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Gumption
by Nick OffermanThe star of Parks and Recreation and author of the New York Times bestseller Paddle Your Own Canoe returns with a second book that humorously highlights twenty-one figures from our nation's history, from her inception to present day--Nick's personal pantheon of "great Americans."To millions of people, Nick Offerman is America. Both Nick and his character, Ron Swanson, are known for their humor and patriotism in equal measure.After the great success of his autobiography, Paddle Your Own Canoe, Offerman now focuses on the lives of those who inspired him. From George Washington to Willie Nelson, he describes twenty-one heroic figures and why they inspire in him such great meaning. He'll combine both serious history with light-hearted humor--comparing, say, George Washington's wooden teeth to his own experience as a woodworker. The subject matter will also allow Offerman to expound upon his favorite topics, which readers love to hear--areas such as religion, politics, woodworking and handcrafting, agriculture, creativity, philosophy, fashion, and, of course, meat.From the Hardcover edition.
Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers
by Nick OffermanThe star of Parks and Recreation and author of the New York Times bestseller Paddle Your Own Canoe returns with a second book that humorously highlights twenty-one figures from our nation's history, from her inception to present day--Nick's personal pantheon of "great Americans."To millions of people, Nick Offerman is America. Both Nick and his character, Ron Swanson, are known for their humor and patriotism in equal measure.After the great success of his autobiography, Paddle Your Own Canoe, Offerman now focuses on the lives of those who inspired him. From George Washington to Willie Nelson, he describes twenty-one heroic figures and why they inspire in him such great meaning. He combines both serious history with light-hearted humor--comparing, say, Benjamin Franklin's abstinence from daytime drinking to his own sage refusal to join his construction crew in getting plastered on the way to work. The subject matter also allows Offerman to expound upon his favorite topics, which readers love to hear--areas such as religion, politics, woodworking and handcrafting, agriculture, creativity, philosophy, fashion, and, of course, meat.From the Hardcover edition.
Gumshoe America: Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction and the Rise and Fall of New Deal Liberalism
by Sean MccannIn Gumshoe America Sean McCann offers a bold new account of the hard-boiled crime story and its literary and political significance. Illuminating a previously unnoticed set of concerns at the heart of the fiction, he contends that mid-twentieth-century American crime writers used the genre to confront and wrestle with many of the paradoxes and disappointments of New Deal liberalism. For these authors, the same contradictions inherent in liberal democracy were present within the changing literary marketplace of the mid-twentieth-century United States: the competing claims of the elite versus the popular, the demands of market capitalism versus conceptions of quality, and the individual versus a homogenized society. Gumshoe America traces the way those problems surfaced in hard-boiled crime fiction from the1920s through the 1960s. Beginning by using a forum on the KKK in the pulp magazine Black Mask to describe both the economic and political culture of pulp fiction in the early twenties, McCann locates the origins of the hard-boiled crime story in the genre's conflict with the racist antiliberalism prominent at the time. Turning his focus to Dashiell Hammett's career, McCann shows how Hammett's writings in the late 1920s and early 1930s moved detective fiction away from its founding fables of social compact to the cultural alienation triggered by a burgeoning administrative state. He then examines how Raymond Chandler's fiction, unlike Hammett's, idealized sentimental fraternity, echoing the communitarian appeals of the late New Deal. Two of the first crime writers to publish original fiction in paperback--Jim Thompson and Charles Willeford--are examined next in juxtaposition to the popularity enjoyed by their contemporaries Mickey Spillane and Ross Macdonald. The stories of the former two, claims McCann, portray the decline of the New Deal and the emergence of the rights-based liberalism of the postwar years and reveal new attitudes toward government: individual alienation, frustration with bureaucratic institutions, and dissatisfaction with the growing vision of America as a meritocracy. Before concluding, McCann turns to the work of Chester Himes, who, in producing revolutionary hard-boiled novels, used the genre to explore the changing political significance of race that accompanied the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Combining a striking reinterpretation of the hard-boiled crime story with a fresh view of the political complications and cultural legacies of the New Deal, Gumshoe America will interest students and fans of the genre, and scholars of American history, culture, and government.
The Gun: The AK-47 and the Evolution of War
by C. J. ChiversAt a secret arms-design contest in Stalin's Soviet Union, army technicians submitted a stubby rifle with a curved magazine. Dubbed the AK-47, it was selected as the Eastern Bloc's standard arm. Scoffed at in the Pentagon as crude and unimpressive, it was in fact a breakthrough--a compact automatic that could be mastered by almost anyone, last decades in the field, and would rarely jam. Manufactured by tens of millions in planned economies, it became first an instrument of repression and then the most lethal weapon of the Cold War. Soon it was in the hands of terrorists.In a searing examination of modern conflict and official folly, C. J. Chivers mixes meticulous historical research, investigative reporting, and battlefield reportage to illuminate the origins of the world's most abundant firearm and the consequences of its spread. The result, a tour de force of history and storytelling, sweeps through the miniaturization and distribution of automatic firepower, and puts an iconic object in fuller context than ever before. The Gun dismantles myths as it moves from the naïve optimism of the Industrial Revolution through the treacherous milieu of the Soviet Union to the inside records of the Taliban. Chivers tells of the 19th-century inventor in Indianapolis who designs a Civil War killing machine, insisting that more-efficient slaughter will save lives. A German attaché who observes British machine guns killing Islamic warriors along the Nile advises his government to amass the weapons that would later flatten British ranks in World War I. In communist Hungary, a locksmith acquires an AK-47 to help wrest his country from the Kremlin's yoke, beginning a journey to the gallows. The Pentagon suppresses the results of firing tests on severed human heads that might have prevented faulty rifles from being rushed to G.I.s in Vietnam. In Africa, a millennial madman arms abducted children and turns them on their neighbors, setting his country ablaze. Neither pro-gun nor anti-gun, The Gun builds to a terrifying sequence, in which a young man who confronts a trio of assassins is shattered by 23 bullets at close range. The man survives to ask questions that Chivers examines with rigor and flair.Throughout, The Gun animates unforgettable characters--inventors, salesmen, heroes, megalomaniacs, racists, dictators, gunrunners, terrorists, child soldiers, government careerists, and fools. Drawing from years of research, interviews, and from declassified records revealed for the first time, he presents a richly human account of an evolution in the very experience of war.
The Gun
by C. S. ForesterA classic novel about the Peninsular War from the celebrated author of the HORNBLOWER seriesAbandoned by the retreating Spanish army during the Peninsular War, the gun is an eighteen pounder bronze cannon, thirteen feet long, weighing three tons. When a group of Spanish partisans come across it two years later they see in it a chance for victory against the French - but first they must haul it across the mountains with nothing but a handful of donkeys and half-starved oxen. On its epic journey the cannon begins to gain almost mystical significance. For, with the gun, they are no longer a band of Spanish irregulars, they are an army able to take on the cream of Napoleon's troops...
The Gun
by C. S. ForesterA classic novel about the Peninsular War from the celebrated author of the HORNBLOWER seriesAbandoned by the retreating Spanish army during the Peninsular War, the gun is an eighteen pounder bronze cannon, thirteen feet long, weighing three tons. When a group of Spanish partisans come across it two years later they see in it a chance for victory against the French - but first they must haul it across the mountains with nothing but a handful of donkeys and half-starved oxen. On its epic journey the cannon begins to gain almost mystical significance. For, with the gun, they are no longer a band of Spanish irregulars, they are an army able to take on the cream of Napoleon's troops...
Gun
by Erick S. GrayReminiscent of Marvel&’s Luke Cage, Erick S. Gray&’s debut novel into the realm of the urban supernatural tells a gripping story of power, greed, and soul-sacrificial vengeance. Fans of S.A. Cosby&’s Razorblade Tears will be engrossed.Omar will soon take advantage of his right to bear arms—even though it might cost him his soul. Residing in one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in New York, Brownsville—Omar Richards has been the constant target of abuse and bullying. With his mother dying of cancer, his entire world seemingly falls apart, forcing Omar to question his sanity and religion. As if those terrors weren't enough, Omar's most feared adversary, Brice, is determined to make his life a living hell. When Omar makes a grim discovery left behind by murdered kingpin Sean Black, his life is forever changed. Especially once he realizes that his new secret weapon has supernatural abilities. Why settle for money, power, and respect when you can have justice!
Gun: 100 Greatest Firearms (Field & Stream)
by David E. Petzal Phil BourjailyA collection of gorgeous photos celebrating five-hundred years of firearms, featuring the history, artistry, and evolving technology of the gun.Guns. For centuries, these beautiful, controversial, essential, and sometimes fearful machines have been an integral part of our lives. From the hand cannons and matchlock muskets of the 1500s to the latest military technology, this book celebrates the artistry, technology, cultural significance, and power of one-hundred iconic guns. Firearms enthusiasts, history buffs, and shooters of every stripe will find something to marvel at in this gorgeous full-color book.
Gun Barons: The Weapons That Transformed America and the Men Who Invented Them
by John Bainbridge Jr.John Bainbridge, Jr.'s Gun Barons is a narrative history of six charismatic and idiosyncratic men who changed the course of American history through the invention and refinement of repeating weapons.Love them or hate them, guns are woven deeply into the American soul. Names like Colt, Smith & Wesson, Winchester, and Remington are legendary. Yet few people are aware of the roles these men played at a crucial time in United States history, from westward expansion in the 1840s, through the Civil War, and into the dawn of the Gilded Age. Through personal drive and fueled by bloodshed, they helped propel the young country into the forefront of the world's industrial powers.Their creations helped save a nation divided, while planting seeds that would divide the country again a century later. Their inventions embodied an intoxicating thread of American individualism—part fiction, part reality—that remains the foundation of modern gun culture. They promoted guns not only for the soldier, but for the Everyman, and also made themselves wealthy beyond their most fevered dreams.Gun Barons captures how their bold inventiveness dwelled in the psyche of an entire people, not just in the minds of men who made firearm fortunes. Whether we revere these larger-than-life men or vilify them, they helped forge the American character.
Gun Barrel Politics: Party-army Relations In Mao's China
by Fang ZhuThis book tests the model of civil-military dualism to explain People's Liberation Army's (PLA) political engagement and its loyalty to the party in Maoist China. It explores how the party maintained its control— through penetration of the armed forces or non-intervention and civilian control.
Gun Boss of Tumbleweed
by L. Ron HubbardGunslinger Mart Kincaid is blackmailed into working for Gar Malone, the reputed King of Concha Basin. A greedy and ruthless taskmaster, Malone practices a cruel owner's philosophy--land is for those who can take it and keep it. He quickly puts Kincaid's gun hand to use, threatening locals with death unless they pack up and vacate their homes and land. When Malone's craving turns to the Singing Canyon spread, the jewel of the basin, Kincaid finally decides he's had enough of Malone and his wicked ways. Willing to pay the ultimate price if necessary, Kincaid must square his shoulders and take his stand against Malone . . . and an entire band of hired killers. Also includes the Western story "Blood on His Spurs."
Gun Country
by Ralph CottonNo one outruns Fast Lawrence Shaw-especially when he runs with them. In the delirium of a mysterious head wound, Shaw stumbles upon the Dexter Lowe Boys on their way to steal some U. S. armament in the badlands. But in his weakened condition, Shaw will need backup. So U. S. Marshals Crayton Dawson and Jedson Caldwell are on their way to help him clean up the borders-by taking out the trash. . . .
Gun Culture in Early Modern England
by Lois G. SchwoererGuns had an enormous impact on the social, economic, cultural, and political lives of civilian men, women, and children of all social strata in early modern England. In this study, Lois Schwoerer identifies and analyzes England's domestic gun culture from 1500 to 1740, uncovering how guns became available, what effects they had on society, and how different sectors of the population contributed to gun culture. The rise of guns made for recreational use followed the development of a robust gun industry intended by King Henry VIII to produce artillery and handguns for war. Located first in London, the gun industry brought the city new sounds, smells, street names, shops, sights, and communities of gun workers, many of whom were immigrants. Elite men used guns for hunting, target shooting, and protection. They collected beautifully decorated guns, gave them as gifts, and included them in portraits and coats-of-arms, regarding firearms as a mark of status, power, and sophistication. With statutes and proclamations, the government legally denied firearms to subjects with an annual income under £100--about 98 percent of the population--whose reactions ranged from grudging acceptance to willful disobedience. Schwoerer shows how this domestic gun culture influenced England's Bill of Rights in 1689, a document often cited to support the claim that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution conveys the right to have arms as an Anglo-American legacy. Schwoerer shows that the Bill of Rights did not grant a universal right to have arms, but rather a right restricted by religion, law, and economic standing, terms that reflected the nation's gun culture. Examining everything from gunmakers' records to wills, and from period portraits to toy guns, Gun Culture in Early Modern England offers new data and fresh insights on the place of the gun in English society.
Gun Fodder - Four Years Of War [Illustrated Edition]
by Major A. Hamilton Gibbs R.A.Includes the First World War Illustrations Pack - 73 battle plans and diagrams and 198 photosMemoirs of an officer, brother of the war correspondent, Philip Gibbs, who enlisted as a trooper in 9th Lancers, was commissioned into the Royal Artillery at the end of 1914, then served in Salonika and on the Western front.
The Gun Garden
by David BeatyA young Royal Air Force Pilot is sent on a dangerous mission in Malta in this WWII novel of love and war. Malta, 1942. As the Second World War rages, the strategically vital Mediterranean island of Malta is isolated, desperately short of supplies, and slowly being starved into surrender. Into this hopeless situation, the British send two Wellington aircraft equipped with secret long-range radar. Their role is to find enemy convoys proceeding at night from Italy to Africa, and to lead a tiny naval force through the darkness to their unsuspecting target. One is captained by a veteran R.A.F. pilot, the other is flown by Peter Forrester, a young and hastily trained kid is about to have his carefree spirit tested by the maelstrom of war. Thrown into this island of heroes, Peter also meets Miranda Black, daughter of a naval captain and a plotter in Barracca H.Q. Written by acclaimed author and R.A.F. veteran David Beaty, The Gun Garden is an authentic tale of gritty battle and young love.
Gun Island: A spellbinding, globe-trotting novel by the bestselling author of the Ibis trilogy
by Amitav GhoshBundook. Gun. A common word, but one which turns Deen Datta's world upside down.A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way. There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen's eyes to the realities of growing up in today's world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help someone in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the missing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey which will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood and about the world around him.Gun Island is a beautifully realised novel which effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.
Gun Island: A spellbinding, globe-trotting novel by the bestselling author of the Ibis trilogy
by Amitav GhoshA spellbinding, globe-trotting novel by the bestselling author of the Ibis trilogy.Bundook. Gun. A common word, but one which turns Deen Datta's world upside down.A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way. There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen's eyes to the realities of growing up in today's world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help someone in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the missing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey which will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood and about the world around him.Gun Island is a beautifully realised novel which effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Gun Island: A Novel
by Amitav GhoshNamed a Best Book of Fall by Vulture, Chicago Review of Books and AmazonFrom the award-winning author of the bestselling epic Ibis trilogy comes a globetrotting, folkloric adventure novel about family and heritageBundook. Gun. A common word, but one that turns Deen Datta’s world upside down.A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way. There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen’s eyes to the realities of growing up in today’s world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help someone in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the missing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey that will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood, and about the world around him.Amitav Ghosh‘s Gun Island is a beautifully realized novel that effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.
Gun Law
by Ralph CottonOn the trail of four wanted men, Sherman Dahl-a hired gun known as "The Teacher"-finds his prey in the town of Kindred in New Mexico Territory. He kills all four in a saloon gunfight that leaves him wounded and in the care of a soiled dove. But the marshal of Kindred is a man above the law, and he wants to take Dahl down. . . .
Gun Shy: The True Story of the Army Dog Scared of War
by Alison Stokes Angie McDonellVidar, the army search dog, has spent half his life sniffing out enemy weapons and bombs on the front line of the war in Afghanistan. His keen nose saved the lives of hundreds of soldiers, finding roadside bombs which could have killed British troops. But after two years of loyal service, Vidar became ‘Gun Shy’ – a term used to describe dogs who are frightened of loud noises. Whenever he heard bombs exploding or even the sound of helicopters flying above, he would curl up in the corner, shaking with fear.His army days were numbered… and his future looked uncertain. Until Angie, an army medic who befriended him during her tour of Afghanistan, made it her duty to give him a safe haven at her Welsh home.
Gun Shy
by Eleri StoneBefore the cure, Lieutenant Lyle Dalton's job was simple: kill the Reapers. Now, under orders to inject all captured flesh eaters with the serum that restores their humanity, his Rangers at Fort Dougan face entirely new dangers. Someone wanted the Reaper cure badly enough to spill blood for it, and Lyle needs to steal it back if he hopes to hold the border.Jane Fisher escaped Scraper crime boss Gideon Moore with only the clothes on her back. What he took from her can never be replaced, but her new home at Fort Dougan is the first safe one she's known. Or was, until the remaining supply of serum was stolen, flown high into the mountains on Gideon's command. Serving as Lyle's guide through Scraper territory means revisiting her own personal hell, but it's also an opportunity-for closure or revenge, Jane isn't quite sure.Beautiful, proud and haunted, Jane is a temptation Lyle's worked hard to avoid. The mountains are the last place she needs to be. But if Jane can find the courage to face down a man like Gideon for the sake of the fort, no force on earth will keep Lyle from her side.Don't miss Reaper's Touch, available now!95,000 words
The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, And The Making Of The Modern World
by Linda ColleyVivid and magisterial, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen reconfigures the rise of a modern world through the advent and spread of written constitutions. A work of extraordinary range and striking originality, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen traces the global history of written constitutions from the 1750s to the twentieth century, modifying accepted narratives and uncovering the close connections between the making of constitutions and the making of war. In the process, Linda Colley both reappraises famous constitutions and recovers those that have been marginalized but were central to the rise of a modern world. She brings to the fore neglected sites, such as Corsica, with its pioneering constitution of 1755, and tiny Pitcairn Island in the Pacific, the first place on the globe permanently to enfranchise women. She highlights the role of unexpected players, such as Catherine the Great of Russia, who was experimenting with constitutional techniques with her enlightened Nakaz decades before the Founding Fathers framed the American constitution. Written constitutions are usually examined in relation to individual states, but Colley focuses on how they crossed boundaries, spreading into six continents by 1918 and aiding the rise of empires as well as nations. She also illumines their place not simply in law and politics but also in wider cultural histories, and their intimate connections with print, literary creativity, and the rise of the novel. Colley shows how—while advancing epic revolutions and enfranchising white males—constitutions frequently served over the long nineteenth century to marginalize indigenous people, exclude women and people of color, and expropriate land. Simultaneously, though, she investigates how these devices were adapted by peoples and activists outside the West seeking to resist European and American power. She describes how Tunisia generated the first modern Islamic constitution in 1861, quickly suppressed, but an influence still on the Arab Spring; how Africanus Horton of Sierra Leone—inspired by the American Civil War—devised plans for self-governing nations in West Africa; and how Japan’s Meiji constitution of 1889 came to compete with Western constitutionalism as a model for Indian, Chinese, and Ottoman nationalists and reformers. Vividly written and handsomely illustrated, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen is an absorbing work that—with its pageant of formative wars, powerful leaders, visionary lawmakers and committed rebels—retells the story of constitutional government and the evolution of ideas of what it means to be modern.
The Gun, the Ship and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World
by Linda Colley'If there were a Nobel Prize in History, Colley would be my nominee' Jill Lepore, New Yorker'One of the most exciting historians of her generation, but also one of the most interesting writers of non-fiction around' - William Dalrymple, Guardian'Colley takes you on intellectual journeys you wouldn't think to take on your own, and when you arrive you wonder that you never did it before' - David Aaronovitch, the Times'A global history of remarkable depth, imagination and insight' Tony Barber, Financial Times Summer BooksStarting not with the United States, but with the Corsican constitution of 1755, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen moves through every continent, disrupting accepted narratives. Both monarchs and radicals play a role, from Catherine the Great of Russia, with her remarkable Nakaz, to Sierra Leone's James Africanus Horton, to Tunisia's Khayr-al-Din, a creator of the first modern Islamic constitution. Throughout, Colley demonstrates how constitutions evolved in tandem with warfare, and how they have functioned to advance empire as well as promote nations, and worked to exclude aswell as liberate.Whether reinterpreting Japan's momentous 1889 constitution, or exploring the significance of the first constitution to enfranchise all adult women on Pitcairn Island in the Pacific in 1838, this is one of the most original global histories in decades.
Gun Thugs, Rednecks, and Radicals: A Documentary History of the West Virginia Mine Wars
by David Alan CorbinTelling the powerful story of the West Virginia coal mining rebellions of the early 20th century, this book collects material from the leaders, the miners, and the journalists sent to report on the 1912 and 1921 West Virginia mine wars—explosive examples of strikes and union battles. Featured in the text are articles, speeches, and discussions between union leaders such as Samuel Gompers, Frank Keeney, Fred Mooney, Bill Blizzard, and Mother Jones. Also included are U.S. Senate committee testimonies from miners and their family members describing life and work in the coal camps and explaining their participation in the violence. These facts clearly portray the human cost of industry and present the hard choices of a rebellious and often politically radical populace who refuses to be beleaguered under any circumstances.
Gun Thunder (A Bartlett Brothers Western)
by Carson McCloudIn this first novel of a blazing new American Western saga, two brothers must set aside their differences to defend the land and legacy passed onto them from a ruthless, scheming banker and his band of kill-crazy desperadoes. Jack Noble built the Rafter N Ranch with his own blood, sweat, and tears—the pride of Montana and the envy of every cattleman in the surrounding territory. His eldest grandson Gabriel Bartlett inherited Noble&’s fighting spirit, necessary to survive in an unforgiving land. Daniel, Gabriel&’s younger brother, has the strength and discipline to work the ranch, but lacks true grit when faced with a truly bad man. Gabriel is now the notorious Noble Bartlett, a quick-draw gunfighter surly as a sidewinder. So when he learns about rustlers targeting the Rafter N, rides hard for home. There he finds Daniel holding down the ranch. He&’s a hardworking family man who puts his trust in law and order. But the Bartlett brothers face brutal killers who know no mercy. They&’ll need Daniel&’s righteous resolve and Noble&’s vicious violence to protect their family and send evil men to the hell that they deserve . . .