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The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars
by Daniel BeerA visceral, hundred-year history of the vast Russian penal colony. It was known as 'the vast prison without a roof.' From the beginning of the nineteenth century until the Russian Revolution, the tsars exiled more than one million prisoners and their families beyond the Ural Mountains to Siberia. Daniel Beer illuminates both the brutal realities of this inhuman system and the tragic and inspiring fates of those who endured it. Here are the vividly told stories of petty criminals and mass murderers, bookish radicals and violent terrorists, fugitives and bounty hunters, and the innocent women and children who followed their husbands and fathers into exile. Siberia was intended to serve not only as a dumping ground for criminals but also as a colony. Just as exile would purge Russia of its villains so too would it purge villains of their vices. In theory, Russia’s most unruly criminals would be transformed into hardy frontiersmen and settlers. But in reality, the system peopled Siberia with an army of destitute and desperate vagabonds who visited a plague of crime on the indigenous population. Even the aim of securing law and order in the rest of the Empire met with disaster: Expecting Siberia also to provide the ultimate quarantine against rebellion, the tsars condemned generations of republicans, nationalists and socialists to oblivion thousands of kilometers from Moscow. Over the nineteenth century, however, these political exiles transformed Siberia's mines, settlements and penal forts into a virtual laboratory of revolution. Exile became the defining experience for the men and women who would one day rule the Soviet Union. Unearthing a treasure trove of new archival evidence, this masterly and original work tells the epic story of Russia's struggle to govern its prison continent and Siberia's own decisive influence on the political forces of the modern world. In The House of the Dead, Daniel Beer brings to light a dark and gripping reality of mythic proportions.From the Hardcover edition.
The House of the Mother: The Social Roles of Maternal Kin in Biblical Hebrew Narrative and Poetry
by Prof. Cynthia R. ChapmanA novel approach to Israelite kinship, arguing that maternal kinship bonds played key social, economic, and political roles for a son who aspired to inherit his father's household Upending traditional scholarship on patrilineal genealogy, Cynthia Chapman draws on twenty years of research to uncover an underappreciated yet socially significant kinship unit in the Bible: "the house of the mother. " In households where a man had two or more wives, siblings born to the same mother worked to promote and protect one another's interests. Revealing the hierarchies of the maternal houses and political divisions within the national house of Israel, this book provides us with a nuanced understanding of domestic and political life in ancient Israel.
The House of the Pain of Others: Chronicle of a Small Genocide
by Julián HerbertA brilliant work of historical excavation with profound echoes in an age redolent with violence and xenophobiaEarly in the twentieth century, amid the myths of progress and modernity that underpinned Mexico’s ruling party, some three hundred Chinese immigrants—close to half of the Cantonese residents of the newly founded city of Torreón—were massacred over the course of three days. It is considered the largest slaughter of Chinese people in the history of the Americas, but more than a century later, the facts continue to be elusive, mistaken, and repressed.“And what do you know about the Chinese people who were killed here?” Julián Herbert asks anyone who will listen. An exorcism of persistent and discomfiting ghosts, The House of the Pain of Others attempts a reckoning with the 1911 massacre. Looping, digressive, and cinematic, Herbert blends reportage, personal reflection, essay, and academic research to portray the historical context as well as the lives of the perpetrators and victims of the “small genocide.” This brilliant historical excavation echoes profoundly in an age redolent with violence and xenophobia.
The House of the Red Slayer: Being the Second of the Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan
by Paul Harding Paul DohertyThe Constable of the Tower of London, Sir Ralph Whitton, is found murdered in a cold, bleak chamber. The door is still locked from the inside and guarded by trusted retainers--so how did the assassin get in? And why was Sir Ralph so terrified by a message he received a few days before his death?
House of the Rising Sun: A Novel (A Holland Family Novel)
by James Lee BurkeBestselling author James Lee Burke&’s &“stunning&” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) masterpiece is the story of a father and son separated by war, circumstance, and a race for the Holy Grail—a thrilling entry in the Holland family saga.After a violent encounter that leaves four Mexican soldiers dead, Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland escapes the country in possession of a stolen artifact believed to be the mythic cup of Christ, earning the ire of a bloodthirsty Austrian arms dealer who places Hack&’s son, Ishmael, squarely in the cross hairs of a plot to recapture his prize. On the journey from revolutionary Mexico in 1918 to the saloons of San Antonio during the Hole in the Wall Gang&’s reign, we meet three extraordinary women: the Danish immigrant who is Ishmael&’s mother and Hackberry&’s one true love; a brothel madam descended from the Crusader knight who brought the Shroud of Turin back from the Holy Land; and a onetime lover of the Sundance Kid, whose wiles rival those of Lady Macbeth. In her own way, each woman will aid Hack in his quest to reconcile with Ishmael, to vanquish their enemies, and to return the Grail to its rightful place. An epic tale of love, loss, betrayal, vengeance, and retribution, The House of the Rising Sun further cements Burke&’s reputation as &“one of America&’s all-time masters&” (New York Journal of Books).
The House of the Seven Gables (First Avenue Classics ™)
by Nathaniel HawthorneOld Hepzibah Pyncheon lives in her family's decaying mansion, a reportedly cursed house built about 200 years earlier. The Pyncheon family no longer has the riches it once did, and Hepzibah struggles to support herself and her brother Clifford. Their niece Phoebe arrives and asks to live with them, bringing hope back into the house. But another visitor—the conniving Judge Pyncheon—launches his plot to uncover a lost family fortune. As events unfold, the family encounters bloody secrets and sins in their ancestors' history. This is an unabridged version of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne's romance novel, first published in 1851.
House of the Seven Gables, The (Images of America)
by David Moffat Everett Philbrook House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association Ryan ConaryThe House of the Seven Gables is an American icon. It is one of the nation�s oldest homes and one of its first historic house museums. Built in 1668, it is a unique and well-restored first period house displaying many preserved 17th- and 18th-century architectural features. Three generations of the seafaring Turner family lived in the home before the American Revolution. In the 19th century, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne was hosted in the house by his cousin, and the setting encouraged his literary genius. After this famous association, the house attracted tourists even before it opened to the public when the artistic Upton family called the mansion home. In 1910, Caroline Emmerton, an enterprising philanthropist, opened the home to raise money to help local immigrants. She restored the structure and brought other historic houses from Salem to the property.
The House of the Vestals (Roma Sub Rosa #6)
by Steven SaylorWonderfully entertaining mystery stories set in the world of the acclaimed ROMA SUB ROSA series. It is the Rome of the Late Republic, and Gordianus the Finder has a knack for finding trouble - and dead bodies. Known to many as the one man in the ancient world who can both keep a secret and uncover one, Gordianus lays bare some of his most intriguing adventures in this new volume in Steven Saylor's highly acclaimed mystery series. In 'Little Caesar and the Pirates', Gordianus must act as a go-between for kidnappers, but he begins to wonder who is really being held hostage; in 'The Alexandrian Cat', a mischievous girl and a tell-tale sneeze reveal an ingenious plot of murder and thievery; and in 'The House of the Vestals', blackmail goes horribly wrong and there is no one to take the blame. The result is an engrossing collection of finely wrought mystery tales with all the suspense and craft that are the trademark of Saylor's work.
House of the Waterlily: A Novel of the Ancient Maya World
by Kelli CarmeanSet in the Maya civilization's Late Classic Period House of the Waterlily is a historical novel centered on Lady Winik, a young Maya royal. Through tribulations that mirror the political calamities of the Late Classic world, Winik's personal story immerses the reader not only in her daily life, but also in the difficult decisions Maya men and women must have faced as they tried to navigate a rapidly changing world. Kelli Carmean's novel brings to life a people and an era remote from our own, yet recognizably human all the same.
The House of the Wind: A Novel
by Titania HardieThe internationally bestselling author of The Rose Labyrinth returns with a love story of magic and healing that takes readers from the heartache of a young human rights lawyer in present-day San Francisco to the lives of a courageous trio of women in medieval Tuscany.A legendary ruin. An ancient mystery. Will unveiling the past transform the future? San Francisco, 2007. Madeline Moretti is grieving after her fiancé's death. Nothing brings her joy any more, and Maddie's grandmother, a fiery Italian, sends her to Tuscany to heal. Here, Maddie is immersed in the mystery of a ruined villa. Destroyed centuries ago in a legendary storm on the Eve of St. Agnes, it has been known ever since as the Casa al Vento--the House of the Wind.Tuscany, 1347. Mia hasn't spoken since her mother's death and lives in silence with her beloved aunt. One dark night, a couple seeks refuge in their villa. Accustomed to welcoming passing pilgrims, Mia is entranced by the young bride's radiance and compassion but mystified by her reluctance to reveal even her name. Where has she come from, and why must her presence be a secret?Centuries apart, each searching for a way to step into her future, both Mia and Maddie will be haunted by the myth of the young woman who walked unscathed from the ruins of the House of the Wind.
The House of the Wind
by Titania HardieThe internationally bestselling author of The Rose Labyrinth returns with a love story of magic and healing about two women, centuries apart, who fight to make the world of their dreams a reality. San Francisco, 2007. Madeline Moretti is grieving her fiancé's death. Nothing brings her joy anymore, and Maddie's grandmother, a fiery Italian, sends her to Tuscany to heal. Here, Maddie is immersed in the mystery of a ruined villa. Destroyed centuries ago in a legendary storm on the Eve of St. Agnes, it has been known ever since as the Casa al Vento--the House of the Wind. Tuscany, 1347. Mia hasn't spoken since her mother's death and lives in silence with her beloved aunt. One dark night, a couple seeks refuge in their villa. Used to welcoming passing pilgrims, Mia is entranced by the young bride's radiance and compassion but is mystified by her reluctance to reveal even her name. Where has she come from, and why must her presence be a secret? As each searches for a way to step into her future, both Mia and Maddie will be haunted by the myth of the young woman who walked unscathed from the ruins of the House of the Wind.
The House of the Wolfings: A Tale Of The House Of The Wolfings And All The Kindreds Of The Mark Written In Prose And In Verse
by William MorrisThe tale tells that in times long past there was a dwelling of men beside a great wood. Before it lay a plain, not very great, but which was, as it were, an isle in the sea of woodland, since even when you stood on the flat ground, you could see trees everywhere in the offing, though as for hills, you could scarce say that there were any; only swellings-up of the earth here and there, like the upheavings of the water that one sees at whiles going on amidst the eddies of a swift but deep stream.The tale of the House of the Wolfings in its struggles against the legionaries of Rome then advancing into Northern Germany.
House of Thieves: A Novel
by Charles BelfoureFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Architect "The world of old New York comes alive in this beguiling tale of mystery and intrigue... Charles Belfoure definitely has the touch." --Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Patriot Threat and The Lincoln MythThe Debt Must Be Repaid -- or Else In 1886 New York, a respectable architect shouldn't have any connection to the notorious gang of thieves and killers that rules the underbelly of the city. But when John Cross's son racks up an unfathomable gambling debt to Kent's Gents, Cross must pay it back himself. All he has to do is use his inside knowledge of high society mansions and museums to craft a robbery even the smartest detectives won't solve. The take better include some cash too --the bigger the payout, the faster this will be over.With a newfound talent for sniffing out vulnerable and lucrative targets, Cross becomes invaluable to the gang. But Cross's entire life has become a balancing act, and it will only take one mistake for it all to come crashing down --and for his family to go down too.
House Of Treason: The Rise And Fall Of A Tudor Dynasty
by Robert HutchinsonKing-makers - Conspirators - Criminals - Nobles - SeducersThe Howard family - the Dukes of Norfolk - were the wealthiest and most powerful aristocrats in Tudor England, regarding themselves as the true power behind the throne. They were certainly extraordinarily influential, with two Howard women marrying Henry VIII - Anne Boleyn and the fifteen-year-old Catherine Howard. But in the treacherous world of the Tudor court no faction could afford to rest on its laurels. The Howards consolidated their power with an awesome web of schemes and conspiracies but even they could not always hold their enemies at bay. This was a family whose history is marked by treason, beheadings and incarceration - a dynasty whose pride and ambition secured only their downfall.
House of Treason: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty
by Robert HutchinsonKing-makers - Conspirators - Criminals - Nobles - SeducersThe Howard family - the Dukes of Norfolk - were the wealthiest and most powerful aristocrats in Tudor England, regarding themselves as the true power behind the throne. They were certainly extraordinarily influential, with two Howard women marrying Henry VIII - Anne Boleyn and the fifteen-year-old Catherine Howard. But in the treacherous world of the Tudor court no faction could afford to rest on its laurels. The Howards consolidated their power with an awesome web of schemes and conspiracies but even they could not always hold their enemies at bay. This was a family whose history is marked by treason, beheadings and incarceration - a dynasty whose pride and ambition secured only their downfall.
House of Tudor: A Grisly History
by Mickey MayhewForty-five gruesome but not gratuitous accounts from the Tudor reign, including the death of Richard III and the botched execution of Mary Queen of Scots. This decidedly darker take on the Tudors, from 1485 to 1603, covers a whole host of horrors from the Tudor reign. Particular attention is paid to the various gruesome ways in which the Tudors despatched their various villains and lawbreakers, from simple beheadings, to burnings and of course the dreaded hanging, drawing and quartering. Other chapters cover the various diseases prevalent during Tudor times, including the dreaded &“Sweating Sickness&”—rather topical at the moment, unfortunately—as well as the cures for these sicknesses, some of which were considered worse than the actual disease itself. The day-to-day living conditions of the general populace are also examined, as well as various social taboos and the punishments that accompanied them, i.e. the stocks, as well as punishment by exile. Tudor England was not a nice place to live by twenty-first-century standards, but the book will also serve to explain how it was still nevertheless a familiar home to our ancestors. &“He does not shy away from the gory details, which adds another element to stories that are familiar to those who are Tudor fans. If you want something spooky to read in October or know more about the darker side of Tudor history, I recommend reading House of Tudor.&” —Adventures of a Tudor Nerd &“It really does cover so many different things that there will be something for everyone whatever your interests are; political, personal, medical, or death. A brilliant gory discourse on my favourite period of history!&” —Tudor Blogger
The House of Twenty Thousand Books
by Sasha AbramskyNamed one of Kirkus's Best Nonfiction Books of 2015The House of Twenty Thousand Books is the story of Chimen Abramsky, an extraordinary polymath and bibliophile who amassed a vast collection of socialist literature and Jewish history. For more than fifty years Chimen and his wife, Miriam, hosted epic gatherings in their house of books that brought together many of the age's greatest thinkers. The atheist son of one of the century's most important rabbis, Chimen was born in 1916 near Minsk, spent his early teenage years in Moscow while his father served time in a Siberian labor camp for religious proselytizing, and then immigrated to London, where he discovered the writings of Karl Marx and became involved in left-wing politics. He briefly attended the newly established Hebrew University in Jerusalem, until World War II interrupted his studies. Back in England, he married, and for many years he and Miriam ran a respected Jewish bookshop in London's East End. When the Nazis invaded Russia in June 1941, Chimen joined the Communist Party, becoming a leading figure in the party's National Jewish Committee. He remained a member until 1958, when, shockingly late in the day, he finally acknowledged the atrocities committed by Stalin. In middle age, Chimen reinvented himself once more, this time as a liberal thinker, humanist, professor, and manuscripts' expert for Sotheby's auction house. Journalist Sasha Abramsky re-creates here a lost world, bringing to life the people, the books, and the ideas that filled his grandparents' house, from gatherings that included Eric Hobsbawm and Isaiah Berlin to books with Marx's handwritten notes, William Morris manuscripts and woodcuts, an early sixteenth-century Bomberg Bible, and a first edition of Descartes's Meditations. The House of Twenty Thousand Books is a wondrous journey through our times, from the vanished worlds of Eastern European Jewry to the cacophonous politics of modernity.The House of Twenty Thousand Books includes 43 photos.
House of Usher (Devil's Advocates)
by Evert van LeeuwenDespite being the product of Roger Corman’s AIP exploitation studio, House of Usher enjoys a high standing. But while the impact and cult status of Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe cycle is often discussed in histories of gothic, horror, and exploitation cinema, no extended analysis and critical discussion has been published to date that explores specifically the aesthetic appeal of House of Usher. This Devil’s Advocate provides a complete study of the aesthetic appeal of Corman’s influential first Poe picture.Evert van Leeuwen explores the underlying narrative structure borrowed from Poe’s original story and shows how closely Richard Matheson’s script followed Poe’s theory of short fiction. He goes on to explore the formal techniques of allegory and symbolism employed to represent the house as a monster before focusing on Corman’s imagery, showing how the use of specific camera angles, lenses, colors, and sound effects create and sustain the simultaneously morbid and beautiful atmosphere of gothic decay. Finally, he situates horror icon Vincent Price’s performance as Roderick Usher in the context of the nineteenth-century Romantic misfit and the postwar countercultural antihero, two closely related cultural identities.
The House of Vandekar
by Evelyn AnthonyThree generations of women grapple with a legacy of secrets, lies, love, and loss Ashton. The place dreams are made of? For most of her life, Nancy Vandekar has been haunted by the same disturbing nightmare in which a menacing figure in the shadows calls out her mother's name: Diana. When Nancy found love, she thought she'd left her past far behind. But now a capricious twist of fate brings her back to Ashton. The magnificent family home masks a legacy of damning secrets, illicit love, suicide, and violence that casts its long shadow over three generations of women. First, there's Nancy's grandmother Alice, the spirited American beauty whose passionate wartime romance has far-reaching consequences for those who come after her. Then Diana, the vivacious debutante whose sexual obsession nearly destroys them all. And finally Nancy, the last remaining heir. She alone can restore the Vandekar name. But is she ready to face the truth about her family? Spanning decades of extraordinary change, The House of Vandekar paints an indelible portrait of three unforgettable women.
The House of Velvet and Glass
by Katherine HoweKatherine Howe, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, returns with an entrancing historical novel set in Boston in 1915, where a young woman stands on the cusp of a new century, torn between loss and love, driven to seek answers in the depths of a crystal ball.Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston's Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sybil flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium.But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Jones, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium's scrying glass.From the opium dens of Boston's Chinatown to the opulent salons of high society, from the back alleys of colonial Shanghai to the decks of the Titanic, The House of Velvet and Glass weaves together meticulous period detail, intoxicating romance, and a final shocking twist in a breathtaking novel that will thrill readers.Bonus features in the eBook: Katherine Howe's essay on scrying; Boston Daily Globe article on the Titanic from April 15, 1912; and a Reading Group Guide and Q&A with the author, Katherine Howe.
House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival
by Deborah BallVersace. The very name conjures up images of outrageous glamour and bold sexuality, opulence and daring. All of course true, but only half the story. Versace is also the legacy of a great creative genius from a poor, backward part of southern Italy who transformed the fashion world through his intuitive understanding of both women and how a changing culture influenced the way they wanted to dress. The first book in English about the legendary designer, House of Versaceshows how Gianni Versace, with his flamboyant sister Donatella at his side, combined his virtuosic talent and extraordinary ambition to almost single-handedly create the celebrity culture we take for granted today. Gianni Versace was at the height of his creative powers when he was murdered in Miami Beach. The story was front page news around the world and the manhunt for his killer a media obsession. His beloved sister Donatella demanded no less than a funeral befitting an assassinated head-of-state to be held in Milan's magnificent cathedral. In what was the ultimate fashion show, the world's rich and beautiful - Princess Dianna, Elton John, Carla Bruni, Naomi Campbell, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Anna Wintour and others - gathered to mourn a man already considered one of fashion's great pioneers. Deborah Ball, a long-time Milan correspondent forThe Wall Street Journal, conducted hundreds of interviews with Versace family members, Gianni Versace's lovers and business rivals, models such as Naomi Campbell whom he helped shoot to international stardom and fashion industry icons, including Anna Wintour, the legendary editor ofVogue. Ball vividly recounts the behind-the scenes struggles - both creative and business - of Donatella as she stepped out of her brother's long shadow and took control of the House of Versace. The book offers the first inside look at the enormous challenges Donatella faced in living up to Gianni's genius, her struggle with a drug habit, her battles with her brother Santo and the mystery of why Gianni left control of his house to Donatella's young daughter, Allegra. House of Versaceis a compelling, highly readable tale of rise from obscurity, a painful fall and ultimate redemption as the Versace empire returned to health - for now. Bringing together fashion, celebrity, business drama, jet-set lifestyles, and a notorious crime,House of Versaceis an old-fashioned page-turner about a subject of enduring fascination.
House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power
by James Carroll"A masterful achievement...[Carroll's] prose is elegant, his viewpoint bold." —Howard Zinn, author of The People's History of the United States"One cannot understand the impact of the Pentagon on US foreign policy. . . without reading James Carroll's House of War." —Lawrence Korb, former Undersecretary of Defence under Ronald ReaganFrom the National Book Award–winning author of An American Requiem and Constantine's Sword comes a sweeping yet intimate look at the Pentagon and its vast—often hidden—impact on America.This landmark, myth-shattering work chronicles the most powerful institution in America, the people who created it, and the pathologies it has spawned. James Carroll proves a controversial thesis: the Pentagon has, since its founding, operated beyond the control of any force in government or society. It is the biggest, loosest cannon in American history, and no institution has changed this country more. To argue his case, he marshals a trove of often chilling evidence. He recounts how "the Building" and its denizens achieved what Eisenhower called "a disastrous rise of misplaced power"—from the unprecedented aerial bombing of Germany and Japan during World War II to the "shock and awe" of Iraq. He charts the colossal U.S. nuclear buildup, which far outpaced that of the USSR, and has outlived it. He reveals how consistently the Building has found new enemies just as old threats—and funding—evaporate. He demonstrates how Pentagon policy brought about U.S. indifference to an epidemic of genocide during the 1990s. And he shows how the forces that attacked the Pentagon on 9/11 were set in motion exactly sixty years earlier, on September 11, 1941, when ground was broken for the house of war.Carroll draws on rich personal experience (his father was a top Pentagon official for more than twenty years) as well as exhaustive research and dozens of extensive interviews with Washington insiders. The result is a grand yet intimate work of history, unashamedly polemical and personal but unerringly factual. With a breadth and focus that no other book could muster, it explains what America has become over the past sixty years.