innovating right through his life?A short must-read for gun collectors, enthusiasts and anyone interested in the history of firearms from bestselling thriller writer James Barrington.
John Brunner
by Jad SmithUnder his own name and numerous pseudonyms, John Brunner (1934-1995) was one of the most prolific and influential science fiction authors of the late twentieth century. During his exemplary career, the British author wrote with a stamina matched by only a few other great science fiction writers and with a literary quality of even fewer, importing modernist techniques into his novels and stories and probing every major theme of his generation: robotics, racism, drugs, space exploration, technological warfare, and ecology. In this first intensive review of Brunner's life and works, Jad Smith carefully demonstrates how Brunner's much-neglected early fiction laid the foundation for his classic Stand on Zanzibar and other major works such as The Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up, and The Shockwave Rider. Making extensive use of Brunner's letters, columns, speeches, and interviews published in fanzines, Smith approaches Brunner in the context of markets and trends that affected many writers of the time, including Brunner's uneasy association with the "New Wave" of science fiction in the 1960s and '70s. This landmark study shows how Brunner's attempts to cross-fertilize the American pulp tradition with British scientific romance complicated the distinctions between genre and mainstream fiction and between hard and soft science fiction and helped carve out space for emerging modes such as cyberpunk, slipstream, and biopunk.
John Buchan: Model Governor General
by J. William Galbraith His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston Governor General of Canada Lady Deborah StewartbySoldier, spy, politician, bestselling thriller writer, and governor general of Canada — John Buchan was a man of many seasons and talents. An accomplished Scottish journalist, soldier, head of intelligence, and Member of Parliament, John Buchan (1875-1940) is best known for penning thrillers such as The Thirty-Nine Steps. However, as Canada’s 15th governor general (1935-40), Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, played a significant leadership role as a statesman and diplomat.Buchan was the first governor general appointed after the 1931 Statute of Westminster, which gave Canada constitutional equality with Britain. He worked tirelessly for Canadian unity and promoted the sovereignty, and loyalty to the sovereign, of Canada. In 1937 he founded the Governor General’s Awards, still Canada’s premier prizes for literary achievement.Lord Tweedsmuir helped draw Canada, Britain, and the United States closer together to strengthen the democracies threatened by Nazism and Fascism. He was an inspiration to several of his successors and still inspires us today.
John Bunyan
by Kevin BelmonteChristian Encounters, a series of biographies from Thomas Nelson Publishers, highlights important lives from all ages and areas of the Church. Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests. But all, through their relationships, struggles, prayers, and desires, uniquely illuminate our shared experience.The author of The Pilgrim's Progress, one of the most influential books in English literature, had little formal education. Born the son of a tinker, John Bunyan was expected to follow in his father's footsteps. He was allowed to go to school for a few years and purchase a few books, but his apprenticeship in the family business took precedence. Bunyan experienced his first sorrow in adolescence, when both his mother and sister died. It wasn't his last. Revolutions and wars were all around him, and he was jailed twice for preaching the Gospel. Yet amidst repeated imprisonments, civil war, and violent persecution, Bunyan crafted The Pilgrim's Progress, a testament unlike any other to the triumph of the human spirit. His simple cadences transformed the language, and his memorable characters became familiar to millions. Bunyan became a public figure, a captivating speaker, and above all, a man known for his unrelenting trust in God.
John C. Calhoun: American Portrait
by Margaret L. CoitPulitzer Prize winning biography of the prominent politician during the early 1800s.
John C. Fremont: Soldier and Pathfinder (Legendary Heroes of the Wild West)
by Carl R. Green William R. Sanford- Brings the action of the frontier days to life for the reluctant reader. - Recounts the adventures of the explorers, pioneers, and settlers of the West.
John Cage and David Tudor
by Martin IddonJohn Cage is best known for his indeterminate music, which leaves a significant level of creative decision-making in the hands of the performer. But how much licence did Cage allow? Martin Iddon's book is the first volume to collect the complete extant correspondence between the composer and pianist David Tudor, one of Cage's most provocative and significant musical collaborators. The book presents their partnership from working together in New York in the early 1950s, through periods on tour in Europe, until the late stages of their work from the 1960s onwards, carried out almost exclusively within the frame of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Tackling the question of how much creative flexibility Tudor was granted, Iddon includes detailed examples of the ways in which Tudor realised Cage's work, especially focusing on Music of Changes to Variations II, to show how composer and pianist influenced one another's methods and styles.
John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life
by Herman J. SelderhuisThere are many biographies of John Calvin, the theologian--some villifying him and others extolling his virtues--but few that reveal John Calvin, the man. Professor and renowned Reformation historian Herman Selderhuis has written this book to bring Calvin near to the reader, showing him as a man who had an impressive impact on the development of the Western world, but who was first of all a believer struggling with God and with the way God governed both the world and his own life. Selderhuis draws on Calvin's own publications and commentary on the biblical figures with whom he strongly identified to describe his theology in the context of his personal development. Throughout we see a person who found himself alone at many of the decisive moments of his life--a fact that echoed through Calvin's subsequent sermons and commentaries. Selderhuis's unique and compelling look at John Calvin, with all of his merits and foibles, ultimately discloses a man who could not find himself at home in the world in which he lived.
John Cassavetes: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)
by Gabriella OldhamAmerican filmmaker John Cassavetes (1929-1989) made only nine independent films during a quarter century, but those films affected the cinema culture of the 1960s to the 1980s in unprecedented ways. With a close nucleus of actors and crew members on his team, including his wife Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, and Ben Gazzara, Cassavetes created films that explored the gritty side of human relationships. He staunchly advocated the right of actors and filmmakers to full artistic freedom over their work. Attracting both fervent admirers and harsh critics, Cassavetes's films have garnered prestigious awards in the US and Europe and continue to evoke strong reactions.Starting in New York with his first film Shadows (1959), Cassavetes moved on to the West Coast with Faces (1968), Husbands (1970), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Opening Night (1977), Gloria (1980), and Love Streams (1984). He also directed several studio films, which often rankled his independent streak that rebelled against a loss of artistic freedom. Cassavetes's work in the theater and his performances in numerous television programs and films, including The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Rosemary's Baby (1968), made him, as a director, fiercely protective of his actors' right to self-expression.Cassavetes's contributions to film as actor, writer, director, producer, and cinematographer at a time of radical changes in cinema history continue to inspire independent filmmakers to challenge creative restrictions and celebrate actors' artistic contributions. John Cassavetes: Interviews captures this "maverick" streak of an intensely personal filmmaker who was passionate about his art.
John Cena: Pro Wrestling Superstar (Pro Wrestling Superstars Ser.)
by Daniel B AiweiJohn Cena has the skills on the mic and in the wrestling ring. Find out what makes him one of the most successful babyface in pro wrestling.
John Chapman: Planter And Pioneer (Paperback) Copyright 2016
by Ron FridellJohn Chapman, also known as, Johnny Appleseed, embarks on a wilderness journey, planting apple seeds.
John Charles: Gentle Giant
by Mario Risoli‘Whenever I look at him, it is as though the Messiah has returned.’ That's how Jimmy Murphy, manager of Wales’ 1958 World Cup side, described John Charles. In Italy, where he played for Juventus and Roma, Charles was known as Il Gigante Buono – the Gentle Giant – because of his placid temperament. One of the greatest footballers Britain has ever produced, Charles left his native Swansea at 16 to join Leeds United, where his phenomenal strike rate helped the club reach the First Division for the first time in its history. His goal-scoring exploits at Ellan Road then attracted the attention of Juventus, who paid a British record of £65,000 to take him to Turin in 1957. Charles went on to score an incredible 105 goals in 178 appearances for I Bianconeri – the Black and Whites – and helped them to win three Series A titles in five years. In contrast to his humble upbringing in South Wales, he enjoyed a glamorous lifestyle in Italy. However, it was not all glory. A disasterous return to Leeds United in 1962 was followed by a spell at Roma, where he struggled to recapture his past form. The man who was treated as a god in Turin wound down his playing career with Cardiff City before turning to management in the Southern League. This detailed and engrossing biography contains candid interviews with former teammates and family members and follows Charles’ life after football, detailing his failed business ventures and his brave fight against cancer.
John Cheever: A Biography
by Scott Donaldson"A biography of great immediacy. . . . There are many sections of great poignancy, many funny things, many of electric intimacy and candor . . . there is spellbinding power, never more so than in describing Cheever's death, pages that are both terrible and deeply moving; one is losing an old, beloved friend." --James Salter, Los Angeles Times Book Review "John Cheever: A Biography is clearly an indispensable book. Donaldson moves gracefully from the personal to the literary. . . . Solidly researched and entirely readable, admiring of the writer and knowing about the man. Stuffed with fascinating anecdotes. It's a gut-wrenching story. Donaldson tells it straight, without embellishment, and our attention never strays." --Dan Cryer, Newsday "A coup of investigative reporting." --Publishers Weekly "Both erudite and earthly. What emerges is a rich tapestry that gives the reader extraordinary insight into the workings of a master storyteller's mind." --Jean Graham, New York Daily News "John Cheever: A Biography by Scott Donaldson is as readable and 'unputdownable' as any thriller." --T. Coraghessan Boyle "A revelation. What a triumph." --Frederick Exley "Donaldson has set a high standard that other biographers will find difficult to equal." --John Blades, Chicago Tribune
John Christie of Rillington Place: Biography of a Serial Killer
by Jonathan OatesThe bestselling criminal history author provides &“compelling insight&” into the life and crimes of one of England&’s most notorious serial killers (Buckinghamshire Life). Sixty years ago, the discovery of bodies at 10 Rillington Place in Notting Hill, London, led to one of the most sensational, shocking, and controversial serial murder cases in British criminal history: the case of John Christie. Much has been written about the Christie killings and the fate of Timothy Evans who was executed for murders Christie later confessed to; the story still provokes strong feeling and speculation. However, most of the books on the case have been compiled without the benefit of all the sources that are open to researchers, and they tend to focus on Evans in an attempt to clear him of guilt. In addition, many simply repeat what has been said before. Therefore, a painstaking, scholarly reassessment of the evidence—and of Christie&’s life—is overdue, and that is what Jonathan Oates provides in this gripping biography of a serial killer.
John Clare: A Biography
by Jonathan BateThe long-awaited literary biography of the supreme "poets' poet"John Clare (1793-1864) is the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self, but until now he has never been the subject of a comprehensive literary biography.Here at last is his full story told by the light of his voluminous work: his birth in poverty, his work as an agricultural labourer, his burgeoning promise as a writer--cultivated under the gaze of rival patrons--then his moment of fame in the company of John Keats and the toast of literary London, and finally his decline into mental illness and his last years confined in asylums. Clare's ringing voice--quick-witted, passionate, vulnerable, courageous--emerges in generous quotation from his letters, journals, autobiographical writings, and his poems, as Jonathan Bate, the celebrated scholar of Shakespeare, brings the complex man, his beloved work, and his ribald world vividly to life.