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Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric

She was born on a bitterly cold December night in 1626 and, in the candlelight, mistakenly declared a boy. On her father's death six years later, she inherited the Swedish throne. She was tutored by Descartes, yet could swear like the roughest soldier. She was painted a lesbian, a prostitute, a hermaphrodite, and an atheist; in that tumultuous age, it is hard to determine which was the most damning label. She was learned but restless, progressive yet self-indulgent; her leadership was erratic, her character unpredictable. Sweden was too narrow for her ambition. No sooner had she enjoyed the lavish celebrations of her official coronation at twenty-three than she abdicated, converting to Catholicism (an act of almost foolhardy independence and political challenge) and leaving her cold homeland behind for an extravagant new life in Rome. Christina, Queen of Sweden, longed fatally for adventure. Freed from her crown, Christina cut a breath-taking path across Europe: spending madly, searching for a more prestigious throne to scale, stirring trouble wherever she went. Supported and encouraged in turn by the pope, the king of Spain, and France's powerful Cardinal Mazarin, Christina settled at the luxurious Palazzo Farnese, where she established a lavish salon for Rome's artists and intellectuals. More than once the cross-dressing queen was forced to leave town until a scandal died down. She loved to buckle on a sword and swagger like the men whose company she adored, but the greatest mystery in her life was the true nature of her elusive sexuality, which biographer Veronica Buckley explores with sensitivity and rigor. For a time it seemed there was nothing this extraordinary woman might fear attempting, until a bloody tragedy of her own making foreshadowed her downfall. Pairing painstaking research with a sparkling narrative voice and unerring sense of the age, Veronica Buckley reclaims a protean life that had been preserved mostly as myth. Christina was a child of her time, and her time was one of great change: Europe stood at a crossroads where religion and science, antiquity and modernity, peace and war all met. Christina took what she wanted from each to create the life she most desired, and she dazzled all who met her.

Christina, The Girl King

Michel Marc Bouchard's latest play tells the story of Queen Christina of Sweden, who wreaked havoc throughout northern Europe in the middle of the seventeenth century. An enigmatic monarch, a flamboyant and unpredictable intellectual, a woman eager for knowledge, and a feminist before her time, Christina reigned over an empire she hoped to make the most sophisticated in all of Europe.In 1649, Christina summoned René Descartes to her court in Uppsala to share with her the radical new ideas emerging from science and philosophy at the time - ideas that contradicted long-held, faith-based views about the world. Astronomer Johannes Kepler had recently proposed the elliptical trajectory of planets - including Earth - around the sun, and Descartes himself contended, despite condemnation from the Church, that individuals, not God, determined their own destiny.Descartes's ideas about free will and reason appealed to Christina, who was struggling to reconcile tensions between her rational, thinking self and emotions she dared not name - including her love for a woman. Rather than bow to pressure to conform to the expectations of a nation that demanded she give it an heir, the twenty-six-year-old queen abdicate her throne to convert to Catholicism - rendering her ineligible to rule, according to Swedish law. Was this an act of madness? Or a bold gesture of autonomy by a modern woman born out of her time - one whom the seventeenth century simply could not contain?Christina, the Girl King premieres at the 2014 Stratford Festival.Cast of 4 women and 6 men.

Christine Sinclair (Canadian Biographies Ser.)

Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist

Meet the real John the Baptist. For many, John the Baptist is a footnote in the gospels—Jesus&’s unkempt forerunner. But if we look closer, John emerges as a fascinating and influential religious leader in his own right. Esteemed New Testament scholar James F. McGrath turns his critical eye to overlooked details in Scripture and long-neglected sources to discover who John the Baptist really was. McGrath covers the well-known events of John&’s life, from his miraculous conception to his execution at the hands of Herod Antipas. Along the way, he introduces key context about John&’s social and religious world that fleshes out John&’s character. John becomes a rebel son of a priest. An innovator of ritual. A mentor of Jesus. McGrath also explores John&’s far-reaching impact on the history of religion. Aside from his influence on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, John is also revered by the Mandaeans, the last extant gnostic sect, who consider themselves John&’s faithful disciples. This fresh look at the life of John the Baptist will fascinate any reader interested in John, Jesus, and their dynamic world.

Christmas Around the Village Green: In a WWII 1940s rural village, family means the world at Christmastime

Dot May Dunn grew up in Derbyshire, the daughter of a miner, during the wartime years. In 1951 she joined the NHS as an early recruit and went on to train as a nurse. Dot's books are full of wonderful anecdotal insight into the life that she has experienced, written with warmth, humour and vivid accounts of her surroundings - from deprivation, health problems and poverty, to personal determination, the surprises faced by midwives and the social history of the pre- and post-war years. Dot draws upon her wealth of experience and shares her life with her readers, provoking both laughter and tears along the way.Centred on Christmas during war-time, this book will focus on community spirit and the sense of coming together and suporting each other, which Dunn captures so well.

Christmas Around the Village Green: In a WWII 1940s rural village, family means the world at Christmastime

Dot May Dunn grew up in Derbyshire, the daughter of a miner, during the wartime years. In 1951 she joined the NHS as an early recruit and went on to train as a nurse. Dot's books are full of wonderful anecdotal insight into the life that she has experienced, written with warmth, humour and vivid accounts of her surroundings - from deprivation, health problems and poverty, to personal determination, the surprises faced by midwives and the social history of the pre- and post-war years. Dot draws upon her wealth of experience and shares her life with her readers, provoking both laughter and tears along the way.Centred on Christmas during war-time, this book will focus on community spirit and the sense of coming together and suporting each other, which Dunn captures so well.

Christmas Gift!

In this timeless, touching holiday memoir drawing on his own experiences as a child of the Depression, master storyteller Ferrol Sams rekindles the sentiment and spirit of the Christmas season in a book that will capture the hearts of generations to come. Image descriptions present.

Christmas Memories

One of Texas's most recognized folk lore writers presents this little book with two of his fondest Christmas reminiscences from a childhood during the Depression. "In the town where I was born and raised, everyone drove a few miles south to cut a tree.... In that dry, windy country few of the cedars grew straight and full, so the major problem was to find the one least lopsided and wind-whipped." Thus A. C. Greene, in "The Too-Big Christmas Tree," tells of a Christmas in the 1920s when his father cut a too-big tree and almost broke up the family. Long out-of-print and a collector's item, this story is now coupled with "Christmas Shopping," in which a small boy sets out with his grandmother on his first shopping trip to buy Christmas presents for the family. "My grandmother and I boarded the little four-wheel trolley on the Fair Park loop--the men who were waiting all tipping their hats and letting the women and children on first. Pretty soon we were bumping and swaying up Sayles Hill on our way to downtown." A.C. Greene, born in Abilene, Texas, wrote a column for the Dallas Morning News and more than twenty books, many on Texas history and lore. He was a memoirist, fiction writer, historian, poet, and book critic.

Christmas Memories from Mississippi

This beautiful book of thirty-eight essays, illustrated by Mississippi's premier watercolorist Wyatt Waters, will ring true with treasured recollections of Christmases past. Remember the Christmas it snowed on the Mississippi Coast? Glen Allison recalls that miracle. Richard Ford and Waters tell exactly what they felt when they first laid eyes on a bicycle left under the tree by Santa Claus. These Mississippians celebrate Christmas pageants, the decorating, the family dinners—even as they recognize war and loss as part of our lives and sometimes part of our holidays. Christmas Memories from Mississippi looks at the holidays from the early twentieth century through the present and offers the celebrations from various points of view, both religious and secular. This book makes an ideal memento of shared traditions and lovingly extends the spirit of the season across the state's diversity.

Christmas Tales

I can't help it if I'm a boring conservative dag, but I love Christmas, always have and hopefully always will. Whatever brand of faith you fly under, even if you proclaim you don't have one, Christmas is a time of generosity, good citizenship and decency.It's the holiday where shopping centres become a sea of dazed shoppers bearing checklists as long as your arm, lunch is a neverending buffet of prawns and ham and your electricity bill is doubly struck by having to run the fan all day and keep those decorative lights blinking through the night.William McInnes, bestselling author of FATHERHOOD, WORSE THINGS HAPPEN AT SEA, and A MAN'S GOT TO HAVE A HOBBY tackles the silly season in a way only he can - telling stories brimming with good humour and nostalgia, to remind us what Christmas is all about: family.

Christmas at Silver Dale: the perfect Christmas romance for 2019 - featuring the original characters in the Animal Ark series! (Animal Ark Revisited #6)

The perfect Christmas romance for 2019 - featuring the original characters in the much loved Animal Ark series!**Summer Days at Sunrise Farm, the new book in the Animal Ark revisited series, is currently available!**Although Christmas should be the most wonderful time of year, Mandy Hope is struggling. Her relationship with Jimmy Marsh is on the rocks, while her best friend James has a gorgeous new son which only confirms how much Mandy wants children of her own. Desperately in need of a friend, Mandy strikes up a close relationship with new Welford resident Geraldine Craven, who is only too happy to offer a shoulder to cry on. Geraldine looks to be a lifeline in these troubled times, until she reveals a devastating secret about Mandy's past.With so much uncertainty, is there still hope for a happy Christmas?******Read what everyone's saying about Animal Ark Revisited!'An adorable read [with] a real sense of village community' Bookworms and Shutterbugs'Just the right amount of nostalgia... wonderful and very poignant' - The World is a Book Blog'Heartwarming and endearing... a gorgeous story filled with hope, joy, sweetness and light combined with the honesty of real life' - Amazon'An incredibly lovely story' - Rachel's Random Reads'Will leave you feeling cosy and uplifted' Goodreads'I loved every minute' Amazon'I had tears in my eyes at the first chapter' - Goodreads'One of the best books I've read!' Amazon(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Christmas at The New Yorker: Stories, Poems, Humor, and Art

From the pages of America's most influential magazine come eight decades of holiday cheer-plus the occasional comical coal in the stocking-in one incomparable collection. Sublime and ridiculous, sentimental and searing, Christmas at The New Yorker is a gift of great writing and drawing by literary legends and laugh-out-loud cartoonists. Here are seasonal stories, poems, memoirs. and more, from a stellar roster of writers, including John Cheever, James Dickey, Richard Ford, Ken Kesey, Alice Munro, Vladimir Nabokov, S. J. Perelman, Adrienne Rich, and James Thurber. And it wouldn't be Christmas-or The New Yorker-without dozens of covers and cartoons by Addams, Arno, Chast, and others, or the mischievous verse of Roger Angell, Calvin Trillin, and Ogden Nash ("Do you know Mrs. Millard Fillmore Revere? / On her calendar, Christmas comes three hundred and sixty-five times a year.") From Jazz Age to New Age, E. B. White to Garrison Keillor, these works represent eighty years of wonderful keepsakes for Christmas, from The New Yorker to you.

Christmas at the Ragdoll Orphanage

Discover a magical true story of the power of love and motherhood . . . 'Filled with warmth and love, and is so life-affirming' 5***** reader reviewTwo-week-old Suzanne was left at the door of Nazareth House orphanage - abandoned by the very people who should have given her the love, protection and care she desperately needed. But when Nancy - the orphanage nanny - held Suzanne in her arms and looked into her eyes, she felt a magical bond. It seemed that a guardian angel had brought them both together. Yet their future looked uncertain. Would Nancy ever be allowed to adopt tiny Suzanne? And could their love endure all that the years ahead were to send them? A tear-jerking and unforgettable story about the struggles and joys of parenthood and childhood, and how, for an orphan, having somewhere to call home makes every day feel like Christmas. ____________'A fantastic read' 5***** reader review 'Lovingly portrayed' 5***** reader review'Well written, funny and very moving' 5***** reader review

Christmas in Plains

In a beautifully rendered portrait, Jimmy Carter remembers the Christmas days of his Plains boyhood -- the simplicity of family and community gift-giving, his father's eggnog, the children's house decorations, the school Nativity pageant, the fireworks, Luke's story of the birth of Christ, and the poignancy of his black neighbors' poverty. Later, away at Annapolis, he always went home to Plains, and during his Navy years, when he and Rosalynn were raising their young family, they spent their Christmases together re-creating for their children the holiday festivities of their youth. Since the Carters returned home to Plains for good, they have always been there on Christmas Day, with only one exception in forty-eight years: In 1980, with Americans held hostage in Iran, Jimmy, Rosalynn, and Amy went by themselves to Camp David, where they felt lonely. Amy suggested that they invite the White House staff and their families to join them and to celebrate. Nowadays the Carters' large family is still together at Christmastime, offering each other the gifts and the lifelong rituals that mark this day for them. With the novelist's eye that enchanted readers of his memoir An Hour Before Daylight, Jimmy Carter has written another American classic, in the tradition of Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory and Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales.

Christmas in Plains: Memories

Jimmy Carter remembers Christmas in Plains, Georgia, the source of spiritual strength, respite, friendship, and vacation fun in this charming portrait.In a beautifully rendered portrait, Jimmy Carter remembers the Christmas days of his Plains boyhood--the simplicity of family and community gift-giving, his father's eggnog, the children's house decorations, the school Nativity pageant, the fireworks, Luke's story of the birth of Christ, and the poignancy of his black neighbors' poverty. Later, away at Annapolis, he always went home to Plains, and during his Navy years, when he and Rosalynn were raising their young family, they spent their Christmases together recreating for their children the holiday festivities of their youth. Since the Carters returned home to Plains for good, they have always been there on Christmas Day, with only one exception in forty-eight years: In 1980, with Americans held hostage in Iran, Jimmy, Rosalynn, and Amy went by themselves to Camp David, where they felt lonely. Amy suggested that they invite the White House staff and their families to join them and to celebrate. Nowadays the Carters' large family is still together at Christmastime, offering each other the gifts and the lifelong rituals that mark this day for them. With the novelist's eye that enchanted readers of his memoir An Hour Before Daylight, Jimmy Carter has written another American classic, in the tradition of Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory and Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales.

Christmas on Jane Street: A True Story

This “sweet tale” of a Vermont family’s annual trek to New York City to sell trees is “a cross between It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol” (USA Today).Every holiday season for nearly twenty years, Billy Romp, his wife, and their three children have spent nearly a month living in a tiny camper and selling Christmas trees on Jane Street in New York City. They arrive from Vermont the day after Thanksgiving and leave just in time to make it home for Christmas morning—and for a few weeks they transform a corner of the Big Apple into a Frank Capra-esque small town alive with heartwarming holiday spirit.A lovely, lovingly illustrated little gem of a book, this delightful tenth anniversary edition of a beloved Christmas classic tells the poignant, inspiring story of an unforgettable family that brings the Christmas spirit to life on a street corner in Manhattan and the warm, wide circle of friends who have welcomed them to the neighborhood.Christmas on Jane Street is about the transformative power of love—love of parent and child, of merchant and customer, of stranger and neighbor. The ideal Christmas story, it is about the lasting and profound difference that one person can make to a family and one family can make to a community.“A heartwarming story”—Newsday“A touching tale fragrant with the season . . . a special treat for those who love Christmas trees.” —Tampa Tribune

Christmas on the Great Plains

From the inside dust jacket flaps:] "For the inhabitants of the Great Plains, the month of December is thirty-one days of progressively receding sunlight, unremittingly low temperatures, and the ever-present threat--if not the reality--of knee-high snow. Arriving at the peak of this blustery weather, Christmas is extended as far as possible on both sides of December 25. On the Great Plains, December needs a Christmas season, not just a single day. Featuring stories and essays by both classic and contemporary regional authors, including Willa Cather, Hamlin Garland, Paul Engle, Constance Vogel, and Ted Kooser, Christmas on the Great Plains offers unique geographic, historical, and cultural perspectives on winter's holiday celebrations and traditions--from lutefisk and julebukking to sleighbells and twinkling lights--that will be appreciated by anyone who has braved the wintry plains. The stories in this collection unwrap like so many holiday packages, revealing a varied assortment of gifts. Moments of communal beauty and happiness are common, as in Mary Swander's "The Living Creche," where her friends reenact the nativity scene at Fairview School, or in Mari Sandoz's "The Christmas of the Phonograph Records," where isolated homesteaders travel far to hear the sounds of their first phonograph. Yet as we all know, the reality of the season is not always magical. One person's Christmas joy is countered by another's annual depression, the latter reinforced by the bleak landscape of this harsh climate. As Jane Smiley says in "Long Distance," a story about a disconnected man spending the holidays with a family whom he has not seen in years, "though he cannot bear to stay here after all, he cannot bear to go either."

Christmas with Elvis: The Official Guide to the Holidays from the King of Rock ’n’ Roll

Celebrate Christmas with the King of Rock n' Roll!For Elvis, Christmas at Graceland was a time for family and friends, a respite from the road and the recording studio. It was a time to sing gospel songs around the piano and give out extravagant gifts.In this spirit, Christmas with Elvis is designed like a Christmas party Elvis himself would have liked. It&’s a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic music and songs Elvis sang and recorded for his bestselling holiday albums, alongside favorite stories, trivia, and Yuletide cocktails and munchies—all wrapped up with a merry Christmas twist fit for the King of Rock &’n&’ Roll.ELVIS™ and ELVIS PRESLEY™ are trademarks of ABG EPE IP LLCRights of Publicity and Persona Rights: Elvis Presley Enterprises, LLC© 2021 ABG EPE IP LLCelvis.com

Christmas with Paula Deen: Recipes and Stories from My Favorite Holiday

"I've gone through all my books and put together this collection of my most treasured recipes and memories for the holiday season to share with you...You'll find a few new dishes, a sprinkling of new holiday stories, and some family pictures you might not have seen before." There's no holiday Paula Deen loves better than Christmas, when she opens her home to family and friends, and traditions old and new make the days merry and bright. Filled with Paula's trademark Southern charm and happy reminiscences of Yuletide seasons past, Christmas with Paula Deen is a collection of beloved holiday recipes and stories interspersed with cherished family photographs. Included are Paula's most requested homemade gifts of food; a collection of cookies sure to become your family's favorites; easy dishes for a Christmas breakfast or brunch that will let you enjoy the food and your guests; impressive fare for Christmas dinner and holiday entertaining and, of course, spectacular cakes, puddings, pies, and other sweet things. "So Merry Christmas, y'all, and best dishes and best wishes from me and my family to yours."

Christmas with the Queen: A Novel

’Tis the season! The Crown meets When Harry Met Sally in the latest heartwarming historical novel from Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, bestselling authors of Last Christmas in Paris, Meet Me in Monaco, and Three Words for Goodbye.December 1952. While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she must also find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father’s Christmas Day radio broadcast. But even traditions must evolve with the times, and the queen faces a postwar Britain hungry for change. As preparations begin for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, old friends—Jack Devereux and Olive Carter—are unexpectedly reunited by the occasion. Olive, a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC, leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration, but even a chance encounter with the queen doesn’t go as planned and Olive wonders if she will ever be taken seriously. Jack, a recently widowed chef, reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. Lacking in purpose and direction, Jack has abandoned his dream to have his own restaurant, but his talents are soon noticed and while he might not believe in himself, others do, and a chance encounter with an old friend helps to reignite the spark of his passion and ambition. As Jack and Olive’s paths continue to cross over the following five Christmases, they grow ever closer. Yet Olive carries the burden of a heavy secret that threatens to destroy everything. Christmas Day, December 1957. As the nation eagerly awaits the Queen’s first televised Christmas speech, there is one final gift for the Christmas season to deliver…

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Art and the Environment (Fountas & Pinnell LLI Purple #Level T)

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Art and the Environment by Helen Scully

Christopher Columbus

This book talks about Columbus's early sea adventures, his life in Lisbon and his successes and disappointments.

Christopher Columbus

The life story of Christopher Columbus is told using the journals he kept during his four voyages to the New World--voyages that would change world history forever.

Christopher Columbus

The &“outstanding&” biography of the Italian navigator and explorer from the bestselling author of The Great Siege (The New York Times). Christopher Columbus, credited with discovering America in 1492, was a great explorer who forever changed the world—but his iconic image obscures a far more complex and fascinating life story. Born Cristoforo Colombo, the son of a weaver from Genoa, he renounced his father&’s trade early in life and took to sailing. Though he began in the Mediterranean, Columbus soon found employment sailing the Atlantic Ocean, where he experienced shipwreck, inclement weather, and perhaps the Norse legends of uncharted lands to the west. With the help of Florentine astronomer Paolo Toscanelli, who in turn based his theories on the works of Marco Polo, Columbus devised a plan to find a western passage to the Indies. Though he achieved something far greater—the discovery of a hemisphere previously unknown to Europeans—Columbus insisted to the end of his days that he had succeeded. In this engrossing and deeply researched biography, historian Ernle Bradford portrays Columbus&’s stubbornness and greed, as well as his genius, bravery, and masterly navigation skills.

Christopher Columbus

Why did Columbus sail under the flag of Spain instead that of Italy? What did he hope to find when he sailed west across Atlantic Ocean? Why isn't America named after him? The 'Groundbreakers' series explores the lives of pioneering men and women-people whose achievements and discoveries have had a lasting impact on our world. Each book tells about the experiences that inspired these amazing individuals to think in new ways and discusses how the environment they lived in affected their work. Information on their supporters, colleagues, and rivals adds to the story. Finally, a look at the person's legacy shows how their achievements and discoveries continue to affect people today.