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Zen in the Art of Archery
by Eugen HerrigelSince its original publication in 1953, Zen in the Art of Archery has become one of the classic works on Eastern philosophy, the first book to delve deeply into the role of Zen in philosophy, development, and practice of Eastern martial arts. Wise, deeply personal, and frequently charming, it is the story of one man's penetration of the theory and practice of Zen Buddhism. Eugen Herrigel, a German professor who taught philosophy in Tokyo, took up the study of archery as a step toward the understanding of Zen. Zen in the Art of Archery is the account of the six years he spent as the student of one of Japan's great Zen masters, and the process by which he overcame his initial inhibitions and began to look toward new ways of seeing and understanding. As one of the first Westerners to delve deeply into Zen Buddhism, Herrigel was a key figure in the popularization of Eastern thought in the West, as well as being a captivating and illuminating writer.
Zen Encounters with Loneliness
by Terrance KeenanEmbark on a poignant and sometimes comic journey through Zen, poetry, and the transformative, personal practice of writing.In Zen Encounters with Loneliness Terrance Keenan weaves together poetry, memoir, and raw insight to give voice to the lonely "nobody" in everyone. From his memories of early childhood to his struggles with addiction, writer's block, and human relationship, Keenan delivers a heart-rending portrayal of the human hunger for selfhood and connection. Through his beautifully crafted literary reflections, he finds that Zen does not comfort our dream of being somebody, rather, it reveals connection only when we face who we really are--nobody. Zen Encounters intimately calls us to recognize that the well of emptiness is also a well of potential--to grow, learn, and overcome adversity.
Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk
by Leonard Cohen Shozan Jack HaubnerThese hilarious essays on life inside and outside a Zen monastery make up the spiritual memoir of Shozan Jack Haubner, a Zen monk who didn't really start out to be one. Raised in a conservative Catholic family, Shozan went on to study philosophy (becoming de-Catholicized in the process) and to pursue a career as a screenwriter and stand-up comic in the clubs of L.A. How he went from life in the fast lane to life on the stationary meditation cushion is the subject of this laugh-out-loud funny account of his experiences. Whether he's dealing with the pranks of a juvenile delinquent assistant in the monastery kitchen or defending himself against claims that he appeared in a porno movie under the name "Daniel Reed" (he didn't, really) or being surprised in the midst of it all by the compassion he experiences in the presence of his teacher, Haubner's voice is one you'll be compelled to listen to. Not only because it's highly entertaining, but because of its remarkable insight into the human condition.
Zen Bender: A Decade-Long Enthusiastic Quest to Fix Everything (That Was Never Broken)
by Stephanie Krikorian&“The book is filled with humor and soul-baring honesty, as Krikorian describes her adventures down just about every self-help road there is.&” —The Independent When the recession turned her life upside down, Stephanie Krikorian had to reinvent her life—and fast. She started ghostwriting self-help books for women. Between writing and researching she realized that everywhere she looked there was AFOG. Another freaking opportunity for growth. Soon she wasn&’t just writing each book; she was living them. This was the start of a ten-year zen bender of dieting, dating, journaling, meditating, and Marie-Kondo-ing on a quest for that ultimate self-help high. Stephanie Krikorian spent her forties trying all of the dating hacks to find love and respect, all of the diets to build self-esteem in a new body, and all of the spiritual guidance to become centered through self-care. On the brink of turning fifty she realized that being better wasn&’t what she craved; it was something else altogether. Zen Bender is the story of one woman&’s journey to radical acceptance, with some questionable advice along the way. A witty, moving, insightful story, the woman behind bestselling celebrity self-help books shares her story of being hooked on the self-help fix for a decade before learning that all the self-help in the world won&’t help you trust gut. &“A wise, witty and thought-provoking book that tends in just the place you&’d hope it would. A great read whether you have a Reiki healer on speed dial, or, well, not.&” —Marianne Power, author of Help Me!: One Woman&’s Quest to Find Out if Self-Help Really Can Change Her Life
Zen and the Beat Way
by Alan WattsZen and the Beat Way is based upon selections from Alan Watts's early radio talks, many of which were first aired on the Pacifica Radio Network in the late fifties and early sixties, and sessions from two of his most compelling seminarsin the mid-sixties.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Perennial Classics Ser.)
by Robert M PirsigTHE CLASSIC BOOK THAT HAS INSPIRED MILLIONSA penetrating examination of how we live and how to live betterFew books transform a generation and then establish themselves as touchstones for the generations that follow. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one such book. This modern epic of a man’s search for meaning became an instant bestseller on publication in 1974, acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters. It continues to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions on how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Resonant with the confusions of existence, this classic is a touching and transcendent book of life.This new edition contains an interview with Pirsig and letters and documents detailing how this extraordinary book came to be.
Zelensky: The Unlikely Ukrainian Hero Who Defied Putin and United the World
by Andrew L. Urban Chris McLeodThe first major profile of Ukraine's courageous President Volodymyr Zelensky! Ukraine's most popular comedic actor was an unlikely president of his country. And now, even more improbably, Volodymyr Zelensky has become the world's most celebrated statesman. Who is he? How did he become the international hero of our time? Zelensky: The Unlikely Ukrainian Hero Who Defied Putin and United the World is a compelling account of this fascinating, enigmatic leader. Covering Zelensky's childhood, family history, and astonishing transformation from TV celebrity to first Jewish president of Ukraine, this book tells you what you need to know about the newest star of the world stage. No one has been more surprised by Zelensky's power to inspire and mobilize his countrymen and the world than Vladimir Putin, who expected Russia's conquest of its beleaguered neighbor to be the work of an afternoon. Outfoxed and isolated, Putin is not the first person to have underestimated the former comedian with a spine of steel.
Zelda Fitzgerald: The Tragic, Meticulously Researched Biography of the Jazz Age's High Priestess
by Sally ClineZelda Fitzgerald was the mythical American Dream Girl of the Roaring Twenties who became, in the words of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, "the first American flapper." Their romance transformed a symbol of glamour and spectacle of the Jazz Age. When Zelda cracked up, not long after the stock market crash of 1929, Scott remained loyal to her through a nightmare of later breakdowns and final madness.Sally Cline brings us a trenchantly authentic voice through Zelda's own highly autobiographical writings and hundreds of letters she wrote to friends and family, publishers and others. New medical evidence and interviews with Zelda's last psychiatrist suggest that her "insanity" may have been less a specific clinical condition than the product of the treatment she endured for schizophrenia and her husband's devastating alcoholism. In narrating Zelda's tumultuous life, Cline vividly evokes the circle of Jazz Age friends that included Edmund Wilson, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, and H. L. Mencken. Her exhaustive research and incisive analysis animate a profoundlymoving portrait of Zelda and provide a convincing context to the legacy of her tragedy.
Zelda: A Biography
by Nancy Milford“Profound, overwhelmingly moving . . . a richly complex love story.” — New York TimesAcclaimed biographer Nancy Milford brings to life the tormented, elusive personality of Zelda Sayre and clarifies as never before Zelda’s relationship with her husband F. Scott Fitzgerald—tracing the inner disintegration of a gifted, despairing woman, torn by the clash between her husband’s career and her own talent.Zelda Sayre’s stormy life spanned from notoriety as a spirited Southern beauty to success as a gifted novelist and international celebrity at the side of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda and Fitzgerald were one of the most visible couples of the Jazz Age, inhabiting and creating around them a world of excitement, romance, art, and promise. Yet their tumultuous relationship precipitated a descent into depression and mental instability for Zelda, leaving her to spend the final twenty years of her life in hospital care, until a fire at a sanitarium claimed her life.Incorporating years of exhaustive research and interviews, Milford illuminates Zelda’s nuanced and elusive personality, giving character to both her artistic vibrancy and to her catastrophic collapse.
Zeitoun
by Dave EggersIn the wake of Hurricane Katrina, longtime New Orleans residents Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun are cast into unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water. Good Samaritan Abdulrahman has stayed on in the city, traversing its deeply flooded streets by canoe, feeding trapped dogs and rescuing survivors, as New Orleans becomes a disaster zone. But nothing could prepare him for the wholly unexpected nightmare that follows . . . 'As a piece of writing, Eggers's book is sublime - simple and unintrusive in style. He builds the characters well and then lets them drive the story. ' Gary Younge, The Guardian 'Dave Eggers' account of one man's ordeal rebukes the Bush regime. ' Valerie Martin, The Observer 'What happened to Zeitoun and his family over the next month is an extraordinary story, related by Dave Eggers, a skilled practitioner of literary non-fiction, with both dramatic flair and domestic sympathy'. Sameer Rahim, The Telegraph 'Reminiscent of Gabriel García Marquez's documentaries, this is a true story told with the skills of a master of fiction. It's an immensely readable account of ordinary people struggling through extraordinary circumstances. ' Robin Yassin-Kassab, The Independent 'How could this happen in America? It's the stuff of great narrative non-fiction . . . Fifty years from now, when people want to know what happened to this once-great city during a shameful episode of our history, they will still be talking about a family named Zeitoun' The New York Times Book Review 'A riveting, intimate, wide-scanning, disturbing, inspiring nonfiction account . . . Humanistic in the highest, best, least boring sense of the word' Vanity Fair 'A fiercely elegant and simply eloquent tale . . . So fierce in its fury, so beautiful in its richly nuanced, compassionate telling of an American tragedy, and finally, so sweetly, stubbornly hopeful' Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
Zebulon Pike: Explorer of the Southwest
by William R. Sanford Carl R. GreenA biography of the army officer and explorer who discovered, among other places in the West and Southwest, the great Rocky Mountain peak in Colorado that bears his name.
Zeb Vance
by Gordon B. MckinneyIn this comprehensive biography of the man who led North Carolina through the Civil War and, as a U.S. senator from 1878 to 1894, served as the state's leading spokesman, Gordon McKinney presents Zebulon Baird Vance (1830-94) as a far more complex figure than has been previously recognized. Vance campaigned to keep North Carolina in the Union, but after Southern troops fired on Fort Sumter, he joined the army and rose to the rank of colonel. He was viewed as a champion of individual rights and enjoyed great popularity among voters. But McKinney demonstrates that Vance was not as progressive as earlier biographers suggest. Vance was a tireless advocate for white North Carolinians in the Reconstruction Period, and his policies and positions often favored the rich and powerful.McKinney provides significant new information about Vance's third governorship, his senatorial career, and his role in the origins of the modern Democratic Party in North Carolina. This new biography offers the fullest, most complete understanding yet of a legendary North Carolina leader.
The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom
by H. W. BrandsGifted storyteller and bestselling historian H. W. Brands narrates the epic struggle over slavery as embodied by John Brown and Abraham Lincoln—two men moved to radically different acts to confront our nation’s gravest sin. <P><P>John Brown was a charismatic and deeply religious man who heard the God of the Old Testament speaking to him, telling him to destroy slavery by any means. When Congress opened Kansas territory to slavery in 1854, Brown raised a band of followers to wage war. His men tore pro-slavery settlers from their homes and hacked them to death with broadswords. Three years later, Brown and his men assaulted the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to arm slaves with weapons for a race war that would cleanse the nation of slavery. <P><P>Brown’s violence pointed ambitious Illinois lawyer and former officeholder Abraham Lincoln toward a different solution to slavery: politics. Lincoln spoke cautiously and dreamed big, plotting his path back to Washington and perhaps to the White House. Yet his caution could not protect him from the vortex of violence Brown had set in motion. <P><P>After Brown’s arrest, his righteous dignity on the way to the gallows led many in the North to see him as a martyr to liberty. Southerners responded with anger and horror to a terrorist being made into a saint. Lincoln shrewdly threaded the needle between the opposing voices of the fractured nation and won election as president. <P><P>But the time for moderation had passed, and Lincoln’s fervent belief that democracy could resolve its moral crises peacefully faced its ultimate test. The Zealot and the Emancipator is acclaimed historian H. W. Brand’s thrilling and page-turning account of how two American giants shaped the war for freedom.
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
by Reza AslanFrom the internationally bestselling author of No god but God comes a fascinating, provocative, and meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth. Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher and miracle worker walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the "Kingdom of God." The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was captured, tortured, and executed as a state criminal. Within decades after his shameful death, his followers would call him God. Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history's most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic fervor. Scores of Jewish prophets, preachers, and would-be messiahs wandered through the Holy Land, bearing messages from God. This was the age of zealotry--a fervent nationalism that made resistance to the Roman occupation a sacred duty incumbent on all Jews. And few figures better exemplified this principle than the charismatic Galilean who defied both the imperial authorities and their allies in the Jewish religious hierarchy. Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction; a man of peace who exhorted his followers to arm themselves with swords; an exorcist and faith healer who urged his disciples to keep his identity a secret; and ultimately the seditious "King of the Jews" whose promise of liberation from Rome went unfulfilled in his brief lifetime. Aslan explores the reasons why the early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary. And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity. Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of Jesus of Nazareth's life and mission. The result is a thought-provoking, elegantly written biography with the pulse of a fast-paced novel: a singularly brilliant portrait of a man, a time, and the birth of a religion.
The Zeal of the Convert: The Life of Erskine Childers
by Burke Wilkinson"Erskine Childers, one of the unsung heroes of Ireland's struggle for independence, was born in England, spent his boyhood in Ireland, then went to Cambridge University. He fought for England in the Boer War and as an aviator in World War I, publishing his widely praised novel The Riddle of the Sands in 1903. He became involved in Irish politics in 1908 as an advocate of home rule, smuggled guns to Irish liberationists, and in 1919 joined Sinn Fein, the extreme wing of the freedom fighters. His martyrdom is stirringly related by Wilkinson". -- Publishers Weekly
Zbigniew Brzezinski: America’s Grand Strategist
by Justin VaïsseAs National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928–2017) guided U.S. foreign policy at a critical juncture of the Cold War. But his impact on America’s role in the world extends far beyond his years in the White House, and reverberates to this day. His geopolitical vision, scholarly writings, frequent media appearances, and policy advice to decades of presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama made him America’s grand strategist, a mantle only Henry Kissinger could also claim. Both men emigrated from turbulent Europe in 1938 and got their Ph.D.s in the 1950s from Harvard, then the epitome of the Cold War university. With its rise to global responsibilities, the United States needed professionals. Ambitious academics like Brzezinski soon replaced the old establishment figures who had mired the country in Vietnam, and they transformed the way America conducted foreign policy. Justin Vaïsse offers the first biography of the successful immigrant who completed a remarkable journey from his native Poland to the White House, interacting with influential world leaders from Gloria Steinem to Deng Xiaoping to John Paul II. This complex intellectual portrait reveals a man who weighed in on all major foreign policy debates since the 1950s, from his hawkish stance on the USSR to his advocacy for the Middle East peace process and his support for a U.S.-China global partnership. Through its examination of Brzezinski’s statesmanship and comprehensive vision, Zbigniew Brzezinski raises important questions about the respective roles of ideas and identity in foreign policy.
Zbig: The Strategy and Statecraft of Zbigniew Brzezinski
by Charles GatiThe first comprehensive account of Zbigniew Brzezinski's complementary roles as author, academic, policy maker, and critic.Zbigniew Brzezinski’s multifaceted career dealing with U.S. security and foreign policy has led him from the halls of academia to multiple terms in public service, including a stint as President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. He is a renowned policy analyst and author who frequently appears as a commentator on popular talk shows, and his strategic vision continues to carry a great deal of gravitas. in Zbig, Charles Gati has enlisted many of the top foreign policy players of the past thirty years to reflect on and analyze Brzezinski and his work. A senior scholar in Eastern European and Russian studies, Gati observed firsthand much of the history and politics surrounding Brzezinski’s career. His vibrant introduction and concluding interview with Brzezinski frame this critical assessment of a major statesman’s accomplishments.Contributors: Justin Vaïsse, David C. Engerman, Mark Kramer, David J. Rothkopf, Warren I. Cohen and Nancy Bernkopf Tucker, Robert A. Pastor, William B. Quandt, Robert Hunter, James Thomson, Patrick Vaughan, Marin Strmecki, James Mann, David Ignatius, Adam Garfinkle, Stephen F. Szabo, Francis Fukuyama, Charles Gati
Zbig: The Strategy and Statecraft of Zbigniew Brzezinski
by Charles Gati“Captures [Brzezinski’s] extraordinary insights into international politics as well as his commitment to a morally inspired political realism . . . superb.” —International AffairsZbigniew Brzezinski’s multifaceted career dealing with U.S. security and foreign policy led him from the halls of academia to multiple terms in public service, including a stint as President Carter’s National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981. His strategic vision continues to influence our world today. To assess the ramifications of Brzezinski’s engagement in world politics and policy making, Charles Gati has enlisted many of the top foreign policy players of recent decades to reflect on and analyze the man and his work. A senior scholar in Eastern European and Russian studies, Gati observed firsthand much of the history and politics surrounding Brzezinski’s career. His vibrant introduction and concluding one-on-one interview with Brzezinski lucidly frame the book’s critical assessment of this major statesman’s accomplishments.“A highly readable volume of reflections on the legendary Cold Warrior by academics, journalists and Brzezinski's colleagues . . . A welcome addition to the field of political science.” —New Eastern Europe
Zbig: The Man Who Cracked the Kremlin
by Andrzej Lubowski"Kissinger opted for a strategy of accommodation with Moscow, while Brzezinski, claiming that the very nature of Soviet ideology and policies prevents stability, sought strategies for undermining the Soviet system. . . . In retrospect, Brzezinski was proven right and Kissinger was wrong." --Shlomo Avineri in the preface Zbigniew Brzezinski, widely regarded as a key actor in the last half-century of American foreign policy, remains a high-profile commentator on current events and an influential critic of some policies of subsequent administrations. His intellect and eloquent wit have made him an irreplaceable and controversial part of the American scene. He continues to fascinate historians, journalists, and conspiracy theorists. This is not a conventional doorstop biography. Instead, Zbig focuses on Brzezinski's critical and underappreciated contribution to the collapse of the Soviet Union--his lifelong mission. Utterly free of illusions about the nature of Communist power, Brzezinski advocated "peaceful engagement" as the best tactic for exploiting systemic Soviet vulnerabilities. His stand on human rights and his tutelage of and influence on President Jimmy Carter had a profound effect on the course of the Cold War.Zbig also compares Brzezinski with his Harvard rival, Henry Kissinger--a strong proponent of realpolitik. Brilliant as Kissinger is, he did little to change American perceptions of the world in a lasting way. Brzezinski did.
Zayn: A New Direction
by Sarah OliverZayn Malik shocked the world in 2015 when he left One Direction. When the biggest boy band on the planet formed in 2010, few could have expected the furor this would cause! Follow Zayn from his childhood to his stardom in One Direction-a group that put out a string of number-one hits-and see what lies ahead for him as a solo artist. In early 2016, Zayn's first single as a solo artist, "Pillowtalk," debuted at number-one on the charts!Sarah Oliver is the author of Around the World with One Direction and One Direction A-Z.
Zayn
by ZaynThe first and only official book from ZAYN. Global superstar ZAYN shares a photographic journey of his life since leaving One Direction. ZAYN opens up with this collection of thoughts, inspiration, and never-before-seen personal photographs. After five years of massive success with One Direction, ZAYN launched his career as a solo artist with Mind of Mine, becoming one of the most successful artists in the world. Now, for the first time ever, ZAYN is going to tell and show all in this intimate and raw scrapbook of his life. Never-before-released photos give readers insight to ZAYN, no-holds-barred. Gorgeously designed with hundreds of full-color photographs and ZAYN's notes, drawings, song lyrics, and personal stories, the book captures ZAYN's most private moments and his candid feelings on fame, success, music, and life. The next chapter of ZAYN's evolution into global superstar, told by the artist who is living it. *** Reviews for Mind of Mine: "A singer eager to reclaim the parts of himself that five years in the pop klieg lights forced into the shadows."--The New York Times "Sonically, you won't find many pop albums in 2016 more immaculately conceived than this."--SPIN "Sublime."--USA Today "Malik can sing . . . he's done this before, but not like this."--Rolling Stone "A moody, deeply textured R&B album..."--Los Angeles Times "Zayn has clearly achieved his aim of making an album of sexy, credible pop-R&B."--NMEFrom the Hardcover edition.
Zayd
by David S. PowersAlthough Muḥammad had no natural sons who reached the age of maturity, Islamic sources report that he adopted a man named Zayd shortly before receiving his first revelation. This "son of Muḥammad" was the Prophet's heir for the next fifteen or twenty years. He was the first adult male to become a Muslim and the only Muslim apart from Muḥammad whose name is mentioned in the Qur'an. Eventually, Muḥammad would repudiate Zayd as his son, abolish the institution of adoption, and send Zayd to certain death on a battlefield in southern Jordan. Curiously, Zayd has remained a marginal figure in both Islamic and Western scholarship. David S. Powers now attempts to restore Zayd to his rightful position at the center of the narrative of the Prophet Muḥammad and the beginnings of Islam. To do so, he mines traces left behind in commentaries on the Qur'an, in biographical dictionaries, and in historical chronicles, reading these sources against analogues in the Hebrew Bible. Powers demonstrates that in the accounts preserved in these sources, Zayd's character is modeled on those of biblical figures such as Isaac, Ishmael, Joseph, and Uriah the Hittite. This modeling process was deployed by early Muslim storytellers to address two key issues, Powers contends: the bitter conflict over succession to Muḥammad and the key theological doctrine of the finality of prophecy. Both Zayd's death on a battlefield and Muḥammad's repudiation of his adopted son and heir were after-the-fact constructions driven by political and theological imperatives.
Zarifa: A Woman's Battle in a Man's World. As Featured in the NETFLIX documentary IN HER HANDS
by Zarifa Ghafari Hannah Lucinda Smith'Zarifa will break your heart' Christina Lamb, author of Our Bodies, Their Battlefields and I Am MalalaZarifa Ghafari was three years old when the Taliban banned girls from schools, and she began her education in secret. She was seven when American airstrikes began. She was twenty-six when she became mayor of Maidan Wardak, Kabul. An extremist mob barred her from her office; her male staff walked out in protest; assassins tried to kill her six times. Through it all, Zarifa stood her ground. She ended corruption in the province, promoted peace, and tried to lift up women, despite constant fear for herself and her family. When the Taliban took Kabul in 2021, Ghafari had to flee. But even that couldn't stop her. Six months later, she returned, to continue her work empowering women.Zarifa is an astonishing memoir that offers an unparalleled perspective of the last two decades in Afghanistan from a citizen, daughter, woman and mayor. Written with honesty, pain, and ultimately, hope, Zarifa describes the work she did, the women she still tries to help as they live under Taliban rule, and her vision for how grassroots activism can change their lives and the lives of women everywhere.
Zarifa: A Woman's Battle in a Man's World
by Zarifa Ghafari Hannah Lucinda SmithZarifa Ghafari was three years old when the Taliban banned girls from schools, and she began her education in secret. She was seven when American airstrikes began. She was twenty-six when she became mayor of Maidan Wardak, Kabul. An extremist mob barred her from her office; her male staff walked out in protest; assassins tried to kill her six times. <p><p>Through it all, Zarifa stood her ground. She ended corruption in the province, promoted peace, and tried to lift up women, despite constant fear for herself and her family. When the Taliban took Kabul in 2021, Ghafari had to flee. But even that couldn't stop her. Six months later, she returned, to continue her work empowering women. <p><p>Zarifa is an astonishing memoir that offers an unparalleled perspective of the last two decades in Afghanistan from a citizen, daughter, woman and mayor. Written with honesty, pain, and ultimately, hope, Zarifa describes the work she did, the women she still tries to help as they live under Taliban rule, and her vision for how grassroots activism can change their lives and the lives of women everywhere.
Zara: Visión y estrategia de Amancio Ortega
by David MartínezLas claves del mayor milagro empresarial de las últimas décadas solo se pueden comprender conociendo a su creador, Amancio Ortega. El espectacular crecimiento de Zara es el fenómeno empresarial más destacado de la historia reciente de nuestro país. Nacida en un momento de clara decadencia de la industria textil, Zara se basa en un modelo de negocio que se ha demostrado imbatible, y que constituye un caso único, estudiado y admirado en todo el mundo. Su vertiginosa expansión y su éxito están inseparablemente ligados a la figura de su fundador, Amancio Ortega, y a su visión única del cliente y del negocio. Zara analiza cuáles son los principios y estrategias que a lo largo de las diferentes etapas de consolidación y crecimiento de la compañía han inspirado a Amancio Ortega a tomar las decisiones claves en cada momento y que constituyen la base de esta multinacional. Desde la gestión de las tiendas hasta el sistema de diseño y aprovisionamiento de Inditex, el libro recorre todos los aspectos de una brillante trayectoria que está estrechamente vinculada a la biografía y la personalidad excepcionales de su fundador, y a su forma de entender a los clientes y de gestionar su empresa. Los expertos opinan...«Por fin un libro equilibrado entre la historia de su patrón y la de la empresa que creó. Un libro interesante, repleto de datos inéditos, pero, sobre todo, valiente, ya que hay que serlo para poder escribir una historia optimista de una gran empresa española en los tiempos que corren.»José Luis Nueno, catedrático de Marketing del IESE «Pasar por delante de los amplios escaparates de Zara en Manhattan nos lleva a plantearnos ¿cómo ha llegado esta empresa a alcanzar su enorme éxito internacional, y cuáles son las claves de la personalidad de quien ha impulsado esta aventura? El libro de David responde a estas preguntas con enorme claridad.»Emili J. Blasco, corresponsal de ABC en Estados Unidos «Si alguien es digno de la admiración general es Amancio Ortega, que ha sido capaz de transformar todo un sector a nivel mundial. Cualquier esfuerzo encaminado a acercarnos a su figura, tal como realiza David Martínez, es un gran beneficio para todos los interesados en aprender a aportar valor de forma innovadora.»Juan Ramis, profesor de Innovación de ESADE