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Honorable Men
by Louis AuchinclossFrom a New York Times–bestselling author: A novel about a member of the Greatest Generation wrestling with moral choices over the next generation&’s war in Vietnam. Chip Benedict appeared to have the best of everything: wealth, education, good looks, charm, and intelligence. Shortly before entering law school, he married Alida, a pale beauty who also had the cunning and talent to become the debutante of the year, escaping the progressively threadbare world of tarnished elegance and unpaid bills to which she was born. Alida&’s life continued in a storybook fashion with her marriage to Chip, a seemingly perfect and certainly honorable man. Called to serve in World War II, he returned a hero, decorated for bravery at the Normandy landing. Following in his father&’s footsteps, he became chairman of the board of the prestigious Benedict Glass Company founded by his grandfather. And yet, with all of his gifts, Chip is haunted by dark guilt that drives him to excel, conform, and embrace a righteousness that he fails to perceive as hypocrisy. In business he becomes the perfect corporate executive, lauded in Fortune and Forbes. He serves his community, supports the arts, and patriotically honors his government. But when it comes to choosing sides on the issue of Vietnam, he will make a decision that casts aside the deepest ties and loyalties of his life. &“Through a series of flashbacks the narrators come to realize how outside events have influenced their lives. Auchincloss uses their story to show us the frailties of human nature when confronted with politics and morality. This psychological novel is perceptive, elegantly spare, and well crafted.&” —Library Journal
Honorable Picnic: A 1920s Novel About Japan
by RaucatFirst published in 2010. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Honorable Survivor
by Lynne JoinerHonorable Survivor weaves John S. Service's extraordinary story into the fabric of a watershed moment in our history when World War II was ending, the Cold War was dawning, and the McCarthy era witch-hunters were stirring. The book reveals how people, policy, and politics mix to create the circumstances of our lives--and the experiences of one man who came to be at the center of a series of extraordinary events involving the fate of nations. A true story of intrigue, adventure, persecution, and redemption and the love of a loyal American wife and a Chinese lover, this biography chronicles the experiences of John S. Service. Emmy award-winning journalist Lynne Joiner tells the tale of Service, an idealistic U.S. Foreign Service officer in wartime China who had the misfortune of often being right although U.S. policymakers refused to heed his prescient reporting. He predicted Mao Tse-tung's successful revolution long before anyone else even knew the Chinese Communists were a potent force, and, subsequently, he became Sen. Joseph McCarthy's first victim. The author describes how Service was fired for doubtful loyalty--but won his job back in the U.S. Supreme Court, only to have his career neutralized by the FBI, anti-Communist politicians, the China lobby, and Chiang Kai-shek's secret police. Born and raised in China by YMCA missionaries, Service became America's key liaison with the Communist Chinese when Gen. Joseph Stilwell wanted their help against the Japanese. Later, he became a target of revenge for Nationalist Chinese, a convenient scapegoat for American politicians eager to advance their careers, and a person of interest to J. Edgar Hoover for more than a quarter century. Joiner was given special access to Service's private papers and photographs with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, among others, and gained access to FBI, CIA, and State Department security records as well as confidential transcripts of congressional hearings and federal loyalty review boards. Although newly released Soviet and U.S. documents demonstrate that some of his wartime associates were in fact identified as Communist spies or fellow travelers, Joiner shows that Service was an honorable survivor who was innocent of McCarthy's charges.Winner of the 2010 Douglas Dillon Award from the American Academyof Diplomacy for a book of distinction on the practice of American diplomacy.
Honorable Treachery: A History of U.S. Intelligence, Espionage, and Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA
by G.J.A. O'TooleA &“splendidly written, impeccably researched, and perfectly fascinating&” look at clandestine operations from colonial times to the Cuban Missile Crisis (The Washington Post Book World). We&’ve always depended on intelligence gathering to drive foreign policy in peacetime and command decision in war—but that work has often taken place in the shadows. Honorable Treachery fills in these details in our national history, dramatically recounting every important intelligence operation from our nation&’s birth into the early 1960s. Among numerous other stories, the book recounts how in 1795, President Washington mounted a covert operation to ransom American hostages in the Middle East; how in 1897, Kaiser Wilhelm II&’s plans for an invasion of the United States were stopped by the director of the US Office of Naval Intelligence; and how President Woodrow Wilson created a secret agency called the Inquiry to compile intelligence for the peace negotiations at the end of World War I. From a Pulitzer Prize finalist who himself worked for the CIA, Honorable Treachery puts America&’s use of covert intelligence into a broader historical context, providing a unique insight into the secret workings of our country. &“O&’Toole offers fascinating information generally unrecorded in traditional diplomatic and military histories.&” —Library Journal
Honorary Aryans: National–Racial Identity and Protected Jews in the Independent State of Croatia
by Nevenko BartulinBetween 1941 and 1945, in one of the more curious episodes of racial politics during the Second World War, a small number of Jews were granted the rights of Aryan citizens in the Independent State of Croatia by the pro-Nazi Utasha regime. This study seeks to explain how these exemptions from Ustasha racial laws came to be, and in particular how they were justified by the race theory of the time. Author Nevenko Bartulin explores these questions within the broader histories of anti-Semitism, nationalism, and race in Croatia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, tracing Croatian Jews' troubled journey from "Croats of the Mosaic faith" before World War II to their eventual rejection as racial aliens by the Utasha movement.
Honorary Protestants
by David Fraser The Osgoode SocietyWhen the Constitution Act of 1867 was enacted, section 93 guaranteed certain educational rights to Catholics and Protestants in Quebec, but not to any others. Over the course of the next century, the Jewish community in Montreal carved out an often tenuous arrangement for public schooling as "honorary Protestants," based on complex negotiations with the Protestant and Catholic school boards, the provincial government, and individual municipalities. In the face of the constitution's exclusionary language, all parties gave their compromise a legal form which was frankly unconstitutional, but unavoidable if Jewish children were to have access to public schools. Bargaining in the shadow of the law, they made their own constitution long before the formal constitutional amendment of 1997 finally put an end to the issue.In Honorary Protestants, David Fraser presents the first legal history of the Jewish school question in Montreal. Based on extensive archival research, it highlights the complex evolution of concepts of rights, citizenship, and identity, negotiated outside the strict legal boundaries of the constitution.
Honorary White: A Visit To South Africa
by E. R. BraithwaiteAcclaimed author E. R. Braithwaite (To Sir, With Love) chronicles the brutality, oppression, and courage he witnessed as a black man granted &“Honorary White&” status during a six-week visit to apartheid South AfricaAs a black man living in a white-dominated world, author E. R. Braithwaite was painfully aware of the multitude of injustices suffered by people of color and he wrote powerfully and poignantly about racial discrimination in his acclaimed novels and nonfiction works. So it came as a complete surprise when, in 1973, the longstanding ban on his books was lifted by the South African government, a ruling body of minority whites that brutally oppressed the black majority through apartheid laws. Applying for a visa—and secretly hoping to be refused—he was granted the official status of &“Honorary White&” for the length of his stay. As such, Braithwaite would be afforded some of the freedoms that South Africa&’s black population was denied, yet would nonetheless be considered inferior by the white establishment.With Honorary White, Braithwaite bears witness to a dark and troubling time, relating with grave honesty and power the shocking abuses, inequities, and horrors he observed and experienced firsthand during his six-week stay in a criminal nation. His book is a personal testament to the savagery of apartheid and to the courage of those who refused to be broken by it.
Honoring Ancestors in Sacred Space: The Archaeology of an Eighteenth-Century African-Bahamian Cemetery (Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series)
by Grace TurnerThe Anglican Church established St. Matthew's Parish on the eastern side of Nassau to accommodate a population increase after British Loyalists migrated to the Bahamas in the 1780s. The parish had three separate cemeteries: the churchyard cemetery and Centre Burial Ground were for whites, but the Northern Burial Ground was officially consecrated for nonwhites in 1826 by the Bishop of Jamaica. In Honoring Ancestors in Sacred Space, Grace Turner posits that the African-Bahamian community intentionally established this separate cemetery in order to observe non-European burial customs. Analyzing the landscape and artifacts found at the site, Turner shows how the community used this space to maintain a sense of social and cultural belonging despite the power of white planters and the colonial government.Although the Northern Burial Ground was covered by storm surges in the 1920s, and later a sidewalk was built through the site, Turner's fieldwork reveals a wealth of material culture. She points to the cemetery's location near water, trees planted at the heads of graves, personal items left with the dead, and remnants of food offerings as evidence of mortuary practices originating in West and Central Africa. According to Turner, these African-influenced ways of memorializing the dead illustrate W. E. B. Du Bois's idea of "double consciousness"--the experience of existing in two irreconcilable cultures at the same time. Comparing the burial ground with others in Great Britain and the American colonies, Turner demonstrates how Africans in the Atlantic diaspora did not always adopt European customs but often created a separate, parallel world for themselves. A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series
Honoring Elders: Aging, Authority, and Ojibwe Religion (Religion and American Culture)
by Michael D. McNallyLike many Native Americans, Ojibwe people esteem the wisdom, authority, and religious significance of old age, but this respect does not come easily or naturally. It is the fruit of hard work, rooted in narrative traditions, moral vision, and ritualized practices of decorum that are comparable in sophistication to those of Confucianism. Even as the dispossession and policies of assimilation have threatened Ojibwe peoplehood and have targeted the traditions and the elders who embody it, Ojibwe and other Anishinaabe communities have been resolute and resourceful in their disciplined respect for elders. Indeed, the challenges of colonization have served to accentuate eldership in new ways.Using archival and ethnographic research, Michael D. McNally follows the making of Ojibwe eldership, showing that deference to older women and men is part of a fuller moral, aesthetic, and cosmological vision connected to the ongoing circle of life-a tradition of authority that has been crucial to surviving colonization. McNally argues that the tradition of authority and the authority of tradition frame a decidedly indigenous dialectic, eluding analytic frameworks of invented tradition and naïve continuity. Demonstrating the rich possibilities of treating age as a category of analysis, McNally provocatively asserts that the elder belongs alongside the priest, prophet, sage, and other key figures in the study of religion.
Honoring Sergeant Carter: A Family's Journey to Uncover the Truth About an American Hero
by Robert L. Allen Allene CarterAllene Carter's father-in-law was a decorated veteran. Yet it was not until the Carter family received a call from the White House that she discovered he was a heroic force in the Rhineland campaign. President Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to several black soldiers who served in World War II. Sergeant Edward A. Carter Jr. was among the recipients. Shocked to learn the extent of Carter's service, Allene was determined to uncover both the truth about her father-in-law's wartime record and why his official recognition was so long in coming.Here is the story not only of Sergeant Carter but also of his family's fight to restore his honor. Theirs is a journey that takes them from local veterans organizations to the office of the president and front pages of the national media. An important piece of American history, Honoring Sergeant Carter is an enduring story of determination and family love.
Honoring The Killers: Justice Denied For "Honor" Crimes In Jordan
by Human Rights WatchIn 2003, a man fatally stabbed his daughter twenty-five times because she refused to tell him where she had been following a three-week absence. In 2002, a man killed his sister after seeing her "talking to a strange man during a wedding party." In 2001, a man killed his sister "after seeing a man leave her house." In none of these cases, nor dozens more such "honor" killings in Jordan in recent years, did the perpetrators serve more than six months in prison. Unfortunately, neither the violent killings nor the weak response to these crimes are exceptional. In Jordan today, as in many other countries in the Mediterranean and Muslim worlds, "honor" killings of girls and women by their male relatives remain among the most prevalent physical threats to women. It is the most extreme form of domestic violence, a crime based in male privilege and prerogative and women's subordinate social status. Although the absolute number of murders is not high (though the numbers are very likely underreported), the effects are felt throughout society. "Honor" killings are the most tragic consequence and graphic illustration of deeply embedded, society-wide gender discrimination.
Honoring the Son: Jesus in Earliest Christian Devotional Practice (Snapshots)
by L. W. HurtadoBefore the New Testament or the creeds of the church were written—the devotional practices of the earliest Christians indicate that they worshipped Jesus alongside the Father. Larry W. Hurtado has been one of the leading scholars on early Christology for decades. In Honoring the Son: Jesus in Earliest Christian Devotional Practice, Hurtado helps readers understand early Christology by examining not just what early Christians believed or wrote about Jesus, but what their devotional practices tell us about the place of Jesus in early Christian worship. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of early Christian origins and scholarship on New Testament Christology, Hurtado examines the distinctiveness of early Christian worship by comparing it to both Jewish worship patterns and worship practices within the broader Roman--era religious environment. He argues that the inclusion of the risen Jesus alongside the Father in early Christian devotional practices was a distinct and unique religious phenomenon within its ancient context. Additionally, Hurtado demonstrates that this remarkable development was not invented decades after the resurrection of Christ as some scholars once claimed. Instead, the New Testament suggests that Jesus--followers, very quickly after the resurrection of Christ, began to worship the Son alongside the Father. Honoring the Son offers a look into the worship habits of the earliest Christians to understand the place of Jesus in early Christian devotion.
Honorius: The Fight for the Roman West AD 395-423 (Roman Imperial Biographies)
by Chris DoyleHonorius explores the personal life and tumultuous times of one of the last emperors of the Roman West. From his accession to the throne aged ten to his death at thirty-eight, Honorius’ reign was blighted by a myriad of crises: military rebellions, political conspiracies, barbarian invasions, and sectarian controversies. The notorious sack of the city of Rome occurred on Honorius’ watch, and much of the western empire was given over to anarchy and violence. This book should interest undergraduates, research students, and professional scholars. Given the enduring appeal of the fall of Rome and the collapse of western Roman civilization, the wider public should also find much of interest.
Honoré Fabri and the Concept of Impetus: A Bridge between Conceptual Frameworks
by Michael ElazarThis book discusses the impetus-based physics of the Jesuit natural philosopher and mathematician Honoré Fabri (1608-1688), a senior representative of Jesuit scientists during the period between Galileo's death (1642) and Newton's Principia (1687). It shows how Fabri, while remaining loyal to a general Aristotelian outlook, managed to reinterpret the old concept of "impetus" in such a way as to assimilate into his physics building blocks of modern science, like Galileo's law of fall and Descartes' principle of inertia. This account of Fabri's theory is a novel one, since his physics is commonly considered as a dogmatic rejection of the New Science, not essentially different from the medieval impetus theory. This book shows how New Science principles were taught in Jesuit Colleges in the 1640s, thus depicting the sophisticated manner in which new ideas were settling within the lion's den of Catholic education.
Honoré Jaxon: Prairie Visionary
by Donald SmithBorn in 1861 to a Methodist family, William Henry Jackson grew up in Ontario before moving to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where he sympathized with the Métis and became personal secretary to Louis Riel. After the Métis defeat a Regina court committed the young English Canadian idealist to the lunatic asylum at Lower Fort Garry. He eventually escaped to the United States, joined the labour union movement, and renounced his race. Self-identifying as Métis, he changed his name to the French-sounding “Honoré Jaxon” and devoted the remainder of his life to fighting for the working class and the Indigenous peoples of North America. In Honoré Jaxon, Donald B. Smith draws on extensive archival research and interviews with family members to present a definitive biography of this complex political man. The book follows Jaxon into the 1940s, where his life mission became the establishment of a library for the First Nations in Saskatchewan, collecting as many books, newspapers, and pamphlets relating to the Métis people as possible. In 1951, at age ninety, he was evicted from his apartment and his library discarded to the New York City dump. In poor health and broken in spirit, he died one month later. Heavily illustrated, Honoré Jaxon recounts the complicated story of a young English Canadian who imagined a society in which English and French, Indigenous and Métis would be equals.
Honour Among Men and Nations: Transformations of an idea
by Geoffrey BestTo no group subject to sociological and political analysis has honour seemed to matter more than to the military. Their idea of it has commonly been accepted as the most superior, open to emulation to the limited extent that different circumstances and purposes in non-military life permit.The degeneration of this concept and of the public realm in which honour's obligations have to be observed is the subject of this book, based on the 1981 Joanne Goodman Lectures at the University of Western Ontario.Best begins with the discovery, in the age of the American and French revolutions, of the nation as the supreme object of honourable service. He discusses how nationalism and democracy marched together through the nineteenth century to harden this creed and broaden its base, so that what had previously been a code for noblemen became a popular code for patriots.He finds that, in spite of the historical naturalness, even inevitability, of nationalism, its ensuing and corrective counter-current, internationalism, is a much more appealing principle. In internationalism, a tradition of cosmopolitan, transnational thought and activity, unmoved by the passions of nationalism and critical of them on the grounds of humanity and peace, he perceives a greater field for honourable service--honour's obligation to the service of mankind.Best casts new light upon some familiar historical episodes and values and suggests fruitful fields for future study.
Honour Among Nations?: Treaties And Agreements With Indigenous People
by Lisa Palmer Marcia Langton Maureen Tehan Kathryn ShainThis important collection emerges from the growing academic and public policy interest in the area of Indigenous peoples, treaties and agreements; challenging readers to engage with the idea of treaty and agreement making in changing political and legal landscapes. Honour Among Nations? contains contributions from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors from Australia, New Zealand and North America including Marcia Langton, Gillian Triggs, Joe Williams, Paul Chartrand and Noel Pearson. It features a preface by Sir Anthony Mason. This book covers topics as diverse as treaty and agreement making in Australia, New Zealand and British Columbia; land, the law, political rights and Indigenous peoples; maritime agreements; health; governance and jurisdiction; race discrimination in Australia; the Timor Sea Treaty; copyright and intellectual property issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors. Honour Among Nations? makes a significant contribution to international debates on Indigenous peoples' rights, treaties and agreement making.
Honour Restored: The Battle of Britain, Dowding and the Fight for Freedom
by Peter BrownAt the outbreak of the second World War, Air Chief Marshall Dowding was Commander-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command, which had been set up three years earlier to protect Britain against attacks from the air and the threat of invasion. London was subjected to extensive night bombing for several months. However, our fighter squadrons and defence systems enabled us to maintain master of the air. The Battle of Britain ended in 1940 and our island was never again under the threat of invasion. Peter Brown, former Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot, presents a vivid account of Britain under the threat of invasion, reminding us of the bravery of our fighter pilots and the courage of the people of Britain who endured the hardships of war and terror bombing from the air. Through personal experience and years of meticulous research Peter offers a careful analysis of the battle and the tactics involved, vigorously defending Dowding's command and exposing the conspiracy of senior officers that saw him removed from office without due recognition for his achievement.
Honour is All: The Shieldmaiden Trilogy
by Marianne WhitingYou are your father's daughter A young Viking woman picks up her sword and goes in search for retribution and justice. In 934 the English are fighting the Norse for supremacy over the North. Worship of the old Norse gods is challenged by Christianity. Traditional loyalties are tested and revenge can be swift and violent. In Cumbria a man is outlawed and killed. Faced with a life of destitution and servitude, his daughter Sigrid's only option is to appeal to the King of Norway to reverse his judgement on her father and allow her to inherit the family farm. But Norway is far away and Sigrid has only her wits and her skill with the sword to help her cause. Sigrid sets out to regain her birthright, encountering kings, warriors and villains on her quest. While her fighting skills earn her admiration, she must also learn about duty, honour and loyalty if she is to grow from a headstrong teenager into a woman and a respected warrior.
Honour: Achieving Justice for Banaz Mahmod
by Caroline GoodeWhen Rahmat Sulemani reported his girlfriend Banaz missing, it quickly became clear to DCI Caroline Goode that something was very wrong. In fact, Banaz had contacted her local police station multiple times before, even listing the names of the men she expected to murder her in a so-called 'honour' killing. Her parents didn't seem worried, but Banaz had already accused them of being part of the plot.DCI Goode's team took on the investigation before they even had proof that a murder had taken place. What emerged was a shocking story of betrayal and a community-wide web of lies, which would take the team from suburban south London to the mountain ranges of Kurdistan, making covert recordings and piecing together cell phone data to finally bring the killers to justice.
Honourable Conquests: An Account of the Enduring Work of the Royal Engineers Throughout the Empire
by A. J. SmithersThe origin of the Corps of Royal Engineers, now affectionately known as The Sappers but then as the King's Military Engineers, has been traced as far as 1414, though it was not until 1716 that a permanent officer corps of engineers was established by the Board of Ordnance with the title Corps of Engineers.. Being part of the Regular Army it is hardly surprising that the Corps should be associated in the public mind with such tasks as building roads, bridges and defensive works or breaching those of the enemy and scant attention was hitherto been paid to the remarkable achievements of the Corps in times of peace. In Honourable Conquests A.J. Smithers sets out to redress that balance. Britain having acquired an Empire, more by accident than design, it fell to the lot of the Army, first in India and later in other parts of the Empire, to act in the role of unofficial Colonial Policemen As well we all know, the policemens lot is not a happy one, so the ingenious Engineers found better ways to pass the time,thereby leaving behind them some remarkable testimonies, not only to their professional skills but to their very considerable contribution to the welfare of mankind- in India, in Canada, in Australia and other parts of the Empire. It is to such men as General Pasley Colonel By, General Cotton and Sir Colin Scott Moncrieff, truly great men now all but forgotten, on whom Smithers turns his narrative skill and wry humour in this fascinating book. As the completion of the Channel Tunnel approaches, his penultimate chapter concerning the involvement of the Royal Engineers with that project over a hundred years ago will be of particularly topical interest.
Honourable Intentions (The Honour Series #4)
by Gavin LyallThis historical thriller set in 1914 brings the acclaimed British author’s “splendidly entertaining” Honour series to an explosive conclusion (The Guardian). As Europe hurdles toward World War I, the French American anarchist Grover Langhorn is arrested in London. But before he can be extradited to face trial, he reveals a secret more threatening to the crown than any bomb: Langhorn is King Henry V’s illegitimate son—and heir to the throne. Now Cpt. Matthew Ranklin and his partner Conall O’Gilroy of the newly formed British Secret Service are tasked with investigating Langhorn’s audacious—yet credible—claim. But in order to save the king from himself, they must delve into the unseemly secrets of his past. And soon they discover that closing this case will require opening a Pandora’s box of mayhem, murder, and international conspiracy.
Honourable Intentions?: Violence and Virtue in Australian and Cape Colonies, c 1750 to 1850.
by Nigel Worden Penny RussellHonourable Intentions? compares the significance and strategic use of ‘honour’ in two colonial societies, the Cape Colony and the early British settlements in Australia, between 1750 and 1850. The mobile populations of emigrants and sojourners, sailors and soldiers, merchants and traders, slaves and convicts who surged into and through these regions are not usually associated with ideas of honour. But in both societies, competing and contradictory notions of honour proved integral to the ways in which colonisers and colonised, free and unfree, defended their status and insisted on their right to be treated with respect. During these times of flux, concepts of honour and status were radically reconstructed. Each of the thirteen chapters considers honour in a particular sphere - legal, political, religious or personal - and in different contexts determined by the distinctive and changing matrix of race, gender and class, as well as the distinctions of free and unfree status in each colony. Early chapters in the volume show how and why the political, ideological and moral stakes of the concept of honour were particularly important in colonial societies; later chapters look more closely at the social behaviour and the purchase of honour among specific groups. Collectively, the chapters show that there was no clear distinction between political and social life, and that honour crossed between the public and private spheres. This exciting new collection brings together new and established historians of Australia and South Africa to highlight thought-provoking parallels and contrasts between the Cape and Australian colonies that will be of interest to all scholars of colonial societies and the concept of honour.
Honourable Misfits: A Brief History of Britain's Weirdest, Unluckiest and Most Outrageous MPs
by Marie Le ConteHonourable Misfits is a weird and wonderful celebration of the most eccentric and infamous MPs throughout the history of the British parliament.Politicians are weird - we can all agree on that. But do you know how much weirder they used to be? If not, Honourable Misfits is the audiobook for you. Spanning from the past 700 years, this is a celebration of the oddest and most eccentric MPs the House of Commons has ever seen. From mad inventors and fearless adventurers to machiavellian villains and mavericks with more money than sense, it offers 64 pen portraits of the unique, the mysterious and the downright deranged.There is the one who built a complex network of tunnels and underground rooms underneath his estate; the one who liked to go hunting naked; the one who set himself on fire to cure his hiccups, and the one who invented a very small gun with which to kill flies.Still, they weren't all useless; there was also the MP who invented weather forecasts, and the one who documented more animal species than nearly everyone else. They weren't all good either; between the fascist turned Buddhist monk and the spy who faked his death, there are more than enough villains to go around. They also weren't all lucky; included in Honourable Misfits are tributes to MPs with tragic deaths, from falling on a turnip to getting in a car accident the day after getting elected. This is an audiobook to celebrate human nature in all its odd, compelling complexity.(P)2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Honourable Misfits: A Brief History of Britain's Weirdest, Unluckiest and Most Outrageous MPs
by Marie Le ContePoliticians are weird - we can all agree on that. But do you know how much weirder they used to be? If not, Honourable Misfits is the book for you. Spanning from the past 700 years, this is a celebration of the oddest and most eccentric MPs the House of Commons has ever seen. From mad inventors and fearless adventurers to machiavellian villains and mavericks with more money than sense, it offers 64 pen portraits of the unique, the mysterious and the downright deranged.There is the one who built a complex network of tunnels and underground rooms underneath his estate; the one who liked to go hunting naked; the one who set himself on fire to cure his hiccups, and the one who invented a very small gun with which to kill flies.Still, they weren't all useless; there was also the MP who invented weather forecasts, and the one who documented more animal species than nearly everyone else. They weren't all good either; between the fascist turned Buddhist monk and the spy who faked his death, there are more than enough villains to go around. They also weren't all lucky; included in Honourable Misfits are tributes to MPs with tragic deaths, from falling on a turnip to getting in a car accident the day after getting elected. This is a book to celebrate human nature in all its odd, compelling complexity.