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The Great Impostor: The Amazing Careers of Ferdinand Waldo Demara
by Robert CrichtonIn this forthright account of a remarkable fraud inFerdinand Waldo Demara, Robert Crichton presents the man, his reasons, and his methods. A New York Times bestseller when it was originally published in 1959, and serving as the inspiration for the Tony Curtis film of the same name, this is the fascinating and disturbing story of America’s Great Impostor.The fantastic lives and careers of Ferdinand Waldo Demara make a fantastic irony of the platitude that truth is stranger than fiction. For with Ferdinand Demara, truth is fiction.Demara wanted to be a hero, to lead an epic life dedicated to the benefit of others, and to gain adulation for himself, and he did all those things by lying to others about who he was. During his storied career, Ferdinand Demara managed to “become” a Trappist monk; a doctor of psychology and Dean of the School of Philosophy at a small college in Pennsylvania; a law student, zoology graduate, cancer researcher and teacher at a junior college in Maine; a surgeon-lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Navy (as medical officer on the destroyed Cayuga, he successfully performed major surgery); a brilliant assistant warden of a Texas prison; and a teacher and beloved idol of the children on a Maine island village.
Loving Little Egypt: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction Ser.)
by Thomas McMahonIn the early 1920s, nearly blind physics prodigy Mourly Vold finds out how to tap into the nation's long distance telephone lines. With the help of Alexander Graham Bell, Vold tries to warn the phone companies that would-be saboteurs could do the same thing, but they ignore him. Unfortunately, his taps do catch the notice of William Randolph Hearst, who hires Thomas Edison to get to the bottom of them—and the chase is on!
Where Armadillos Go to Die: A Mystery (Jeremiah Spur Mysteries #3)
by James HimeSylvester Bradshaw owns the Bouree restaurant, home of the best catfish within a hundred miles of Brenham, Texas. Besides being known for his cooking and for being one of the town's nastiest residents, he also happens to have invented a machine that several venture capitalists and one former NFL star would like to invest in at almost any cost. But Bradshaw---stubborn and miserly---can't be enticed no matter what offer they put on the table. Nobody gets a look and nobody gets to know how the device works, not even his family.When the restaurant is ransacked and he goes missing, the only person willing to take his disappearance seriously is Jeremiah Spur. The retired Texas Ranger and rancher is a dedicated customer, if not a friend, which makes him the only man on whom the Bradshaws can pin their hopes.James Hime's Where Armadillos Go to Die eloquently captures the voice and spirit of a small Texas town with troubles every bit as big as the whole state, making for some of the most engaging crime fiction on bookshelves today.
Killing a Unicorn: A Mystery
by Marjorie EcclesA family with secrets---is murder one of them? Membery Place has been the home of the Calvert family for over one hundred years. Below it, set in a forest clearing, is a modern, award-winning house designed by architect Mark Calvert, one of Alyssa Calvert's three sons.Mark's wife, Francesca, has been conscious of an intriguing element of mystery surrounding Bianca Morgan ever since Chip, the eldest Calvert brother, brought her and her child to live with him at Membery. No one, except possibly Chip, knows anything about her previous life. Bianca remains an enigma---and then one day her body is found in a pool beneath a waterfall on the estate.The three brothers have always been very close, but the subsequent inquiry now reveals that they all had their own secret connection with Bianca. Could one of them have had reason to kill her? Perhaps Jonathan, to save his career as an international cello soloist; Mark, to save his marriage---or even Chip?The focus of the inquiry shifts dramatically when Bianca's nine-year-old son goes missing. Has the child too been killed, or has he been abducted because he saw his mother's murder? The fruitless search for Bianca's killer and the kidnapper forces Francesca to take matters into her own hands, determined to resolve the mystery of the Calvert family.
Dying Echo (Grim Reaper Series #4)
by Judy ClemensIt's been years since Casey Maldonado visited her hometown. The only reason she's returning now is to get her brother Ricky out of jail, where he's been arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Alicia McManus. Casey believes in her brother's innocence, but proving that to the cops is a different thing altogether, especially since she has her own murder warrant to worry about. Even more frightening is Casey's confrontation with her personal demons—the home she shared with her late husband and son, the resentment of her mother, and even the presence of Eric, who wants to be more than just a friend.As Casey and her ever-present companion Death investigate, it becomes clear Alicia was not who she claimed to be. Instead of a solid history, she left only questions when she died. Where did she come from? What secrets did she know? And, most importantly, who were the three people she spoke of when Death carried her away?Casey must sort the truth from the elaborate fiction of Alicia's life in order to clear Ricky's name, but as she reveals the woman's secrets, Casey begins to see just how alike their lives appear. Is Casey destined to an existence as empty and dark as Alicia's? Or can she overcome the tragedy of her past and move forward into a life worth living?
The Complete A**hole's Guide to Handling Chicks
by Dan Indante Karl MarksCongratulations, man! By picking up The Complete A**hole's Guide to Handling Chicks, you are just pages away from finally understanding:- How a five-dollar date can get you laid- How to stop being friends with girls and start getting them in the sack- Where you'll have the best odds of finding a one-night stand, and how to get rid of the chick the next morning - How to trick a woman into thinking you're classy, even if you have holes in your underwear- Why fat chicks always try to keep you from banging their hot friends, and how to finally stop these evil creatures- How to stop your wife from nagging you into an early grave- Why it's possible to watch six hours of football, put the moves on your neighbor's hot daughter, and leave the toilet seat up in the same day- And much moreThe Complete A**hole's Guide isn't like all the other candy-ass relationship books on the market; it doesn't cover issues like romance, love, and finding Miss Right. So, if that's what you're looking for, there are plenty of other books you can hide under your skirt as you skip out of the store. This book is about controlling the women in your life, and never having to say you're sorry . . . EVER AGAIN!We'll take you from the day you're born to the day you die and show you how women can be manipulated, frustrated, and ultimately dominated throughout the course of a man's life. By illustrating the insanity of the female mind, we'll show you why the flawed chick psyche causes them to continuously fall for the a**hole, no matter how many times they get burned. If you're not interested, that's fine. We're sure there are ballet classes you need to attend before your wine and cheese party. However, if you are ready, then grab a six-pack, order a pizza, and get your hand out of your pants because you're about to read the most perverse, sadistic, and hysterical relationship book ever written. Enjoy!
Authentische Markenkommunikation von umweltschutzbezogenen CSR-Aktivitäten durch Transparenz anhand von zweiseitigen Botschaften (Innovatives Markenmanagement)
by Jonas MüllerViele Marken legen hauptsächlich positive Informationen über umweltschutzbezogene CSR-Aktivitäten offen. Diese einseitigen Botschaften können das Markenvertrauen bei nicht eingehaltenen Versprechen negativ beeinflussen. Die authentische Markenkommunikation ist eine Möglichkeit, um Vertrauen zu fördern. Ein Ansatz zur Steigerung der Authentizität könnte transparente Kommunikation sein. Markenmanager stehen dabei vor der Frage, ob sie auch bezüglich negativer Aspekte transparent sein sollten (zweiseitige Botschaften). Die Wirkung von zweiseitigen Botschaften auf wichtige Zielgrößen kann mit der existierenden Literatur nicht erklärt werden. Jonas Müller widmet sich in dem vorliegenden Buch diesem Defizit und untersucht empirisch die Wirkung von zweiseitigen Botschaften zu umweltschutzbezogenen CSR-Aktivitäten auf die Markenauthentizität und Kaufintention. Hierzu führt er insgesamt vier empirische Hauptstudien in zwei Ländern durch. Aus den empirischen Erkenntnissen ergeben sich vielseitige Handlungsempfehlungen für die Praxis.
Fachkräftemigration – Pflegenotstand – Nächstenliebe: Katholische Frauen aus Kerala (Indien) in deutschen Krankenhäusern der 1960er
by Tobias Santosh GroßmannDieses Open-Access-Buch verfolgt das Ziel, die Migrationsbewegungen aus Indien in den 1960er Jahren anhand transdisziplinärer Ansätze der Historischen Migrationsforschung aufzuarbeiten. In der jungen Bundesrepublik führte der Wirtschaftsboom der Nachkriegszeit zur Modernisierung und zum Ausbau von Pflegeeinrichtungen. Dabei entstand eine kaum zu stillende geschlechtsspezifische Nachfrage nach Arbeitskräften: Frauen, die Krankenpflege als „Berufung“ ausüben sollten. Katholische Orden reagierten auf den Pflegenotstand ihrer Krankenhäuser, indem sie ab 1960 über internationale Kirchennetzwerke Ordenskandidatinnen aus dem christlich geprägten Kerala in Südindien anwarben. Der deutsche Staat wurde auf dieses innerkirchliche Modell aufmerksam. Ab 1964 wurden auf Anweisung des Innenministers von Baden-Württemberg in der hybriden „Nirmala-Aktion“ zwischen Staats- und Kirchenrecht durch katholische Akteure „indische Mädchen“ aus Kerala für staatliche Pflegeeinrichtungen rekrutiert. Die ersten Migrationsbewegungen transformierten sich bald zu einer Kettenmigration, bei der über Jahre hinweg mehrere tausend Frauen in den deutschen Pflegesektor migrierten. Der Rekonstruktion aus institutioneller Perspektive werden die subjektiven Erinnerungen von Pioniermigrantinnen gegenübergestellt. Die Einordnung in die historischen Kontexte der Empfänger- und Senderregion ermöglicht neue Sichtweisen auf die transnationalen Entwicklungen, welche Kerala und Deutschland seit den 1960ern verbinden.
Engineering Natural Silk: Applications and Future Directions (Engineering Materials)
by Balasubramanian Kandasubramanian Niranjana Jaya PrakashThis book highlights the potential of silk in a vast array of applications, mainly in the field of medicine, electronics, and cosmetics. The silk proteins are generally contrived within the specialized glands of the arthropods, viz silkworms, spiders, and moths posterior to the biosynthesis occurring inside the epithelial cells. The unique conformational orientation comprising of hydrophobic crystalline beta-sheet domains and hydrophilic amorphous random coil structure, their tunability, presence of plenteous functional groups, mechanical strength, ease of regeneration, biocompatibility and biodegradability has enabled silk to grow beyond textile materials over last few decades making it an excellent alternative to synthetic polymers.
Minimization Problems for the Witness Beam in Relativistic Plasma Cavities (BestMasters)
by Melinda HagedornThis thesis deals with an optimization problem from the field of theoretical plasma physics. Specifically, it deals with the question of how the accelerated electrons are spatially arranged in a plasma wave generated by a laser pulse. An internal structure of this so-called witness beam is of interest for the radiation characteristics of such electron beams, in particular with regard to the coherence of the generated radiation. The resulting internal structure of the electron beam is a result of the interaction of the electrons with each other and the electric fields of the wakefield, therefore it is determined by solving a minimization problem. The thesis builds on previous results in this field and aims to find suggestions for improved algorithms to determine the minimum sought.
The Language of Margaret Atwood (Palgrave Studies in Language, Literature and Style)
by Chloe HarrisonThis book explores Margaret Atwood’s distinctive use of language and style, across a selection of her prose texts, through reader-centred, cognitive stylistic analyses. It examines how strategies of misdirection, processes of doubling, and the creation of textual ambience play an essential role in Atwood’s contemporary prose fiction style. With reference to contemporary scholarship in stylistics and literary criticism, each chapter presents a detailed linguistic analysis of a different text from Atwood’s oeuvre, from Alias Grace (1996) to Old Babes in the Wood (2023). Above all, the book studies experiences of reading Atwood’s works, situating and contextualising her signature linguistic choices in relation to real readers’ responses to her writing. The book should be of interest to readers specialising in the work of Margaret Atwood, including those with stylistics, cognitive linguistics, and literary studies backgrounds.
From Mass Prefab to Mass Customization: Modern Methods of Constructions from Experimentation to Manufacturing (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology)
by Ornella IuorioThis book provides an overview of the latest innovations in prefabrication. It analyzes how digital, material, and process innovations are transforming the mass prefabrication of homes, schools, and offices into mass customization. It provides an understanding of available manufacturing processes, including distributed ownership of manufacturing, platform approaches, and robotics. It discusses how the integration of cutting-edge advanced construction techniques, coupled with robotic manufacturing and assembly from the earliest stages of building system design, has the potential to unlock new formal and technical paradigms. Investigating the impact of prefab in the context of climate emergency, the book analyzes the capacity and shortfall in delivering net zero emissions. It discusses the opportunities that Modern Methods of Construction provide to enable the transition towards circular constructions, from reuse to retrofitting. Including the users' experience, it demonstrates the importance of developing methodologies for capturing users' occupancy evaluation, as a means for understanding real performances, benchmarking indicators, and tuning systems to target the long-term well-being of the occupants. Referring to a plethora of emblematic cases, this work demonstrates the importance of investing in research and development to optimize construction systems, reduce material use, facilitate lean construction, advance mechanical and environmental performances, and move toward circular systems to close the loop. This book is aimed at practitioners, architects, technologists, researchers, and students in architectural engineering.
Seven Blessings: A Novel
by Ruchama KingThe closed, secret world of matchmaking in contemporary Israel provides the titillating pivot for a story of uncommon proportions. In Ruchama King's skillful hands, Seven Blessings maps out the complicated lives of five expatriate women and men whose search for a soul mate, in many ways, mirrors their search for God.At the center of this fascinating novel is Beth, who at age thirty-nine longs to be married but despairs she ever will be. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, he has what she believes to be an insurmountable flaw. Can she overcome her repugnance in order to forge a new life? Binyamin, a talented painter and student, lacks the humility to identify a worthy wife. He strains the matchmakers' patience until his search for perfect love finally becomes ridiculous, even to himself. Tsippi and Judith, the matchmakers, are stumbling themselves, with marriages that need propping up. In this land of miracles, seeking the right match, whether between singles, husband and wife, student and teacher, or man and God, becomes a quest that opens the Bible to us in a new way.Rich characters, an intriguing setting, writing that offers unique nuances, and ultimately a story that keeps you turning the pages all combine to introduce a remarkable newcomer. Seven Blessings redefines the Jewish experience, with a story that will ring with truth for anyone who's ever considered getting married.
Jewish Literary Eros: Between Poetry and Prose in the Medieval Mediterranean (Sephardi and Mizrahi Studies)
by Isabelle LevyIn Jewish Literary Eros, Isabelle Levy explores the originality and complexity of medieval Jewish writings. Examining medieval prosimetra (texts composed of alternating prose and verse), Levy demonstrates that secular love is the common theme across Arabic, Hebrew, French, and Italian texts. At the crossroads of these spheres of intellectual activity, Jews of the medieval Mediterranean composed texts that combined dominant cultures' literary stylings with biblical Hebrew and other elements from Jewish cultures. Levy explores Jewish authors' treatments of love in prosimetra and finds them creative, complex, and innovative.Jewish Literary Eros compares the mixed-form compositions by Jewish authors of the medieval Mediterranean with their Arabic and European counterparts to find the particular moments of innovation among textual practices by Jewish authors. When viewed in the comparative context of the medieval Mediterranean, the evolving relationship between the mixed form and the theme of love in secular Jewish compositions refines our understanding of the ways in which the Jewish literature of the period negotiates the hermeneutic and theological underpinnings of Islamicate and Christian literary traditions.
Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music
by Neil PowellThis spellbinding centenary biography by Neil Powell looks at the music, the life, and the legacy of the greatest British composer of the twentieth centuryBenjamin Britten was born on November 22, 1913, in the East Suffolk town of Lowestoft. Displaying a passion and proficiency for music at an early age, to the delight of his mother, Edith, a talented amateur musician herself, he began composing music when he was only five years old. After studying at the Royal College of Music, Britten went on to write documentary scores for the General Post Office Film Unit, where he met and collaborated with the poet W. H. Auden.Of more lasting importance was Britten's introduction in 1937 to the tenor Peter Pears, who was to become the inspirational center of his emotional and musical life. Their partnership lasted nearly four decades, during a dangerous time when homosexuality was illegal in England. Conscientious objectors, Britten and Pears followed Auden to America before the war began in 1939. While there, they joined the extraordinary Brooklyn ménage of George Davis, Louis MacNeice, and Paul Bowles.Eventually intense homesickness, provoked in part by George Crabbe's poem "Peter Grimes," drove the pair home to East Anglia in 1942 and gave Britten the inspiration for his finest opera. Throughout his career, Britten did not want modern music to be just for "the cultured few" and instead always composed his music to be "listenable-to." The shared quotidian lives of Britten and Pears unfold in this intimate biography and the story of two men who created a truly remarkable legacy.
Lives and Letters
by Robert GottliebThe product of a lifetime immersed in the literary, performing arts, and entertainment worlds, Robert Gottlieb's Lives and Letters spotlights the work, careers, intimate lives, and lasting achievements of a vast array of celebrated writers and performers in film, theater, and dance, and some of the more curious iconic public figures of our times.From the world of literature, Charles Dickens, James Thurber, Judith Krantz, John Steinbeck, and Rudyard Kipling; the controversies surrounding Bruno Bettelheim and Elia Kazan; and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and her editor, Maxwell Perkins.From dance and theater, Isadora Duncan and Margot Fonteyn, Serge Diaghilev and George Balanchine, Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse.In Hollywood, Bing Crosby and Judy Garland, Douglas Fairbanks and Lillian Gish, Tallulah Bankhead and Katharine Hepburn, Mae West and Anna May Wong.In New York, Diana Vreeland, the Trumps, and Gottlieb's own take on the contretemps that followed his replacing William Shawn at The New Yorker.And so much more . . .
Open Sky: Sonny Rollins and His World of Improvisation
by Eric NisensonSonny Rollins is arguably the most influential tenor saxophonist that jazz has produced. He began his musical career at the tender age of eleven, and within five short years he was playing with the legendary Thelonius Monk. In the late forties (before his twenty-first birthday), Rollins was in full swing, recording with jazz luminaries such as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, and Fats Navarro. He was hailed as the best jazz tenor saxophonist alive during the years 1955 to 1959, when he was credited with pioneering the use of 3/4-time in bop music.Today, forty years later, Rollins's onstage appearances are eagerly anticipated events, where his compelling sound reaches a whole new generation of listeners. Renowned jazz writer Eric Nisenson has penned a long-overdue look at one of jazz music's brightest and most enduring stars.
The Digital Factory: The Human Labor of Automation
by Moritz AltenriedThe Digital Factoryreveals the hidden human labor that supports today’s digital capitalism. The workers of today’s digital factory include those in Amazon warehouses, delivery drivers, Chinese gaming workers, Filipino content moderators, and rural American search engine optimizers. Repetitive yet stressful, boring yet often emotionally demanding, these jobs require little formal qualification, but can demand a large degree of skills and knowledge. This work is often hidden behind the supposed magic of algorithms and thought to be automated, but it is in fact highly dependent on human labor. The workers of today’s digital factory are not as far removed from a typical auto assembly line as we might think. Moritz Altenried takes us inside today’s digital factories, showing that they take very different forms, including gig economy platforms, video games, and Amazon warehouses. As Altenried shows, these digital factories often share surprising similarities with factories from the industrial age. As globalized capitalism and digital technology continue to transform labor around the world, Altenried offers a timely and poignant exploration of how these changes are restructuring the social division of labor and its geographies as well as the stratifications and lines of struggle.
The Virtual Haydn: Paradox of a Twenty-First-Century Keyboardist
by Tom BeghinHaydn’s music has been performed continuously for more than two hundred years. But what do we play, and what do we listen to, when it comes to Haydn? Can we still appreciate the rich rhetorical nuances of this music, which from its earliest days was meant to be played by professionals and amateurs alike? With The Virtual Haydn, Tom Beghin—himself a professional keyboard player—delves deeply into eighteenth-century history and musicology to help us hear a properly complex Haydn. Unusually for a scholarly work, the book is presented in the first person, as Beghin takes us on what is clearly a very personal journey into the past. When a discussion of a group of Viennese sonatas, for example, leads him into an analysis of the contemporary interest in physiognomy, Beghin applies what he learns about the role of facial expressions during his own performance of the music. Elsewhere, he analyzes gesture and gender, changes in keyboard technology, and the role of amateurs in eighteenth-century musical culture. The resulting book is itself a fascinating, bravura performance, one that partakes of eighteenth-century idiosyncrasy while drawing on a panoply of twenty-first-century knowledge.
Caring for Our Parents: Inspiring Stories of Families Seeking New Solutions to America's Most Urgent Health Crisis
by Howard GleckmanWhen his mother-in-law died suddenly and his seriously ill father-in-law was left with no one to care for him, the author and his wife were thrust into the complex and overwhelming world of long-term care. Just months later his own father fell sick, and the couple struggled to help care for him too—from 1000 miles away. Over the next year-and-a-half, this ordinary family faced one crisis after another, as each day brought new struggle and pain, but also surprising rewards. They were among the 44 million Americans who are caring for elderly parents or relatives or friends with disabilities. Someone you love will almost certainly need long-term care services before they die. Nearly 70 percent of our parents will receive such help sometime during their old age—usually at home, though often in a nursing home. It will last for an average of three years, though one in five will need this assistance for five years or more. This book tells the sometimes painful, sometimes uplifting, and always compelling stories of the families who struggle every day with the care needs of their loved ones. The costs are crushing: and the weight of 77 million aging Baby Boomers will devastate our nation's already fragile system for funding this critical day-to-day assistance. How can we repair the tattered safety net that is so essential to our aged and disabled?
Modern European History (Collins College Outlines)
by John R. BarberThe Age of Modern Europe; The Industrial Revolution; The Ancien Regime and Its Critics; The Despots and the High Enlightenment; The French Revolution and the Reign of Terror; The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire; The Attempt to Restore the Acien Regime; The Age of European Revolution; The New Nationalism; The Industrial Nation States; The Industrializing States; The Culture of Industrial Europe; The Great War and the Russian Revolution; The Formation of the Soviet Union; The Rise of Fascism; The European Democracies; The Second World War; Cold War Europe; Eastern Europe since 1953; The Cold Wars and After; Western Europe and the European Community since the 1950's; Modern and Ultra-Modern Europe in the 1990's.Also includes Chronology of History, Maps, Charts, Tables, Full Index, and Bibliography.
Face of the Enemy (New York in Wartime Mysteries)
by Joanne Dobson Beverle Graves MyersIn this historical mystery series debut, when murder almost occurs at her doorstep, a young innkeeper in ancient Roman Britain must find who&’s responsible. Roman Britain in 91 AD is a raw frontier province, part of the mighty Empire ruled by Domitian Caesar. Though it is almost fifty years since the legions invaded, many native tribes still hate their conquerors and seize any chance to harass the Roman settlers who are flocking in to colonize the new province. Tension is especially high in the north, where Aurelia Marcella, a young innkeeper from Italy, runs the Oak Tree Inn on the road to York. A string of savage murders disrupts her peaceful life, and she and her Roman friends find themselves under attack from a secret native war-band whose aim is to drive all Romans out. When a traveler, Quintus, is nearly killed close to the inn, he and Aurelia must track down the rebel warriors and identify their mysterious masked leader, the Shadow of Death. Can they find and destroy him before his campaign of terror turns into open rebellion? Praise for Shadows in the Night&“Jane Finnis&’ gripping story of terrorism in Roman Britain is relevant and real for us today.&” —Rhys Bowen, New York Times–bestselling author &“Thoroughly plausible. Warmly recommended.&” —Historical Novel Society
Menahem Pressler: Artistry in Piano Teaching
by William BrownAs soloist, master class teacher, and pianist of the world-renowned Beaux Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler can boast of four Grammy nominations, three honorary doctorates, more than 80 recordings, and lifetime achievement awards presented by France, Germany, and Israel. Former Pressler student William Brown traces the master's pianistic development through Rudiakov, Kestenberg, Vengerova, Casadesus, Petri, and Steuermann, blending techniques and traditions derived from Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and J. S. Bach. Brown presents Pressler's approach to performance and teaching, including technical exercises, principles of relaxation and total body involvement, and images to guide the pianist's creativity toward expressive interpretation. Insights from the author's own lessons, interviews with Pressler, and recollections of more than 100 Pressler students from the past 50 years are gathered in this text. Measure-by-measure lessons on 23 piano masterworks by, among others, Bach, Bartók, Debussy, and Ravel as well as transcriptions of Pressler's fingerings, hand redistributions, practicing guidelines, musical scores, and master class performances are included.
The Sun on My Head: Stories
by Geovani MartinsA bestselling literary sensation in Brazil, a powerful debut short-story collection about favela life in Rio de JaneiroIn The Sun on My Head, Geovani Martins recounts the experiences of boys growing up in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the early years of the twenty-first century. Drawing on his childhood and adolescence, Martins uses the rhythms and slang of his neighborhood dialect to capture the texture of life in the slums, where every day is shadowed by a ubiquitous drug culture, the constant threat of the police, and the confines of poverty, violence, and racial oppression. And yet these are also stories of friendship, romance, and momentary relief, as in “Rolézim,” where a group of teenagers head to the beach. Other stories, all uncompromising in their realism and yet diverse in narrative form, explore the changes that occur when militarized police occupy the favelas in the lead-up to the World Cup, the cycles of violence in the narcotics trade, and the feelings of invisibility that define the realities of so many in Rio’s underclass.The Sun on My Head is a work of great talent and sensitivity, a daring evocation of life in the favelas by a rising star rooted in the community he portrays.
Can Democracy Work?: A Short History of a Radical Idea, from Ancient Athens to Our World
by James Miller"Of all the books on democracy in recent years one of the best is James Miller’s Can Democracy Work? . . . Miller provides an intelligent journey through the turbulent past of this great human experiment in whether we can actually govern ourselves." —David Blight, The GuardianA new history of the world’s most embattled ideaToday, democracy is the world’s only broadly accepted political system, and yet it has become synonymous with disappointment and crisis. How did it come to this? In Can Democracy Work? James Miller, the author of the classic history of 1960s protest Democracy Is in the Streets, offers a lively, surprising, and urgent history of the democratic idea from its first stirrings to the present. As he shows, democracy has always been rife with inner tensions. The ancient Greeks preferred to choose leaders by lottery and regarded elections as inherently corrupt and undemocratic. The French revolutionaries sought to incarnate the popular will, but many of them came to see the people as the enemy. And in the United States, the franchise would be extended to some even as it was taken from others. Amid the wars and revolutions of the twentieth century, communists, liberals, and nationalists all sought to claim the ideals of democracy for themselves—even as they manifestly failed to realize them.Ranging from the theaters of Athens to the tents of Occupy Wall Street, Can Democracy Work? is an entertaining and insightful guide to our most cherished—and vexed—ideal.