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War for Eternity: Inside Bannon's Far-Right Circle of Global Power Brokers
by Benjamin R. TeitelbaumOne of Financial Times' Summer Books of 2020An explosive and unprecedented inside look at Steve Bannon's entourage of global powerbrokers and the hidden alliances shaping today's geopolitical upheaval.In 2015, Bloomberg News named Steve Bannon “the most dangerous political operative in America.” Since then, he has grown exponentially more powerful—and not only in the United States. In this groundbreaking and urgent account, award-winning scholar of the radical right Benjamin Teitelbaum takes readers behind-the-scenes of Bannon's global campaign against modernity.Inspired by a radical twentieth-century ideology called Traditionalism, Bannon and a small group of right-wing powerbrokers are planning new political mobilizations on a global scale—discussed and debated in secret meetings organized by Bannon in hotel suites and private apartments in DC, Europe and South America. Their goal? To upend the world order and reorganize geopolitics on the basis of archaic values rather than modern ideals of democracy, freedom, social progress, and human rights. Their strenuous efforts are already producing results, from the fortification of borders throughout the world and the targeting of immigrants, to the undermining of the European Union and United States governments, and the expansion of Russian influence. Drawing from exclusive interviews with Bannon’s hidden network of far-right thinkers, years of academic research into the radical right, and with unprecedented access to the esoteric salons where they meet, Teitelbaum exposes their considerable impact on the world and their radical vision for the future.
Forgotten Legacy: William McKinley, George Henry White, and the Struggle for Black Equality
by Benjamin R. JustesenIn Forgotten Legacy, Benjamin R. Justesen reveals a previously unexamined facet of William McKinley’s presidency: an ongoing dedication to the advancement of African Americans, including their appointment to significant roles in the federal government and the safeguarding of their rights as U.S. citizens. During the first two years of his administration, McKinley named nearly as many African Americans to federal office as all his predecessors combined. He also acted on many fronts to stiffen federal penalties for participation in lynch mobs and to support measures promoting racial tolerance. Indeed, Justesen’s work suggests that McKinley might well be considered the first “civil rights president,” especially when compared to his next five successors in office. Nonetheless, historians have long minimized, trivialized, or overlooked McKinley’s cooperative relationships with prominent African American leaders, including George Henry White, the nation’s only black congressman between 1897 and 1901. Justesen contends that this conventional, one-sided portrait of McKinley is at best incomplete and misleading, and often severely distorts the historical record. A Civil War veteran and the child of abolitionist parents, the twenty-fifth president committed himself to advocating for equity for America’s black citizens. Justesen uses White’s parallel efforts in and outside of Congress as the primary lens through which to view the McKinley administration’s accomplishments in racial advancement. He focuses on McKinley’s regular meetings with a small and mostly unheralded group of African American advisers and his enduring relationship with leaders of the new National Afro-American Council. His nomination of black U.S. postmasters, consuls, midlevel agency appointees, military officers, and some high-level officials—including U.S. ministers to Haiti and Liberia—serves as perhaps the most visible example of the president’s work in this area. Only months before his assassination in 1901, McKinley toured the South, visiting African American colleges to praise black achievements and encourage a spirit of optimism among his audiences. Although McKinley succumbed to political pressure and failed to promote equality and civil rights as much as he had initially hoped, Justesen shows that his efforts proved far more significant than previously thought, and were halted only by his untimely death.
The Ninth Metal: The Comet Cycle Book 1 (The Comet Cycle #1)
by Benjamin PercyFrom award-winning author Benjamin Percy comes an explosive, breakout speculative thriller in which a powerful new metal arrives on Earth in the wake of a meteor shower, triggering a massive new 'gold rush' in the Midwest and turning life as we know it on its head. The first of a cycle of novels set in a shared universe. It might have been the end of days. Instead it was the beginning of something shockingly new. They called the comet Cain, after the astronomer who discovered it. It passed 500,000 miles from Earth. We were spared planetary destruction and granted a light show like no other. But, one year later, Earth span into the debris field left by the comet and a meteor storm struck. Roads, buildings and even a small town were annihilated.The meteors impacted heavily around the dying mining town of Northfall, Minnesota. It was the night of a mysterious double murder, the deed overshadowed by the discovery that the burning remains of the rock contained an unknown substance more precious than gold: the Ninth Metal. And with that discovery, everything changed.Benjamin Percy is an award-winning novelist, celebrated comic books writer and author of the Wolverine podcast. The Ninth Metal is the first of a cycle of novels set in a shared universe. (P) 2021 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Unfamiliar Garden: The Comet Cycle Book 2 (The Comet Cycle #2)
by Benjamin PercyFrom award-winning author Benjamin Percy comes the second novel in his grippingly original sci-fi series, The Comet Cycle, in which a passing comet has caused irreversible change to the growth of fungi, spawning a dangerous, invasive species in the Pacific Northwest that threatens to control the lives of humans and animals alike.It began with a comet. They called it Cain, a wandering star that passed by Earth, illuminating the night with a swampy green light and twinning the sky by day with two suns. A year later, Earth spun through the debris field the comet left behind. Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of meteors plummeted into the atmosphere, destroying swaths of electrical grids, leaving shores of beaches filled with deceased sea life, and setting acres of land ablaze. It was then, they say, that the sky fell. It was then that Jack lost Mia.Five years after the disappearance of his daughter, Jack has fallen. Once an accomplished professor of botany, he's now a shell of a man who has all but withdrawn from life. Nora, his ex-wife, has thrown herself into her investigative work. Separately, they have each bandaged over the hole Mia left behind.Just as Jack is uncovering a new form of deadly parasitic fungus in his lab, Nora is assigned to investigate the cases of ritualistic murders dotting Seattle. The rituals consist of etchings - crosshatches are carved into bodies and eyes are scooped out of their sockets. The attackers appear to be possessed.It only takes a moment - for a sickness to infect, for a person to be killed, for a child to be lost. When Nora enlists Jack to identify the cause of this string of vicious deaths, Jack is quick to help. Together, they fight to keep their moments - the unexpected laughter, the extraordinary discoveries, the chance that Mia could come back home - but they find that what they're up against defies all logic, and what they have to do to save the world will change every life forever.(P) 2022 HarperCollins Publishers
"Lincoln's Humor" and Other Essays
by Benjamin P. ThomasThis volume gathers the best previously unpublished and uncollected writings on Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln scholarship by one of his great biographers, Benjamin P. Thomas. A skilled historian and a masterful storyteller himself, Thomas was widely regarded as the greatest Lincoln historian of his generation. With these essays, he combines historical depth with narrative grace in delineating Lincoln's qualities as a humorist, lawyer, and politician. From colorful tall tales to clever barbs aimed at political opponents, Lincoln clothed a shrewd wit in a homespun, backwoods vernacular. He used humor to defuse tension, illuminate a point, put others at ease--and sometimes for sheer fun. From an early reliance on broad humor and ridicule in speeches and on the stump, Lincoln's style shifted in 1854 to a more serious vein in which humor came primarily to elucidate an argument. "If I did not laugh occasionally I should die," he is said to have told his cabinet, "and you need this medicine as much as I do." Thomas brings his deep knowledge of Lincoln to essays on the great man's tumultuous career in Congress, his work as a lawyer, his experiences in the Courts, and his opinions of the South. A gracious survey of Lincoln's early biographers, particularly Ida Tarbell, stands alongside an appreciation of Harry Edward Pratt, a key figure in the early days of the Abraham Lincoln Association. Thomas also assesses Lincoln's use of language and the ongoing significance of the Gettysburg Address. This diverse collection is enhanced by an introduction by Michael Burlingame, himself a leading biographer of Lincoln. Burlingame provides a balanced portrait of Thomas and his circuitous path toward writing history.
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.: American
by Benjamin O. DavisSet against the backdrop of twentieth-century America, against the social fabric of segregation and the broad canvas of foreign war, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.: American tells a compelling story of personal achievement against formidable odds. Born into an era when potential was measured according to race, Davis was determined to be judged by his character and deeds--to succeed as an American, and not to fail because of color. With twelve million citizens --the black population of the United States--pulling for him, Davis entered West Point in 1932, resolved to become an officer even though official military directives stated that blacks were decidedly inferior, lacking in courage, superstitious, and dominated by moral and character weaknesses. "Silenced" by his peers, for four years spoken to only in the line of duty, David did not falter. He graduated 35th in a class of 276 and requested assignment to the Army Air Corps, then closed to blacks. He went on to lead the 99th Pursuit Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group--units known today as the Tuskegee Airmen--into air combat over North Africa and Italy during World War II. His performance, and that of his men, enabled the Air Force to integrate years before civilian society confronted segregation. Thereafter, in a distinguished career in the Far East, Europe, and the United States, Davis commanded both black and white units. Davis's story is interwoven with often painful accounts of the discrimination he and his wife, Agatha, endured as a fact of American military and civilian life. Traveling across the country, unable to find food and lodging, they were often forced to make their way nonstop. Once on base, they were denied use of clubs and, in the early days, were never allowed to attend social activities. Though on-base problems were solved by President Truman's integration of the military in 1949, conditions in the civilian community continued, eased but not erased by enactment of President Johnson's legislative program in the 1960s. Overseas, however, where relations were unfettered by racism, the Davises enjoyed numerous friendships within the military and with such foreign dignitaries as President and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., retired in 1970 as a three-star general. His autobiography, capturing the fortitude and spirit with which he and his wife met the pettiness of segregation, bears out Davis's conviction that discrimination--both within the military and in American society--reflects neither this nation's ideals nor the best use of its human resources.
Bibi: My Story
by Benjamin NetanyahuIn Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s sweeping, moving autobiography, one of the most formidable and insightful leaders of our time tells the story of his family, his path to leadership, and his unceasing commitment to defending Israel and securing its future. <p><p>From their earliest days, Bibi and his close-knit brothers, Yoni and Iddo, were instilled with purpose. Born in the wake of the Holocaust at the dawn of Israel’s independence and raised in a family with a prominent Zionist history, they understood that the Jewish state was a hard-won and still precarious gift. All three studied in American high schools—where they learned to appreciate the United States—before returning to their cherished homeland. The brothers joined an elite special forces outfit of the Israeli Defense Forces known as “the Unit.” <p><p>At twenty-two, Bibi was wounded while leading his team in the rescue of hostages from a hijacked plane. Four years later, in 1976, Yoni was killed in Entebbe, Uganda, while leading his men in one of the most daring hostage-rescue missions in modern times. Yoni became a legend; Bibi felt he would never recover from his grief. Yet, inspired by Yoni’s legacy and guided by the wisdom of his visionary historian father, Bibi thrust himself into the international struggle against terrorism, ultimately becoming the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history. <p><p>In this memoir Bibi weaves together his gripping personal story with the dramatic history of Israel and the Jewish people. Through a host of vivid anecdotes, he narrates his own evolution from soldier to statesman, while providing a unique perspective on leadership, the fraught geopolitics of the Middle East, and his successful efforts to liberate Israel’s economy, which helped turn it into a global powerhouse of technological innovation. Netanyahu gives colorful, detailed, and revealing accounts of his often turbulent relationships and negotiations with Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Trump. With eye-opening candor, he delves into the back channels of high diplomacy—including his struggle against the radical forces that threaten Israel and the world at large, and the decisive events that led to Israel’s groundbreaking 2020 peace agreements with four Arab states. <p><p>Offering an unflinching account of a life, a family, and a nation, Netanyahu writes from the heart and embraces controversy head-on. Steely and funny, high-tempo and full of verve, this autobiography will stand as a defining testament to the value of political conviction and personal courage. <p> <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>
Otra mirada sobre la bipolaridad: No hay que avergonzarse por elegir la felicidad
by Benjamin NemopodeEl increíble recorrido de un hombre a través del trastorno bipolar. ¿Está diagnosticado con bipolaridad? ¿Conoce a alguien que padezca esta enfermedad y esté luchando por encontrarse a sí mismo? ¿Está buscando aprender más sobre este terrible problema psíquico? ¿Está buscando la paz o está interesado en el budismo? ¿Trastorno bipolar o realidad del despertar espiritual? Siga el camino de Arthuro Jobsquare, bipolar, de Paris a Montreal, pasando por Londres, hasta alcanzar el estado de Buda. Una aventura fantástica, un golpe a la bipolaridad. Una determinación impresionante para superar esta enfermedad que amenazaba con controlarlo para siempre. Descripción de la enfermedad y del increíble recorrido de un bipolar tipo 1. Este libro describe el increíble camino de un bipolar y proporciona una descripción precisa y exacta de esta enfermedad. Si está buscando un libro sobre el trastorno bipolar o sobre el despertar espiritual, no busque más, lo ha encontrado... Encargue su ejemplar AHORA y comience su propio despertar. Extractos de comentarios de lectores ★★★★★ "El autor nos habla de su doloroso recorrido como bipolar tipo 1. Es un relato conmovedor, logrado y maravillosamente escrito..." - Frédérique Madison (Francia) ★★★★★ "Leí este libro en varias veces lo cual no es mi costumbre. Es necesario pausar la lectura, recuperar el aliento y retomarla. Uno siente todo el sufrimiento de la persona que se esfuerza por poner distancia con su vivencia... "- Armand Poursin (Francia) ★★★★★ "Recomiendo este libro como complemento de todas la investigaciones sobre la enfermedad y de los testimonios de personas afectadas por la misma. Pude entenderla con mayor claridad. Y hoy amo aún más a mi hombre que es bipolar. ." -Eva de Almeida ★★★★★ "Este libro es increíblemente preciso, su lectura es fundamental para todos aquellos que de
Soy un bipolar que se ha curado: La ciencia de la mente es la espiritualidad y no la psiquiatría
by Benjamin NemopodeEste libro breve, que puede verse como un ensayo, debe considerarse tanto una introducción como un epílogo de mi bestseller Otra mirada sobre la bipolaridad – No hay que avergonzarse por elegir la felicidad. Otra mirada sobre la bipolaridad ha sido el libro en francés más vendido sobre el tema durante más de 10 años. Algo de lo que me alegro enormemente. Ese libro ha conseguido su objetivo, que consistía en contar mi historia con total transparencia, pero también, y sobre todo, hacer que muchos enfermos, y familiares de enfermos, pudieran encontrar en él una mayor comprensión de este trastorno y una ayuda para atravesarlo. A lo largo de los años, la lectura de los numerosos comentarios de los lectores me ha demostrado hasta qué punto el objetivo ha sido alcanzado, por lo que os invito encarecidamente a que vayáis a la página del libro y la naveguéis para constatarlo. Cuando terminé de escribirlo, a los 37 años, no sabía cómo continuaría mi historia y Otra mirada sobre la bipolaridad terminaba con ese gran interrogante. Años después, este ensayo lo responde y creo que también será de interés para todos aquellos que se hayan hecho esa pregunta, y espero que les dé muchas ganas de ir a leer, o releer, mi historia autobiográfica impregnada de una esperanza superadora. La curación es posible, leedlo y vedlo, como yo lo veo porque lo estoy viviendo. Coraje, fuerza, comprensión, esperanza, y fe. Estoy seguro de que un día este trastorno se verá de una manera completamente diferente, y espero que mi testimonio haya servido para conseguirlo.
Un altro sguardo al bipolarismo: Non c’è da vergognarsi nel preferire la felicità
by Benjamin NemopodeL’incredibile percorso di un uomo con il disturbo bipolare Come è sprofondato nella più profonda disperazione, per poi uscirne trionfante. Ti è stato diagnosticato il bipolarismo? Conosci qualcuno che soffre di questa malattia e che lotta per ritrovare se stesso? Vorresti saperne di più di questo terribile disturbo psicologico? Sei alla ricerca della pace o sei interessato al buddhismo? Disturbo bipolare o verità del risveglio spirituale? Segui il viaggio di Arthuro Jobsquare, bipolare, da Parigi a Montreal, passando per Londra, fino allo stato di buddha. Un’avventura fantastica, uno scacco al bipolarismo. Un’incredibile determinazione nel voler superare la malattia che minacciava di controllarlo per sempre. Descrizione della malattia e dell’incredibile percorso di un bipolare di tipo I. Questo libro espone l’incredibile percorso di una persona bipolare fornendo una descrizione corretta e accurata della malattia. Se cerchi un libro sul disturbo bipolare o sul risveglio spirituale, non cercare oltre, l’hai trovato... Ordina SUBITO la tua copia e inizia il tuo percorso di risveglio. Estratti dalle recensioni di lettori Amazon ★★★★★ “L’autore condivide con noi il suo doloroso percorso di vita con il disturbo bipolare di tipo I. Una testimonianza toccante, compiuta e scritta splendidamente...” - Frédérique Madison (Francia) ★★★★★ “Ho letto questo libro in più tempi, cosa che non è mia abitudine fare. Ma ogni tanto ho dovuto fermarmi a riprendere fiato. Si sente chiaramente tutta la sofferenza di una persona che cerca di prendere le distanze dalla propria esperienza...” - Armand Poursin (Francia) ★★★★★ “Consiglio questo libro in quanto utile complemento alle proprie ricerche sulla malattia e anche come testimonianza di chi ne è affetto. Ora posso dire di averla compresa molto più chiaramente e di amare
Sontag: Her Life and Work
by Benjamin MoserWINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZEFinalist for the Lambda Literary AwardFinalist for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for BiographyNamed one of the Best Books of the Year by: O Magazine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Seattle TimesThe definitive portrait of one of the American Century’s most towering intellectuals: her writing and her radical thought, her public activism and her hidden private faceNo writer is as emblematic of the American twentieth century as Susan Sontag. Mythologized and misunderstood, lauded and loathed, a girl from the suburbs who became a proud symbol of cosmopolitanism, Sontag left a legacy of writing on art and politics, feminism and homosexuality, celebrity and style, medicine and drugs, radicalism and Fascism and Freudianism and Communism and Americanism, that forms an indispensable key to modern culture. She was there when the Cuban Revolution began, and when the Berlin Wall came down; in Vietnam under American bombardment, in wartime Israel, in besieged Sarajevo. She was in New York when artists tried to resist the tug of money—and when many gave in. No writer negotiated as many worlds; no serious writer had as many glamorous lovers. Sontag tells these stories and examines the work upon which her reputation was based. It explores the agonizing insecurity behind the formidable public face: the broken relationships, the struggles with her sexuality, that animated—and undermined—her writing. And it shows her attempts to respond to the cruelties and absurdities of a country that had lost its way, and her conviction that fidelity to high culture was an activism of its own. Utilizing hundreds of interviews conducted from Maui to Stockholm and from London to Sarajevo—and featuring nearly one hundred images—Sontag is the first book based on the writer’s restricted archives, and on access to many people who have never before spoken about Sontag, including Annie Leibovitz. It is a definitive portrait—a great American novel in the form of a biography.
Sontag: vida e obra
by Benjamin MoserPRÉMIO PULITZER DE BIOGRAFIA 2020 A biografia inexcedível e definitiva de uma das mais importantes e estimulantes intelectuais do século XX. Susan Sontag é, ela própria, a representação do século XX americano. Emblemática, envolta em mitos e incompreendida, louvada e detestada, tornou-se um símbolo do cosmopolitismo cujo vastíssimo legado intelectual se configura indispensável para compreender a modernidade. Os seus escritos sobre arte, política, feminismo, homossexualidade, drogas, fascismo, freudianismo, radicalismo e comunismo marcaram gerações de leitores com um virtuosismo e uma clarividência únicos. Testemunhou e dissecou as grandes revoluções da segunda metade do século XX: a revolução cubana, a queda do Muro de Berlim, a guerra no Vietname, o cerco de Sarajevo, os conflitos em Israel, momentos-chave do mundo contemporâneo, cujo desfecho tudo mudaria indelevelmente. Neste livro, Benjamin Moser, brilhante biógrafo e escritor, narra estes acontecimentos e examina o trabalho sobre o qual a reputação de Susan Sontag se construiu. Explora a angústia e as inseguranças por trás da formidável persona pública, as suas relações mais íntimas, o conflito interior com a sua sexualidade, que lhe motivava e ensombrava a escrita. Revela ainda as suas tentativas de reagir à crueldade e ao absurdo de um país que perdera o rumo, e a convicção de que a fidelidade à alta cultura era um ativismo em si mesmo. Incluindo quase uma centena de imagens e inúmeras entrevistas conduzidas em diferentes países, este é o primeiro livro que tem como fontes os arquivos privados da escritora e testemunhos inéditos de várias pessoas que com ela privaram. Sontag, vida e obra é o grande romance americano sob a forma de biografia. Livro do ano para o Spectator, Telegraph, New Statesman, Financial Times, O Magazine, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Seattle Times «Esta biografia é um monumento. A maior reapresentação de um incomparável gigante da literatura ao público desde a sua morte.» The New York Times «Absolutamente emocionante e consistentemente perspicaz. Este livro pega num colosso intelectual - formidável, intimidante, tantas vezes obstinadamente impessoal no seu trabalho - e devolve-a à dimensão humana. Fascinante.» The New Republic «Moser descreve com brilhantismo uma mulher multifacetada determinada a deixar uma marca na sua geração. E dá-nos a perfeita dimensão de todas as suas facetas - a arrogância, a ansiedade, o alcance! Um enorme feito.» The New York Times Book Review «Fascinante. A biografia de Sontag escrita por Moser é uma introdução à escritora, ao que ela queria e porquê, bem como aos mundos que a inspiraram e àqueles que a rejeitaram.» Los Angeles Times «Que não restem dúvidas sobre o brilhantismo- o extraordinário vigor interpretativo - da biografia de Moser.» The New Statesman «Monumental e sofisticado.» The Atlantic «Sontag era ávida, ardente, determinada, generosa, narcisista, olímpica, obtusa, enlouquecedora, adorável por vezes, mas nunca agradável. Moser teve a confiança e erudição necessárias para juntar todos estes aspetos contraditórios numa biografia totalmente adequada à escala do seu objeto.» The Times Literary Supplement «Brilhante… Precisamos da Sontag, hoje mais do que nunca, e esta biografia mantém-na desafiadoramente viva: argumentativa, obstinada, frequentemente certa, sempre interessante.» The Guardian «Moser consegue o feito quase impossível de capturar Sontag no fulgor do seu génio sombrio e evidentes contradições.» Interview «Uma biografia completa, íntima e absolutamente definitiva da escritora, provocadora e celebridade intelectual Susan Sontag.Com
The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters
by Benjamin MoserPlunged into a strange land at twenty-five, Benjamin Moser began an obsessive, decades-long study of the Dutch Masters to set his world right again. Arriving as a young writer in an ancient Dutch town, Benjamin Moser found himself visiting—casually at first, and then more and more obsessively—the country’s great museums. Inside these old buildings, he discovered the remains of the Dutch Golden Age and began to unearth the strange, inspiring, and terrifying stories of the artists who gave shape to one of the most luminous moments in the history of human creativity. Beyond the sainted Rembrandt—who harbored a startling darkness—and the mysterious Vermeer, whose true subject, it turned out, was lurking in plain sight, Moser got to know a whole galaxy of geniuses: the doomed virtuoso Carel Fabritius, the anguished wunderkind Jan Lievens, the deaf prodigy Hendrik Avercamp. And through their artwork, he got to know their country, too: from the translucent churches of Pieter Saenredam to Paulus Potter’s muddy barnyards, and from Pieter de Hooch’s cozy hearths to Jacob van Ruisdael’s tragic trees. Year after year, as he tried to make a life for himself in the Netherlands, Moser found friends among these centuries-dead artists. And he found that they, too, were struggling with the same questions that he was. Why do we make art? What even is art, anyway—and what is an artist? What does it mean to succeed as an artist, and what does it mean to fail? Is art a consolation—or a mortal danger? The Upside-Down World is an invitation to ask these questions, and to turn them on their heads: to look, and then to look again. This is Holland and its great artists as we’ve never seen them before. And it’s a sumptuously illustrated, highly personal coming-of-age-story, twenty years in the making: a revealing self-portrait by one of the most acclaimed writers of his generation.
We Bought A Zoo: The Amazing True Story Of A Young Family, A Broken Down Zoo, And The 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives Forever
by Benjamin MeeIn the market for a house and the adventure of a lifetime, Benjamin Mee decided to uproot his family and move them to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo on the English countryside.
We Bought a Zoo
by Benjamin MeeThe remarkable true story of a family who move into a rundown zoo-already a BBC documentary miniseries and excerpted in The Guardian.In the market for a house and an adventure, Benjamin Mee moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. His friends and colleagues thought he was crazy.But in 2006, Mee and his wife with their two children, his brother, and his 76-year-old mother moved into the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Their extended family now included: Solomon, an African lion and scourge of the local golf course; Zak, the rickety Alpha wolf, a broadly benevolent dictator clinging to power; Ronnie, a Brazilian tapir, easily capable of killing a man, but hopelessly soppy; and Sovereign, a jaguar and would-be ninja, who has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it.Nothing was easy, given the family's lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy. We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances.
We Bought a Zoo
by Benjamin MeeWhen Benjamin Mee decided to uproot his family and move them to an unlikely new home-a dilapidated zoo where more than 200 exotic animals would be their new neighbors-his friends and colleagues thought he was crazy. Mee’s dream was to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. The grand reopening was scheduled for spring, but there was much work to be done and none of it easy for the novice zookeepers. Tigers broke loose, money was tight, the staff grew skeptical, and family tensions reached a boiling point. Then tragedy struck. Katherine, Ben’s wife, had a recurrence of a brain tumor, forcing Benjamin and his two young children to face the heartbreak of illness and the devastating loss of a wife and mother. But inspired by the memory of Katherine and the healing power of the incredible family of animals they had grown to love; Benjamin and his kids resolved to move forward, and today the zoo is a thriving success.
A Quiet Adjustment: A Novel
by Benjamin Markovits"A first-rate example of a literary historical novel." —Regan Upshaw, San Francisco ChronicleIn his "Byron trilogy," Benjamin Markovits lovingly reinvents the nineteenth-century novel, true to its perfect prose, penetrating insight, and simmering passions. Inspired by the actual biography of Lord Byron—the greatest literary figure and most notorious sex symbol of his age—Markovits re-imagines Byron’s marriage to the capable, intellectual, and tormented Annabella and the scandal that broke open their lives and riveted the world around them: Byron’s incestuous relationship with his impetuous half-sister, Gus. Their very different understandings of love and one’s obligations to society lead them all—and the reader—headlong to a devastating conclusion.
Childish Loves: A Novel
by Benjamin MarkovitsThe last piece of a literary puzzle falls into place in the final novel of Benjamin Markovits’s Byron trilogy.When his former colleague Peter Sullivan dies, Ben Markovits inherits unpublished manuscripts about the life of Lord Byron—including the novels Imposture and A Quiet Adjustment. Ben’s own literary career is in the doldrums, and he tries to revive it by publishing and writing about his dead friend, whose reimagining of Byron’s lost memoirs—titled Childish Loves—may provide a key to Sullivan’s own life and tarnished reputation.Acting as a literary sleuth, Ben sorts through boxes of Sullivan’s writing; reads between the lines of his scandalous, Byron-inspired stories; meets with the Society for the Publication of the Dead; and tracks down people from Peter’s past in an effort to untangle rumor from reality. In the process, he crafts a masterful story-within-a-story that turns on uncomfortable questions about childhood and sexual awakening, innocence and attraction, while exploring the lives of three very different writers and their brushes with success and failure in both literature and life.
Herbert Hoover and Famine Relief to Soviet Russia, 1921–1923
by Benjamin M. WeissmanIn 1921 one of the most devastating famines in history threatened the lives of millions of Russians as well as the continuance of Soviet rule. Responding to a plea for help from the Soviet government, the American Relief Administration (ARA) agreed to provide famine relief in the stricken areas. The ARA was a private relief organization headed by Herbert Hoover, then U.S. secretary of commerce and one of the best-known Americans of his time for his spectacular success in rescuing the population of Belgium from starvation during World War I and in feeding millions of Europeans during the Armistice. Hoover was also a retired capitalist of considerable wealth, a champion of Republican liberalism, and a leading opponent of recognition of Soviet Russia. Lenin—head of the Soviet government, leader of the Bolshevik party, and living symbol of world revolution—was the antithesis of the ARA's chief. This book studies the personalities, motives, and modi operandi of these two celebrated figures, both as individuals and as representatives of their societies. At the same time it considers the relief mission itself, which has been the subject of continuing controversy for fifty years. Its partisans see it as a charitable, nonpolitical enterprise, while its enemies judge it an anti-Soviet intervention entirely devoid of humanitarian purpose. Herbert Hoover and Famine Relief for Soviet Russia is the first major attempt by an American scholar to reexamine the ARA mission, on the basis of much material made available since the ARA's 1927 official history. What emerges is, on the one hand, a painstaking examination of the historical details of ARA's mission and, on the other hand, a philosophic essay relating the ARA to broader questions of U.S.-Soviet relations the ideological antitheses of Hoover and Lenin. The author concludes that both sides overcame their ideological antagonisms and made possible a spectacularly successful relief mission that inspired the vain hope that a new era in Soviet-American relations had begun.
Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga
by Benjamin LorrAuthor Benjamin Lorr wandered into a yoga studio—and fell down a rabbit holeHell-Bent explores a fascinating, often surreal world at the extremes of American yoga. Benjamin Lorr walked into his first yoga studio on a whim, overweight and curious, and quickly found the yoga reinventing his life. He was studying Bikram Yoga (or "hot yoga") when a run-in with a master and competitive yoga champion led him into an obsessive subculture—a group of yogis for whom eight hours of practice a day in 110- degree heat was just the beginning.So begins a journey. Populated by athletic prodigies, wide-eyed celebrities, legitimate medical miracles, and predatory hucksters, it's a nation-spanning trip—from the jam-packed studios of New York to the athletic performance labs of the University of Oregon to the stage at the National Yoga Asana Championship, where Lorr competes for glory. The culmination of two years of research, and featuring hundreds of interviews with yogis, scientists, doctors, and scholars, Hell-Bent is a wild exploration. A look at the science behind a controversial practice, a story of greed, narcissism, and corruption, and a mind-bending tale of personal transformation, it is a book that will not only challenge your conception of yoga, but will change the way you view the fragile, inspirational limits of the human body itself.
The Third Solitude: A Memoir Against History
by Benjamin Libman“A frank love letter to modern Jewish life.” — MERVE EMRE, contributing writer, The New YorkerAn intimate memoir in essays seeking familial history and personal memory against the backdrop of the lost world of North American Jewry.What is the past? How can we let it speak on its own terms, without forcing it into the categories of history? In The Third Solitude, Benjamin Libman gathers and weaves the threads of multiple pasts — of his community, of his family, and of himself — in an attempt to escape the inadequate narratives around Zionism that he grew up with, and to create nothing short of a new paradigm. Across a series of interconnected memories, Libman leads us through the many fragments that make a life, unafraid to question deeply cherished beliefs about Jewish identity, and seeks to reconcile his own values with those inculcated in him. Along the way, he casts aside tired tropes and shores together the pieces of a new way of looking toward the future. The Third Solitude is a paean to the art of losing, and to the visions of the past that persist in the present..
Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Benjamin Lee WhorfWritings by the pioneering linguist Benjamin Whorf, including his famous work on the Hopi language as well as general reflections on language and meaning. The pioneering linguist Benjamin Whorf (1897–1941) grasped the relationship between human language and human thinking: how language can shape our innermost thoughts. His basic thesis is that our perception of the world and our ways of thinking about it are deeply influenced by the structure of the languages we speak. The writings collected in this volume include important papers on the Maya, Hopi, and Shawnee languages as well as more general reflections on language and meaning.—Print ed.
When We Cease to Understand the World
by Benjamin LabatutShortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining.When We Cease to Understand the World is a book about the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger—these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamín Labatut thrusts the reader, showing us how they grappled with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, alienate friends and lovers, descend into isolation and insanity. Some of their discoveries reshape human life for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear.At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.
Studio A: The Bob Dylan Reader
by Benjamin HedinThis book presents Bob Dylan's unique literary legacy in a collection that gathers over fifty articles, poems, essays, speeches, literary criticisms, and interviews; many previously unpublished.
Resolute: How We Humans Keep Finding Ways to Beat the Toughest Odds
by Benjamin HallThe author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Saved tells the remarkable story of his harrowing recovery after surviving a deadly Russian missile attack in Ukraine, and shares the most profound lessons he learned about the power of resilience. <p> After suffering horrific, nearly-fatal injuries while covering the war in Ukraine in 2022, Benjamin Hall was told he’d need to spend two years in a hospital learning how to walk again. Instead, he made it home to his family in just six months. Sustained by his positive attitude and relentless will to keep moving forward, Hall impressed and inspired all those who followed his story and progress, with many wondering how they could bottle his seemingly superhuman resolve. <p> Now with a greater degree of perspective, Hall analyzes the psychological aftermath of the Russian missile attack that profoundly altered his life. A clear-eye work of journalism and personal meditation elevated by remarkable storytelling, Resolute is Hall’s probing inquiry into why he is alive and thriving today. As he confronts his own mortality, Hall analyzes the key factors that allowed him to survive the missile attack, endure multiple surgeries, adapt to new prosthetics, and cope with the psychological burdens of severe trauma. <p> Each chapter features powerful stories from Hall’s arduous recovery, interwoven with expert advice and insights from the extraordinary people he encountered along the way—doctors who heal broken bodies and damaged souls; therapists who push despairing patients to discover the depths of perseverance; scientists who have studied how the body and mind are sustained under unfathomable duress; and families who exhibit exceptional strength in the face of sudden tragedy. <p> Resolute is more than a survival story—it is a testament to the saving power of the human spirit. From embracing post-traumatic optimism to discovering untapped stores of tenacity, this book is a roadmap for those looking to discover and fortify their own powers of resilience and persevere against the odds. As Hall shares the vivid and inspiring account of his own survival, he implores us to consider that these reservoirs of strength and resolve are inherent to our humanity—and reside within each of us, too. <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>