- Table View
- List View
Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Land
by Dan O'BrienFor more than forty years the prairies of South Dakota have been Dan O’Brien’s home. Working as a writer and an endangered-species biologist, he became convinced that returning grass-fed, free-roaming buffalo to the grasslands of the northern plains would return natural balance to the region and reestablish the undulating prairie lost through poor land management and overzealous farming. In 1998 he bought his first buffalo and began the task of converting a little cattle ranch into an ethically run buffalo ranch. Wild Idea is a book about how good food choices can influence federal policies and the integrity of our food system, and about the dignity and strength of a legendary American animal. It is also a book about people: the daughter coming to womanhood in a hard landscape, the friend and ranch hand who suffers great tragedy, the venture capitalist who sees hope and opportunity in a struggling buffalo business, and the husband and wife behind the ranch who struggle daily, wondering if what they are doing will ever be enough to make a difference. At its center, Wild Idea is about a family and the people and animals that surround them—all trying to build a healthy life in a big, beautiful, and sometimes dangerous land.
The Wild Truth: The Untold Story Of Sibling Survival
by Carine MccandlessIn the more than twenty years since the body of Chris McCandless was discovered in the wilds of Alaska, his spellbinding story has captivated millions who have either read Jon Krakauer's iconic Into the Wild or seen Sean Penn's acclaimed film of the same name.And yet, only one person has truly understood what motivated Chris's unconventional decision to forsake his belongings, abandon his family, and embrace the harsh wilderness. In The Wild Truth, his beloved sister Carine McCandless finally provides a deeply personal account of the many misconceptions about Chris, revealing the truth behind his fateful journey while sharing the remarkable details of her own.Exposing the dark reality that existed behind the McCandless's seemingly idyllic home in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Carine details a violent home life, one where both parents manipulated the truth about a second family--a deception that pushed Chris over the edge and set the stage for his willing departure into the wild. And though he cut off all family ties, Carine understood--through their indelible bond and some cryptic communication--what Chris was seeking.This understanding, kept under wraps for years as Carine struggled to maintain a relationship with her parents, now comes to spectacular light in the pages of The Wild Truth. In the decades since Chris's death, Carine and her half-siblings have come together to find their own truth and build their own beauty in his absence. In each other, they've found absolution, just as Chris found absolution in the wild before he died.Beautiful and haunting, told with candor and heartbreaking insight, The Wild Truth presents a man the world only thought they knew--and the sister who has finally found redemption in sharing the rest of their story.
Wildcat Memories: Inside Stories from Kentucky Basketball Greats
by Doug BrunkSince the tenure of Coach Adolph Rupp, the University of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team has been a virtual powerhouse, repeatedly dominating the Southeastern Conference and garnering eight national titles. UK basketball is a homegrown tradition for sports enthusiasts, fostering a community that thrives on the camaraderie of fandom and devotedly cheers for its players in both victory and defeat. The individuals who have coached, played for, and inspired the Wildcats are important figures in Kentucky history and continue to motivate future athletes and passionate fans.Wildcat Memories illuminates the intimate connection between the UK basketball program and the commonwealth. Author Doug Brunk brings together some of the program's greatest coaches, players, and personalities to reflect on Kentuckians who provided inspiration, guidance, and moral support during their tenure as Wildcats. Featuring personal essays and behind-the-scenes stories from Kentucky legends Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones, Dan Issel, Joe B. Hall, Kyle Macy, and Tubby Smith, as well as newcomers Patrick Patterson, Darius Miller, and John Wall, this heartfelt collection shares an inside look at what makes UK basketball extraordinary.More than a book of inspiring stories, Wildcat Memories is a fun romp through UK basketball history. In candid firsthand accounts, the players and coaches discuss their incredible Kentucky support systems and offer a glimpse into the rarely seen personal side of life as a Wildcat.
Wilde in America: Oscar Wilde and the Invention of Modern Celebrity
by David M. FriedmanThe story of Oscar Wilde's landmark 1882 American tour explains how this quotable literary eminence became famous for being famous. On January 3, 1882, Oscar Wilde, a twenty-seven-year-old "genius"--at least by his own reckoning--arrived in New York. The Dublin-born Oxford man had made such a spectacle of himself in London with his eccentric fashion sense, acerbic wit, and extravagant passion for art and home design that Gilbert & Sullivan wrote an operetta lampooning him. He was hired to go to America to promote that work by presenting lectures on interior decorating. But Wilde had his own business plan. He would go to promote himself. And he did, traveling some 15,000 miles and visiting 150 American cities as he created a template for fame creation that still works today. Though Wilde was only the author of a self-published book of poems and an unproduced play, he presented himself as a "star," taking the stage in satin breeches and a velvet coat with lace trim as he sang the praises of sconces and embroidered pillows--and himself. What Wilde so presciently understood is that fame could launch a career as well as cap one. David M. Friedman's lively and often hilarious narrative whisks us across nineteenth-century America, from the mansions of Gilded Age Manhattan to roller-skating rinks in Indiana, from an opium den in San Francisco to the bottom of the Matchless silver mine in Colorado--then the richest on earth--where Wilde dined with twelve gobsmacked miners, later describing their feast to his friends in London as "First course: whiskey. Second course: whiskey. Third course: whiskey." But, as Friedman shows, Wilde was no mere clown; he was a strategist. From his antics in London to his manipulation of the media--Wilde gave 100 interviews in America, more than anyone else in the world in 1882--he designed every move to increase his renown. There had been famous people before him, but Wilde was the first to become famous for being famous. Wilde in America is an enchanting tale of travel and transformation, comedy and capitalism--an unforgettable story that teaches us about our present as well as our past.
Wilfred Owen
by Guy CuthbertsonOne of Britain's best-known and most loved poets, Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was killed at age 25 on one of the last days of the First World War, having acted heroically as soldier and officer despite his famous misgivings about the war's rationale and conduct. He left behind a body of poetry that sensitively captured the pity, rage, valor, and futility of the conflict.In this new biography Guy Cuthbertson provides a fresh account of Owen's life and formative influences: the lower-middle-class childhood that he tried to escape; the places he lived in, from Birkenhead to Bordeaux; his class anxieties and his religious doubts; his sexuality and friendships; his close relationship with his mother and his childlike personality. Cuthbertson chronicles a great poet's growth to poetic maturity, illuminates the social strata of the extraordinary Edwardian era, and adds rich context to how Owen's enduring verse can be understood.
Wilhelm II
by John C. G. Röhl Sheila de Bellaigue Roy Bridge John C. G. Röhl Sheila De BellaigueKaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941) ruled Imperial Germany from his accession in 1888 to his enforced abdication in 1918 at the end of the First World War. This book, based on a wealth of previously unpublished archival material, provides the most detailed account ever written of the first half of his reign. Following on from John Rhl's definitive and highly acclaimed Young Wilhelm: The Kaiser's Early Life, 1859–1888 (1998), the volume demonstrates the monarch's dynastic arrogance and the wounding abuse he showered on his own people as, step by step, he built up his personal power. His thirst for glory, his overweening nationalism and militarism and his passion for the navy provided the impetus for a breathtaking long-term goal: the transformation of the German Reich into the foremost power in the world. Urgent warnings from all sides, both against the revival of a semi-absolute Personal Monarchy on the threshold to the twentieth century and against the challenge his goal of 'world power' implied for the existing World Powers Great Britain, France and Russia were brushed aside by the impetuous young ruler with his faithful military retinue and blindly devoted court favourites. Soon the predicted consequences - constitutional crisis at home and diplomatic isolation abroad - began to make their alarming appearance.
William and Caroline Herschel
by Michael HoskinThis beautifully structured book presents the essentials of William and Caroline Herschel's pioneering achievements in late 18th-century astronomy. Michael Hoskin shows that William Herschel was the first observational cosmologist and one of the first observers to attack the sidereal universe beyond the solar system: Herschel built instruments far better than any being used at the royal observatory. Aided by his sister Caroline, he commenced a great systematic survey that led to his discovery of Uranus in 1781. Unlike observers before him, whose telescopes did not reveal them as astronomical objects, Herschel did not ignore misty patches of light. Hoskins points out Herschel's achievement in surveying, cataloguing, and describing them as "nebulae" and even coming to the correct conclusion that their structure evolved over time, with Newton's gravity being the agent of change. Herschel's surveys established a new astronomy - looking at the universe rather than the planets! Michael Hoskin's account includes sketches and diagrams from Herschel's manuscripts in the Royal Astronomical Society Archives in which he attempts to delineate the structure of the Milky Way galaxy. While it is well-known that Herschel was a revolutionary in telescope design who constructed the world's largest telescopes, Hoskin also gives the full picture of the man as an entrepreneur who built and traded some 400 telescopes. Hoskin also pays close attention to the role of William's sister Caroline Herschel, who is usually portrayed as a "helpmate" to her brother. But in fact she became a significant astronomer in her own right. This book also offers a wealth of information of the wider Herschel family. It is enriched by a complete set of portraits of William and Caroline Herschel with an extensive set of images of their residences and closes with a charming appendix on how visitors to the Herschels recorded their encounters. William and Caroline Herschel - Pioneers in Late 18th-Century Astronomy will appeal to amateur astronomers and all those interested in popular astronomy. This book will rapidly establish itself as the primary introductory work for students, astronomers, and scholars working on the history of natural science in the late 18th century.
William Caxton (History Heroes #5)
by Damian HarveyWilliam Caxton led the way in bringing the printing press to the English and made books accessible to many people. Discover the stories of people who have helped to shape history, ranging from early explorers such as Christopher Columbus to more modern figures like Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web.These chapter books combine historical fact with engaging narrative and humourous illustration, perfect for the newly independent reader.
William III & Mary II: Partners in Revolution (Penguin Monarchs)
by Jonathan KeatesWilliam III (1689-1702) & Mary II (1689-94) (Britain's only ever 'joint monarchs') changed the course of the entire country's history, coming to power through a coup (which involved Mary betraying her own father), reestablishing parliament on a new footing and, through commiting Britain to fighting France, initiating an immensely long period of warfare and colonial expansion. Jonathan Keates' wonderful book makes both monarchs vivid, the cold, shrewd 'Dutch' William and the shortlived Mary, whose life and death inspired Purcell to write some of his greatest music.
William J. Forsyth: The Life And Work Of An Indiana Artist
by Rachel Berenson PerryClosely associated with artists such as T. C. Steele and J. Ottis Adams, William J. Forsyth studied at the Royal Academy in Munich then returned home to paint what he knew best--the Indiana landscape. It proved a rewarding subject. His paintings were exhibited nationally and received major awards. With full-color reproductions of Forsyth's most important paintings and previously unpublished photographs of the artist and his work, this book showcases Forsyth's fearless experiments with artistic styles and subjects. Drawing on his personal letters and other sources, Rachel Berenson Perry discusses Forsyth and his art and offers fascinating insights into his personality, his relationships with his students, and his lifelong devotion to teaching and educating the public about the importance of art.
William S. Burroughs: A Life
by Barry MilesAuthoritative biography of cult writer and author of NAKED LUNCH, William Burroughs (1914-1997).It has been 50 years since Norman Mailer asserted, 'I think that William Burroughs is the only American novelist living today who may conceivably be possessed by genius.' This assessment holds true today. No-one since then has taken such risks in their writing, developed such individual radical political ideas, or spanned such a wide range of media - Burroughs has written novels, memoirs, technical manuals and poetry, he has painted, made collages, taken thousands of photographs, made visual scrapbooks, produced hundreds of hours of experimental tapes, acted in movies and recorded more CDs than most rock groups.Made a cult figure by the publication of NAKED LUNCH, Burroughs was a mentor to the 1960s youth culture. Underground papers referred to him as 'Uncle Bill' and he ranked alongside Bob Dylan and the Beatles, Buckminster Fuller and R.D. Laing as one of the 'gurus' of the youth movement who might just have the secret of the universe.Based upon extensive research, this biography paints a new portrait of Burroughs, making him real to the reader and showing how he was perceived by his contemporaries in all his guises - from icily distant to voluble drunk. It shows how his writing was very much influenced by his life situation and by the people he met on his travels around America and Europe. He was, beneath it all, a man torn by emotions: his guilt at not visiting his doting mother; his despair at not responding to reconciliation attempts from his father; his distance from his brother; the huge void that separated him from his son; and above all his killing of his wife, Joan Vollmer.
William Shakespeare: Great English Playwright & Poet
by Anna Carew-MillerFew writers have had nearly the same effect on the English language as William Shakespeare. His plays and poems have been popular around the world for hundreds of years, long after Shakespeare himself had died. From Romeo & Juliet to Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote some of the most famous comedies and tragedies in history, stories both hilarious and horrible. Learn the story of one of the most important writers of all time in William Shakespeare: Great English Playwright & Poet.
William Shakespeare (What They Don't Tell You About #29)
by Anita GaneriDid you know that Shakespeare couldn't spell his own surname?Love him or hate him, everyone has heard of the world's most famous playwright. But did the Elizabethans think he was a genius or simply that he wrote great soap operas? Any book on Shakespeare will give you the boring facts THEY think you should know, but only this one will tell you what the bard and his mates were REALLY like ...Uncover a wealth of information about Shakespeare! Find out where he was born and look at his family tree, see a map of Shakespeare's Stratford and Shakespeare's London, find out what school was like in Shakespeare's time, what London life was like and what sort of people went to the theatre. See a cross-section illustration of the Globe and discover how special effects were created and what actors wore. Read biographies of famous actors of the era such as Edward Alleyn, Richard Burbage, Richard Tarlton and William Kempe as well as biographies of contemporary writers Ben Jonson, Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe. Read famous quotes and sayings and whizz your eye over a timeline of Shakespeare's plays and of his life.This book will tell you what Shakespeare's longest or shortest play is, or even which is the most miserable or goriest? It includes plots and information about ten of Shakespeare's plays: Richard III; Romeo and Juliet; A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Merchant of Venice; Henry V; Twelfth Night; Hamlet; Othello; Macbeth and The Tempest. It highlights some of Shakespeare's funniest characters and some of those that were in love.It concludes looking at how Shakespeare died, and discusses whether Shakespeare was, in fact, Sir Francis Bacon, Edward De Vere, Roger Manners, William Stanley or Christopher Marlowe.Finally, test your knowledge of all you've read with a fun 20-question quiz.
William Wells Brown: An African American Life
by Ezra GreenspanA National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist 'Biography' A groundbreaking biography of the most pioneering and accomplished African-American writer of the nineteenth century. Born into slavery in Kentucky, raised on the Western frontier on the farm adjacent to Daniel Boone's, "rented" out in adolescence to a succession of steamboat captains on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, the young man known as "Sandy" reinvented himself as "William Wells" Brown after escaping to freedom. He lifted himself out of illiteracy and soon became an innovative, widely admired, and hugely popular speaker on antislavery circuits (both American and British) and went on to write the earliest African American works in a plethora of genres: travelogue, novel (the now canonized Clotel), printed play, and history. He also practiced medicine, ran for office, and campaigned for black uplift, temperance, and civil rights. Ezra Greenspan's masterful work, elegantly written and rigorously researched, sets Brown's life in the richly rendered context of his times, creating a fascinating portrait of an inventive writer who dared to challenge the racial orthodoxies and explore the racial complexities of nineteenth-century America.
Winners Dream
by Bill McdermottIn the pantheon of CEOs, few people have the visibility, charisma and hunger of Bill McDermott. His career is a classic story of ambition and drive: from the hard-knock streets of his youth in Long Island, to his first forays in business behind the counter of a deli he bought and then operated at the age of 17, to his extraordinary rise through the Xerox Corporation where he pleaded for his first job, to his emergence as the co-CEO of one of the most celebrated and admired global companies of our age. His stories - at turns hilarious and moving, but always inspiring - offer invaluable lessons in self-direction, management and leadership.
Winners Dream
by Bill Mcdermott Joanne GordonA leadership and career manifesto told through the narrative of one of today's most inspiring, admired, and successful global leaders.In Winners Dream, Bill McDermott--the CEO of the world's largest business software company, SAP--chronicles how relentless optimism, hard work, and disciplined execution embolden people and equip organizations to achieve audacious goals. Growing up in working-class Long Island, a sixteen-year-old Bill traded three hourly wage jobs to buy a small deli, which he ran by instinctively applying ideas that would be the seeds for his future success. After paying for and graduating college, Bill talked his way into a job selling copiers door-to-door for Xerox, where he went on to rank number one in every sales position he held and eventually became the company's youngest-ever corporate officer. Eventually, Bill left Xerox and in 2002 became the unlikely president of SAP's flailing American business unit. There, he injected enthusiasm and accountability into the demoralized culture by scaling his deli, sales, and management strategies. In 2010, Bill was named co-CEO, and in May 2014 became SAP's sole, and first non-European, CEO.Colorful and fast-paced, Bill's anecdotes contain effective takeaways: gutsy career moves; empathetic sales strategies; incentives that yield exceptional team performance; and proof of the competitive advantages of optimism and hard work. At the heart of Bill's story is a blueprint for success and the knowledge that the real dream is the journey, not a preconceived destination.
Winning in Both Leagues: Reflections from Baseball's Front Office
by J. Frank Cashen Billy BeaneIn Winning in Both Leagues J. Frank Cashen looks back over his twenty-five-year career in baseball. Best known as the general manager of the New York Mets during their remaking and rise to glory in the 1980s, Cashen fills the pages with lively stories from his baseball tenure during the last half of the twentieth century. His career included a stint with the Baltimore Orioles of the late ’60s and ’70s, working with manager Earl Weaver and the great teams of the early ’70s, including such players as Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson, and Brooks Robinson. Later, tapped by Mets owner Nelson Doubleday Jr. to bring the Mets to the pinnacle of Major League Baseball, Cashen, with the rise of superstars Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, led the Mets to the thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Boston Red Sox leading to the World Series championship in 1986. Winning in Both Leagues also chronicles the drafting of Billy Beane, who would later be the focus of the New York Times bestseller Moneyball. Cashen, who was a central figure in the fierce competition with New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, excelled at building winning ball clubs and remains one of only two general managers ever to win a World Series in both leagues.
Winter
by Christopher Nicholson“[This] beautifully restrained novel, a meditation on aging, marriage and loss, fictionalizes a well-known period in Thomas Hardy’s life” (The New York Times).A November morning in the 1920s finds an elderly man walking the grounds of his Dorchester home, pondering his past and future with deep despondence. That man is the revered novelist and poet Thomas Hardy, and this is a fictionalized account of his final years from the celebrated author of The Elephant Keeper.The novel focuses on true events surrounding the London theater dramatization of Hardy’s acclaimed novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles, including Hardy’s hand-picked casting of the young, alluring Gertrude Bugler to play Tess. As plans for the play solidify, Hardy’s interest in Gertie becomes a voyeuristic infatuation, causing him to write some of the best poems of his career. However, when Hardy’s reclusive, neglected wife, Florence, catches wind of Hardy’s desire for Gertie to take the London stage, a tangled web of jealousy and missed opportunity ensnares all three characters—with devastating results.Told from the perspectives of Hardy, Gertie, and Florence, Winter is “a meditation on love, regret, and an elusive yearning for happiness” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).“A book for grown-ups, one that finds the acme of human happiness in a young mother looking out at a starry winter’s night, while she holds her baby in her arms.” —The Washington Post“Winter is quietly intelligent and compassionate, but what stands out most is that it is gorgeously, gorgeously written in prose so elegantly crafted that it becomes, paradoxically, almost invisible. It never shouts, never startles, just moves lithely along with an almost miraculous sense of rightness.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Wish Granted: 25 Stories of Strength and Resilience from America's Favorite Athletes
by Don Yaeger“Those kids are my heroes and by actively deciding to help them continue their fight with a little more hope, you’re one of my heroes, too.”—Michael Jordan, from the IntroductionPoignant stories from this nation’s best loved athletes include Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, John Cena, Bethany Hamilton, Danica Patrick, Tony Hawk, the New England Patriots, and many more.Imagine a seriously ill child who gets to make one wish . . . and that wish is to meet you. How would you measure up? Wish Granted shows how twenty-five of the most celebrated professional athletes of all time answered this question by sharing what it is like to transform the lives of Make-A-Wish kids. You will find out that these wishes are game changers, not just for the kids . . . for the athletes themselves. Some, like record-breaking gold medalist Michael Phelps, discover the tremendous impact wish kids have had on wish granters’ perspectives, on their understanding of real strength, and on how we all want to live our lives.Sports fans will be thrilled to get an insider’s look into the deeply personal moments of their favorite superstars, and every reader will find inspiration in the amazing gift of human connection.
Wish You Happy Forever: What China's Orphans Taught Me about Moving Mountains
by Jenny BowenWish You Happy Forever chronicles Half the Sky founder Jenny Bowen's personal and professional journey to transform Chinese orphanages—and the lives of the neglected girls who live in them—from a state of quiet despair to one of vibrant promise.After reading an article about the thousands of baby girls languishing in Chinese orphanages, Bowen and her husband adopted a little girl from China and brought her home to Los Angeles, not out of a need to build a family but rather a commitment to save one child. A year later, as she watched her new daughter play in the grass with her friends, thriving in an environment where she knew she was loved, Bowen was overcome with a desire to help the children that she could not bring home. That very day she created Half the Sky Foundation, an organization conceived to bring love into the life of every orphan in China and one that has actually managed to fulfill its promise.In Wish You Happy Forever, a fish out of water tale like no other, Bowen relates her struggle to bring the concept of "child nurture and responsive care" to bemused Chinese bureaucrats and how she's actually succeeding. Five years after Half the Sky's first orphanage program opened, government officials began to mention child welfare and nurturing care in public speeches. And, in 2011, at China's Great Hall of the People, Half the Sky and its government partners celebrated the launch of The Rainbow Program, a groundbreaking initiative to change the face of orphan care by training every child welfare worker in the country. Thanks to Bowen's relentless perseverance through heartbreak and a dose of humor, Half the Sky's goal to bring love the lives of forgotten children comes ever closer.
The Witches Within Westminster
by Peter Buckland'Double double, toil and trouble, round about the cauldron go. In the crushed brains and spinal cord throw, thalamus, spleen, and tonsils also, then cool it with tainted Blood, Well done, for we shall gain a greater Profit to share with the farmers, and our meat trade.' A factual and harrowing account of Mark Buckland's, a young man's, progressive decline by variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human form of BSE; namely 'Mad Cow's disease'. This book documents the shocking failures by a conservative Government when it came to food safety standards, a cannibalistic feed that defied nature and led to a misfolded protein causing an infectious brain disease, and failures by the NHS and Department of Health regarding the NHS Blood Transfusion Service. This is also a tale of a father's grief, family and friends who pull together in a tragic time to support a special, loving and caring man, who has his life spat out by the 'Witches within Westminster'.
With Books and Bricks
by Nicole Tadgell Suzanne SladeBooker T. Washington had an incredible passion for learning. Born a slave, he taught himself to read. When the Civil War ended, Booker finally fulfilled his dream of attending school. After graduation, he was invited to teach in Tuskegee, Alabama. Finding many eager students but no school, Booker set out to build his own school--brick by brick. An afterword gives detailed information on how the school was built.
With Light Steam: A Personal Journey through the Russian Baths (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies)
by Bryon MacWilliamsIn 1996 Bryon MacWilliams left the relative stability of the United States for the chaos of post-Soviet Russia, and stayed. Over the course of nearly twelve years he reported on academe and the sciences for the world's leading publications, and sought out the best baths—or banyas—everywhere he went. His story of Russia through its cult of steam begins on a frosty Sunday morning in a gypsy cab traveling to a bathhouse in Moscow, where the steam is conjured by an out-of-work carpenter named Grisha, who takes on MacWilliams as a kind of apprentice, allowing him into an otherwise closed world through which MacWilliams could see himself, and Russia, with different eyes. The Russian bathers insist, only half-jokingly, that the American is a spy. Writing in a highly engaging style, MacWilliams travels the country to convey the breadth of banya culture and what it means to steam, a process that is at once a simple cleansing and a deep purification. It awakens the body and quiets the mind, generating waves of good feeling akin to an endorphin high. Each chapter of this splendid book is an episode—spanning from several hours to several days—from the Far North, Moscow, the Ural Mountains, the Solovetsky Islands, and a southern stretch of the Volga River. With Light Steam, the title is derived from the phrase used in banyas in lieu of goodbye, is the only book in English devoted to the banya and the only volume in any language to present Russia through the lens of its bath culture, the most Russian thing there is. General readers and scholars alike will be enchanted with this unforgettable portrait of a people and a millennia-spanning tradition.
With My Regiment From Aisne to La Bassée [Illustrated Edition]
by Arthur F. H. MillsIncludes the First World War Illustrations Pack - 73 battle plans and diagrams and 198 photosOriginally published under the pseudonym "Platoon Commander" these excellent memoirs were written by the noted novelist Arthur F. H. Mills after his service in the British Expeditionary Force in 1914-1915. "In the early summer of 1914, apparently unconcerned by the gathering storm and the colossal building of military might in Germany, the British regular army, reduced in numbers and not having fought a major conflict for over a decade, was at peace in its garrisons. When German troops marched through Belgium and attacked France, the British Expeditionary Force was hastily created and for British soldiers the transition from peace to mobilisation and transportation to the battle line happened within a matter of days. It is astonishing that the 'Contemptible Little Army' was not instantly enveloped by the advancing Germans who outnumbered them--often by much more than five to one. Some are jingoistic about the British Army of the day being 'the best army in the world,' however, the battle fought at Mons, the retreat to the Marne, the skilful command of the British staff and the dogged resistance of troops, who inflicted causalities on the enemy totally disproportionate to their strength, speaks for itself. The outcome was inevitable though and by the early months of 1915 the B. E. F. had all but been destroyed. Its tenacity had, however, earned the British sufficient time to build a new army, defence and response."-Print ed.
With the Argylls: A Soldier's Memoir
by Ray WardAn unforgettable memoir of fighting with the renowned Scottish infantry regiment during World War II. &“The real stuff of history . . . a classic.&” —Trevor Royle, author of Facing the Bear When Ray Ward died in 1999, his sons discovered an old and dusty manuscript in an Afrika Korps ammunition box in the cellar of the family home in Glasgow. These papers contained a collection of their father&’s memoirs, which detailed his experiences as an infantry officer during the Second World War, when he served in the 1st Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. His memoirs give vivid accounts of Ray Ward&’s time in Eritrea, Abyssinia, Egypt, the Western Desert, Sicily and mainland Italy, and bring to life individual episodes of bravery, adventure and danger that characterized the North African and Italian Campaign.