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Mr Selfridge
by Lindy WoodheadIn 1909, the largest department store in London's West End, designed and built from scratch, opened in Oxford Street in a glorious burst of publicity. The mastermind behind the façade was American retail genius Harry Gordon Selfridge: maverick businessman, risk-taker, dandy and one of the greatest showmen the retail world has ever known. His talents were to create the seduction of shopping, and as his success and fame grew, so did his glittering lifestyle: mansions, yachts, gambling, racehorses - and mistresses. From the glamour of Edwardian England, through the turmoil of the Great War and the heady excesses of the 1920s and beyond, Selfridges Department Store was 'a theatre with the curtain going up at 9 o'clock each morning'. Mr Selfridge reveals the captivating story of the rise and fall of the man who revolutionised the way we shop. The third series of Mr Selfridge will air on ITV in January 2015. 'Lively and entertaining' Sunday Telegraph'Will change your view of shopping forever' Vogue'Harry Selfridge revolutionised the way we shop . . . fascinating' Daily Mail
Mr Snack and the Lady Water: Travel Tales From My Lost Years
by Brendan ShanahanAfter a decade spent on the road, renowned travel writer Brendan Shanahan is back with Mr Snack and the Lady Water, a collection of darkly funny and unexpected travel writing. In the title piece, Shanahan embarks on what is supposed to be a luxury cruise, only to find himself on a three-day endurance test aboard a leaking barge on China's Yangtze River in the company of a mysterious roommate, a pair of neurotic American spinsters and a thousand baseball-capped tourists. Other stories include his sight-unseen, online purchase of a house in Las Vegas, his brief career in Bollywood and a meditation on white guilt in post-apartheid South Africa. Road-soiled and a touch deviant, Shanahan's account of his 'lost years' are a comic master class, essential reading for anyone who has ever woken up in a strange bed or just stared at themselves in a hotel mirror at 3 am and asked 'Where am I?'
Mr Struth: The Boss
by David Mason Ian StewartBill Struth is the most celebrated Manager in the history of Rangers Football Club. In his 34 year tenure, he led the club to 30 major trophies and nurtured many of the club's greatest players. To them, he was simply 'Mr. Struth' - a father figure who guided them with the principle that, '... to be a Ranger is to sense the sacred trust of upholding all that such a name means in this shrine of football.'If these words set the ideals for his players to attain, his own personal life was clouded by moments of indiscretion which were to influence the course of his life and career. Drawing on family accounts and Rangers archives, the book explores his early life in Edinburgh and Fife, as well as his celebrated years in Glasgow. It recounts his career in professional athletics and in football with Heart of Midlothian, Clyde and ultimately, Rangers. It reflects on the legacy of the Struth era and his influences that remain at Ibrox today.
Mr Struth: The Boss
by David Mason Ian StewartBill Struth is the most celebrated Manager in the history of Rangers Football Club. In his 34 year tenure, he led the club to 30 major trophies and nurtured many of the club's greatest players. To them, he was simply 'Mr. Struth' - a father figure who guided them with the principle that, '... to be a Ranger is to sense the sacred trust of upholding all that such a name means in this shrine of football.'If these words set the ideals for his players to attain, his own personal life was clouded by moments of indiscretion which were to influence the course of his life and career. Drawing on family accounts and Rangers archives, the book explores his early life in Edinburgh and Fife, as well as his celebrated years in Glasgow. It recounts his career in professional athletics and in football with Heart of Midlothian, Clyde and ultimately, Rangers. It reflects on the legacy of the Struth era and his influences that remain at Ibrox today.
Mr. Adams's Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams's Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in Congress
by Joseph WheelanWhen John Quincy Adams?the sixty-three-year-old former president, U. S. senator, secretary of state, and diplomat?was elected to the House of Representatives by his Massachusetts neighbors, he embarked on a spectacular late-life career. He became CongressOCOs most acerbic and influential critic of slavery as well as a tireless proponent for human freedoms and First Amendment rights. This remarkable congressional career utterly transformed him, the publicOCOs perception of him, and his legacy?in many ways redeeming his failed presidency. "Mr. AdamsOCOs Last Crusade" renders an insightful portrait of a man who placed his country above politics. "
Mr. Ambassador: Warrior for Peace
by Edward J. Perkins Connie CronleyThis book is about an inspirational Foreign Service Officer Edward J. Perkins, his life and career as the first black ambassador in apartheid South Africa, and various other accomplishments during his tenure which has left lasting impressions and tremendous impact on other diplomats.
Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet
by Mark Adams“A remarkable story. . . . It is to Mark Adams’s great credit that, in Mr. America, he has rescued from obscurity a man whose influence is still felt in this country more than a century after he muscled his way onto the national scene.” —Wall Street Journal“Hilarious. . . . Delightful. . . . If Macfadden hadn’t existed, we would have had to invent him.” —Washington Post Mr. America is the fascinating true story of Bernarr Macfadden, a self-made millionaire and founding father of bodybuilding, alternative medicine, and tabloid culture. Madfadden’s impact on popular American culture is everywhere, from yoga to raw food diets to US Weekly, and Mr. America vividly brings to life this charismatic and intriguing character.
Mr. Associated Press: Kent Cooper and the Twentieth-Century World of News (The History of Media and Communication)
by Gene AllenBetween 1925 and 1951, Kent Cooper transformed the Associated Press, making it the world’s dominant news agency while changing the kind of journalism that millions of readers in the United States and other countries relied on. Gene Allen’s biography is a globe-spanning account of how Cooper led and reshaped the most important institution in American--and eventually international--journalism in the mid-twentieth century. Allen critically assesses the many new approaches and causes that Cooper championed: introducing celebrity news and colorful features to a service previously known for stodgy reliability, pushing through disruptive technological innovations like the instantaneous transmission of news photos, and leading a crusade to bring American-style press freedom--inseparable from private ownership, in Cooper’s view--to every country. His insistence on truthfulness and impartiality presents a sharp contrast to much of today’s fractured journalistic landscape. Deeply researched and engagingly written, Mr. Associated Press traces Cooper’s career as he built a new foundation for the modern AP and shaped the twentieth-century world of news.
Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century
by Jennifer Homans&“A fascinating read about a true genius and his unrelenting thirst for beauty in art and in life.&”—MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOVBased on a decade of unprecedented research, the first major biography of George Balanchine, a broad-canvas portrait set against the backdrop of the tumultuous century that shaped the man The New York Times called &“the Shakespeare of dancing&”—from the bestselling author of Apollo&’s AngelsArguably the greatest choreographer who ever lived, George Balanchine was one of the cultural titans of the twentieth century—The New York Times called him &“the Shakespeare of dancing.&” His radical approach to choreography—and life—reinvented the art of ballet and made him a legend. Written with enormous style and artistry, and based on more than one hundred interviews and research in archives across Russia, Europe, and the Americas, Mr. B carries us through Balanchine&’s tumultuous and high-pitched life story and into the making of his extraordinary dances.Balanchine&’s life intersected with some of the biggest historical events of his century. Born in Russia under the last czar, Balanchine experienced the upheavals of World War I, the Russian Revolution, exile, World War II, and the Cold War. A co-founder of the New York City Ballet, he pressed ballet in America to the forefront of modernism and made it a popular art. None of this was easy, and we see his loneliness and failures, his five marriages—all to dancers—and many loves. We follow his bouts of ill health and spiritual crises, and learn of his profound musical skills and sensibility and his immense determination to make some of the most glorious, strange, and beautiful dances ever to grace the modern stage.With full access to Balanchine&’s papers and many of his dancers, Jennifer Homans, the dance critic for The New Yorker and a former dancer herself, has spent more than a decade researching Balanchine&’s life and times to write a vast history of the twentieth century through the lens of one of its greatest artists: the definitive biography of the man his dancers called Mr. B.
Mr. Basketball: George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers, and the Birth of the NBA
by Michael SchumacherDrawing on interviews with former teammates, opponents, coaches, friends, and rivals, a definitive portrait of the first dominant big man in professional basketball celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of George Mikan's debut with the Lakers, chronicling his college and professional career and critically assessing his key influence on the evolution of the modern NBA.
Mr. Beethoven
by Paul GriffithsShortlisted for the 2020 Goldsmiths PrizeBased on the German composer's own correspondence, this inventive, counterfactual work of historical fiction imagines Beethoven traveling to America to write an oratorio based on the Book of Job.It is a matter of historical record that in 1823 the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston (active to this day) sought to commission Beethoven to write an oratorio. The premise of Paul Griffiths&’s ingenious novel is that Beethoven accepted the commission and traveled to the United States to oversee its first performance. Griffiths grants the composer a few extra years of life and, starting with his voyage across the Atlantic and entry into Boston Harbor, chronicles his adventures and misadventures in a new world in which, great man though he is, he finds himself a new man. Relying entirely on historically attested possibilities to develop the plot, Griffiths shows Beethoven learning a form of sign language, struggling to rein in the uncertain inspiration of Reverend Ballou (his designated librettist), and finding a kindred spirit in the widowed Mrs. Hill, all the while keeping his hosts guessing as to whether he will come through with his promised composition. (And just what, the reader also wonders, will this new piece by Beethoven turn out to be?) The book that emerges is an improvisation, as virtuosic as it is delicate, on a historical theme.
Mr. Blue Jeans: A Story about Levi Strauss
by Maryann N. WeidtTraces the life of the immigrant Jewish peddler who went on to found Levi Strauss & Co., the world's first and largest manufacturer of denim jeans.
Mr. Bonapart of Corisca
by John Kendrick BangsNapoleon's father, Charles Bonaparte, was the honored progenitor of thirteen children, of whom the man who subsequently became the Emperor of the French, by some curious provision of fate, was the second. That the infant Napoleon should have followed rather than led the procession is so foreign to the nature of the man that many worthy persons unfamiliar with the true facts of history have believed that Joseph was a purely apocryphal infant, or, as some have suggested, merely an adopted child; but that Napoleon did upon this occasion content himself with second place is an incontrovertible fact. Nor is it entirely unaccountable. It is hardly to be supposed that a true military genius, such as Napoleon is universally conceded to have been, would plunge into the midst of a great battle without first having acquainted himself with the possibilities of the future. A reconnoitre of the field of action is the first duty of a successful commander; and hence it was that Napoleon, not wishing to rush wholly unprepared into the battle of life, assigned to his brother Joseph the arduous task of first entering into the world to see how the land lay. Joseph having found everything to his satisfaction, Napoleon made his appearance in the little island of Corsica, recently come under French domination the 15th day August, 1769.
Mr. Britling Sees It Through: A Novel (Casemate Classic War Fiction #7)
by H. G. WellsA moving novel of one Englishman&’s experience as his country goes to war, from the author of who gave us The Time Machine and The Invisible Man. Mr. Britling considers himself an optimist. But as the Great War begins, he finds himself forced to reassess many of the things he thought he was sure of. As refugees from Belgium arrive in the town of Matching&’s Easy, telling frightening tales of what they have seen, Mr. Britling sees men dressed in khakis everywhere he looks. and his family&’s tutor, a German, is forced to return home. Then comes the change that scares him the most: His own son, Hugh, only seventeen, enlists in the Territorials, the British Army&’s volunteer reserve. Day by day and month by month, Britling observes the unfolding events and public reaction to the war as his ordinary life is shaken in ways large and small. As Wells&’s characters try to keep their bearings in a world suddenly changed beyond recognition, Mr. Britling must wrestle with outrage, grief, and attempts at rationalization as he resolves to &“see it through.&” Whether science fiction or not, H. G. Wells&’s stories always reflect deep human truths. Written in 1916, when the outcome of the conflict was still uncertain, this is both a fascinating portrait of Britain at war and a rare inside look at H. G. Wells himself, as Mr. Britling was a largely autobiographical character.
Mr. CSI: How a Vegas Dreamer Made a Killing in Hollywood, One Body at a Time
by Todd Gold Anthony E. ZuikerThe creator of CSIdelves into the mysteries of his father’s tragic death and his own unlikelyrise in Hollywood using the very techniques he has honed by working on his hitshows, CSI, CSI: Miami,and CSI: New York.Deeply felt and insightful, Anthony Zuiker’s searingmemoir of dreams and losses, successes and heartbreaks, is not only abehind-the-scenes look at television’s most-watched drama, but an essentialguide for aspiring script writers and filmmakers, featuring practical tips andinspiring lessons to help tomorrow’s writers succeed today. Fans of crimedramas, anyone who dreams of unraveling the mysteries of their own story, andeveryone who dreams of making it big will find themselves immediately drawn inby the one-of-a-kind story of the man who made it: Mr. CSI.
Mr. Capone: The Real—and Complete—Story of Al Capone
by Robert J. Schoenberg“Fascinating. . . . [P]ortrays the mob leader as 'a businessman of crime' who took chaotic underworld enterprises . . . and put them on a rational business basis.” —New York TimesAll I ever did was to sell beer and whiskey to our best people. All I ever did was to supply a demand that was pretty popular. Why, the very guys that make my trade good are the ones that yell the loudest about me. Some of the leading judges use the stuff. When I sell liquor, it's called bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, it's called hospitality. — Al CaponeThis acclaimed portrait of Al Capone tells of his childhood delinquency, his Brooklyn mob apprenticeship, and his move to Chicago, tracing his development into a man who was at times surprisingly rational despite his tendency toward manipulation and brutality.“[Schoenberg makes] Capone real again, rescuing his reputation from the Hollywood mythmakers. . . . Schoenberg's Al Capone is far more human, complex and worthy of attention than the one-dimensional myth.”— Chicago Sun-Times“Schoenberg has done massive research. . . . There are rich descriptions of many of the apocalyptic events of the roaring Chicago '20s.”— Los Angeles Times Book Review“Masterful . . . the definitive biography of one of America's most colorful gangsters.” —The Detroit News“Readers of Mr. Capone will . . . revel in the old stories of “beer killings,” as Chicago police captain John Stege called them, and savor any new tidbits.” —Chicago Tribune “Written with style and verve . . . Even where Mr. Schoenberg lays to rest favorite tall tales, the true accounts are usually even more fascinating.” —The Washington Times
Mr. China
by Tim ClissoldLa increíble historia de un banquero de Wall Street que viaja a China con cuatrocientos millones de dólares y aprende, de la manera más dura, que ese país no juega con las mismas reglas de Occidente. A principios de los noventa, cuando China abrió finalmente sus puertas a los negocios, Wall Street de inmediato quiso entrar. La llegada de los banqueros de Nueva York, con sus especializaciones en Harvard, sus camisas de rayas y sus mocasines con borlas, listos para negociar con los viejos amos chinos, crea el escenario perfecto para un choque entre los billones de Wall Street y la cultura más antigua del mundo. Tomada de la vida real, ésta es la historia de un recio banquero que se traslada a China buscando la gloria. Decidido a montarse en la gran ola de la inversión, se une con un ex guardia rojo y un inglés que habla mandarín. Entre los tres consiguen cuatrocientos millones de dólares y compran fábricas por todo el país. Pero cuando creen que con los contratos que han firmado tienen todo bajo control, comienzan a darse cuenta de que en China las cosas no funcionan de la manera que ellos conocen y son testigos de cómo desaparecen sus millones. "Ésta es una historia increíble... bien escrita, que absorbe completamente la atención y es muy divertida." Literary Review "Todas las compañías que tienen sede en China deberían armar a sus ejecutivos con una copia de esta sorprendente, divertida y culturalmente comprensiva historia de los peligros de hacer negocios en el salvaje oeste asiático". "Los libros del año" de The Economist
Mr. China
by Tim ClissoldThe incredible story of a Wall Street banker who went to China with $400,000,000 and learned the hard way how (not) to do business there . . . In the early nineties, China finally opened for business and Wall Street wanted in on the act. When the investment bankers arrived from New York with their Harvard MBAs, pinstripes and tasselled loafers, ready to negotiate with the Old Cadres, the stage was set for collision. This is the true story of a tough Wall Street banker who came to China looking for glory. He teamed up with an ex-Red Guard and a Mandarin-speaking Englishman. Together, they raised over $400,000,000 and bought up factories all over China. Only as they watched those millions slide towards the abyss did they start to understand that China really doesn't play by anyone else's rules. Tim Clissold was there at the beginning of China's transformation and he's still there, doing business. In this new edition of his hugely successful book he describes just how much - and how little - has changed in China since his story began.
Mr. China's Son
by Claire Chik He LiyiHe Liyi's autobiography recounts nearly all the major events of China's recent history, including the Japanese occupation, and the recent social and economic changes occurring in the post-Deng China.
Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography
by Justin KaplanMark Twain, the American comic genius who portrayed, named, and in part exemplified America's "Gilded Age," comes alive -- a presence felt, an artist understood -- in Justin Kaplan's extraordinary biography. <P><P> With brilliant immediacy, Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain brings to life a towering literary figure whose dual persona symbolized the emerging American conflict between down-to-earth morality and freewheeling ambition. As Mark Twain, he was the Mississippi riverboat pilot, the satirist with a fiery hatred of pretension, and the author of such classics as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. As Mr. Clemens, he was the star who married an heiress, built a palatial estate, threw away fortunes on harebrained financial schemes, and lived the extravagant life that Mark Twain despised. Kaplan effectively portrays the triumphant-tragic man whose achievements and failures, laughter and anger, reflect a crucial generation in our past as well as his own dark, divided, and remarkably contemporary spirit. <P> The book begins as the thirty-one-year-old Mark Twain, carrying bottled within himself the experience of his boyhood in Hannibal and his coming-of-age on the Mississippi and on Nevada's silver-rush frontier, quits San Francisco and the old elemental America of the open spaces. He is heading east for the burgeoning new urban America of commerce, invention, finance, and status, where he is destined to marry well, hobnob with the rich and influential, throw away fortunes on tragically alluring schemes...and produce literary works that fulfill and go beyond the vocation he has already acknowledged: "to excite the laughter of God's creatures." He is heard, seen, made palpable. The texture of his marriage with Olivia Langdon, the protean presence of Mark Twain on the lecture platform, his friendships and enmities -- virtually all his closest relationships partook of both -- spring to life. His writing and publishing experience is organically re-created. His endurance in the face of personal tragedy, his unrivaled charm, his compulsion to quarrel, his humility and his vanity are evoked and felt. His wit rings through the book. "Honest poverty is a gem that even a King might be proud to call his own, but I wish to sell out. I have sported that kind of jewelry long enough." Thus the young Mark Twain, on the eve of world fame, spoke his disgust at a money-centered society in that blatantly philistine voice that he chose for his most savage satirical declarations. But all his life -- racked by his own ambivalences -- he was to embrace the values of that society. Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain brilliantly conveys this towering literary figure who was himself a symbol of the peculiarly American conflict between moral scrutiny and the drive to succeed. Mr. Clemens lived the Gilded Life that Mark Twain despised. The merging and fragmenting of these and other identities, as the biography unfolds, results in a magnificent projection of the whole man; the great comic spirit; and the exuberant, tragic human being, who, his friend William Dean Howells said, was "sole, incomparable, the Lincoln of our literature."<P> Winner of the National Book Award<P> Pulitzer Prize Winner
Mr. Democrat: Jim Farley, the New Deal and the Making of Modern American Politics
by Daniel ScroopScroop (history, U. of Liverpool) takes on the background of this most powerful and neglected man, detailing the growth of Farley's perception that politics is a noble profession requiring the support and acumen of business. Scroop makes it clear that Franklin Delano Roosevelt's choice of Farley as his campaign manager was well-reasoned and that although Farley made mistakes, more mistakes were made about him by those who feared his motives and abilities just as they feared every other architect of the New Deal. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Mr. Dickens and His Carol: A Novel
by Samantha Silva“A charming, comic, and ultimately poignant story about the creation of the most famous Christmas tale ever written. It’s as foggy and haunted and redemptive as the original; it’s all heart, and I read it in a couple of ebullient, Christmassy gulps.” —Anthony Doerr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of All The Light We Cannot SeeLaced with humor, rich historical detail from Charles Dickens’ life, and clever winks to his work, Samantha Silva's Mr. Dickens and His Carol is an irresistible new take on a cherished classic. Charles Dickens is not feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses. And a serious bout of writer’s block sets in. Frazzled and filled with self-doubt, Dickens seeks solace in his great palace of thinking, the city of London itself. On one of his long night walks, in a once-beloved square, he meets the mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who might be just the muse he needs. As Dickens’ deadlines close in, Eleanor propels him on a Scrooge-like journey that tests everything he believes about generosity, friendship, ambition, and love. The story he writes will change Christmas forever.
Mr. Ferris and His Wheel
by Gilbert Ford Kathryn Gibbs DavisCapturing an engineer's creative vision and mind for detail, this fully illustrated picture book biography sheds light on how the American inventor George Ferris defied gravity and seemingly impossible odds to invent the world's most iconic amusement park attraction, the Ferris wheel. A fun, fact-filled text by Kathryn Gibbs Davis combines with Gilbert Ford's dazzling full-color illustrations to transport readers to the 1893 World's Fair, where George Ferris and his big, wonderful wheel lifted passengers to the skies for the first time.
Mr. Ferris and His Wheel (Into Reading, Trade Book #5)
by Kathryn Davis Gilbert FordNIMAC-sourced textbook