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The Wit of Cricket: Classic Collection
by Barry JohnstonThis bumper collection of the funniest anecdotes, jokes and stories from cricket's best-loved personalities proves that cricket is a funny game - even when rain stops play!In this special audio edition, you can hear not only the most popular stories told by five of the game's all-time great characters - Richie Benaud, Dickie Bird, Henry Blofeld, Brian Johnston and Fred Trueman - but also the humour of famous cricketers such as Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff, Justin Langer, Shane Warne, and modern players including Jimmy Anderson, Joe Root and Ben Stokes.Here are dozens of hilarious anecdotes from around the world about the legendary cricketers Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Michael Holding, Sachin Tendulkar and many others - not to mention broadcasting gaffes and giggles, sledging, short-sighted umpires and the phantom sock snipper in the England dressing-room!(P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
The Wit of Cricket: Second Innings
by Barry JohnstonThis bumper collection of the funniest anecdotes, jokes and stories from cricket's best-loved personalities proves that cricket is a funny game - even when rain stops play!In this updated and expanded edition, you can read not only the most popular stories by five of the game's all-time great characters - Richie Benaud, Dickie Bird, Henry Blofeld, Brian Johnston and Fred Trueman - but also the humour of famous cricketers such as Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff, Justin Langer, Shane Warne, and modern players including Jimmy Anderson, Joe Root and Ben Stokes.Here are dozens of hilarious anecdotes from around the world about the legendary cricketers Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Michael Holding, Sachin Tendulkar and many others - not to mention broadcasting gaffes and giggles, sledging, short-sighted umpires and the phantom sock snipper in the England dressing-room!
The Witch and the Priest
by Hilda LewisIf you visit the ancient parish church of Bottesford, in Leicestershire, England, you will find inscribed there a record of the events related in this engrossing tale of long ago. The story concerns Joan Flower, "a notorious witch of exotic appearance," who in life cast off God and in death denied the Devil, closing the gates of both Heaven and Hell to herself. Hilda Lewis tells how Joan, whose evil became notorious, enmeshed her daughters in her unearthly schemes, finally using them in her campaign of revenge against the Earl and Countess of Rutland, whom she was determined to harm by occult means, and whose two young sons she finally destroyed. (The Earl's tomb is the only one in England carrying an allegation that the heirs to an estate were killed by witchcraft.) As this dark story unfolds against a bright background of life in castle and village, Mrs. Lewis recreates a time when "midnight" hags set the ministers of hell to work.
The Witch of Lime Street
by David JaherHistory comes alive in this textured account of the rivalry between Harry Houdini and the so-called Witch of Lime Street, whose iconic lives intersected at a time when science was on the verge of embracing the paranormal.The 1920s are famous as the golden age of jazz and glamour, but it was also an era of fevered yearning for communion with the spirit world, after the loss of tens of millions in the First World War and the Spanish-flu epidemic. A desperate search for reunion with dead loved ones precipitated a tidal wave of self-proclaimed psychics--and, as reputable media sought stories on occult phenomena, mediums became celebrities. Against this backdrop, in 1924, the pretty wife of a distinguished Boston surgeon came to embody the raging national debate over Spiritualism, a movement devoted to communication with the dead. Reporters dubbed her the blonde Witch of Lime Street, but she was known to her followers simply as Margery. Her most vocal advocate was none other than Sherlock Holmes' creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who believed so thoroughly in Margery's powers that he urged her to enter a controversial contest, sponsored by Scientific American and offering a large cash prize to the first medium declared authentic by its impressive five-man investigative committee. Admired for both her exceptional charm and her dazzling effects, Margery was the best hope for the psychic practice to be empirically verified. Her supernatural gifts beguiled four of the judges. There was only one left to convince...the acclaimed escape artist, Harry Houdini.David Jaher's extraordinary debut culminates in the showdown between Houdini, a relentless unmasker of charlatans, and Margery, the nation's most credible spirit medium. The Witch of Lime Street, the first book to capture their electric public rivalry and the competition that brought them into each other's orbit, returns us to an oft-mythologized era to deepen our understanding of its history, all while igniting our imagination and engaging with the timeless question: Is there life after death?From the Hardcover edition.
The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World
by David JaherHistory comes alive in this textured account of the rivalry between Harry Houdini and the so-called Witch of Lime Street, whose iconic lives intersected at a time when science was on the verge of embracing the paranormal.The 1920s are famous as the golden age of jazz and glamour, but it was also an era of fevered yearning for communion with the spirit world, after the loss of tens of millions in the First World War and the Spanish-flu epidemic. A desperate search for reunion with dead loved ones precipitated a tidal wave of self-proclaimed psychics--and, as reputable media sought stories on occult phenomena, mediums became celebrities. Against this backdrop, in 1924, the pretty wife of a distinguished Boston surgeon came to embody the raging national debate over Spiritualism, a movement devoted to communication with the dead. Reporters dubbed her the blonde Witch of Lime Street, but she was known to her followers simply as Margery. Her most vocal advocate was none other than Sherlock Holmes' creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who believed so thoroughly in Margery's powers that he urged her to enter a controversial contest, sponsored by Scientific American and offering a large cash prize to the first medium declared authentic by its impressive five-man investigative committee. Admired for both her exceptional charm and her dazzling effects, Margery was the best hope for the psychic practice to be empirically verified. Her supernatural gifts beguiled four of the judges. There was only one left to convince...the acclaimed escape artist, Harry Houdini.David Jaher's extraordinary debut culminates in the showdown between Houdini, a relentless unmasker of charlatans, and Margery, the nation's most credible spirit medium. The Witch of Lime Street, the first book to capture their electric public rivalry and the competition that brought them into each other's orbit, returns us to an oft-mythologized era to deepen our understanding of its history, all while igniting our imagination and engaging with the timeless question: Is there life after death?From the Hardcover edition.
The Witch's Daughter: My Mother, Her Magic, and the Madness that Bound Us
by Orenda FinkAcclaimed indie musician and songwriter Orenda Fink delivers a lyrical and moving memoir of a tumultuous childhood with a mother who battled mental illness and addiction. From her perch on a kitchen stool each night, Orenda Fink&’s darkly charismatic mother spins family lore and tells tales of the supernatural powers she wields, insisting that both she and Orenda are magic. By day, Orenda&’s childhood is marked by instability and uncertainty. Her family moves from town to town, chasing a fresh start whenever the money runs out. Orenda&’s mother insists that she is a witch, and magic is their means of protection from the world outside of their family. Orenda encounters her mother&’s magic in all its forms: a crisp $20 bill materializes from nothing when money has run out and a bottle of congealed blood lurks in the closet for unspoken reasons. When her mother&’s substance abuse and controlling behavior crescendo, Orenda escapes to pursue a music career in Birmingham, Alabama, and then storied Athens, Georgia, forming bands Little Red Rocket and Azure Ray. She orbits the family home, always drawn back by her mother&’s dark powers and her own need to solve the mystery of whether that claim of magic—or any magic—is real, or merely an expression of mental illness. Orenda&’s journey takes her from churches in the American South—eager to exercise the demons out of her—to even more mysterious practitioners of country magic in the Southeast and beyond. Finally seeking refuge in California&’s high desert, Orenda works to knit together her divided worlds with the help of a Jungian psychotherapist. She is stunned to learn that her mother fits many of the criteria associated with borderline personality disorder, including a sub-type identified by famed thought leader Christine Ann Lawson, known as &“The Witch&”—an aggressive, dominating figure who operates by fear-driven control, sometimes claiming to wield magic. Told in spellbinding prose, this memoir of music, self-discovery, and compassion is for anyone who has had to conjure a safe place to call home.
The Witch's Door: Oddities and Tales from the Esoteric to the Extreme
by Ryan Matthew Cohn Regina M. RossiIn this spellbinding and entertaining memoir, Regina and Ryan Cohn, founders of Oddities Flea Market, take us on a fascinating and specially curated tour of their most macabre and mysterious objects, art, and artifacts, sharing their incredible history and stories.Enter at your own risk … A taxidermied monkey named Mr. Peepers. A rare collection of anatomical wax figures for sale in Munich. A Tibetan Kapala skull decorated with bits of coral. Two Charlie McCarthy dolls that may (or may not) be haunted. The incredible memento mori collection of Richard Harris. An actual witch’s door. That’s all just for starters. Welcome to a world of oddities curated by Regina and Ryan Cohn, trendsetters and tastemakers who have reinvented what the artifact collectors market looks like. Together, they are the founders of Oddities Flea Market, artfully curating a selection of the best artists and collectors at several events across the U.S. throughout the year, with an eye towards expanding globally. In The Witch’s Door, Ryan, who starred in the reality television show Oddities, and Regina, who comes from the world of fashion, give us a rare peek behind the curtain into the business of collecting the strange and unusual and the cast of eccentric characters they meet along the way. Packed with jaw-dropping photographs and unbelievable-but-true stories, The Witch’s Door is a rare combination of visual and narrative entertainment. In these pages, Ryan and Regina take readers all over the world, from Brooklyn to Bavaria, giving them the inside scoop on how they purchase artifacts to sell and those they want to keep. Perfect for fans of Oddities, Atlas Obscura, and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, this collectible book makes a delightfully lurid gift or self-purchase for those happily inclined toward the dark side.
The Witches Within Westminster
by Peter Buckland'Double double, toil and trouble, round about the cauldron go. In the crushed brains and spinal cord throw, thalamus, spleen, and tonsils also, then cool it with tainted Blood, Well done, for we shall gain a greater Profit to share with the farmers, and our meat trade.' A factual and harrowing account of Mark Buckland's, a young man's, progressive decline by variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human form of BSE; namely 'Mad Cow's disease'. This book documents the shocking failures by a conservative Government when it came to food safety standards, a cannibalistic feed that defied nature and led to a misfolded protein causing an infectious brain disease, and failures by the NHS and Department of Health regarding the NHS Blood Transfusion Service. This is also a tale of a father's grief, family and friends who pull together in a tragic time to support a special, loving and caring man, who has his life spat out by the 'Witches within Westminster'.
The Witching Year: A Memoir of Earnest Fumbling Through Modern Witchcraft
by Diana HelmuthA skeptic spends a year trying to find spiritual fulfillment by practicing modern Witchcraft in this fascinating memoir that&’s perfect for fans of A.J. Jacobs and Mary Roach.Diana Helmuth, thirty-three, is skeptical of organized religion. She is also skeptical of disorganized religion. But, more than anything, she is tired of God being dead. So, she decides to try on the fastest-growing, self-directed faith in America: Witchcraft. The result is 366 days of observation, trial, error, wit, and back spasms. Witches today are often presented as confident and finished, proud and powerful. Diana is eager to join them. She wants to follow all the rules, memorize all the incantations, and read all the liturgy. But there&’s one glaring problem: no Witch can agree on what the right rules, liturgy, and incantations are. As with life, Diana must define the craft for herself, looking past the fashionable and figuring out how to define the real. Along the way, she travels to Salem and Edinburgh (two very Crafty hubs) and attends a week-long (clothing optional) Witch camp in Northern California. Whether she&’s trying to perform a full moon ritual on a cardboard box, summon an ancient demon with scotch tape and a kitchen trivet, or just trying to become a calmer, happier person, her biggest question remains: Will any of this really work? The Witching Year is a &“compelling memoir&” (Frances Denny, author of Major Arcana) that follows in the footsteps of celebrated memoirs by journalists like A.J. Jacobs, Mary Roach, and Caitlin Doughty, who knit humor and reportage together in search of something worth believing.
The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation
by Carey Newman Kirstie HudsonFor more than 150 years, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and sent to residential schools across Canada. Artist Carey Newman created the Witness Blanket to make sure that history is never forgotten. The Blanket is a living work of art—a collection of hundreds of objects from those schools. It includes everything from photos, bricks, hockey skates, graduation certificates, dolls and piano keys to braids of hair. Behind every piece is a story. And behind every story is a residential school Survivor, including Carey's father. This book is a collection of truths about what happened at those schools, but it's also a beacon of hope and a step on the journey toward reconciliation.
The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice
by Rebecca Musser M. Bridget CookRebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, she received a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs. Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens she became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family. The church, however, had a way of pulling her back in-and by 2007, Rebecca had no choice but to take the witness stand against the new prophet of the FLDS in order to protect her little sisters and other young girls from being forced to marry at shockingly young ages. The following year, Rebecca and the rest of the world watched as a team of Texas Rangers raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a stronghold of the FLDS. Rebecca's subsequent testimony would reveal the horrific secrets taking place behind closed doors of the temple, sending their leaders to prison for years, and Warren Jeffs for life. THE WITNESS WORE RED is a gripping account of one woman's struggle to escape the perverse embrace of religious fanaticism and sexual slavery, and a courageous story of hope and transformation.
The Witness of Combines
by Kent MeyersThe author recounts the wake of his father's death when he was sixteen and reflects on families, farms, and rural life in the Midwest. His perspective on rural life in the Midwest elegantly weaves daily farm life with his own coming of age story, drawing readers from all walks of life into this brave and poignant work.
The Wives
by Alexandra PopoffMany readers may know that such writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence used their marriages for literary inspiration and material. In Russian literary marriages, these women did not resent taking a secondary position, although to call their position secondary does not do justice to the vital role these women played in the creation of some of the greatest literary works in history. From Sofia Tolstoy to Vera Nabokov and Elena Mandelshtam and Natalya Solzhenitsyn, these women ranged from stenographers and typists to editors, researchers, translators, and even publishers. Living under restrictive regimes, many of these women battled censorship and preserved the writers&’ illicit archives, often risking their own lives to do so. They established a tradition all their own, unmatched in the West. Many of these women, like Vera and Sofia, were the writers&’ intellectual companions and willingly contributed to the creative process—they commonly used the word &“we&” to describe the progress of their husbands&’ work. And their husbands knew it too. Leo Tolstoy made no secret of Sofia&’s involvement in War and Peace, and Vladimir Nabokov referred to Vera as his own &“single shadow.&”
The Wives of George IV: The Secret Bride & the Scorned Princess
by Catherine CurzonThe scandalous life of George IV is revealed in this account of his marriage to Princess Caroline and his secret union with a longtime mistress. In Georgian England, few men were more eligible than the Prince of Wales. The heir to George III&’s throne would seem to be an excellent catch. Though the two women who married him might beg to differ. Maria Fitzherbert was a twice-widowed Roman Catholic with a natural aversion to trouble. When she married the prince in a secret ceremony, she opened the door on three decades of heartbreak. Cast aside by her husband one minute, pursued by him tirelessly the next, Maria&’s clandestine marriage was anything but blissful. It was also the worst kept secret in England. Caroline of Brunswick was George&’s official bride. Little did she know that her husband was marrying for money. When she arrived for the ceremony, she found him so drunk that he couldn&’t even walk to the altar. Caroline might not have her husband&’s love, but the public adored her. In a world where radicalism was stirring, it was a recipe for disaster. In The Wives of George IV, Maria and Caroline navigate the choppy waters of marriage to the capricious, womanizing king-in-waiting. With a queen on trial for adultery and the succession itself in the balance, Britain had never seen scandal like it.
The Wives of Henry VIII
by Antonia Fraser"The Wives of Henry VIII" interweaves passion and power, personality and politics, into a superb work of history. Under Antonia Fraser's intense scrutiny. Catherine of Aragon emerges as a scholar queen who steadfastly refused to grant a divorce to her royal husband; Anne Boleyn is absolved of everything but a sharp tongue and the inability to produce a male heir; and Catherine Parr is revealed as a religious reformer with the good sense to tack with the treacherous winds of the Tudor Court. And we gain fresh understanding of Jane Seymour's circumspect wisdom, the touching dignity of Anne of Cleves, and the youthful naïveté that led to Katherine Howard's fatal indiscretions.
The Wives: A Memoir
by Simone Gorrindo&“[Simone] Gorrindo&’s prose is inviting and fluid, and her storytelling is intimate and vivid...[an] engaging, evocative memoir.&” —The New York Times Book Review &“A hopeful, unifying memoir.&” —People This profoundly intimate memoir about marriage, friendship, and the power of human connection tells the story of one woman&’s experience of joining a community of army wives after leaving her New York City job.When her new husband joins an elite Army unit, Simone Gorrindo is uprooted from New York City and dropped into Columbus, Georgia. With her husband frequently deployed, Simone is left to find her place in this new world, alone—until she meets the wives. Gorrindo gives us an intimate look into the inner lives of a remarkable group of women and a tender, unflinching portrait of a marriage. A love story, an unforgettable coming-of-age tale, and a bracing tour of the intractable divisions that plague our country today, The Wives offers a rare and powerful gift: a hopeful stitch in the fabric of a torn America.
The Wives: The Women Behind Russia's Literary Giants
by Alexandra PopoffMuses and editors, saviors and publishers: Meet the women behind the greatest works of Russian literature "Behind every good man is a good woman" is a common saying, but when it comes to literature, the relationship between spouses is even that much more complex. F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and D. H. Lawrence used their marriages for literary inspiration and material, sometime at the expense of their spouses' sanity. Thomas Carlyle wanted his wife to assist him, but Jane Carlyle became increasingly bitter and resentful in her new role, putting additional strain on their relationship. In Russian literary marriages, however, the wives of some of the most famous authors of all time did not resent taking a "secondary position," although to call their position secondary does not do justice to the vital role these women played in the creation of some of the greatest literary works in history. From Sophia Tolstoy to Véra Nabokov, Elena Bulgakov, Nadezdha Mandelstam, Anna Dostevsky, and Natalya Solzhenitsyn, these women ranged from stenographers and typists to editors, researchers, translators, and even publishers. Living under restrictive regimes, many of these women battled censorship and preserved the writers' illicit archives, often risking their own lives to do so. They established a tradition all their own, unmatched in the West. Many of these women were the writers' intellectual companions and made invaluable contributions to the creative process. And their husbands knew it. Leo Tolstoy made no secret of Sofia's involvement in War and Peace in his letters, and Vladimir Nabokov referred to Véra as his own "single shadow."
The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World
by Charles C. MannFrom the best-selling, award-winning author of 1491 and 1493--an incisive portrait of the two little-known twentieth-century scientists, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt, whose diametrically opposed views shaped our ideas about the environment, laying the groundwork for how people in the twenty-first century will choose to live in tomorrow's world. In forty years, Earth's population will reach ten billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups--Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin. Cut back! was his mantra. Otherwise everyone will lose! The Wizards are the heirs of Norman Borlaug, whose research, in effect, wrangled the world in service to our species to produce modern high-yield crops that then saved millions from starvation. Innovate! was Borlaug's cry. Only in that way can everyone win! Mann delves into these diverging viewpoints to assess the four great challenges humanity faces--food, water, energy, climate change--grounding each in historical context and weighing the options for the future. With our civilization on the line, the author's insightful analysis is an essential addition to the urgent conversation about how our children will fare on an increasingly crowded Earth.
The Wizard of Foz: Dick Fosbury's One-Man High-Jump Revolution
by Bob Welch Dick Fosbury Ashton EatonIn 1968, a US Olympic men’s track and field team—America’s best ever—stirred the world in unprecedented ways, among them the victory stand black rights protest by Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the Games in Mexico City. But in competition, no single athlete captured the ’60s more perfectly than Dick Fosbury, a failed Oregon prep high jumper who—in the wake of his little brother being killed by a drunk driver while the two were riding bikes and the subsequent divorce of his parents—invented a high jump style as a high school sophomore that ultimately won him an Olympic gold medal and revolutionized the event. No jumpers today use any other style than his. The Wizard of Foz is a story of innovation and imagination that blossoms 7,350 feet up in the High Sierra, where boulders and 100-foot trees festoon the interior of the Olympic Trials track. It is a story of loss, survival, and triumph, entwined in a person—Fosbury—and a time—the ’60s—clearly made for each other. And it is a story of a young man who refused to listen to those who laughed at him, those who doubted him, and those who tried to make him into someone he wasn’t.“My experience working with Skyhorse is always a positive collaboration. The editors are first-rate professionals, and my books receive top-shelf treatment. I truly appreciate our working relationship and hope it continues for years to come.” –David Fischer, author
The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust
by Diana B. HenriquesThe inside story of Bernie Madoff and his $65 billion Ponzi scheme, with surprising and shocking new details from Madoff himself. Who is Bernie Madoff, and how did he pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in history? These questions have fascinated people ever since the news broke about the respected New York financier who swindled his friends, relatives, and other investors out of $65 billion through a fraud that lasted for decades. Many have speculated about what might have happened or what must have happened, but no reporter has been able to get the full story -- until now. In The Wizard of Lies, Diana B. Henriques of The New York Times-- who has led the papers coverage of the Madoff scandal since the day the story broke -- has written the definitive book on the man and his scheme, drawing on unprecedented access and more than one hundred interviews with people at all levels and on all sides of the crime, including Madoff's first interviews for publication since his arrest. Henriques also provides vivid details from the various lawsuits, government investigations, and court filings that will explode the myths that have come to surround the story. A true-life financial thriller, The Wizard of Lies contrasts Madoff's remarkable rise on Wall Street, where he became one of the country's most trusted and respected traders, with dramatic scenes from his accelerating slide toward self-destruction. It is also the most complete account of the heartbreaking personal disasters and landmark legal battles triggered by Madoff's downfall -- the suicides, business failures, fractured families, shuttered charities -- and the clear lessons this timeless scandal offers to Washington, Wall Street, and Main Street.
The Wizard of Menlo Park
by Randall StrossAt the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as “the Napoleon of invention” and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. Newspapers proclaimed his genius in glowing personal profiles and quipped that “the doctor has been called” because the great man “has not invented anything since breakfast. ” Starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and extending through the development of incandescent light, a power generation and distribution system to sustain it, and the first motion picture cameras—all achievements more astonishing in their time than we can easily grasp today—Edison’s name became emblematic of all the wonder and promise of the emerging age of technological marvels. But as Randall Stross makes clear in this critical biography of the man who is arguably the most globally famous of all Americans, Thomas Edison’s greatest invention may have been his own celebrity. Edison was certainly a technical genius, but Stross excavates the man from layers of myth-making and separates his true achievements from his almost equally colossal failures. How much credit should Edison receive for the various inventions that have popularly been attributed to him—and how many of them resulted from both the inspiration and the perspiration of his rivals and even his own assistants? How much of Edison’s technical skill helped him overcome a lack of business acumen and feel for consumers’ wants and needs? This bold reassessment of Edison’s life and career answers these and many other important questions while telling the story of how he came upon his most famous inventions as a young man and spent the remainder of his long life trying to conjure similar success. We also meet his partners and competitors, presidents and entertainers, his close friend Henry Ford, the wives who competed with his work for his attention, and the children who tried to thrive in his shadow—all providing a fuller view of Edison’s life and times than has ever been offered before. The Wizard of Menlo Park reveals not only how Edison worked, but how he managed his own fame, becoming the first great celebrity of the modern age.
The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World
by Randall E. StrossAt the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as "the Napoleon of invention" and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. Newspapers proclaimed his genius in glowing personal profiles and quipped that "the doctor has been called" because the great man "has not invented anything since breakfast." Starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and extending through the development of incandescent light, a power generation and distribution system to sustain it, and the first motion picture cameras--all achievements more astonishing in their time than we can easily grasp today--Edison's name became emblematic of all the wonder and promise of the emerging age of technological marvels.But as Randall Stross makes clear in this critical biography of the man who is arguably the most globally famous of all Americans, Thomas Edison's greatest invention may have been his own celebrity. Edison was certainly a technical genius, but Stross excavates the man from layers of myth-making and separates his true achievements from his almost equally colossal failures. How much credit should Edison receive for the various inventions that have popularly been attributed to him--and how many of them resulted from both the inspiration and the perspiration of his rivals and even his own assistants? How much of Edison's technical skill helped him overcome a lack of business acumen and feel for consumers' wants and needs?This bold reassessment of Edison's life and career answers these and many other important questions while telling the story of how he came upon his most famous inventions as a young man and spent the remainder of his long life trying to conjure similar success. We also meet his partners and competitors, presidents and entertainers, his close friend Henry Ford, the wives who competed with his work for his attention, and the children who tried to thrive in his shadow--all providing a fuller view of Edison's life and times than has ever been offered before. The Wizard of Menlo Park reveals not only how Edison worked, but how he managed his own fame, becoming the first great celebrity of the modern age.From the Hardcover edition.
The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World
by Randall StrossA bold reassessment of Edison, telling the story of how he came upon his most famous inventions as a young man and spent the remainder of his long life trying for similar success.
The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball
by Charley RosenRosen brings us for the first time the full life story of Jack Molinas, one of the greatest basketball players of his era, a man whose gambling addiction and hubris caused his ultimate demise. Drawing on numerous, previously unavailable first-person accounts, including Jack Molinas's own journal and trial transcripts, Rosen presents the true saga of a man who perhaps better than anyone around him understood the weaknesses of the system in which he lived--so much so that he convinced himself that he could manipulate that system to his advantage with total impunity, in a life's journey that took him from NBA play to the Mafia and the pornographic film industry, and to an ultimate tragic destiny.
The Wizard of the Kremlin: A Novel
by Giuliano da EmpoliFilled with real political insight and intrigue, this thrilling novel explores the nature of power through the inner workings of Putin&’s regime.Known as the &“Wizard of the Kremlin,&” the enigmatic Vadim Baranov was a TV producer before becoming a political advisor to Putin, aka &“The Czar.&” After his resignation from this position, legends about him multiply, with no one able to distinguish truth from fiction. Until one night, when he tells his story to the narrator of this book…He immerses us in the heart of the Russian state, where sycophants and oligarchs have been engaging in open warfare, and where Vadim, now the regime&’s main spin doctor, turns an entire country into an avant-garde political stage. Yet Vadim is not as ambitious as the others. Entangled in the increasingly dark secrets of the regime he has helped create, he will do anything to get out, guided by the memory of his grandfather, an eccentric aristocrat who survived the Revolution, and the mesmerizing, merciless Ksenia, whom he has fallen in love with.Giuliano da Empoli, once a senior advisor to Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, draws on his experience behind the scenes to create an authentic, compelling portrait of power and how it corrupts.