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Notes from the Hard Shoulder
by James MayTop Gear presenter and columnist for the Daily Telegraph James May brings together another brilliant collection of his most controversial and humorous writing. From tales of motoring adventures through India, Russia and Iceland, to classic articles on essential subjects such as driving songs and haunted car parks, these gems from the number one car connoisseur will take readers on a motoring journey that will amuse and entertain in equal measure.
Notes from the Henhouse: On Marrying a Poet, Raising Children and Chickens, and Writing
by Elspeth BarkerA sharp and witty collection of autobiographical essays by the late Elspeth Barker—acclaimed journalist and author of the beloved modern classic O Caledonia.Following the publication of her acclaimed, darkly funny novel O Caledonia, Elspeth Barker&’s sharp and witty essays appeared regularly in the national press. Notes from the Henhouse, a selection of the most personal of these pieces, welcomes readers into the celebrated writer&’s life. Tracing Barker&’s upbringing from her Scottish roots, these essays beautifully capture her time with the poet George Barker and her profound sense of loss following his death. She writes about George&’s former lover Elizabeth Smart and other figures from 1950s bohemia and 1960s counterculture. Pieces like &“Thoughts in a Garden,&” equal parts hilarious and moving, read like dispatches from the front lines of country living, depicting the vagaries of raising a large family and assorted pets in a damp and drafty farmhouse. Vivid, charming, and wholly original, Notes from the Henhouse is a wonderful glimpse into the life of an extraordinary writer.
Notes from the Hyena's Belly
by Nega MezlekiaIn this acclaimed memoir, Mezlekia recalls his boyhood in the arid city of Jijiga, Ethiopia, and his journey to manhood during the 1970s and 1980s. He traces his personal evolution from child to soldier--forced at the age of eighteen to join a guerrilla army. And he describes the hardships that consumed Ethiopia after the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie and the rise to power of the communist junta, in whose terror thousands of Ethiopians died. Part autobiography and part social history, Notes from the Hyena's Belly offers an unforgettable portrait of Ethiopia, and of Africa, during the defining and turbulent years of the last century.
Notes from the Night: A Life After Dark
by Taylor PlimptonHere in New York, a good night never ends. We will not let it. Though the hour is late, we are more awake than we have ever been in our lives, we are wild-eyed and grinning and dancing around like fools, and the music is thumping and the lights are flashing and the whole place is pulsating like a massive beating heart, and we do not want to go home, we do not want to go to sleep. Above all, we do not want to miss anything. So begins Notes from the Night, Taylor Plimpton's account of a night out in New York City. Passionately engaged and endlessly curious, Plimpton is part participant, part observer, a student and uniquely apt chronicler of human behavior--particularly at its most absurd. Accompanied by his best friend Zoo and a tight-knit band of other mischief-makers, and fueled by drinks, drugs and big dreams, Plimpton journeys from one Manhattan hotspot to the next with boundless energy and an eye for the dark, often comic realities of club culture. Exploring the myriad pleasures, mysteries and pitfalls of that elusive world, Notes from the Night is guide to a place - and a state of mind - that has never been mapped.
Notes from the Trail: Presidential Politics from the Inside Out
by Alexandra KerryThe modern race for the presidency has become a national sport. We've seen the baby-kissing, the barbecues, and the photo-ops; news cameras have taken us inside Iowan living rooms leading up to the caucuses, and they've given us a bird's-eye view of the grand halls of political conventions. But what is it like to be on the inside of this spectacle? What happens when the candidate is your closest family member?In her account of her father's bid for the presidency, Alexandra Kerry brings us inside the bubble. Her words and images lend an intimacy to our often overblown politics as she sheds light on some of the contradictions, ironies, and saving graces of our electoral process and our country.
Notes from the Underwire: Adventures from My Awkward and Lovely Life
by Quinn CummingsMeet Quinn Cummings. Former child star, mother, and modern woman, she just wants to be a good person. Quinn grew up in Los Angeles, a city whose patron saint would be a sixteen-year-old with a gold card and two trips to rehab under her belt. Quinn does crossword puzzles, eats lentils without being forced, and longs to wear a scarf without looking like a Camp Fire Girl. And she tries very hard to be the Adult--the one everybody calls for a ride to the airport--but somehow she always comes up short.In Notes from the Underwire, Quinn's smart and hilarious debut, she tackles the domestic and the delightfully absurd, proving that all too often they're one and the same. From fighting off a catnip-addled cat to mortal conflict with a sewing machine, Quinn provides insight into her often chaotic, seldom-perfect universe--a universe made even less perfect when the goofy smile of past celebrity shows its occasional fang. The book, like the author herself, is good hearted, keenly observant, and blisteringly funny. In other words, really good company.
Notes from the Upside Down: An Unofficial Guide to Stranger Things
by Guy AdamsJump inside the world of Stranger Things and discover everything you need to know about the hit TV show.Grab your Eggo waffles and get ready for a visit to Hawkins, Indiana—just don’t forget the fairy lights! If you devoured Stranger Things on Netflix and you’re looking to fill the demogorgon-sized hole in your life, then look no further than Notes from the Upside Down. This fan-tastic guide has every fact you could ever wish for—from insights into the origins of the show, including the mysterious Montauk Project conspiracy theory; a useful eighties playlist (because, of course); and much more. If you’ve ever wondered why Spielberg is such a huge influence, which Stephen King books you need to read (hint: pretty much all of them), or how State Trooper David O’Bannon earned his name, then this book is for you. Entertaining, informative, and perfect for fans of eighties pop culture, Notes from the Upside Down is the Big Mac of unofficial guides to Stranger Things—super-sized and special sauce included.
Notes from the Valley of Slaughter: A Memoir from the Ghetto of Šiauliai, Lithuania (Studies in Antisemitism)
by Aharon PickNotes from the Valley of Slaughter is an eyewitness journal and diary of the Holocaust, written in the ghetto of Šiauliai, Lithuania, by Dr. Aharon Pick (1872–1944). A physician, scholar, and community leader, Pick was a keen observer of the hardships of ghetto life, and his journal represents a detailed account of the tragic events he witnessed as well as a sensitive, almost poetic personal testament.Pick's journal covers the tumultuous late 1930s, the 1940–41 Soviet occupation of Lithuania, and the catastrophic German invasion and occupation, during which more than 90 percent of Lithuania's Jews were murdered. Pick was among a handful of Šiauliai Jewish physicians spared execution and allowed to work for the occupiers. Although Pick succumbed to illness in spring 1944, shortly before the ghetto was liquidated, his son Tedik buried the manuscript before fleeing the ghetto, retrieved it after liberation, and carried it with him to Israel.Notes from the Valley of Slaughter isone of only a handful of diaries to survive the annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry. Translated for the first time into English and extensively annotated, it conveys Pick's voice to a wider international audience for the first time.
Notes of Conversations with the Duke of Wellington 1831-1851
by Pickle Partners Publishing Philip Henry, 5th Earl of StanhopeThis ebook is purpose built and is proof-read and re-type set from the original to provide an outstanding experience of reflowing text for an ebook reader. The notes that the 5th Earl Stanhope collected during his intimate friendship with the 1st Duke of Wellington, form an interesting and entertaining addition to the publications of the period and in particular the character and thoughts of the Duke himself. They are chronologically organised, in almost diarised format, and are clearly contemporaneous, Stanhope avoids adding much input of his own to the text, leaving the Duke words to be recorded verbatim. Although published after the Duke's death they are scrupulously cross-referenced with other publications such as the Croker Papers and the Greville memoirs which lends authenticity to the work. There is also a uniformity of character and phrase in the words that Wellington is quoted as saying, so as to lose none of their wit, verve, conservatism and in many cases severity of judgement. Stanhope, himself was no mean scholar, and a champion for the arts being a driving force behind the National Gallery in London. The text contains many insights into how Wellington viewed the world, his allies, and enemies, both political and on the field of battle. The anecdotes feature no less persons than the arch-schemer Prince Talleyrand, Prince Metternich, Field Marshal Blücher, Generals Gneisenau, Picton and Alava, the Royal families of Great Britain and France, Austria, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Castelreagh et al. Of particular interest are his views on the campaigns that made him famous and particularly of Napoleon; just to quote one example of the text 'I have heard, Sir, from military men that Napoleon's campaign to defend Paris was one of his most skilful?--"Excellent--quite excellent. The study of it has given me a greater idea of his genius than any other. Had he continued that system a little while longer, it is my opinion that he would have saved Paris. But he wanted patience--he did not see the necessity of adhering to defensive warfare.' Highly recommended The text, complete and unedited, of this edition is taken from the 1888 edition published by John Murray, London. Author - Philip Henry, 5th Earl Stanhope (30 January 1805 - 24 December 1875)
Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front [Illustrated Edition]
by E. W. HornungIncludes the First World War Illustrations Pack - 73 battle plans and diagrams and 198 photosE. W. Hornung was a noted English author who wrote around the turn of the Twentieth Century, his most famous creation being the Gentleman Thief, Raffles. During the later years of the First World War (1917-1918), the author visited the military camps of the British army. He was particularly struck by the character of the soldiers in their moments of brief repose out of the firing line and decided to write a semi-fictionalized account of the camps. This volume 'Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front' is that account; gripping, emotive and lucid, Hornung's clear style and vivid eye of detail recreates the British troops that fought in Flanders Fields.
Notes of a Plenipotentiary: Russian Diplomacy and War in the Balkans, 1914–1917 (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies)
by G. N. TrubetskoiA prince in one of Russia's most exalted noble families, Grigorii N. Trubetskoi was a unique and contradictory figure during World War I. A lifelong civil servant and publicist, he began his diplomatic career in Constantinople, where he served as first secretary of the embassy there for several years. He became one of the leaders of an important political orientation among the liberals that began to express opposition to the tsar, not only on questions of political freedom and domestic political reform, but also by criticizing the tsar's foreign policy on nationalistic grounds. Trubetskoi possessed significant influence over Russian foreign policy and was instrumental in pushing the regime toward an aggressive annexationist stand in the Balkans. When the Russian ambassador to Serbia died suddenly in June of 1914, Trubetskoi was appointed as his replacement—situating him at the center of Russian diplomacy during the decisive period of Russia's entry into the war. His account of this period serves as an important reference for the study of the war's outbreak. Trubetskoi also discusses how he drafted the proclamation on Poland and gives a revealing account of its origins. A valuable source on the major historical problem of the entry of Turkey into the war, the narrative provides interesting details about agreements with Britain and France. Translated by Trubetskoi's granddaughter, Elizabeth Saika-Voivod, and featuring Trubetskoi's original photographs, this fascinating memoir provides an inside look at Russian foreign policies during crucial points of the war. It will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers interested in World War I and Russian history.
Notes on Chopin
by André GideAn inspiring discourse on the power of music from one of the twentieth century&’s most important figures, André Gide André Gide, one of the great intellectuals of the twentieth century and a devoted pianist, invites readers to reevaluate Frédéric Chopin as a composer &“betrayed . . . deeply, intimately, totally violated&” by a music community that had fundamentally misinterpreted his work. As a profound admirer of Chopin&’s &“promenade of discoveries,&” Gide intersperses musical notation throughout the text to illuminate his arguments, but most moving is Gide&’s own poetic expression for the music he so loved. This edition includes rare pages and fragments from Gide&’s journals, which relate to Chopin and music.
Notes on Chopin
by André GideAn inspiring discourse on the power of music from one of the twentieth century&’s most important figures, André Gide André Gide, one of the great intellectuals of the twentieth century and a devoted pianist, invites readers to reevaluate Frédéric Chopin as a composer &“betrayed . . . deeply, intimately, totally violated&” by a music community that had fundamentally misinterpreted his work. As a profound admirer of Chopin&’s &“promenade of discoveries,&” Gide intersperses musical notation throughout the text to illuminate his arguments, but most moving is Gide&’s own poetic expression for the music he so loved. This edition includes rare pages and fragments from Gide&’s journals, which relate to Chopin and music.
Notes on Grief
by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieFrom the globally acclaimed, best-selling novelist and author of We Should All Be Feminists, a timely and deeply personal account of the loss of her father. Notes on Grief is an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope, written in the wake of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's beloved father’s death in the summer of 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged around the world, and kept Adichie and her family members separated from one another, her father succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure. In this extended essay, which originated in a New Yorker piece, Adichie shares how this loss shook her to her core. She writes about being one of the millions of people grieving this year; about the familial and cultural dimensions of grief and also about the loneliness and anger that are unavoidable in it. With signature precision of language, and glittering, devastating detail on the page--and never without touches of rich, honest humor--Adichie weaves together her own experience of her father’s death with threads of his life story, from his remarkable survival during the Biafran war, through a long career as a statistics professor, into the days of the pandemic in which he’d stay connected with his children and grandchildren over video chat from the family home in Abba, Nigeria. In the compact format of We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, Adichie delivers a gem of a book--a book that fundamentally connects us to one another as it probes one of the most universal human experiences. Notes on Grief is a book for this moment—a work readers will treasure and share now more than ever--and yet will prove durable and timeless, an indispensable addition to Adichie's canon.
Notes on Grief
by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieNotes on Grief is an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope, written in the wake of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's beloved father’s death in the summer of 2020. <P><P>As the COVID-19 pandemic raged around the world, and kept Adichie and her family members separated from one another, her father succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure. Expanding on her original New Yorker piece, Adichie shares how this loss shook her to her core. She writes about being one of the millions of people grieving this year; about the familial and cultural dimensions of grief and also about the loneliness and anger that are unavoidable in it. <P><P>With signature precision of language, and glittering, devastating detail on the page--and never without touches of rich, honest humor--Adichie weaves together her own experience of her father’s death with threads of his life story, from his remarkable survival during the Biafran war, through a long career as a statistics professor, into the days of the pandemic in which he’d stay connected with his children and grandchildren over video chat from the family home in Abba, Nigeria. <P><P>In the compact format of We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, Adichie delivers a gem of a book--a book that fundamentally connects us to one another as it probes one of the most universal human experiences. Notes on Grief is a book for this moment—a work readers will treasure and share now more than ever--and yet will prove durable and timeless, an indispensable addition to Adichie's canon.
Notes on Heartbreak: the must-read book of the summer
by Annie LordFierce, funny and raw, this unflinchingly honest exploration of heartbreak is so much more than a book about one single break-up'Arresting and vivid, raw and breathtaking...told with stunning originality.' Dolly Alderton 'Painful while it sloughs away the dead romantic ideals, leaving you cleansed, reborn and gorgeously satisfied.' Pandora Sykes 'A beautiful tender messy brilliant generous open-hearted book.' Emma Gannon This is a love story told in reverse. It's about the best and worst of love: the euphoric and the painful. The beautiful and the messy. Reeling from a broken heart, Annie Lord revisits the past - from the moment she first fell in love, the shared in-jokes and intertwining of a long-term relationship, to the months that saw the slow erosion of a bond five years in the making. It is an unflinchingly honest reminder of the simultaneous joy and pain of being in love that will resonate with anyone that has ever nursed a broken heart. 'An electrifying debut.' Caroline O'Donoghue 'Annie Lord tells us a story at once both specific and universal.' Shon Faye
Notes on Hopi Economic Life: Yale University Publications In Anthropology, No. 15 (Yale University Publications In Anthropology #No. 15)
by Ernest Beaglehole Pearl BeagleholeThis source is a general study of Hopi economic life based on the study of two Second Mesa villages — Mishongnovi and Shipaulovi. The field work was done by the author in the summers of 1932 and 1934. In addition to the detailed data on various aspects of the Hopi economy (e. g., food gathering, agriculture, etc.), there is a great deal of other information to be found here relevant to household organization, kin and clan, property, foods and food preparation, crafts, house building, labor organization, and the distribution of wealth through ceremony and exchange.
Notes on Surviving the Fire: A razor-sharp, darkly funny literary novel about male violence, a woman's vengeance, and whether killing can ever be justified
by Christine Murphy'A biting, savage, unflinching story . . . Murphy writes with the nimbleness of a hunter: muscularly and with precision, while also propelled by undercurrents of cold, simmering fury and hot, big-hearted empathy.'AUBE REY LESCURE, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of RIVER EAST RIVER WEST'. . . a furious, fast-paced, emotionally resonant and memorable novel. I'll be thinking about this one for a while yet.' - ILANA MASAD, Los Angeles TimesSarah grew up in the forests of Maine, following her father on hunts. They approached each kill with something close to reverence, honouring the sacrifice the animal made and the sustenance it provided through winter. Now, she's a final year PhD student in southern California, caught in an entirely different landscape of extreme wealth and raging wildfires. She spends her time worrying about how she'll be able to get a permanent academic position, and also doing ketamine and watching 80s movies with her best friend, Nathan.Nathan was the only person to believe Sarah when she was assaulted by a fellow student during her first year. When he's found dead of an alleged heroin overdose, Sarah is convinced it is a murder but, once again, the police don't believe her. As she digs into the case, she stumbles upon a disturbing pattern in the deaths of other young men on campus and begins to piece together a possible link between the victims. Now, Sarah must confront a different type of killing to any she's ever known - and decide if it can be justified.
Notes on Surviving the Fire: A razor-sharp, darkly funny literary novel about male violence, a woman's vengeance, and whether killing can ever be justified
by Christine Murphy'A biting, savage, unflinching story . . . Murphy writes with the nimbleness of a hunter: muscularly and with precision, while also propelled by undercurrents of cold, simmering fury and hot, big-hearted empathy.'AUBE REY LESCURE, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of RIVER EAST RIVER WESTSarah grew up in the forests of Maine, following her father on hunts. They approached each kill with something close to reverence, honouring the sacrifice the animal made and the sustenance it provided through winter. Now, she's a final year PhD student in southern California, caught in an entirely different landscape of extreme wealth and raging wildfires. She spends her time worrying about how she'll be able to get a permanent academic position, and also doing ketamine and watching 80s movies with her best friend, Nathan.Nathan was the only person to believe Sarah when she was assaulted by a fellow student during her first year. When he's found dead of an alleged heroin overdose, Sarah is convinced it is a murder but, once again, the police don't believe her. As she digs into the case, she stumbles upon a disturbing pattern in the deaths of other young men on campus and begins to piece together a possible link between the victims. Now, Sarah must confront a different type of killing to any she's ever known - and decide if it can be justified.
Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love and Manic Depression
by David LeiteA FINALIST FOR THE NEW ENGLAND BOOK AWARD FOR NON FICTIONA PASTE BEST BOOK OF THE YEARONE OF TIMEOUT NEW YORK’S BEST SUMMER BEACH READS OF 2017ONE OF REAL SIMPLE’S 25 FATHER’S DAY BOOKS THAT COVER ALL OF DAD’S INTERESTSThe stunning and long-awaited memoir from the beloved founder of the James Beard Award-winning website Leite’s Culinaria—a candid, courageous, and at times laugh-out-loud funny story of family, food, mental illness, and sexual identity.Born into a family of Azorean immigrants, David Leite grew up in the 1960s in a devoutly Catholic, blue-collar, food-crazed Portuguese home in Fall River, Massachusetts. A clever and determined dreamer with a vivid imagination and a flair for the dramatic, “Banana” as his mother endearingly called him, yearned to live in a middle-class house with a swinging kitchen door just like the ones on television, and fell in love with everything French, thanks to his Portuguese and French-Canadian godmother. But David also struggled with the emotional devastation of manic depression. Until he was diagnosed in his mid-thirties, David found relief from his wild mood swings in learning about food, watching Julia Child, and cooking for others.Notes on a Banana is his heartfelt, unflinchingly honest, yet tender memoir of growing up, accepting himself, and turning his love of food into an award-winning career. Reminiscing about the people and events that shaped him, David looks back at the highs and lows of his life: from his rejection of being gay and his attempt to “turn straight” through Aesthetic Realism, a cult in downtown Manhattan, to becoming a writer, cookbook author, and web publisher, to his twenty-four-year relationship with Alan, known to millions of David’s readers as “The One,” which began with (what else?) food. Throughout the journey, David returns to his stoves and tables, and those of his family, as a way of grounding himself.A blend of Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind, the food memoirs by Ruth Reichl, Anthony Bourdain, and Gabrielle Hamilton, and the character-rich storytelling of Augusten Burroughs, David Sedaris, and Jenny Lawson, Notes on a Banana is a feast that dazzles, delights, and, ultimately, heals.
Notes on a Century: Reflections of A Middle East Historian
by Bernard Lewis Buntzie Ellis ChurchillThe memoirs of the greatest living historian of the Middle East, Professor Bernard Lewis.After 9/11, people who had never given much thought to the politics of the Middle East found themselves wondering why there was such rage brewing in the region. Many of them turned to Bernard Lewis for an explanation. The world's pre-eminent historian of the Middle East, Lewis was among the first to identify the phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism.In this exceptional memoir, he looks back over his long career - taking us from his discovery of the Crusades, as a young boy in London, and his service in British intelligence during the Second World War, through to the Iraq wars, the crisis with Iran, and the great upheavals of the Arab Spring.Over the course of his distinguished career, he has at times been as much a player in political events as well as a scholar. He has advised monarchs, presidents, prime ministers and dissidents in the Middle East and elsewhere. Now 95, and still sharper than most college students, he writes with barbed wit about the people he has known and the events he has witnessed and participated in. No subject is more fraught in the Middle East than history - and so Bernard Lewis has found himself unexpectedly part of the story that he tells in this extraordinary memoir of a life that spans the 20th century, and has already had a great impact on the 21st.
Notes on a Century: Reflections of A Middle East Historian
by Bernard Lewis Buntzie Ellis ChurchillThe memoirs of the greatest historian of the Middle East, Professor Bernard Lewis.After 9/11, people who had never given much thought to the politics of the Middle East found themselves wondering why there was such rage brewing in the region. Many of them turned to Bernard Lewis for an explanation. The world's pre-eminent historian of the Middle East, Lewis was among the first to identify the phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism.In this exceptional memoir, he looks back over his long career - taking us from his discovery of the Crusades, as a young boy in London, and his service in British intelligence during the Second World War, through to the Iraq wars, the crisis with Iran, and the great upheavals of the Arab Spring.Over the course of his distinguished career, he has at times been as much a player in political events as well as a scholar. He has advised monarchs, presidents, prime ministers and dissidents in the Middle East and elsewhere. Now 95, and still sharper than most college students, he writes with barbed wit about the people he has known and the events he has witnessed and participated in. No subject is more fraught in the Middle East than history - and so Bernard Lewis has found himself unexpectedly part of the story that he tells in this extraordinary memoir of a life that spans the 20th century, and has already had a great impact on the 21st.
Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian
by Bernard Lewis Buntzie Ellis ChurchillNotes on a Century is a great historian's vivid and insightful episodic reflections on his life, from his childhood as a confident, clever little boy to his energetic old age in the present day. He is always at pains to explain the importance of the role of a historian: in contrast to other academic disciplines he unwittingly breaks his own mould, being a diplomat, spy, polyglot and philosopher in addition to his historical calling. Coming from a relatively secular anglicised Jewish family, Bernard Lewis's interest in the Middle East seemed to be innate rather than a reflection of his own personal history. His insistence on the importance of the primary source was one of his motivating factors in learning so many languages fluently. His academic life was interrupted by the Second World War, but his language skills and knowledge base were put to good use in the Secret Service. Although his primary historical focus is on the Ottoman Empire, his expertise and language knowledge led to his involvement in the modern-day Middle Eastern conflict. His list of contacts and connections is truly impressive, and he has - at some time - been in touch with most of the main political players of the region. There is also a considerable human dimension to his narrative. He cites a Japanese woman exclaiming at his knowledge of Japanese in Israel, but commenting in perfect Hebrew. Notes on a Century is not only a fascinating memoir but addresses the uniquely difficult recent history of the Middle East from a wise and superbly well-informed perspective - that of the region's finest historian.
Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian
by Bernard Lewis Buntzie Ellis ChurchillThe #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Went Wrong? tells the story of his extraordinary lifeAfter September 11, Americans who had never given much thought to the Middle East turned to Bernard Lewis for an explanation, catapulting What Went Wrong? and later Crisis of Islam to become number one bestsellers. He was the first to warn of a coming "clash of civilizations," a term he coined in 1957, and has led an amazing life, as much a political actor as a scholar of the Middle East. In this witty memoir he reflects on the events that have transformed the region since World War II, up through the Arab Spring.A pathbreaking scholar with command of a dozen languages, Lewis has advised American presidents and dined with politicians from the shah of Iran to the pope. Over the years, he had tea at Buckingham Palace, befriended Golda Meir, and briefed politicians from Ted Kennedy to Dick Cheney. No stranger to controversy, he pulls no punches in his blunt criticism of those who see him as the intellectual progenitor of the Iraq war. Like America’s other great historian-statesmen Arthur Schlesinger and Henry Kissinger, he is a figure of towering intellect and a world-class raconteur, which makes Notes on a Century essential reading for anyone who cares about the fate of the Middle East.