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Paulo Coelho: The Authorized Biography
by Fernando MoraisPaulo Coelho: A Warrior’s Life is the definitive, authorized biography of one of the world’s most popular and widely read authors—and the story of how his enormously popular novel The Alchemist came to be. Fernando Morais, the preeminent biographer in Brazil and a groundbreaking journalist, traces Coelho’s roots in Brazil to his time as a musician and pop lyricist to his wild days of rock and roll to the publication of the The Alchemist and beyond, telling the true tale of one of the most adored authors of our time.
Pavement Design and Materials
by A. T. Papagiannakis E. A. MasadPractical guide for all aspects of pavement engineering, updated with the latest techniques, standards, and software The newly revised and updated Second Edition of Pavement Design and Materials offers a comprehensive treatment of pavement materials, structural analysis, design, evaluation, and economic analysis of asphalt and portland concrete pavements. Written by two highly qualified engineering professors with a wealth of experience in the field, Pavement Design and Materials provides readers with: State-of-the-art techniques for material characterization, including a linear viscoelasticity primer Methods and software for the analysis of flexible and ridgid pavements including the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design State-of-the-art pavement evaluation techniques including moduli backcalculation methods Pavement economic analysis techniques including the most up-to-date user cost relationships. The book companion website provides: Solved examples in each chapter and the electronic files associated with them An instructor solutions manual for the problems provided at the end of each chapter PowerPoint presentations by chapter to facilitate lecture delivery Pavement Design and Materials is an essential up-to-date textbook on the subject for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level courses on pavement materials and pavement design. It is also a valuable reference for practicing professional engineers involved in the various aspects of roadway pavement material selection and structural design.
Paw Prints in the Moonlight: The Heartwarming True Story Of One Man And His Cat
by Denis O'ConnorA snowy January night. A cat that beat the odds. A man whose life would be forever changed. This is the remarkable story of Toby Jug, the extraordinary cat who thought he was human.Paw Prints in the Moonlight is the truly special tale of one kind man and the cat that changed his life. Set in the rural splendor of Northumberland, England, this heartwarming and classic book will be cherished by people of all ages. When Denis O'Connor rescues a three-week-old kitten from certain death during a snowstorm, little does he know how this tiny creature will change his life forever. Against all odds the kitten-whom he names Toby Jug-survives and turns out to be a wondrous Maine Coon Cat extraordinaire. Life with Toby is never dull, and Denis and Toby embark on a series of sometimes comical, sometimes poignant adventures that bring them ever closer together. From the massive invasion of bees at Owl Cottage to the mysterious case of the disappearing tomatoes, Denis and Toby form an extraordinary bond, and the cat that no one thought would live through the night ends up altering the lives of everyone he meets. With spectacular watercolor illustrations depicting Toby's many hijinks, this timeless story about the power of pets will captivate readers of Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog, and Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love.
Pawmistry: Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe with Cats
by Megan Lynn KottFrom the past hidden in their paws to the future predicted by their leftover kibble, discover the true magic of cats in this hilarious guide to feline divination.Pawmistry is a tongue-in-cheek guide to the feline oracle and the supernatural signs your cat may leave behind. Written and illustrated by the beloved creator of Cat Tarot Megan Lynn Kott, this playful and informative book offers instruction in a number of types of divination to practice with your cat, where messages and portents may be delivered by scattered cat toys, particular tail positions, and sleeping on your face. What does that barf in your shoe really mean? You may even consider learning the dark magic of their litterbox leavings (if you dare). Each section includes write-in pages to record your own cat's messages from the universe, and a removable, fold-out Feline Divination Board included with the book will allow you to take your arcane partnership to the next level.MAKE CAT PLAY TIME PAWMISTRY TIME: Using the easy step-by-step instructions, turn your cat's daily routine into opportunities for mystical discovery. Play with toys to consult the oracles! Discover messages from the universe in leftover kibble! Dare to read the dark portents hidden in their litterbox! FOR CAT LOVERS: This is a unique gift for the "crazy cat person" in your life—even if it's yourself! Learn the mystical meanings behind the "slow blink" or the past hidden in your kitty's bean toes, and celebrate the magic of cats.DIY SHAREABLE CONTENT: Along with playful instructions and illustrations, the book also includes a fold-out Feline Divination Board—a talking board for cats—which not only makes for a fun interactive element, but also a perfect photo opportunity to share with friends.GREAT GIFT: This playful book is perfect for a birthday present, white elephant gift exchange, or to celebrate a new cat adoption. Add it to the shelf alongside You Need More Sleep: Advice From Cats by Francesco Marciuliano, Ask Baba Yaga by Taisia Kitaiskaia, and Crafting with Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya and Amy Hirschman.
The Pea and the Sun: A Mathematical Paradox
by Leonard M. WapnerTake an apple and cut it into five pieces. Would you believe that these five pieces can be reassembled in such a fashion so as to create two apples equal in shape and size to the original? Would you believe that you could make something as large as the sun by breaking a pea into a finite number of pieces and putting it back together again? Neither did Leonard Wapner, author of The Pea and the Sun, when he was first introduced to the Banach-Tarski paradox, which asserts exactly such a notion. Written in an engaging style, The Pea and the Sun catalogues the people, events, and mathematics that contributed to the discovery of Banach and Tarski's magical paradox. Wapner makes one of the most interesting problems of advanced mathematics accessible to the non-mathematician.
Peace: A Novella (Secrets of Crittenden County #4)
by Shelley Shepard GrayAfter a year of secrets and scandal, will this Amish community finally find peace under the bright promise of Christmas?Beth Byler has a secret. Ever since she met Englischer Chris Ellis while helping out at the Yellow Bird Inn, she can't stop thinking about him. She knows a relationship could never go anywhere—Chris was working undercover in Crittenden County as a DEA agent. That meant he faced danger daily and carried a gun, making him completely unsuitable for an Amish woman like herself. But she knew he felt the attraction, too. It was the reason he left so suddenly, promising never to see her again. Then, three days before Christmas, while Beth is taking care of the inn, Chris returns. This time, he is bleeding and in need of a place to hide. Against her better judgment, Beth takes him in and tends to his wounds. She also promises to keep his presence a secret. Before long, it becomes clear that nothing between them has changed—a relationship is inevitable. But are they ready to sacrifice everything for this chance at love?
The Peacock Feast: A Novel
by Lisa GornickFrom “one of the most perceptive, compassionate writers of fiction in America...immensely talented and brave” (Michael Schaub, NPR), a historical saga about love, class, and the past we never escape.The Peacock Feast opens on a June day in 1916 when Louis C. Tiffany, the eccentric glass genius, dynamites the breakwater at Laurelton Hall—his fantastical Oyster Bay mansion, with columns capped by brilliant ceramic blossoms and a smokestack hidden in a blue-banded minaret—so as to foil the town from reclaiming the beach for public use. The explosion shakes both the apple crate where Prudence, the daughter of Tiffany’s prized gardener, is sleeping and the rocks where Randall, her seven-year-old brother, is playing.Nearly a century later, Prudence receives an unexpected visit at her New York apartment from Grace, a hospice nurse and the granddaughter of Randall, who Prudence never saw again after he left at age fourteen for California. The mementos Grace carries from her grandfather’s house stir Prudence’s long-repressed memories and bring her to a new understanding of the choices she made in work and love, and what she faces now in her final days.Spanning the twentieth century and three continents, The Peacock Feast ricochets from Manhattan to San Francisco, from the decadent mansions of the Tiffany family to the death row of a Texas prison, and from the London consultation room of Anna Freud to a Mendocino commune. With psychological acuity and aching eloquence, Lisa Gornick has written a sweeping family drama, an exploration of the meaning of art and the art of dying, and an illuminating portrait of how our decisions reverberate across time and space.
Pearl
by Deirdre Purcell'Warm, poignant . . . in essence a jewel of a story' Sunday IndependentA broken heart. A long-held secret. A dream that never died . . .In 1920s rural Ireland, Pearl Somers lives happily with her family in the gate lodge of Kilnashone Castle, where her father is chauffeur to Lord and Lady Areton. But, one dreadful night, a series of dramatic events unfolds and the lives of all are changed for ever.Over forty years later, Pearl has become a successful writer. Yet there is one story she has never told, until her young cousin Catherine confesses a secret of her own that opens a door to Pearl's past - one she thought had been firmly sealed.When Catherine discovers Pearl's heart-breaking story, she determines to do her best to reconcile past and present. But is it too late for Pearl to find her own happy ending?
A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean
by Tori Murden McClure“Unlike Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, Tori Murden McClure’s true story of a woman and the sea and a boat named American Pearl is one of victory. . . . If you want to be inspired, read this book. You won’t stop till you’ve finished.” — Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's WifeIn this thrilling memoir by the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Tori McClure finds that what she is looking for lies not in a superhuman show of strength, but rather in embracing what it means to be human."In the end, I know I rowed across the Atlantic to find my heart, but in the beginning, I wasn't aware that it was missing."In June 1998, Tori McClure began rowing across the Atlantic Ocean solo in a twenty-three-foot plywood boat with no motor or sail. Within days she lost all communication with shore but decided to forge ahead -- not knowing that 1998 would turn out to be the worst hurricane season on record in the North Atlantic. When she was nearly killed by a series of violent storms, Tori was forced to signal for help and head home in what felt like disgrace. But then her life changed in unexpected ways. She was hired by Muhammad Ali, who told her she did not want to be known as the woman who "almost" rowed across the Atlantic. And at thirty-five, Tori fell in love.A Pearl in the Storm is Tori's enthralling story of high adventure—and of her personal quest to discover that embracing her own humanity was more important than superhuman feats.
Peasant Fires: The Drummer of Niklashausen
by Richard Wunderli" . . . lively and intellectually stimulating . . . " —Speculum"Wunderli . . . has lucidly reconstructed a controversial conflict in 15th-century south-central Germany. . . . this engaging narrative takes off from Hans Behem—the peasant who claimed to see the Virgin and gained followers until crushed by the established church—to explore larger forces at work in Germany on the eve of the Reformation. . . Wunderli also attempts to sort out the violent conflict that ensued and Hans's subsequent trial. His scrupulousness and sensitivity make for a small but valuable book." —Publishers Weekly"Fascinating and well written, this is highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries." —Library Journal"Richard Wunderli . . . deftly tells the story in Peasant Fires, finding in it a foreshadowing of peasant uprisings in the 16th century." —New York Times Book Review" . . . a stimulating read . . . an engaging synthesis." —Central European HistoryIn 1476, an illiterate German street musician had a vision of the Virgin Mary and began to preach a radical social message that attracted thousands of followers—and antagonized the church. The drummer was burned at the stake. This swiftly moving narrative of his rise and fall paints a vivid portrait of 15th-century German society as it raises important questions about the craft of history."A gem of a book. . . . It has a plot, good guys and bad buys, it opens up a 'strange' world, and it is exceptionally well written." —Thomas W. Robisheaux
The Pecan Children
by Quinn Connor"With creeping claustrophobia and a filter of the surreal over lushly detailed lives, The Pecan Children captures both the magic and despair of trying to hold onto home when the world is determined to take it away from you." — Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Mister MagicFor fans of The Midnight Library and Demon Copperhead comes a breathtaking story of magical realism about two sisters, deeply tied to their small Southern town, fighting to break free of the darkness swallowing the land—and its endless cycle of pecan harvests—whole.How long will you hold on when your world is gone?In a small southern pecan town, the annual harvest is a time of both celebration and heartbreak. Even as families are forced to sell their orchards and move away, Lil Clearwater, keeper of a secret covenant with her land, swears she never will. When her twin Sasha returns to the dwindling town in hopes of reconnecting with the girl her heart never forgot, the sisters struggle to bridge their differences and share the immense burden of protecting their home from hungry forces intent on uprooting everything they love.But there is rot hiding deep beneath the surface. Ghostly fires light up the night, and troubling local folklore is revealed to be all too true. Confronted with the phantoms of their pasts and the devastating threat to their future, the sisters come to the stark realization that in the kudzu-choked South, nothing is ever as it appears.A story of the love between sisters, and an allegory of decay in small-town America, The Pecan Children walks the line between beauty and horror.Also By Quinn Connor:Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves
Pedagogical Encounters in the Post-Anthropocene, Volume 1: Childhood, Environment, Indigeneity (Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures)
by jan jagodzinskiThis volume, the first of a two volume set, addresses three major areas in response to the post-Anthropocene: childhood, environment and indigeneity. Each of these areas is broadly addressed in relation to the concerns that have arisen both theoretically and educationally. The author terms these to be encounters as each area presents a particular problematic when addressing the phase change that the planet is undergoing where the anthropogenic labour of global humanity is contributing to climate change, endangering our very existence. There has been a concerted effort to overcome the nature-culture divide in education. The author reviews this development in the first section where there has been a particular emphasis placed on childhood education. In the second section he turns to the pedagogical theories that are attempting to overcome this same divide in environmental and science education. The last section attempts to bring into the conversation the vast literature on Indigeneity and their attempts to revise traditional education to meet these extraordinary times.
Pedagogical Encounters in the Post-Anthropocene, Volume 2: Technology, Neurology, Quantum (Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures)
by jan jagodzinskiAs a follow up to Pedagogical Encounters in the Post-Anthropocene, Volume I, this book addresses three major areas in response to the post-Anthropocene: Technology, Neurology, Quantum. Each of these areas is broadly addressed in relation to the concerns that have arisen both theoretically and educationally. As in Volume I, the author terms these to be encounters as each area presents a particular problematic when addressing the phase change that the planet is undergoing where the anthropogenic labour of global humanity is contributing to climate change, endangering our very existence. Technology in education has been a significant development. There is a concerted effort to review this development placing stress on the rise of learning machines and algorithms. In the second encounter the vast literature on neurology is addressed, especially neurodiversity and the various symptoms that have emerged in the post-Anthropocene era. The last section reviews issues related to quantum theory as this is fundamental to tensions between physics and metaphysics. The volume concludes with the author’s own pedagogical proposal for the future.
Pedagogies of Biomedical Science: A Holistic Approach to Integrating Pedagogy Across the Curriculum (Contemporary Pedagogies of Medical and Health Professions’ Education)
by Donna JohnsonThis book confronts the continually evolving nature of biomedical science education by providing a robust account of learning pedagogies and best practice for scholars and researchers in the field.Rather than considering subdisciplines of biomedical science education separately, the volume takes a holistic approach and considers the complexities of teaching biomedical science as a whole, providing a nuanced overview of how a particular practice fits in such a course overall, as well as providing support for development within the reader’s own subdiscipline. Ultimately, this holistic approach allows for expansive discussion of relevant pedagogical approaches that will directly inform innovations in the contemporary teaching of biomedical science education.Novel in approach and underpinned by the latest in research innovations, this book will appeal to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of medical education, higher education, and curriculum studies. Policy makers involved with health education and promotion as well as educational research will also benefit from the volume.
Pediatric Sports Medicine: Essentials for Office Evaluation
by Chris Koutures Valarie WongPediatric Sports Medicine: Essentials for Office Evaluation is a clinically relevant reference presented in a question-and-answer format designed to be a primary resource for all pediatric providers and health care professionals who work closely with children or young adults with sports related injuries.Dr. Chris Koutures and Dr. Valarie Wong explore the topics most commonly asked pertaining to pediatric sports medicine, in a casual, yet informative manner. The unique format of this cutting-edge book provides a rapid reference and “quick look-up” for today’s busy practitioner.Pediatric Sports Medicine: Essentials for Office Evaluation includes unique chapters such as key sports medical terms and phrases, how to take a sports medicine history, what imaging studies to order, and how to determine safe return to play for many medical and musculoskeletal concerns.Additional features include:• Information on pediatric sports medicine rehabilitation• Tips on specialty referral• Generous use of tables and figures • Pictures of labeled images and radiographs that highlight key landmarks and points of emphasisWith contributions from many of the experts in the field, Pediatric Sports Medicine: Essentials for Office Evaluation is an easy-to-read resource for any medical practitioner, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, residents, medical students, physical therapists, and athletic trainers, and many more, seeking to quickly expand their knowledge of pediatric sports medicine.
Pediatric Stroke Rehabilitation: An Interprofessional and Collaborative Approach
by Sabrina Smith Heather Atkinson Kim Nixon-CavePediatric Stroke Rehabilitation: An Interprofessional and Collaborative Approach is a groundbreaking text designed to enhance the practice of all health care providers, enrich discussion, and emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of managing best outcomes for a child who has had a stroke. Evidence-based practice is threaded throughout the text with an emphasis on recovery vs. compensation, goal achievement, and outcome measurement.In conjunction with the interdisciplinary contributions from a wide variety of health care professionals, Drs. Heather Atkinson, Kim Nixon-Cave, and Sabrina E. Smith aim to provide the necessary tools to effectively treat children with stroke.The first section reviews the medical fundamentals, covering all major types of strokes. The second section of Pediatric Stroke Rehabilitation focuses on the core of the matter, rehabilitation. The final section expands the understanding of the child’s recovery to the family, community, and school environment.Select chapters include: Personal vignettes written by family members of children who have had a stroke that provides insight into the impact a stroke can have on the child and family A family focus box to summarize the main points of the chapter to provide the best tools for caregivers to advocate for their child A case study related to the content and family perspective Pediatric Stroke Rehabilitation also utilizes the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework throughout.Included with the text are online supplemental materials for faculty use in the classroom.Pediatric Stroke Rehabilitation: An Interprofessional and Collaborative Approach is an interdisciplinary and invaluable resource for students and clinicians to understand and apply effective evidence-based practice and treatment approaches for childhood stroke. The text will also be of interest to healthcare professionals, specifically physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, physicians, neuropsychologists, nurses, and educators, who work with children who have experienced a stroke.
Pediatric Therapy: An Interprofessional Framework for Practice
by Catherine Rush ThompsonResearch has become increasingly clear regarding the benefits of interprofessional collaborations in health care. Pediatric therapists have long recognized that coordinated care and advocacy for children and their families promote healthy growth, development, and participation in a wide range of environments. To this end, Pediatric Therapy: An Interprofessional Framework for Practice has been designed to engage students and clinicians in interprofessional learning experiences that cultivate collaborative practice and optimize the outcomes of those served. Dr. Catherine Rush Thompson and her team of contributors represent years of experience across the fields of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology. Rather than discussing each of these fields in isolation, however, the text explores professional roles and responsibilities, emphasizing essential skills needed for collaboration in a range of pediatric settings.Key Interprofessional Concepts Covered: Foundations and philosophies that serve as a basis for pediatric care Assessing infants, children, youth, and adolescents in various situations Legal and ethical considerations impacting pediatric care Unique issues encountered in settings where pediatric therapies are offered Using current evidence and the clinical reasoning process for designing and modifying interventions Each section of Pediatric Therapy offers case-based learning activities requiring interprofessional collaboration for clinical reasoning to optimize care. This approach encourages an appreciation of the importance of holistic care, as well as an understanding of the roles, frames of reference, and approaches favored by each discipline. Pediatric therapists and others who work in healthcare and educational settings will appreciate Pediatric Therapy: An Interprofessional Framework for Practice as a guide for developing the interprofessional competencies needed to achieve desired outcomes for children and their families.
Peeing and Pooping in Space: A 100% Factual Illustrated History
by Kiona N. SmithExplore the irreverent side of space travel—and learn about the marvels of modern engineering—in this hilarious illustrated guide to excrement etiquette in the midst of adventurous endeavors. Space travel is a pinnacle of human ambition and a marvel of engineering. But someone had to figure out how our brave astronauts would go to the bathroom. And like any scientific endeavor, it took a lot of trial and error. Explore the little-seen history of the inventions and advancements that allowed astronauts to boldly go where they've never gone before. From pre-flight rituals to the first person to pee on the moon and zero-gravity toilets to farting etiquette, Peeing and Pooping in Space shares everything you never imagined you'd want to know humorously detailed in smart, easily digestible, and illustrated entries.
Peep Light: Stories of a Mississippi River Boat Captain
by Lee HendrixMost people only consider the Mississippi River when they cross it or when it inconveniently abandons its banks. But every year, millions of tons of cargo are transported by towboats on the river. In Peep Light: Stories of a Mississippi River Boat Captain, Captain Lee Hendrix provides unique insight on people who work and live on and near the Mississippi River. Hendrix, formerly a pilot for the Delta Queen Steamboat Co., has worked on the Mississippi for fifty years, first as a towboat deckhand in 1972 and eventually as a pilot of towboats and passenger vessels. In 2014, Hendrix became captain of the towboat Mississippi with the US Army Corps of Engineers, then he later retired to return to passenger vessels. For Hendrix and others like him, he is at home on the river, living and dining with the same people they work with, working with familiar faces for years at a time and yet meeting new people every day.Demonstrating a fascination not only with the river but also with the passions and dreams of those who live and work on it, these stories range from personal reflections on aging, experiencing one’s first night on the river and the complex emotions that come with it, working on the deck, promotion to pilot, the characters working aboard these boats, and the history of the river itself. Peep Light unites humans with the river through engaging storytelling and sheds light on Hendrix’s rare experience along one of the most powerful and important waterways in the world.
Peg and Rose Stir Up Trouble (A Senior Sleuths Mystery #2)
by Laurien BerensonMurder, She Wrote meets The Odd Couple in award-winning author Laurien Berenson&’s brand-new mystery series, spun off from her much-loved Melanie Travis Canine series and featuring Melanie&’s elderly aunts—tough-as-nails Peg and soft-spoken Rose—who&’ll put their differences aside to stop a killer, if they don&’t throttle each other first. The latest installment will tickle all cozy lovers, especially fans of &“senior&” sleuths in the tradition of Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher. When a typically closed-off Peg attempts online dating at Rose&’s strong urging, the experience plays out like an embarrassing mistake. At least, until she matches with Nolan Abercrombie—intelligent, attractive, and a self-proclaimed dog lover. The two share an instant connection that has Peg cautiously excited to finally bring someone special into her busy world of Standard Poodles and conformation shows. Before Peg can admit that Rose was right and let down her walls for the budding romance, a terrible accident claims Nolan&’s life. As details about his background and tragic death come to light, Peg has a serious hunch that someone successfully plotted to kill her first real date in decades . . . With suspects galore and a slew of puzzling clues to peel through, Peg and Rose team up to solve a dangerous mystery unfolding before their eyes. The question is: Can the unlikely duo turn their radically different personalities into an advantage as they scramble to ID the guilty culprit—or will they manage to work against each other and find themselves precisely where a meticulous murderer wants them to be?
Pence: The Path to Power
by Andrea NealWhat does a person need to learn before they can survive as the vice president under a tumultuous administration? How do you continue to honor the laws and the constitution of the country in the face of increasingly vitriolic partisan politics? Mike Pence's vice presidency of the United States wasn't always easy. To some, he is the personification of American conservative values, but to others, his ideals are the epitome of prejudice and bigotry. In Pence: The Path to Power, journalist Andrea Neal showcases how the vice president arrived at this position of influence. Neal interviews friends, family, staff, former teachers, and politicians on both sides of the aisle to reveal a multifaceted view of the self-described Christian, Conservative, and Republican–in that order–from his beginnings in a large Irish Catholic family in Columbus, Indiana, through the scandals of his first election, to his time beside Donald Trump. This candid look at Mike Pence's life exposes his unexpected path to power and the individuals who influenced him along the way.
The Peninsular War: A New History
by Charles EsdaileA stunning look at Napoleon's campaign across the Iberian peninsula from historian Charles Esdaile.At the end of the 18th century Spain remained one of the world's most powerful empires. Portugal, too, was prosperous at the time. By 1808, everything had changed. Portugal was under occupation and ravaged by famine, disease, economic problems and political instability. Spain had imploded and worse was to come. For the next six years, the peninsula was the helpless victim of others, suffering perhaps over a million deaths while troops from all over Europe tore it to pieces. Charles Esdaile's brilliant new history of the conflict makes plain the scope of the tragedy and its far-reaching effects, especially the poisonous legacy that produced the Spanish civil war of 1936-39.
The Pennsylvania Railroad, Volume 2: The Age of Limits, 1917–1933 (Railroads Past and Present)
by Albert J. ChurellaBy 1933, the Pennsylvania Railroad had been in existence for nearly ninety years. During this time, it had grown from a small line, struggling to build west from the state capital in Harrisburg, to the dominant transportation company in the United States. In Volume 2 of The Pennsylvania Railroad, Albert J. Churella continues his history of this giant of American transportation. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Pennsylvania Railroad was the world's largest business corporation and the nation's most important railroad. By 1917, the Pennsylvania Railroad, like the nation itself, was confronting a very different world. The war that had consumed Europe since 1914 was about to engulf the United States. Amid unprecedented demand for transportation, the federal government undertook the management of the railroads, while new labor policies and new regulatory initiatives, coupled with a postwar recession, would challenge the company like never before. Only time would tell whether the years that followed would signal a new beginning for the Pennsylvania Railroad or the beginning of the end. The Pennsylvania Railroad: The Age of Limits, 1917–1933,represents an unparalleled look at the history, the personalities, and the technologies of this iconic American company in a period that marked the shift from building an empire to exploring the limits of their power.
The Pensive Citadel
by Victor BrombertA reflective volume of essays on literature and literary study from a storied professor. In The Pensive Citadel, Victor Brombert looks back on a lifetime of learning within a university world greatly altered since he entered Yale on the GI Bill in the 1940s. Yet for all that has changed, much of Brombert’s long experience as a reader and teacher is richly familiar: the rewards of rereading, the joy of learning from students, and most of all the insight to be found in engaging works of literature. The essays gathered here range from meditations on laughter and jealousy to new appreciations of Brombert’s lifelong companions Shakespeare, Montaigne, Voltaire, and Stendhal. A veteran of D-day and the Battle of the Bulge who witnessed history’s worst nightmares firsthand, Brombert nevertheless approaches literature with a lightness of spirit, making the case for intellectual mobility and openness to change. The Pensive Citadel is a celebration of a life lived in literary study, and of what can be learned from attending to the works that form one’s cultural heritage.
The Pensive Image: Art as a Form of Thinking
by Hanneke GrootenboerGrootenboer considers painting as a form of thinking in itself, rather than a subject of philosophical and interpretive thought. While the philosophical dimension of painting has long been discussed, a clear case for painting as a form of visual thinking has yet to be made. Traditionally, vanitas still life paintings are considered to raise ontological issues while landscapes direct the mind toward introspection. Grootenboer moves beyond these considerations to focus on what remains unspoken in painting, the implicit and inexpressible that manifests in a quality she calls pensiveness. Different from self-aware or actively desiring images, pensive images are speculative, pointing beyond interpretation. An alternative pictorial category, pensive images stir us away from interpretation and toward a state of suspension where thinking through and with the image can start. In fluid prose, Grootenboer explores various modalities of visual thinking— as the location where thought should be found, as a refuge enabling reflection, and as an encounter that provokes thought. Through these considerations, she demonstrates that artworks serve as models for thought as much as they act as instruments through which thinking can take place. Starting from the premise that painting is itself a type of thinking, The Pensive Image argues that art is capable of forming thoughts and shaping concepts in visual terms.