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Voices of Time: A Life in Stories
by Eduardo GaleanoA striking mosaic of memories, observations, and legends that together reveal the author's own story and a grand, compassionate vision of life itselfIn this kaleidoscope of reflections, renowned South American author Eduardo Galeano ranges widely, from childhood to love, music, plants, fear, indignity, and indignation. In the signal style of his bestselling and much-admired Memory of Fire trilogy—brief fragments that build steadily into an organic whole—Galeano offers a rich, wry history of his life and times that is both calmly philosophical and fiercely political.Beginning with blue algae, the earliest of life forms, these 333 vignettes alight on the Galeano family's immigration to Uruguay in the early twentieth century, the fate of love letters intercepted by a military dictatorship, abuses by the rich and powerful, the latest military outrages, and the author's own encounters with all manner of living matter, including generals, bums, dissidents, soccer stars, ducks, and trees. Out of these meditations emerges neither anger nor bitterness, but a celebration of a blessed life in a harsh world.Poetic and passionate, scathing and lyrical, delivered with Galeano's inimitable mix of gentle comedy and fierce moral judgment, Voices of Time is a deeply personal statement from a great and beloved writer.
Voices of Winchester World War II Veterans (American Chronicles)
by Adrian J. O'ConnorStories of the Greatest Generation come alive in the hands of longtime local journalist Adrian O'Connor What made the D-Day attack on Omaha Beach so remarkable was that it was carried out largely out by National Guardsman - men of the 29th Infantry Division who had never before seen combat. One of the companies that was part of this historic day hailed from the environs of Winchester, Virginia. Winchester's martial gallantry was hardly restricted to the beaches of Normandy, though. A future city councilor came ashore at Anzio, Italy. A future school principal fought in what may have been the Pacific's toughest battle, Iwo Jima. Local men held the line at the climactic Battle of the Bulge, flew over Europe and the oil fields of Ploesti and even escaped a German prisoner-of-war camp.
Voices of the African American Experience
by Lionel C. BascomVoices of the African American Experience provides access to fresh voices from history and the present in more than 130 documents.
Voices of the Army of the Potomac: Personal Reminiscences of Union Veterans
by Vincent L. BurnsFinalist, 2021 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Awards As historian David W. Bright noted in Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory, "No other historical experience in America has given rise to such a massive collection of personal narrative 'literature' written by ordinary people." This "massive collection" of memoirs, recollections and regimental histories make up the history of the Civil War seen through the eyes of the participants. This work is an overview of what Civil War soldiers and veterans wrote about their experiences. It focusses on what veterans remembered, what they were prepared to record, and what they wrote down in the years after the end of the war. In an age of increased literacy many of these men had been educated, whether at West Point, Harvard or other establishments, but even those who had received only a few years of education chose to record their memories. The writings of these veterans convey their views on the cataclysmic events they had witnessed but also their memories of everyday events during the war. While many of them undertook detailed research of battles and campaigns before writing their accounts, it is clear that a number were less concerned with whether their words aligned with the historical record than whether they recorded what they believed to be true. This book explores these themes and also the connection between veterans writing their personal war history and the issue of veterans’ pensions. Understanding what these veterans chose to record and why is important to achieving a deeper understanding of the experience of these men who were caught up in this central moment in American life.
Voices of the Codebreakers: Personal Accounts of the Secret Heroes of World War II
by Michael PatersonAlongside the open conflict of World War II there were other, hidden wars - the wars of communication, in which success depended on a flow of concealed and closely guarded information.Smuggled written messages, secretly transmitted wireless signals, or months of eavesdropping on radio traffic meant operatives could discover in advance what the enemy intended to do. This information was passed on to those who commanded the armies, the fleets and the bomber formations, as well as to the other secret agents throughout the world who were desperately trying to infiltrate enemy lines. Vital information that turned the tide of battle in North African desert and on the Pacific Ocean proved to have been obtained by the time-consuming and unglamorous work of cryptanalysts who deciphered the enemy's coded messages, and coded those for the Allies.From the stuffy huts of Bletchley Park to the battles in the Mediterranean, the French and Dutch Resistance movements and the unkempt radio operatives in Burma, the rarely-seen, outstanding stories collected here reveal the true extent of the 'secret war'.The ongoing need for secrecy for decades after the war meant that the outstanding achievements of wartime cryptanalysts could not be properly recognised.With vivid first-hand accounts and illuminating historical research, VOICES OF THE CODEBREAKERS reveals and finally celebrates the extraordinary accomplishments of these ordinary men and women.
Voices of the Holocaust
by Literature Thought SeriesContains short stories, poems, biographical accounts, and essays about the Holocaust intended to help readers answer the question: Could a holocaust happen here?
Voices of the Massachusetts General Hospital 1950-2000: Wit, Wisdom, and Untold Tales
by Massachusetts General Hospital Willard M. Daggett Stephen P. Dretler Lloyd Axelrod Georgia W. PeirceVoices of the Massachusetts General Hospital 1950-2000 contains revealing quotations, intimate and previously untold stories of many of the physicians, nurses and other clinicians who dedicated themselves to the pursuit of excellence on behalf of their patients and families, their colleagues and the world beyond the hospital. What started as an email solicitation for stories and anecdotes turned into a moving and instructive portrait of the daily life of a storied institution in the last half of the 20th century.
Voices of the Old Sea
by Norman LewisAfter World War II, Norman Lewis returned to Spain and settled in the remote fishing village of Farol, on what is now Costa Brava. Voices of the Old Sea describes his three successive summers in that almost medieval community where life revolved around the seasonal sardine catches, Alcade's bar, and satisfying feuds with neighboring villages. It's lucky Lewis was there when he was. Soon after, Spain was discovered by its neighbors in a more prosperous northern Europe, and the tourist tide that ensued flowed inexorably over the old ways of the town and its inhabitants.
Voices of the Old Sea (Isis Large Print Ser.)
by Norman LewisA memoir of a remote Spanish fishing village just after WWII, a community on the brink of change, by &“the finest travel writer of the last century&” (The New Yorker). Seeking solace in the everyday after his World War II army service, travel writer Norman Lewis returns to his beloved Spain, to the fishing village of Farol, in the hopes of recapturing a lost sense of home. It is a place he knows better than his native England, and he finds the Spanish countryside &“still as nostalgically backward-looking as ever, still magnificent, still invested with all its ancient virtues and ancient defects.&” He spends three seasons as a fisherman, basking in the simplicity of village customs. Lovingly written and richly evocative, Voices of the Old Sea is an absorbing look at a centuries-old lifestyle in its final days, as the tide of modernization threatens to change it forever.
Voices of the Pacific, Expanded Edition
by Adam MakosFrom the bestselling author of A Higher Call and Spearhead comes an unflinching firsthand chronicle of the heroic US Marines who fought on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and in other pivotal battles during the Pacific War, a classic book now expanded with new stories from the flyboys overhead and the home front at war. Following fifteen Marines from Pearl Harbor, through their battles with the Japanese, to their return home after V-J Day, Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton have compiled an oral history of the Pacific War in the words of the men who fought on the front lines. With vivid, unforgettable detail, these Marines reveal harrowing accounts of combat with an implacable enemy, the camaraderie they found, the friends they lost, and the aftermath of the war's impact on their lives. With unprecedented access to the veterans, rare photographs, and unpublished memoirs, Voices of the Pacific presents true stories of heroism as told by such World War II veterans as Sid Phillips, R.V. Burgin, and Chuck Tatum—whose exploits were featured in the classic HBO miniseries The Pacific—and their Marine buddies from the legendary 1st Marine Division.
Voices of the Second World War: A Child's Perspective
by Sheila A. RenshawVoices of the Second World War: A Childs Perspective is a collection of firsthand accounts from people who experienced the Second World War from all over Europe: stretching from Russia to the Channel Islands, and Norway to Malta.While some children appear to have been hardly aware of the war, for those who lived through bombing, occupation, deprivation, starvation and fear, the memories remain with them even today.The accounts have been relayed according to their perspective at the time and the contributors were happy to share their experiences and memories, keen in the knowledge that they were being documented as personal chroniclers of one of the twentieth century's most catastrophic events.
Voicing the Eagle: A True Story of Courage and Valor
by Amanda MattiA young Iraqi shares the true story of his wartime experiences after he was recruited by the US Army as an interpreter. Fahdi was a twenty-one-year-old, upper-middle class, English-speaking student at Baghdad University when he was recruited right off the street to serve as an interpreter for a US Army unit just days after the fall of Saddam Hussein&’s regime. Over the next two years, Fahdi would go on to translate for US drill sergeants training new Iraqi Army recruits in Ramadi; serve alongside US Marines during the first Battle of Fallujah; and eventually land a position as a linguist with Iraq&’s newly formed national intelligence agency in Baghdad. Along the way, he suffered combat injuries, faced the challenges of integrating with American soldiers in US camps, was hunted by local insurgency groups for assisting the &“infidels&”—and eventually fell in love with an American service member. As told to that service member—now his wife and the author of her own memoir, A Foreign Affair—this is a unique firsthand perspective on one of the United States&’ most controversial foreign conflicts.
Volodymyr Zelensky in His Own Words
by Lisa Rogak Daisy GibbonsAn intimate look at the awe-inspiring president of Ukraine—Volodymyr Zelensky, the new hero of the West—through an expansive book of his quotations covering his stance on a wide variety of issues, from acting and climate change to war and peace.Since Russia invaded Ukraine, people all over the world have reacted with horror and revulsion. At the same time, they have been heartened by the inspirational words and courageous actions of Volodymyr Zelensky, the 44-year-old President of Ukraine, who frequently reassures his beleaguered people while standing up to an autocratic madman who possesses the power to launch a nuclear holocaust. Zelensky is the hero we didn&’t know we needed—or maybe we did. Right now, the world wants to know more about Ukraine&’s heroic and inspiring president, and the best way to do that will be with Volodymyr Zelensky in His Own Words, an expansive book of quotations that covers Zelensky&’s words and opinions on a wide spectrum of issues—from war and peace to climate change and LGTBQ rights. Readers will be able to open up the book to any page and see where Zelensky stands. Given his previous life as a comedian and Ukraine&’s most famous actor, there are plenty of quotes that provide a more nuanced picture of this man who has enthralled and inspired people around the world.
Voltaire
by Ian DavidsonThe definitive biography of Voltaire's life--from his scandalous love affairs and political maneuverings to his inspired philosophy We think of Voltaire as the archetypal figure of the enlightenment; in his own time he was also the most famous and controversial figure in Europe. This dazzling new biography celebrates his extraordinary life. Davidson tells the whole, rich story of Voltaire's life (1694-1778): his early imprisonment in the Bastille; exile in England and his mastery of English; an obsession with money, of which he made a huge amount; a scandalous love life; a long exile on the borders of Switzerland; his human rights campaigns and his triumphant return to Paris to die there as celebrity extraordinaire. Throughout all of this, Voltaire's life was always informed by two things: a belief in the essential value of toleration in the face of fanaticism; and in the right of every man to think and say what he liked. It is rare to have such a vivid portrait of a great man.
Voltaire in Love
by Nancy Mitford Adam GopnikThe inimitable Nancy Mitford's account of Voltaire's fifteen-year relationship with the Marquise du Châtelet--the renowned mathematician who introduced Isaac Newton's revolutionary new physics to France--is a spirited romp in the company of two extraordinary individuals as well as an erudite and gossipy guide to French high society during the Enlightenment. Mitford's story is as delicious as it is complicated. The marquise was in love with another mathematician, Maupertuis, while she had an unexpected rival for Voltaire's affections in the future Frederick the Great of Prussia (and later in the philosophe's own niece). There was, at least, no jealous husband to contend with: the Marquis du Châtelet, Mitford assures us, behaved perfectly. The beau monde of Paris was, however, distraught at the idea of the lovers' brilliant conversation going to waste on the windswept hills of Champagne, site of the Château de Cirey, where experimental laboratories, a darkroom, and a library of more than twenty-one thousand volumes enabled them to pursue their amours philosophiques. From time to time the threat of impending arrest would send Voltaire scurrying across the border into Holland, but his irrepressible charm--and the interventions of powerful friends--always made it possible for him resume his studies with the cherished marquise.
Voltaire: A Life
by Ian DavidsonThe definitive biography of Voltaire's life -- from his scandalous love affairs and political maneuverings to his inspired philosophy. We think of Voltaire as the archetypal figure of the enlightenment; in his own time he was also the most famous and controversial figure in Europe. This dazzling new biography celebrates his extraordinary life. Davidson tells the whole, rich story of Voltaire's life (1694-1778): his early imprisonment in the Bastille; exile in England and his mastery of English; an obsession with money, of which he made a huge amount; a scandalous love life; a long exile on the borders of Switzerland; his human-rights campaigns and his triumphant return to Paris to die there as celebrity extraordinaire. Throughout all of this, Voltaire's life was always informed by two things: a belief in the essential value of toleration in the face of fanaticism; and in the right of every man to think and say what he liked. It is rare to have such a vivid portrait of a great man.
Voluntary Madness
by Norah VincentNorah Vincent has always suffered from depression but at the end of a book project that required her to spend eighteen months disguised as a man she felt that she was a danger to herself and was committed to a 'loony bin'. As a result of this traumatic experience Norah came out resolved to go back undercover to report on a range of mental institutions u three difficult, pressurized and very different environments u and to experience first hand their effect on the body and mind. Her journey starts in a huge inner city hospital where most patients are 'repeats', often poor and dispossessed. There Norah confronts the boredom and babbling of an underfunded facility: a place where medication is a process of containment: its purpose to make life easier for the rest of us, not the patients themselves. Cut to the calming green carpet of St Lukes: plenty of 'loonies' here too of course but Norah is taken aback when her doctor allows her to reduce her medication, have a room of her own and a regular jog in the park. Then to Mobius, and a Buddhist-inspired brand of healing, where Norah is forced to plunge deep into her emotional past, and swim through the psycho-babble to some unexpected conclusions. In Voluntary Madness, Norah Vincent takes a fearless and unprecedented view of mental health care u from the inside out. She demonstrates the power of common sense and human connection: how much better a patient can feel when treated like a person and not a petri dish. In analysing the peculiar, sometimes damaging and occasionally transformative relationships between patients and their caregivers, her consummate, fearless and darkly funny reportage makes for riveting reading.
Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin
by Norah VincentThe journalist who famously lived as a man commits herself literally. Norah Vincent's New York Times bestselling book, Self-Made Man, ended on a harrowing note. Suffering from severe depression after her eighteen months living disguised as a man, Vincent felt she was a danger to herself. On the advice of her psychologist she committed herself to a mental institution. Out of this raw and overwhelming experience came the idea for her next book. She decided to get healthy and to study the effect of treatment on the depressed and insane in the bin, as she calls it. Vincent's journey takes her from a big city hospital to a facility in the Midwest and finally to an upscale retreat down south, as she analyzes the impact of institutionalization on the unwell, the tyranny of drugs-as-treatment, and the dysfunctional dynamic between caregivers and patients. Vincent applies brilliant insight as she exposes her personal struggle with depression and explores the range of people, caregivers, and methodologies that guide these strange, often scary, and bizarre environments. Eye opening, emotionally wrenching, and at times very funny, Voluntary Madness is a riveting work that exposes the state of mental health care in America from the inside out.
Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience
by Jill Elizabeth NelsonWhen Jill Nelson became the first black woman to write for The Washington Post's prestigious Sunday magazine in 1986, she thought she had entered journalism heaven. But the magazine proved to be insulting to black readers.
Volunteers: Growing Up in the Forever War
by Jerad W. Alexander&“Riveting and morally complex, Volunteers is not only an insider&’s account of war. It takes you inside the increasingly closed culture that creates our warriors.&” —Elliot Ackerman, author of the National Book Award finalist Dark at the Crossing As a child, Jerad Alexander lay in bed listening to the fighter jets take off outside his window and was desperate to be airborne. As a teenager at an American base in Japan, he immersed himself in war games, war movies, and pulpy novels about Vietnam. Obsessed with all things military, he grew up playing with guns, joined the Civil Air Patrol for the uniform, and reveled in the closed and safe life &“inside the castle,&” within the embrace of the armed forces, the only world he knew or could imagine. Most of all, he dreamed of enlisting—like his mother, father, stepfather, and grandfather before him—and playing his part in the Great American War Story. He joined the US Marines straight out of high school, eager for action. Once in Iraq, however, he came to realize he was fighting a lost cause, enmeshed in the ongoing War on Terror that was really just a fruitless display of American might. The myths of war, the stories of violence and masculinity and heroism, the legacy of his family—everything Alexander had planned his life around—was a mirage. Alternating scenes from childhood with skirmishes in the Iraqi desert, this original, searing, and propulsive memoir introduces a powerful new voice in the literature of war. Jerad W. Alexander—not some elite warrior, but a simple volunteer—delivers a passionate and timely reckoning with the troubled and cyclical truths of the American war machine.
Voluptuous Pleasure: The Truth About the Writing Life
by Marianne ApostolidesVoluptuous Pleasure: The Truth about the Writing Life is a collection of non-fiction whose title states that non-fiction does not exist. These stories, by acclaimed author Marianne Apostolides, are sensuous and smart, ambiguous but incisive in their truths. Voluptuous Pleasure will take you inside brothels and bedrooms, kitchens and consciousness; it will seduce you along the limits of non-fiction, making you question the veracity of anything you’ve ever read – or even experienced.
Volver a matar: Los archivos ocultos de la "Cámara del terror" (1971-1973)
by Juan B. Yofre"El setentismo es la subversión, simplemente, hay que decirlo con todaslas palabras ("). "Es querer hacer la revolución por medios violentos."Raúl R. Alfonsín (Diario Perfil, 2-IX-2007) Volver a matar es la historia de una época terrible de la RepúblicaArgentina. Narra el inicio de la "guerra popular prolongada" que lasorganizaciones terroristas declararon a todos los estamentos del EstadoNacional, bajo la inspiración del castro-comunismo. Pero el libro seocupa, fundamentalmente, de la forma en que el Estado argentino lascombatió con la ley en la mano a partir de julio de 1971, cuando creó laCámara Federal en lo Penal de la Nación. El tiempo de esta Cámara "a laque la subversión llamó despectivamente "Camarón" o "Cámara del terror"fue muy corto, duró hasta el 25 de mayo de 1973, día en que conviolencia se abrieron las rejas de las cárceles y los presos volvieron asus organizaciones clandestinas para sembrar la muerte, aún en una épocade gobierno constitucional.Por primera vez el lector conocerá algunos de los numerosos casos quetrató el alto tribunal, compuesto por jurisconsultos de largatrayectoria. Ellos triunfaron pero también perdieron. Impusieron la ley,no hubo represión ilegal, pero luego, con el gobierno de Héctor J.Cámpora, fueron perseguidos, degradados, sufrieron atentados o tuvieronque exiliarse.Tras la ley de amnistía "amplia y generosa", José Alberto Deheza, exministro de Justicia y de Defensa de Isabel Martínez de Perón, declaró:"No soy contrario a la ley del olvido, pero una ley que libera a simplesasesinos que sembraron el terror matando a mansalva en nombre de idealesrevolucionarios, importa una grave irresponsabilidad. En la mayor partede los casos, se trataba de componentes de bandas clandestinas queemboscaban a sus víctimas para ultimarlas con perversidad".Volver a matar se sumerge en un archivo secreto que muchos intentarondestruir, pero que fue salvado para las generaciones futuras.Testimonios inéditos y documentos confidenciales desconocidos hasta hoyabonan lo afirmado. Una vez más, como lo hiciera en "Nadie fue" y en"Fuimos todos", Juan B. Yofre brinda aquí un aporte fundamental anuestra historia reciente y rinde su homenaje a la memoria completa delos argentinos.
Volver la vista atrás
by Juan Gabriel VásquezEl nuevo libro del premio Alfaguara de novela: un relato «sin ficción» sobre las relaciones entre padres e hijos marcadas por las ideas políticas y el fanatismo. «Pensó que los recuerdos eran invisibles como la luz, y así como el humo hacía que la luz se viera, debía haber una forma de que fueran visibles los recuerdos.» En octubre de 2016, el director de cine colombiano Sergio Cabrera asiste en Barcelona a una retrospectiva de sus películas. Es un momento difícil: su padre, Fausto Cabrera, acaba de morir; su matrimonio está en crisis, y su país ha rechazado unos acuerdos de paz que le habrían permitido terminar con más de cincuenta años de guerra. A lo largo de unos días reveladores, Sergio irá recordando los hechos que marcaron su vida y la de su padre. De la guerra civil española al exilio en América de su familia republicana, de la China de la Revolución Cultural a los movimientos armados de los años sesenta, el lector asistirá a una vida que es mucho más que una gran aventura: es una imagen de medio siglo de historia que trastornó al mundo entero. Volver la vista atrás cuenta hechos reales, pero sólo en manos de un novelista magistral como Vásquez podía convertirse en este retrato devastador de una familia arrastrada por las fuerzas de la historia. Una fascinante investigación social y a la vez íntima, política y a la vez privada, que el lector no olvidará. La crítica ha dicho:«Una novela maravillosa, muy contundente. Sentí que estaba leyendo un clásico. Juan Gabriel Vásquez es uno de los mejores escritores de habla hispana.»Leila Guerriero «Una de las voces más originales de la nueva literatura latinoamericana.»Mario Vargas Llosa «Volver la vista atrás está escrito con una envidiable plenitud de estilo y un portentoso control de la dosificación de impulsos novelísticos.»Sergi Pàmies, La Vanguardia «Una lúcida y sutil metáfora de cómo las ideologías marcaron las vidas privadas del siglo XX.»Andrés Seoane, El Cultural «Vásquez ha sucedido a García Márquez como el gran maestro literario de Colombia.»Ariel Dorfman, The New York Review of Books «Un magnífico y aterrador estudio sobre cómo el pasado puede invadir el presente, y una fascinante revelación de un rincón poco conocido del teatro de la guerra nazi.»John Banville (sobre Los informantes) «Un libro vívido, contundente, magistral.»Alberto Manguel, The Guardian (sobre Historia secreta de Costaguana) «Una novela cautivadora, que atrapa hasta el final. Si bien estamos ante un “vuelapáginas”, se trata también de una profunda meditación sobre el destino y la muerte.»Edmund White, The New York Times Book Review (sobre El ruido de las cosas al caer) «Uno sale de esta novela simplemente aturdido por la gran lección de literatura impartida por el autor.»Étienne de Montety, Le Figaro (sobre Las reputaciones) «Un gran libro [...] A ratos se lee como un thriller político. Es su obra más ambiciosa y la mejor hasta el momento.»Daniel Hahn, Prospect Magazine (sobre La forma de las ruinas) «Magnífico libro [...] Coherente, vertebrado, casi perfecto.»Nadal Suau, El Cultural (sobre Canciones para el incendio)
Volver: A Persistence of Memory
by Antonio C. MárquezBorn on the eve of World War II into a family of Mexican immigrants in El Paso, Antonio C. Márquez remains a child of the border, his life partaking of multiple cultures, countries, and classes. Here he recounts his life story, from childhood memories of movies and baseball and friendship with his Chinese Mexican American neighbor, Manuel Wong, to the turbulent events of his manhood. Márquez recalls the impact of immigration and war on his family; his experiences of gang conflict in El Paso and Los Angeles in the 1960s; enlisting in the Marine Corps; his activism in the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement of the Vietnam era, and the Crusade for Justice; and his travels to crisis-ridden Latin American countries. From a family where no one had the luxury of higher education, Márquez became a professor when universities hired few Chicanos. His is a story of survival and courage.
Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War
by Michael NeufeldCurator and space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum delivers a brilliantly nuanced biography of controversial space pioneer Wernher von Braun. Chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich and one of the fathers of the U.S. space program, Wernher von Braun is a source of consistent fascination. Glorified as a visionary and vilified as a war criminal, he was a man of profound moral complexities, whose intelligence and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding ambition. Based on new sources, Neufeld's biography delivers a meticulously researched and authoritative portrait of the creator of the V-2 rocket and his times, detailing how he was a man caught between morality and progress, between his dreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life.