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Leningrad: Siege and Symphony

In Leningrad: Siege and Symphony, Brian Moynahan sets the composition of Shostakovich's most famous work against the tragic canvas of the siege itself and the years of repression and terror that preceded it.Drawing on extensive primary research in archives as well as personal letters and diaries, he vividly tells the story of the cruelties heaped by the twin monsters of the 20th century, Stalin and Hitler, on a city of exquisite beauty, and of its no less remarkable survival.Weaving Shostakovich's own story and that of many others into the context of the maelstrom of Stalin's purges and the Nazis' brutal invasion of Russia, Leningrad: Siege and Symphony is a magisterial and moving account of one of the most tragic periods of the twentieth century. (P)2013 WF Howes Ltd

Rasputin

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin came to St. Petersburg from his Siberian cabin in 1903 like a projectile from the medieval past, tattered, black-clad, muttering. By the time he was murdered thirteen years later, the peasant was the "beloved" Friend of Tsar Nicholas and Empress Alexandra and the sponsor of the most powerful officials in Russia. He had become, a society lady wrote, "a dusk enveloping all our world, eclipsing the sun. How could so pitiful a wretch throw so vast a shadow? It was inexplicable, maddening, almost incredible. "Rasputin's name has become synonymous with evil, but his legend has obscured the facts of his life. In this evocative biography, Brian Moynahan presents us with a flesh-and-blood Rasputin, more fascinating than the myth--a man in whom debauchery coexisted beside a real (if erratic) spiritual sense, a man whose coarseness hid a savvy awareness of human psychology. Drawing on confidential police reports, cabinet meeting memos, and other documents, some available only since the fall of the Soviet Union, Moynahan sheds new light on Rasputin's life and disputes some of the widely held details of his death. The young Rasputin was a drinker, thief, and womanizer. He claimed to have religious visions and became a wandering holy man, preaching that exposure to sin could drive out sin. He stormed the fashionable salons of St. Petersburg, and in 1905 he met Nicholas and Alexandra, who, increasingly despised by the sophisticated, found in Rasputin reassurance that the "real Russia, the simple and pious peasantry, loved them. Rasputin's mysterious ability to stop the bleeding attacks of their hemophiliac only son, Alexis, sealed the approval of the domineering Alexandra. With royal patronage, Rasputin became increasingly reckless, partying with prostitutes, peddling influence, plotting the disgrace of those who crossed him. Ever contradictory, he was also a devoted family man, a defender of the poor, and a figure of immense charisma. As Germany battered Russia during World War I, as Nicholas's ineptitude as a leader became ever more rampant and the masses went hungry, Rasputin seemed to monarchists to be the cause, and not just the symptom, of corrupt government. A group of conspirators gathered--among them a grand duke and a scion of the richest family in Russia--and one of the most famous murders in history was planned. Set against the vivid backdrop of prerevolutionary Russia, Rasputin is a portrait of an age as well as of a man.NOTE: This edition does not include photographs.

Memoirs

Politics was always Brian Mulroney's real love. As an undergraduate in Nova Scotia he amazed his friends by getting Prime Minister Diefenbaker on the phone, and he rose fast in the Tory ranks in Quebec as a young Montreal lawyer. He tried for the leadership of the party in 1976, losing to Joe Clark, then returned to win a rematch in 1983. The next year, he ran the most successful election campaign in Canadian history, winning 211 seats, and taking office in September 1984. His first term in office was a stormy one, marked by the launch of the Meech Lake Accord and the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. In 1988, however, he was re-elected after a rollercoaster campaign, and his second term in office was just as controversial, featuring the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords -- still a source of bitter regret for him, as opportunities missed.This book falls into two main sections: first, his rise out of a working-class family in Baie-Comeau. Second, his immersion into the world of Ottawa politics, in opposition and then in power. The years in power are dealt with in fascinating detail, and we receive his candid accounts of backstage dealings with Trudeau, Clark, and other Canadian leaders and on the international scene with Reagan, Thatcher, Mitterrand, Kohl, Gorbachev, Mandela, Clinton, and many more. This big book has a huge cast of major players.Brian Mulroney is determined to make this the best prime minister's memoirs this country has ever seen, and a full-time researcher has been helping him for three years. This account of his career is colourful and forthright, and a number of opponents will be sorry that they caught his attention.The manuscript is full of personal touches and reflects the fact that he wrote it by hand, reading it aloud for rhythm and impact. Studded with entries from his private journal, this book -- by a son, brother, husband, and father -- is deeply personal, and includes some surprisingly frank admissions.The book establishes the scale of his achievements, and reveals him as a man of great charm. Memoirs will allow that little-known Brian Mulroney to engage directly with the reader. This book is full of surprises, as we fall under the spell of a great storyteller.From the Hardcover edition.

81 Days Below Zero: The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska's Frozen Wilderness

Shortly before Christmas in 1943, five Army aviators left Alaska’s Ladd Field on a test flight. Only one ever returned: Leon Crane, a city kid from Philadelphia with little more than a parachute on his back when he bailed from his B-24 Liberator before it crashed into the Arctic. Alone in subzero temperatures, Crane managed to stay alive in the dead of the Yukon winter for nearly twelve weeks and, amazingly, walked out of the ordeal intact. 81 Days Below Zero recounts, for the first time, the full story of Crane’s remarkable saga. In a drama of staggering resolve with moments of phenomenal luck, Crane learned to survive in the Yukon’s unforgiving landscape. His is a tale of the human capacity to endure extreme conditions and intense loneliness—and emerge stronger than before.

The Many Lives of Cy Endfield

Cy Endfield (1914-1995) was a filmmaker who was also fascinated by the worlds of close-up magic, science, and invention. After directing several distinctive low-budget films in Hollywood, he was blacklisted in 1951 and fled to Britain rather than "name names” before HUAC, the U. S. House of Representatives’ Un-American Activities Committee. The Pennsylvania-born Endfield made films that exhibit an outsider’s eye for his adopted country, including the working-class "trucking” drama Hell Drivers and the cult film Zulu--a war epic as politically nuanced as it is spectacular. Along the way he encountered Orson Welles, collaborated with pioneering animator Ray Harryhausen, published a book of his card magic, and co-invented an early word processor that anticipated today’s technology. The Many Lives of Cy Endfield is the first book on this fascinating figure. The fruit of years of archival research and personal interviews by Brian Neve, it documents Endfield’s many identities: among them second-generation immigrant, Jew, Communist, and exile. Neve paints detailed scenes not only of the political and personal dramas of the blacklist era, but also of the attempts by Hollywood directors in the postwar 1940s and early 1950s to address social and political controversies of the day. Out of these efforts came two crime melodramas (what would become known as film noir) on inequalities of class and race: The Underworld Story and The Sound of Fury (also known as Try and Get Me!). Neve reveals the complex production and reception histories of Endfield’s films, which the critic Jonathan Rosenbaum saw as reflective of "an uncommon intelligence so radically critical of the world we live in that it’s dangerous. ” The Many Lives of Cy Endfield is at once a revealing biography of an independent, protean figure, an insight into film industry struggles, and a sensitive and informed study of an underappreciated body of work.

Caleidoscopio: Facetas & flashbacks

Un divertido y perspicaz retrato de lugares y de gente encontrados en el camino del renombrado artista Brian Nissen. En este libro, el renombrado artista Brian Nissen cuenta sus andanzas en el mundo del arte. Un divertido y perspicaz retrato de lugares y de gente encontrados en su camino #entre otros, deambulan personajes como Nicanor Parra, Rufino Tamayo, Octavio Paz, Leonora Carrington y Dore Ashton. Caleidoscopio también nos regala agudas observaciones del autor acerca del arte contemporáneo, así como ensayos sobre arte y ciencia y el arte erótico. Pintor y escultor, Nissen ha expuesto su obra en museos y galerías por el mundo. Ha trabajado en el cine, realizado coreografías y pintado murales. Entre sus libros publicados se encuentran Expuesto, Limulus, Voluptuario, Farándula y Brian Nissen, una extensa monografía de su obra. Sus códices -reinterpretaciones de los antiguos libros mexicas realizados en el contexto del arte actual-, se encuentran en las bibliotecas de las universidades de Princeton y Harvard, el Museo de Arte Moderno de Nueva York y el Museo de Brooklyn. La crítica ha dicho... «Estamos ante un libro conversado que se beneficia del espontáneo witticism británico y la picardía mexicana. El título no puede ser más certero: en su papel de memorialista, Nissen no brinda las dilatadas secuencias de una vida; se concentra en escenas fundamentales, los vidrios de colores de un paisaje en movimiento.» Juan Villoro «Brian Nissen nos ofrece una visión múltiple del deseo. La perfección de su forma es su imperfección. Su arte no aspira conscientemente a la permanencia si ésta es el signo de la permanencia. Por eso, permanecerá» Carlos Fuentes «Nissen es un inventor de formas sólidas que de pronto, arrebatadas por un soplo entusiasta, se echan a volar: súbito polen multicolor» Octavio Paz «Brian Nissen ha establecido diálogos con los movimientos modernistas de mayor envergadura y ha encontrado inspiración estilística en todo aquello que pudiera haber congeniado con esa visión inconfundiblemente suya» Arthur Danto «Nissen diversifica entonces su tarea para establecer una fuente antropológica de gente, lugares y costumbres tradicionales. Y así como los artistas prehispánicos se refieren a todo lo concerniente a su existencia -la cocina, la medicina, el comercio, los cultos, el tiempo del calendario y el tiempo cósmico-, Nissen inventa una existencia» Dore Ashton

Add A Zero: From €5,000 to €50,000 in an Irish Racing Season

It's March in Ireland - the flat season is about the start and Irish Times racing correspondent, Brian O'Connor has decided to boldly go where no racing correspondent has gone before. He puts his money where is mouth is and attempts to turn Euro 5,000 into Euro 50,000. But can he actually do it ...In Add A Zero, we join him on his quest as we're taken through the highs and the lows of the world of Irish racing, where we meet with leading personalities, trainers and jockeys such as Aidan O'Brien, Dermot Weld, Michael Kinane, John Magnier and many others.From drunken dinner parties to famous racecourses like the Curragh and Galway, the tips keep on coming - with mixed results! - in a book for racing buffs and novices alike.As the season progress so does the book, but will Brian show that there's no such thing as a poor bookie? Or will his horse romp home? A betting man might ask 'what are the odds?'

High

In the early 1980s, Brian O'Dea was operating a $100 million a year, 120-man drug smuggling business, and had developed a terrifying cocaine addiction. Under increasing threat from the DEA in 1986 for importing seventy-five tons of marijuana into the United States, he quit the trade-and the drugs-and began working with recovering addicts in Santa Barbara. Despite his life change, the authorities caught up with him years later and O'Dea was arrested, tried, and sentenced to ten years at Terminal Island Federal Penitentiary in Los Angeles Harbor. A born storyteller, O'Dea candidly recounts his incredible experiences from the streets of Bogotá with a false-bottomed suitcase lined with cocaine, to the engine compartment of an old DC-6 whose engines were failing over the Caribbean, to the cell blocks overcrowded with small-time dealers who had fallen victim to the justice system's perverse bureaucracy of drug sentencing. Weaving together extracts from his prison diary with the vivid recounting of his outlaw years and the dawning recognition of those things in his life that were worth living for, High tells the remarkable story of a remarkable man in the late-1980s drug business and why he walked away.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Test: My Autobiography

The number one bestselling autobiography of the greatest rugby player of our time: Brian O'Driscoll. Since 1999, when he made his international debut, there has been no greater player in world rugby than Brian O'Driscoll. In 2010 Rugby World magazine named him its world player of the decade - and since then the legend has only grown. Now, at the end of his amazing career - which culminated in fairy-tale fashion with Ireland's victory in the 2014 Six Nations championship - he tells his own story. Honest, gritty and thoughtful, Brian O'Driscoll's Autobiography is not just an essential sports book. It is an essential book about family, friends, hard work, courage and imagination.'Honest, charming and revealing - a thoroughly good read' Rugby World'After reading The Test I warmed even more to O'Driscoll as a player and a man. He stood for a new ethos in Irish sport that refused to accept mediocrity or glorious failure' Fergal Keane, Irish Times'O'Driscoll's honesty ... takes the reader to a place they simply have not been before' Vincent Hogan, Irish Independent'A must-read insight into the life and mind of Ireland's greatest rugby player' Irish Mail on Sunday'There are fascinating insights into the lengths he was willing to go to perform at the highest level' Sunday Business Post

El Barco de los Milagros

NO CREERÁS LO QUE ESTÁS LEYENDO, PERO DE LA PRIMERA A LA ÚLTIMA DE LAS PALABRAS SON REALES ¿Crees en los milagros? ¿Crees en la posesión demoníaca? ¿Crees en los exorcismos? Dos médicos declararo que una niña con daños cerebrales irreparables estaba muerta. A día de hoy, es una adolescente sana. Un joven al que un camión le había aplastado la columna quedó en un estado de parálisis irreparable. Ahora, juega al fútbol con sus amigos. La ruptura de una maldición que había perseguido a más de cinco generaciones de una familia. Personas tormentadas por demonios que se han librado de su yugo. ¿Cómo se producían estos milagros? ¿Qué tienen en común? Tienen a John Gillespie en común. ¿Quién es? ¿Cómo ha obtenido ese extraordinario don? El barco de los milagros cuenta la historia de John. Pero hace mucho más que eso. Sí, el libro esencialmente se enfoca en los milagros. Sí, contiene muchas historias extraordinarias de sanación y liberación. Sí, se enfoca fuertemente en la guerra espiritual en la que tantos cristianos participan sin tener conciencia de sus peligros. Pero el libro va al corazón mismo de lo que se necesita para encontrar la curación y la liberación. Habla de los obstáculos y dificultades que se interponen en el camino de la verdadera oración de curación. Revela las muchas trampas que acechan en prácticas de curación aparentemente inocentes. Explica en detalle los serios peligros que sustentan muchas terapias New Age aparentemente beneficiosas. Y ofrece muchos ejemplos de los tipos de oraciones y estilos de vida que pueden brindar sanación al cuerpo y a la mente. Incluso puede cambiar vidas que se están cayendo a pedazos Este relato verdadero de la vida de John Gillespie, de los milagros y liberaciones que siguen a sus oraciones, te sorprenderá. Millones de personas aman escuchar y leer sobre milagros. El libro de la hermana Briege McKenna Miracles Do Happen se

Pulse of My Heart

Patty O'Mara-Croft's "widowmaker" heart attack was a cruel assault on her body, threatening the happiest years of her life. Originally misdiagnosed as a panic attack, common among women who suffer heart attacks, Patty's heart suffers permanent damage, and her precarious condition threatens to raze all joy and hope between Patty and her husband, Brian. In a recounting both informative and inspirational, heartbreaking and funny, Patty and Brian share their stories from their own unique perspectives--the first-person account of painful revelations and medical struggles and a loved one's experience of despair, hope, and renewal. Families in medical crisis are getting sucker-punched every day and need help from those who overcame it and emerge stronger than before. The dual voice of both authors represents a love that flourishes, even as Patty's health weakens and is no longer a viable candidate for a heart transplant. Pulse of My Heart is part medical mystery, part comedy of errors, part family drama, and an enduring love story. The field notes at the back of the book focus on: The sometimes-strained relationship between doctors and patient Preparing for anticipatory grief The potential for addiction when narcotics are part of the drug protocol Dealing with familial strife during a time of need Struggling with others' prayers when one's own faith is strained Trying to maintain some level of dignity in an utterly undignified environment Finding ways to be an effective parent in a blended family when illness demands so much attention

Impossible to Easy: 111 Delicious Recipes to Help You Put Great Meals on the Table Every Day

The host of Food Network's Dinner: Impossible shows busy people how to keep food simple but deliciousChef Robert Irvine goes where few chefs dare. As the host of Food Network's Dinner: Impossible, he has cooked on a desert island, in an eighteenth-century kitchen, inside an ice hotel, and even for cowpunchers on a cattle drive. In Impossible to Easy, he converts the classical and improvisational kitchen skills he's learned during the past twenty-five years under some of the most challenging conditions into advice to help the home cook achieve mastery in his or her own kitchen.Irvine shows how to approach ingredients in new and familiar ways, how to plan and execute delicious meals every time, and how to guarantee maximum flavor from every dish. By establishing a few simple organizational, shopping, and storage habits, home cooks can not only get the most out of fresh foods and spices but elevate their everyday meals to a higher level of accomplishment and enjoyment. Here, too, is advice on useful equipment and implements, pantry staples, do-ahead tips, and 111 easy-to-master recipes (many complete with timelines, and half of which are gluten free) that are sure to keep family and friends coming back for more. By separating each process into its constituent parts, anyone can easily create such tasty dishes as Lime-Cured Shrimp and Roasted Corn Chowder, Porcini-Dusted Pork Chops with Cremini Mushrooms and Golden Raisins over Horseradish-Scented Potatoes, Pommes Frites with Chipotle Aioli, Duck Confit with Three-Bean Cassoulet, Windy City Stovetop Pizza, Braised Asian Pear with Roquefort and Sweet Port Wine Dressing, Banana Chocolate-Hazelnut Crepes, and dozens more right in his or her own home.

Mission: My Life, My Recipes, and Making the Impossible Easy

The star of Food Network's Dinner: Impossible, Chef Robert Irvine shares the adventurous story of his life, his thoughts on cooking, and his favorite recipesThere are few chefs on the planet who do what Irvine does, flying around the world at a moment's notice to cook for heads of state, royalty, and celebrities. Irvine reveals his fascinating past and unorthodox culinary training. His career as a world-renowned chef began at the age of fifteen when he was discovered by Prince Charles while cooking in the mess halls of the British Royal Navy.In Mission: Cook! Irvine tells the wild stories of his career, from studying under the best European chefs to cooking for three thousand refugees on a beach while civil war raged in South Yemen to preparing an Oscars feast while coordinating the biggest chefs in the business. Sprinkled throughout are Irvine's most incredible recipes from his travels around the world, including Roasted Duck with White Bean Ragout, Truffle Oil, and Shaved Parmesan Cheese; Tea-Smoked Chicken; Lobster Risotto with Clams; and his ethereal Windsor Angel Food Cake. Easy to prepare and deliciously satisfying, these are dishes that everyone will savor.Irvine's candid stories and behind-the-scenes look at the creation of his Food Network TV show Dinner: Impossible prove that the life of a celebrity chef is anything but ordinary. As is Mission: Cook!—a unique and fascinating look into the mind and life of one of the world's hottest chefs.

Add A Zero: From €5,000 to €50,000 in an Irish Racing Season

It's March in Ireland - the flat season is about the start and Irish Times racing correspondent, Brian O'Connor has decided to boldly go where no racing correspondent has gone before. He puts his money where is mouth is and attempts to turn Euro 5,000 into Euro 50,000. But can he actually do it ...In Add A Zero, we join him on his quest as we're taken through the highs and the lows of the world of Irish racing, where we meet with leading personalities, trainers and jockeys such as Aidan O'Brien, Dermot Weld, Michael Kinane, John Magnier and many others.From drunken dinner parties to famous racecourses like the Curragh and Galway, the tips keep on coming - with mixed results! - in a book for racing buffs and novices alike.As the season progress so does the book, but will Brian show that there's no such thing as a poor bookie? Or will his horse romp home? A betting man might ask 'what are the odds?'

Messer Marco Polo

There's A Sheep In My Bathtub: Birth of A Church Planting Movement In Mongolia

What happens when you drop an American family with three small children into the post-Communist chaos of Outer Mongolia? There's a Sheep in my Bathtub chronicles the adventures of the Hogan family as they try to follow God's leading into one of the world's most remote and mysterious enclaves. Disarmingly honest and charmingly humorous, their tale will thrill you and bring tears to your eyes.

Bernard of Clairvaux: An Inner Life

In this intimate portrait of one of the Middle Ages' most consequential men, Brian Patrick McGuire delves into the life of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux to offer a refreshing interpretation that finds within this grand historical figure a deeply spiritual human being who longed for the reflective quietude of the monastery even as he helped shape the destiny of a church and a continent. Heresy and crusade, politics and papacies, theology and disputation shaped this astonishing man's life, and McGuire presents it all in a deeply informed and clear-eyed biography.Following Bernard from his birth in 1090 to his death in 1153 at the abbey he had founded four decades earlier, Bernard of Clairvaux reveals a life teeming with momentous events and spiritual contemplation, from Bernard's central roles in the first great medieval reformation of the Church and the Second Crusade, which he came to regret, to the crafting of his books, sermons, and letters. We see what brought Bernard to monastic life and how he founded Clairvaux Abbey, established a network of Cistercian monasteries across Europe, and helped his brethren monks and abbots in heresy trials, affairs of state, and the papal schism of the 1130s.By reevaluating Bernard's life and legacy through his own words and those of the people closest to him, McGuire reveals how this often-challenging saint saw himself and conveyed his convictions to others. Above all, this fascinating biography depicts Saint Bernard of Clairvaux as a man guided by Christian revelation and open to the achievements of the human spirit.

The Fairbanks Four: Murder, Injustice, and the Birth of a Movement

One murder, four guilty convictions, and a community determined to find justice.October, 1997. Late one night in Fairbanks, Alaska, a passerby finds a teenager unconscious, collapsed on the edge of the road, beaten nearly beyond recognition. Two days later, he dies in the hospital. His name is John Gilbert Hartman and he's just turned 15 years old. The police quickly arrest four suspects, all under the age of 21 and of Alaska Native and American Indian descent. Police lineup witnesses, trials follow, and all four men receive lengthy prison terms. Case closed. But journalist Brian Patrick O'Donoghue can't put the story out of his mind. When the opportunity arises to teach a class on investigative reporting, he finally digs into what happened to the "Fairbanks Four." A relentless search for the truth ensues as O'Donoghue and his students uncover the lies, deceit, and prejudice that put four innocent young men in jail.The Fairbanks Four is the gripping story of a brutal crime and its sprawling aftermath in the frigid Alaska landscape. It's a story of collective action as one journalist, his students, and the Fairbanks indigenous community challenge the verdicts. It's the story of a broken justice system, and the effort required to keep hope alive. This is the story of the Fairbanks Four.

Forever Nerdy: Living My Dorky Dreams and Staying Metal

The first memoir by beloved comedian, actor, and writer Brian Posehn, hilariously detailing what it's like to grow up as and remain a nerd, with a foreword by Patton OswaltBrian Posehn is a successful and instantly recognizable comedian, actor, and writer. He also happens to be a giant nerd. That's partly because he's been obsessed with such things as Dungeons & Dragons, comic books, and heavy metal since he was a child; the other part is because he fills out every bit of his 6'7'' frame. Brian's always felt awkward and like a perpetual outsider, but he found his way through the difficulties of growing up by escaping into the worlds of Star Wars, D&D, and comics, and by rocking his face off. He was a nerd long before it was cool (and that didn't help his situation much), but his passions proved time and again to be the safe haven he needed to persevere and thrive in a world in which he was far from comfortable.Brian, now balls deep in middle age with a wife, child, and thriving career, still feels like an outsider and is as big a nerd as ever. But that's okay, because in his five decades of nerdom he's discovered that the key to happiness is not growing up. You can be a nerd forever and find success that way. because somehow along the way the nerds won.Forever Nerdy is a celebration of growing up nerdy and different. This isn't Brian's life story, just some bizarre and hilarious stories from his life, along with a captivating look back at nearly fifty years of nerd culture. Being a nerd hasn't always been easy, but somehow this self-hating nerd who suffered from depression was able to land his dream job, get the girl, and learn to fit in. Kind of. See how he did it while managing to remain forever nerdy.

In Love With Voices: A Jazz Memoir

In his memoir, Torff takes us beyond the music by adding depth with his vision of American music, and paints vivid portraits of the musicians with whom he played.

Lincoln and Davis: Imagining America, 1809-1865

Abraham Lincoln: the Great Emancipator, savior of the Union, and revered national hero. Jefferson Davis: defender of slavery, leader of a lost cause, and forlorn object of scorn. Both Lincoln and Davis remain locked in the American psyche as iconic symbols of victory and defeat. They presided over a terrible war that decided the fate of slavery and severely tested each man's resolve and potential for greatness. But, as Brian Dirck shows, such images tend to obscure the larger visions that compelled both men to pursue policies and actions that resulted in such a devastating national tragedy. Going well beyond most conventional accounts, Dirck examines Lincoln's and Davis's respective ideas concerning national identity, highlighting the strengths and shortcomings of each leader's worldview. By focusing on issues that have often been overlooked in previous studies of Lincoln and Davis-and of the war in general-he reveals the ways in which these two leaders viewed that imagined community called the American nation. The first comprehensive and detailed study to compare the two men's national imaginations, Dirck's study provides a provocative analysis of how their everyday lives-the influence of fathers and friends, jobs and homes-worked in complex ways to shape Lincoln's and Davis's perceptions of what the American nation was supposed to be and could become and how those images could reject or accommodate the institution of slavery. Dirck contends that Lincoln subscribed to the notion of a "nation of strangers" in which people never really knew one another's hearts, reflecting his wariness of sentimental attachment, while Davis held to a "community of sentiment" based on honor and comradeship that depended a great deal on emotional bonding. As Dirck shows, these two ideals are very much a part of the current national conversation-among citizens, scholars, and politicians—that has brought Davis back into the fold of great Americans while challenging many of the clichés that surround the Lincoln myth. Ultimately, Dirck argues, the imagined communities of these two remarkable men transcend the experience of war to illuminate the ongoing debates over what it means to be an American. Through this engaging and original work, he urges a restoration of balance to our understanding—not only of Lincoln and Davis, but also of the contributions made by North and South alike to those debates.

Lincoln the Lawyer

This fascinating history explores Abraham Lincoln's legal career, investigating the origins of his desire to practice law, his legal education, his partnerships with John Stuart, Stephen Logan, and William Herndon, and the maturation of his far-flung practice in the 1840s and 1850s. Brian Dirck also examines Lincoln's clientele, how he charged his clients, and how he addressed judge and jury, as well as his views on legal ethics and the supposition that he never defended a client he knew to be guilty.

For Brotherhood & Duty: The Civil War History of the West Point Class of 1862 (American Warriors Ser.)

During the tense months leading up to the American Civil War, the cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point continued their education even as the nation threatened to dissolve around them. Students from both the North and South struggled

Being Black in America's Schools: A Student-Educator-Reformer's Call for Change

A leading educator, writer, and strategist sheds a timely and powerful light on American public schools, their miseducation of marginalized students of color and the action required to make tangible changes and reforms to a failing and racialized educational system. In a polarizing and racially divided America, what do children of color learn about themselves before they even go to school? How do they see themselves and is that image only exacerbated by spending twelve years in a public education system that perpetrates negative stereotypes? Brian Rashad Fuller personally knows that the impact of low expectations can be devastating, as proved by the &“school to prison&” pipeline that so many students have experienced. He aims to make a difference in this humanizing and very personal portrayal of what it means to be Black in America&’s schools. As a Black man who has spent his life as a student and educator, Brian shares his own story of navigating the world, overcoming his family struggles, and eventually entering an educational system that he believes is inherently racist, damaging, and disserving. He exposes the challenges Black students face in elite and predominantly white universities and spaces, dissects &“Black exceptionalism&” in the schooling experience, and offers a firsthand account of the emotional and psychological impact made by teachers, administrators, policies, practices, lessons, and student interactions. Most Americans are looking for answers on how to improve our education system—as illustrated by the critical race theory debate—but have not fully understood the lived Black experience, until now. With powerful insight into a thoroughly American institution, Brian offers present-day solutions, and liberating hope, for a centuries-long issue, as well as a galvanizing and radical step forward. It is a book essential to our challenging times.

The Liars' Club: A Memoir (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition #37)

The dazzling, prizewinning, wickedly funny tale of Mary Karr's hardscrabble Texas childhood--the book that sparked a renaissance in memoirWhen it was published in 1995, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club took the world by storm and raised the art of the memoir to an entirely new level, as well as bringing about a dramatic revival of the form. Karr's comic childhood in an east Texas oil town brings us characters as darkly hilarious as any of J. D. Salinger's--a hard-drinking daddy, a sister who can talk down the sheriff at twelve, and an oft-married mother whose accumulated secrets threaten to destroy them all. Now with a new introduction that discusses her memoir's impact on her family, this unsentimental and profoundly moving account of an apocalyptic childhood is as "funny, lively, and un-put-downable" (USA Today) today as it ever was