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Fifty-seven Saints for Boys and Girls
by The Daughters of St. PaulLearn about: St. Michael Archangel, Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, St. Anne, Mother of Our Lady, St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, St. Paul, Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Thecla, Valiant Virgin, St. Cecilia, Martyr with a Singing Heart, St. Tarcisius, First Martyr of the Holy Eucharist, St. Sebastian, Patron of Soldiers, St. Lucy, The Shining Light, St. Agnes, Lamb of Jesus, St. Helen, Seeker of the Cross, St. Martin of Tours, Soldier of Christ, St. Monica, Model of Perseverance, St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, St. Brigid, Mary of the Gael, St. Benedict, Patriarch of Western Monks, St. Kevin, Kevin of the Angels, St. Columban, Missionary Monk, St. Dymphna, Patron of the Emotionally Disturbed, St. Margaret of Scotland, Patroness of Learning, St. Francis of Assisi, Herald of the Great King, St. Clare, Patroness of Television, St. Anthony, Wonder Worker of Padua, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Queen Who Sped to Heaven, St. Peregrine, Patron of the Cancer-Stricken, St. Gertrude, Herald of Divine Love, St. Catherine of Siena, Ambassador of God, St. Bernardine of Siena, Messenger of Peace, St. Frances of Rome, Friend of the Poor, St. Rita of Cascia, Patron of the Desperate, St. Joan of Arc, Warrior Maid, St. Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, St. Philip Neri, Saint of the Joyous Heart, St. Benedict, the Holy Moor, St. Stanislaus Kostka, Angelic Novice, St. Camillus de Lellis, Patron of the Sick, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Patron of Youth, St. Jane Francis de Chantal, Model of Fortitude, St. Germaine, Shepherdess of Pibrac, St. Rose of Lima, Flower of the Andes, St. Martin de Porres, Everyone's Brother, St. John Berchmans, Patron of Altar Boys, St. Isaac Jogues, North American Martyr, St. Katherine Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks, St. Margaret Mary, Apostle of the Sacred Heart, St. John Baptist de la Salle, Patron of Teachers, St. Elizabeth Seton, American-Born Saint, St. Joseph Cottolengo, Model of Faith, St. Bartholomea Capitanio, Lily of Lovere, St. John Bosco, Friend of Youth, St. Dominic Savio, the Teenage Saint, St. Bernadette of Lourdes, Petitioner for Penance, St. Frances X. Cabrini, First U.S.-Citizen Saint, St. Therese of Lisieux, Patroness of the Missions, St. Gemma Galgani, Example of Eucharistic Life, St. and Mary Goretti, Martyr for Purity. ALPHABETICAL
Fifty Percent of Mountaineering is Uphill: The Life of Canadian Mountain Rescue Pioneer Willi Pfisterer
by Susanna PfistererShortlisted for the Alberta Readers' Choice Award!Fifty Percent of Mountaineering Is Uphill is the enthralling true story of Jasper’s Willi Pfisterer, a legend in the field of mountaineering and safety in the Rocky Mountains. For more than thirty years, Willi was an integral part of Jasper’s alpine landscape, guiding climbers up to the highest peaks, and rescuing them from perilous situations.Originally from Austria, this mountain man came to Canada in the 1950s to assail the Rockies, and stayed to become an integral part of mountain safety in Western Canada and the Yukon. His daughter, Susanna Pfisterer, has shaped his stories and lectures as an engaging and educational adventure story that features over 100 archival photographs, including avalanches in the National Parks, highlights from climbing 1,600 peaks and participating in over 700 rescues, and guiding adventures with prime ministers. Accompanied by the humorous wisdom of the “Sidehillgouger,” readers will traverse an historical and spectacular terrain.
Fifty-Nine in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, & the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had
by Edward Achorn"First-class narrative history that can stand with everything Steven Ambrose wrote. . . . Achorn's description of the utter insanity that was barehanded baseball is vivid and alive." —Boston Globe“A beautifully written, meticulously researched story about a bygone baseball era that even die-hard fans will find foreign, and about a pitcher who might have been the greatest of all time.” — Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer prize-winning historianIn 1884 Providence Grays pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn won an astounding fifty-nine games—more than anyone in major-league history ever had before, or has since. He then went on to win all three games of baseball's first World Series.Fifty-nine in '84 tells the dramatic story not only of that amazing feat of grit but also of big-league baseball two decades after the Civil War—a brutal, bloody sport played barehanded, the profession of uneducated, hard-drinking men who thought little of cheating outrageously or maiming an opponent to win.Wonderfully entertaining, Fifty-nine in '84 is an indelible portrait of a legendary player and a fascinating, little-known era of the national pastime.
Fifty ... My One Year Journey: True Life Stories, Historical Facts, and Poems
by Eric PirogowiczCome with me on this amazing one-year journey as I enter my first year of being 50. Enjoy unpredictable events as they happened, walk with me on the picket line in Picket Fences and learn about family traditions in Can of Thanks. These true-life stories will hit your funny bone, bring you to tears, and warm your heart. Learn historical facts about the All-American Soap Box Derby, check out the giant Goodyear Air Dock where many blimps were built, or visit Lock 3 and step back in time to the Canal Era. Enjoy this reading experience!
Fifty Miles Wide: Cycling Through Israel and Palestine
by Julian SayarerTen years after breaking a world record for cycling around the world, award-winning travel writer Julian Sayarer returns to two wheels on the roads of Israel and occupied Palestine. His route weaves from the ancient hills of Galilee, along the blockaded walls of the Gaza Strip and down to the Bedouin villages of the Naqab Desert. He speaks with Palestinian hip-hop artists who wonder if music can change their world, Israelis hoping that kibbutz life can, and Palestinian cycling clubs determined to keep on riding despite the army checkpoints and settlers that bar their way. Pedalling through a military occupation, in the chance encounters of the roadside, a bicycle becomes a vehicle of more than just travel, and cuts through the tension to find a few simple truths, and some hope. As the miles pass, the journey becomes a meditation on making change - how people in dark times keep their spirit, and go on believing that a different world is possible.
Fifty Miles Wide: Cycling Through Israel and Palestine
by Julian SayarerBY THE AUTHOR OF INTERSTATE, WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEARTen years after breaking a world record for cycling around the world, award-winning travel writer Julian Sayarer returns to two wheels on the roads of Israel and occupied Palestine.His route weaves from the ancient hills of Galilee, along the blockaded walls of the Gaza Strip and down to the Bedouin villages of the Naqab Desert. He speaks with Palestinian hip-hop artists who wonder if music can change their world, Israelis hoping that kibbutz life can, and Palestinian cycling clubs determined to keep on riding despite the army checkpoints and settlers that bar their way.Pedalling through a military occupation, in the chance encounters of the roadside, a bicycle becomes a vehicle of more than just travel, and cuts through the tension to find a few simple truths, and some hope. As the miles pass, the journey becomes a meditation on making change - how people in dark times keep their spirit, and go on believing that a different world is possible.
Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People
by William L. Iggiagruk HensleyIn "Fifty Miles from Tomorrow," Hensley offers us the rare chance to immerse ourselves in a firsthand account of growing up Native Alaskan. There have been books written about Alaska, but they've been written by Outsiders, settlers. Hensley's memoir of life on the tundra offers an entirely new perspective, and his stories are captivating, as is his account of his devotion to the Alaska Native land claims movement. As a young man, Hensley was sent by missionaries to the Lower Forty-eight so he could pursue an education. While studying there, he discovered that the land Native Alaskans had occupied and, to all intents and purposes, owned for millennia was being snatched away from them. Hensley decided to fight back. In 1971, after years of Hensley's tireless lobbying, the United States government set aside 44 million acres and nearly $1 billion for use by Alaska's native peoples. Unlike their relatives to the south, the Alaskan peoples would be able to take charge of their economic and political destiny. The landmark decision did not come overnight and was certainly not the making of any one person. But it was Hensley who gave voice to the cause and made it real.
Fifty-five Years in Five Acts: My Life in Opera
by Astrid Varnay Donald ArthurFor Astrid Varnay, opera was the family business. The daughter of coloratura soprano Mária Jávor and dramatic tenor Alexander Várnay, she literally grew up backstage at the opera. Vocally and musically trained by her mother and mentor (and later husband) Hermann Weigert, she was just twenty-three years old when she made her unofficial debut at the Metropolitan Opera as a last-minute replacement for the suddenly ill Lotte Lehmann. Varnay's critically acclaimed performance as Sieglinde in Die Walküre catapulted her into the limelight. Varnay reflects on her remarkable life in opera, discussing her signature roles and performances, vocal preparation and technique, interpretive acting style, and her seamless transition from leading soprano to character roles, including her switch from Elektra to Klytemnästra in Strauss's Elektra. Her engaging and witty memoir is filled with frank, often critical, observations about many of the most significant vocal artists, conductors, and directors of the twentieth century. She describes her lifelong friendship with operatic idol Kirsten Flagstad, the years at the Met and conflicts with Rudolf Bing, her appearances at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, and her artistic rift with Herbert von Karajan.<P><P> This book is also listed in libraries as "55 Years in Five Acts: My Life in Opera"
Fifty Fashion Looks that Changed the World: Design Museum Fifty (Design Museum Fifty)
by Design Museum Enterprise Limited Paula ReedThe Design Museum and fashion guru Paula Reed present Fifty Fashion Looks that Changed the 1960s. The most exciting, influential and definitive looks of one of the most significant decades in fashion!The Design Museum's mission is to celebrate, enterain and inform. It is the world's leading museum devoted to contemporary design in every form from furniture to fashion, and carchitecture to graphics. It is working to place design at the centre of contemporary culture and demonstrates both the richness of the creativity to be found in all forms of design, and its importance. Building on the international success of the Design Museum Fifty series, including Fifty Shoes that Changed the World, Fifty Bags that Changed the World and Fifty Hats that Changed the World, this beautifully designed book - curated in the series by fashion guru Paula Reed - takes a fresh look at key fashion pieces from the 1960s. Featuring Mary Quant's miniskirts, Andre Courrèges' Moon Girls, denim-clad hippies and Celia Birtwell's Romantic Peasants, this book captures and explains every influential look of the decade. For anyone looking to buy vintage pieces to add to their wardrobes of contemporary items, this authoritative and inspiring book will prove to be an invaluable source of reference.
Fifty Fashion Looks that Changed the 1970s: Design Museum Fifty (Design Museum Fifty)
by Design Museum Enterprise Limited Paula ReedThe Design Museum and fashion guru Paula Reed present Fifty Fashion Looks that Changed the 1970s. The most exciting, influential and definitive looks of one of the most significant decades in fashion!The Design Museum's mission is to celebrate, enterain and inform. It is the world's leading museum devoted to contemporary design in every form from furniture to fashion, and carchitecture to graphics. It is working to place design at the centre of contemporary culture and demonstrates both the richness of the creativity to be found in all forms of design, and its importance.From Bianca Jagger in Halston and Diane Von Furstenberg's first wrap dress to the rise of punk and Biba, this beautiful book outlines and details the most influential looks of the decade. The 1970s have been a key influence on recent high street and catwalk fashion - here you find out why.With Paula Reed's lively and informative text and a wealth of fabulous photography, it is vital reading for design students, collectors of vintage and everyone who truly loves fashion.
Fifty Fashion Looks that Changed the 1950s: Design Museum Fifty (Design Museum Fifty)
by Design Museum Enterprise Limited Paula ReedThe Design Museum and fashion guru Paula Reed present Fifty Fashion Looks that Changed the 1950s. The most exciting, influential and definitive looks of one of the most significant decades in fashion!The Design Museum's mission is to celebrate, enterain and inform. It is the world's leading museum devoted to contemporary design in every form from furniture to fashion, and carchitecture to graphics. It is working to place design at the centre of contemporary culture and demonstrates both the richness of the creativity to be found in all forms of design, and its importance.This beautiful reference work showcases 50 iconic outfits from one of fashion's most influential and exciting decades. From the bombshell glamour of Marilyn Monroe in 'How to Marry a Millionaire' to the immergence of teenage style, via the sculptural forms of Christian Dior's New Look and Balenciaga's double A-Line, it celebrates all of the important looks that revolutionised modern fashion. With Paula Reed's lively and informative text and a wealth of fabulous photography, it is vital reading for design students, collectors of vintage, and everyone who truly loves fashion.
Fifty Fabulous Years
by H. V. KaltenbornAutobiography of H. V. Kaltenborn, a radio commentator and news reporter from 1928 until 1953. His was a household name and almost everyone listened to his reports and analyses. --- LAST YEAR, SHORTLY AFTER MY SEVENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY, it occurred to me that if I ever intended to do what I had so often been urged to do-to write the story of my life and times-I'd better do it. Perhaps I am already too old. In this accelerated century few persons wait to achieve the Biblical age of three score and ten before they look back to what has gone before. To record all that happened in seventy-two years seemed too much of a task. So I decided to make it a little easier for myself and the reader by skipping my first rather uneventful twenty and concentrate on the last fifty. When one half century ends and another begins should be an appropriate time to review the record of the last fifty years. Of course, it might be even better to wait until a full century has passed, but who could expect to live that long?
Fifty Days of Solitude: A Memoir
by Doris GrumbachA New York Times Notable Book: To truly understand herself, Doris Grumbach embraces solitude With a busy career as a novelist, essayist, reviewer, and bookstore owner, Doris Grumbach has little opportunity to be alone. However, after seventy-five years on the planet, she finally has her chance: Her partner has departed for an extended book-buying trip, and Grumbach has been given fifty days to relax, think, and write about her experience. In this graceful memoir, Grumbach delicately balances the beauty of turning one&’s back on everything with the hardship of complete aloneness. Even as she attends church and collects her mail, she moves like a shadow, speaking to no one. Left only to her books and music in the midst of a Maine winter, she must look within herself for solace. The result of this reflection is a powerful meditation on the meaning of aging, writing, and one&’s own company—and reaffirmation of the power of friends and companionship.
Fifty Cents and a Dream
by Jabari Asim Bryan CollierBooker dreamed of making friends with words, setting free the secrets that lived in books. Born into slavery, young Booker T. Washington could only dream of learning to read and write. After emancipation, Booker began a five-hundred-mile journey, mostly on foot, to Hampton Institute, taking his first of many steps towards a college degree. When he arrived, he had just fifty cents in his pocket and a dream about to come true. The young slave who once waited outside of the schoolhouse would one day become a legendary educator of freedmen. Award-winning artist Bryan Collier captures the hardship and the spirit of one of the most inspiring figures in American history, bringing to life Booker T. Washington's journey to learn, to read, and to realize a dream.
Fifty Acres and a Poodle: A Story of Love, Livestock, and Finding Myself on a Farm
by Jeanne Marie LaskasJeanne Marie Laskas had a dream of fleeing her otherwise happy urban life for fresh air and open space — a dream she would discover was about something more than that. But she never expected her fantasy to come true — until a summer afternoon’s drive in the country. That’s when she and her boyfriend, Alex — owner of Marley the poodle — stumble upon the place she thought existed only in her dreams. This pretty-as-a-picture-postcard farm with an Amish barn, a chestnut grove, and breathtaking vistas is real . . . and for sale. And it’s where she knows her future begins. But buying a postcard — fifty acres of scenery — and living on it are two entirely different matters. With wit and wisdom, Laskas chronicles the heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of the colorful two- and four-legged creatures she encounters on Sweetwater Farm. Against a backdrop of brambles, a satellite dish, and sheep, she tells a tender, touching, and hilarious tale about life, love, and the unexpected complications of having your dream come true.
The Fifties: An Underground History
by James R. GainesA bold and original argument that upends the myth of the Fifties as a decade of conformity to celebrate the solitary, brave, and stubborn individuals who pioneered the radical gay rights, feminist, civil rights, and environmental movements, from historian James R. Gaines.In a fascinating and beautifully written series of character portraits, The Fifties invokes the accidental radicals—people motivated not by politics but by their own most intimate conflicts—who sparked movements for change in their time and our own. Among many others, we meet the legal pathfinder Pauli Murray, who was tortured by both her mixed-race heritage and her &“in between&” sexuality. Through years of hard work and self-examination, she turned her demons into historic victories. Ruth Bader Ginsberg credited her for the argument that made sex discrimination illegal, but that was only one of her gifts to 21st-century feminism. We meet Harry Hay, who dreamed of a national gay-rights movement as early as the mid-1940s, a time when the US, Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany viewed gay people as subversives and mentally ill. And in perhaps the book&’s unlikeliest pairing, we hear the prophetic voices of Silent Spring&’s Rachel Carson and MIT&’s preeminent mathematician, Norbert Wiener, who from their very different perspectives—she in the living world, he in the theoretical one—converged on the then-heretical idea that our mastery over the natural world carried the potential for disaster. Their legacy is the environmental movement. The Fifties is a dazzling and provocative work of history that transforms our understanding of a seemingly staid decade and honors the pioneers of gay rights, feminism, civil rights, and environmentalism. The book carries the powerful message that change actually begins not in mass movements and new legislation but in the lives of de-centered, often lonely individuals, who learn to fight for change in a daily struggle with themselves.
Fifth Seal (A.D. Chronicles, Book #5)
by Bodie Thoene Brock Thoenethis is the story of Mary and Joseph and the story of Jesus birth.
Fifth Quarter
by Jennifer AllenSubtitled: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter George Allen was a top-ranked NFL coach throughout the 1960s and 1970s, coaching in turn the Chicago Bears, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Washington Redskins. Raised in a home dominated by her three football obsessed older brothers and her father's relentless schedule, the author came of age in a cauldron of testosterone and a win-at-all-costs mentality. While the household was buffeted by the coach's tumultuous firings and hirings, which periodically propelled the family to a new city, Jennifer dreamed of being the first female quarterback in the NFL. But as she grew, she yearned mostly to be someone that her father would notice. In a world where only football mattered, what could she strive for, who could she become? Allen has written a memoir of the father she tried so hard to know, the family life that was wistfully sacrificed to his endless, fanatical pursuit of the Super Bowl. What emerges is a fascinating and singular behind-the-scenes look at professional football and a memorable, bittersweet portrait of a father and his daughter, told by an accomplished and assured writer.
The Fifth Book of Peace
by Maxine Hong KingstonThe Fifth Book of Peace begins as the author is driving home from her father's funeral and finds the exit to her neighbourhood blocked; a firestorm is devouring the Berkeley hills, including her house and all her earthly possessions, and most significantly the novel, The Fourth Book of Peace, that she has been working on. In this extraordinary book, The Fifth Book of Peace, Kingston describes the history of all the lost books of peace - both the three that figure in Chinese mythology, which scholars and laymen have searched for, hoping to find in them the antidote to The Art of War, and her own book, lost in the flames. Divided into four sections - 'Fire', 'Paper', 'Water' and 'Earth' - this book is neither fiction nor autobiography nor memoir, but a unique form of Chinese 'talk-story' in which real and imagined worlds intrude upon and enrich one another. From the anti-war protests in Hawaii to Kingston's own conversations with Vietnam veterans, the author takes us inside the hearts and minds of a host of characters, not least of whom is her own Mama, the veteran woman warrior Brave Orchid, who watches over her in the seminal years of rebuilding following the fire and her father's death.
The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story - Expanded Edition
by Vivek TiwaryThis expanded edition includes a sketchbook and Beatles memorabilia bonus section with behind-the-scenes insights from writer Vivek Tiwary and artists Kyle Baker and Andrew Robinson--expanded to include eight pages unique to this edition!The Fifth Beatle recounts the untold true story of Brian Epstein—the visionary manager who created Beatlemania and guided the Beatles from basement gigs to unprecedented international stardom. It&’s also an uplifting, inspirational human story about the struggle to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. This critically acclaimed and multiple award winning graphic novel has been added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives! This new edition includes a revised sketchbook and Beatles memorabilia bonus section with behind-the-scenes insights from writer Vivek Tiwary and artist Andrew Robinson—expanded to include eight pages unique to this edition!&“If anyone was &‘The Fifth Beatle&’ it was Brian.&” –Paul McCartney#1 New York Times bestseller Eisner and Harvey Award winnerLambda Literary Award finalist (Best LGBT Graphic Novel)American Library Association Great Book for Teens&“Heartbreaking, exhilarating and unexpected . . . A complete triumph.&” —The Hollywood Reporter"Abounds with emotional moments . . . Filled with vibrant images." —The New York Times&“10/10 . . . Brilliant in every aspect.&” –IGN&’s Best Graphic Novel, 2013
The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story (Anniversary Edition)
by Vivek J. Tiwary&“Heartbreaking, exhilarating and unexpected . . . A complete triumph.&”—The Hollywood Reporter &“10/10. A masterpiece . . . Brilliant in every aspect.&”—IGN&’s Best Original Graphic Novel, 2013The Fifth Beatle brings to life the true story of visionary Beatles manager Brian Epstein—the man who launched the Beatles to worldwide stardom.This 10th Anniversary edition of the critically acclaimed, award-winning international bestseller features a new cover, an accompanying musical soundtrack/playlist curated by writer Vivek J. Tiwary, a new introduction by legendary music manager Kelly Curtis (Pearl Jam), and an expanded sketchbook section.A visionary artist manager, Brian Epstein engineered Beatlemania—guiding the Beatles from basement gigs to unprecedented international stardom while wrestling with personal demons and the trappings of massive ambition and success. An award-winning, uplifting and inspiring human story about chasing your dreams, The Fifth Beatle also reveals an important, unsung chapter in the Beatles' history.Whether you&’re discovering the Brian Epstein story for the first time or an old fan revisiting this groundbreaking graphic novel, now a part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives Permanent Collection, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story
by Vivek J. TiwaryThe Fifth Beatle is the untold true story of Brian Epstein, the visionary manager who discovered and guided The Beatles-from their gigs in a tiny cellar in Liverpool to unprecedented international stardom. Yet more than merely the story of "The Man Who Made The Beatles," The Fifth Beatle is an uplifting, tragic, and ultimately inspirational human story about the struggle to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Brian himself died painfully lonely at the young age of thirty-two, having helped The Beatles prove through "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" that pop music could be an inspirational art form. He was homosexual when it was a felony to be so in the United Kingdom, Jewish at a time of anti-Semitism, and from Liverpool when it was considered just a dingy port town.
Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman
by Sam WassonNow in paperback in time for the 60th anniversary of the film version Breakfast at Tiffany’s— the New York Times bestseller and first-ever complete account of Audrey Hepburn and the making of the film that Janet Maslin called “a bonbon of a book filled with delightful anecdotes”With a cast of characters that includes Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, and Gerald Clarke, this book offers a slice of social history seen through the lens of one of America’s most iconic films The images of Breakfast at Tiffany’s are branded into our collective memory: we can see Audrey Hepburn stepping out of that cab on the corner of 57th and 5th, and we can picture her again with George Peppard, huddled in an alleyway and wrapped in a kiss, as the rain pours down around them. Those moments are as familiar to us as any in whole the history of movies, but few of us know that that ending was not the film’s original ending. In fact, it was only one of two endings the filmmakers shot—and it almost didn’t make it in. The reasons why have to do with Tiffany’s cutting-edge take on sex in the city, namely, when to show it, and how to do it, without getting caught. If Truman Capote had it his way, his beloved Marilyn Monroe would have been cast as Holly, but crafty executives knew that she’d have the censors on red alert. So they went for Audrey. But would she go for them? Frightened at the prospect of playing a part so far beyond her accepted range—not to mention the part of call girl—Audrey turned inside out worrying if she should take her agent’s advice and accept the role. What would people think? America’s princess playing a New York bad girl? It seemed just too far…The First Little Black Dress is the first ever complete account of the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Drawing upon countless interviews with those involved in the film’s production, from actors to producer Richard Shepherd to Gerald Clarke, Capote’s biographer, Wasson brings us inside the world and indeed inside the mind of one of America’s greatest cinematic icons.Wasson immerses us in the America of the late fifties, before Woodstock and birth control, when a not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly raised eyebrows across the nation, changing fashion, film, and sex, for good. But that was the easy part. Getting Audrey there—and getting the right people behind her—that was the tough part.With the heart of a novelist and the eye of a critic, Wasson delivers us from the penthouses of the Upper East Side to the pools of Beverly Hills, from script to screen and from rehearsal to “Action!” The First Little Black Dress presents Breakfast at Tiffany’s as we have never seen it before—through the eyes of those who made it.
The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan
by Elliot AckermanA powerful and revelatory eyewitness account of the American collapse in Afghanistan, its desperate endgame, and the war&’s echoing legacyElliot Ackerman left the American military ten years ago, but his time in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines and later as a CIA paramilitary officer marked him indelibly. When the Taliban began to close in on Kabul in August 2021 and the Afghan regime began its death spiral, he found himself pulled back into the conflict. Afghan nationals who had worked closely with the American military and intelligence communities for years now faced brutal reprisal and sought frantically to flee the country with their families. The official US government evacuation effort was a bureaucratic failure that led to a humanitarian catastrophe. With former colleagues and friends protecting the airport in Kabul, Ackerman joined an impromptu effort by a group of journalists and other veterans to arrange flights and negotiate with both Taliban and American forces to secure the safe evacuation of hundreds. These were desperate measures taken during a desperate end to America's longest war. For Ackerman, it also became a chance to reconcile his past with his present. The Fifth Act is an astonishing human document that brings the weight of twenty years of war to bear on a single week, the week the war ended. Using the dramatic rescue efforts in Kabul as his lattice, Ackerman weaves a personal history of the war's long progression, beginning with the initial invasion in the months after 9/11. It is a play in five acts, the fifth act being the story&’s tragic denouement, a prelude to Afghanistan's dark future. Any reader who wants to understand what went wrong with the war&’s trajectory will find a trenchant account here. But The Fifth Act also brings readers into close contact with a remarkable group of characters, American and Afghan, who fought the war with courage and dedication, and at great personal cost. Ackerman's story is a first draft of history that feels like a timeless classic.
Fifteen Rounds a Minute: The Grenadiers at War, August to December 1914, Edited from Diaries and Letters of Major ‘Ma’ Jeffreys and Others
by Michael CrasterThis book, originally published in 1976, is an account of the first five months of the First World War, as seen by members of a battalion of the Grenadier Guards and told in their own words and a classic of military writing. Contrary to the popular view of that war, this was a period of movement as the Allies sought first to block the German's apparently irresistible march on Paris, then to push them back to the Belgian border until finally both sides engaged in the 'Race for the Sea' in an attempt to find and exploit the open flank. It was a phase that included the retreat from Mons, the Battles of the Marne and the Aisne and finally and most devastatingly the First Battle of Ypres.The book is based on the diary that was kept by the Battalion Second in Command, Major George (subsequently General the Lord) Jeffreys, known to everyone as 'Ma'. Described by Harold Macmillan as one of the greatest of commanding officers, he was one of only three officers who went to war with the Battalion in August 1914 who survived with it to the end of the year. Supplemented on occasion by the letters and diaries of his brother officers and others, it provides a very complete picture of those turbulent days.