- Table View
- List View
Crossing the Plains with Bruno
by Annick SmithDogs, like humans, have memories, instincts, fears, and loyalties. But, as far as we know, dogs do not get swept up in nostalgia, speculation, or self-analysis. Although they have hopes, they are not driven by regrets. In Crossing the Plains with Bruno, Annick Smith weaves together a memoir of travel and relationship, western history and family history, human love and animal love centering around a two week road trip across the Great Plains she and her 95 pound chocolate lab, Bruno, took in the summer of 2003. It is a chain of linked meditations, often triggered by place, about how the past impinges on the present and how the present can exist seemingly sans past.Traveling from her rural homestead in Montana to pick up her nearly 100-year-old mother from her senior residence on Chicago's North Side and bring her to the family's beach house on a dune overlooking Lake Michigan, Smith often gets lost in memory and rambling contemplation. Bruno's constant companionship and ever present needs force her to return to the actual, reminding her that she, too, is an animal whose existence depends on being alert to the scents, sights, hungers, and emotions of the moment.Passing through wide open spaces, dying ranch towns, green cornfields, and Midwestern hamlets, Annick is immersed in memories of her immigrant Hungarian Jewish family, her childhood days in Chicago, her early marriage, and ultimate immigration west. Triggered by random encounters along the way, she's taken back to life as a young mother, her career as a writer and filmmaker who produced the classic A River Runs Through It, the death of her husband, and the thrill of a late romance. A lifetime of reflection played out one mile at a time.Crossing the Plains with Bruno is a story narrated by a woman beset by the processes of aging, living with the imminent reality of a parent's death, but it is the dog that rides shotgun, like Sancho Panza to Don Quixote, that becomes the reminder of the physical realities outside our own imaginations.
Crossing the River Kabul: An Afghan Family Odyssey
by Kevin McLeanBaryalai Popal sees his Western-educated professors at Kabul University replaced by communists. He witnesses his classmates “disappearing.” The communist takeover uproots Popal from his family and home. Thus begins Crossing the River Kabul, the true story of Popal’s escape from Afghanistan and his eventual return. Kevin McLean weaves together Popal’s stories in this memoir, which is also a fascinating look at Afghanistan from the viewpoint of Popal and generations of his politically influential family. From the exile of Popal’s grandfather from Kandahar in 1898 to his father’s tutoring of two boys who as adults would play important roles in Afghanistan—one as king and the other as president—to his uncle’s presence at the fateful meeting that led to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Popal’s family history is intertwined with that of his nation. Popal fled his country following the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1980. After being imprisoned as a spy in Pakistan, he managed to make his way to Germany as a refugee and to the United States as an immigrant. Twenty years later he returned to Afghanistan after 9/11 to reclaim his houses, only to find one controlled by drug lords and the other by the most powerful warlord in Afghanistan. Popal’s memoir is an intimate, often humorous portrait of the vanished Afghanistan of his childhood. It is also the story of a father whose greatest desire is to see his son follow in his footsteps, and a son who constantly rebels against his father's wishes. Crossing the River Kabul is a story of choice and destiny, fear and courage, and loss and redemption.
Crossing the River Styx: The Memoir of a Death Row Chaplain
by Todd C. Peppers Russ Ford Charles PeppersThe Reverend Russ Ford, who served as the head chaplain on Virginia’s death row for eighteen years, raged against the inequities of the death penalty—now outlawed in Virginia—while ministering to the men condemned to die in the 1980s and 1990s. Ford stood watch with twenty-eight men, sitting with them in the squalid death house during the final days and hours of their lives. In July 1990 he accidentally almost became the 245th person killed by Virginia’s electric chair as he comforted Ricky Boggs in his last moments, a vivid episode that opens this haunting book.Many chaplains get to know the condemned men only in these final moments. Ford, however, spent years working with the men of Virginia’s death row, forging close bonds with the condemned and developing a nuanced understanding of their crimes, their early struggles, and their challenges behind bars. His unusual ministry makes this memoir a unique and compelling read, a moving and unflinching portrait of Virginia’s death row inmates. Revealing the cruelties of the state-sanctioned violence that has until recently prevailed in our backyard, Crossing the River Styx serves as a cautionary tale for those who still support capital punishment.
Crossing the Threshold of Hope
by Vittorio Messori Pope John Paul IIA great international bestseller, the book in which, on the eve of the millennium, Pope John Paul II brings to an accessible level the profoundest theological concerns of our lives. He goes to the heart of his personal beliefs and speaks with passion about the existence of God; about the dignity of man; about pain, suffering, and evil; about eternal life and the meaning of salvation; about hope; about the relationship of Christianity to other faiths and that of Catholicism to other branches of the Christian faith. With the humility and generosity of spirit for which he is known, John Paul II speaks directly and forthrightly to all people. His message: Be not afraid!
Crossing the Water: Eighteen Months on an Island Working with Troubled Boys -- A Teacher's Memoir
by Daniel RobbOff the coast of Cape Cod lies a small windswept island called Penikese. Alone on the island is a school for juvenile delinquents, the Penikese Island School, where Daniel Robb lived and worked for three years as a teacher. By turns harsh, desolate, and starkly beautiful, the island offers its temporary residents respite from lives filled with abuse, violence, and chaos. But as Robb discovers, peace, solitude, and a structured lifestyle can go only so far toward healing the anger and hurt he finds not only in his students but within himself. Lyrical and heartfelt, Crossing the Water is the memoir of his first eighteen months on Penikese, and a poignant meditation on the many ways that young men can become lost.
Crossing to Avalon: A Woman's Midlife Pilgrimage
by Jean Shinoda BolenDR. JEAN SHINODA BOLEN'S magnificent spiritual autobiography is the story of a call to adventure, the mystery of the feminine, and the extraordinary pilgrimage that marked her midlife passage. Bolen frames her search for meaning at midlife as a quest for the mysterious lost Grail of the Arthurian legend. For Bolen, the Grail represents the elusive object of a lifelong search for what is missing from our lives as well as from our culture. Bolen's pursuit takes her on an incredible journey to Europe that leads her to discover the importance of her own history, the changes and challenges at midlife, and the meaning of the goddess in the lives of women. During a particularly difficult time in her life, Jean Bolen quite unexpectedly received a package in the mail from England. Inside was a beautiful gold pendant in the shape of an ancient archetypal image along with an invitation to make a pilgrimage to Chartres, Glastonbury, Iona, and other sacred sites in Europe. It was sent by a total stranger, a woman who had come across one of the first copies of Goddesses in Everywoman, Bolen's groundbreaking work on women and archetypal myth. The synchronicity of the invitation was astonishing to Bolen, and she knew instinctively that she had been invited to embark on a quest that would change her life. So began the extraordinary pilgrimage that heralded Bolen's midlife passage. Inspired by The Mists of Avalon, this tale of her European adventure is interwoven with penetrating psychological and spiritual insights as well as lore from Europe's sacred sites. While on her pilgrimage, Bolen reflects on the mystical experience that brought her into medicine, her awakening to the archetypal feminine through the experience of childbirth, the personal transformations that occurred after her divorce, the sources and significance of midlife depression, and the importance of female friendship. This multilayered account journeys through and beyond the personal to reflect the mythological significance of the midlife search for meaning and renewal. JEAN SHINODA BOLEN, M.D., is a Jungian analyst and clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the author of Goddesses in Everywoman, Gods in Everyman, The Tao of Psychology, and Ring of Power.
Crossing: A True Story
by Glyn VincentIn early Spring of 2022, the author boarded a 52-foot sailboat to cross the Atlantic with a close friend and a captain and sailor he did not know.From the start of the 2,600-mile trip, from St. Martin in the Caribbean to the Azores off Portugal, things went awry— with the captain, the boat, the weather and, most precipitously, the author&’s state of mind. As a recreational sailor with no experience of being out of sight of land, the author&’s darkest fears materialized as the small crew sailed through squalls then gales and, finally, a tropical storm with near-hurricane force winds. In Crossing, Glyn Vincent explores why he ventured into the middle of the ocean in the first place, and how he first fell in love with the sea. He describes his unsettled childhood in New York City, his parents&’ tabloid existence (his mother was the Broadway and television actress Betsy von Furstenberg) and the itinerant, unstable lives of his grandparents and great-grandparents, whose troubled history goes back on his mother&’s side to a Gothic castle in Germany and on his father&’s side to an orphanage in Alexandria, Egypt, and a massacre in Damascus in 1860. In the end, this enthralling memoir is as much about the storm Vincent inherited and harbored within, as it is about the one he encountered at sea.
Crossings: A Doctor-Soldier's Story
by Jon KerstetterEvery juncture in Jon Kerstetter’s life has been marked by a crossing from one world into another: from civilian to doctor to soldier; between healing and waging war; and between compassion and hatred of the enemy. When an injury led to a stroke that ended his careers as a doctor and a soldier, he faced the most difficult crossing of all, a recovery that proved as shattering as war itself.Crossings is a memoir of an improbable, powerfully drawn life, one that began in poverty on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin but grew by force of will to encompass a remarkable medical practice. Trained as an emergency physician, Kerstetter’s thirst for intensity led him to volunteer in war-torn Rwanda, Kosovo, and Bosnia, and to join the Army National Guard. His three tours in the Iraq War marked the height of the American struggle there. The story of his work in theater, which involved everything from saving soldiers’ lives to organizing the joint U.S.–Iraqi forensics team tasked with identifying the bodies of Saddam Hussein’s sons, is a bracing, unprecedented evocation of a doctor’s life at war.But war was only the start of Kerstetter’s struggle. The stroke he suffered upon returning from Iraq led to serious cognitive and physical disabilities. His years-long recovery, impeded by near-unbearable pain and complicated by PTSD, meant overcoming the perceived limits of his body and mind and re‑‑ imagining his own capacity for renewal and change. It led him not only to writing as a vocation but to a deeper understanding of how healing means accepting a new identity, and how that acceptance must be fought for with as much tenacity as any battlefield victory.
Crossroads: My Story of Tragedy and Resilience as a Humboldt Bronco
by Kaleb DahlgrenAn inspiring story of hope and resiliency On April 6, 2018, sixteen people died and thirteen others were injured after a bus taking the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team to a playoff game collided with a transport truck in a rural intersection. The tragedy moved millions of people to leave hockey sticks by their front door to show sympathy and support for the Broncos. People from more than eighty countries pledged millions of dollars to families whose relatives had been directly involved in the accident. Crossroads is the story of Kaleb Dahlgren, a young man who survived the bus crash and faced life after the tragedy with resiliency and positivity. In this chronicle of his time with the Broncos and the loving community of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Dahlgren takes a hard look at his experience of unprecedented loss, but also revels in the overwhelming response and outpouring of love from across Canada and around the world. But this book also goes much deeper, revealing the adversity Dahlgren faced long before his time in Humboldt and his inspiring journey since the accident. From a childhood spent learning to live with type 1 diabetes to his remarkable recovery from severe brain trauma that astounded medical professionals, Dahlgren documents a life of perseverance, gratitude and hope in the wake of enormous obstacles and life-altering tragedy. The author will donate a portion of his proceeds from this book to STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service).
Crotal And White: Scenes from a Hebridean Boyhood
by Finlay J. MacdonaldFinlay J. Macdonald's impressions of a Hebridean childhood in Crowdie and Cream were hailed as 'the best portrayal of the Hebrides by an insider'. Now his journey continues into adolescence, and if his progress is sometimes hilariously inept, his commentary on his early village life, peopled as ever with larger-than-life characters involved in often break-neck escapades, is a valuable social document, which is none the less valid for being highly amusing. In the 1930s the people in the Western Islands of Scotland knew hardships against which the adversities of the 1980s pale into insignificance. The villagers' spirit, forged in the co-operative if independent times when cash was almost foreign to their economy, saw them through to the better days when tourism was beginning to bring its mixed blessings to the young Finlay's previously unspoilt home. Village life was getting easier and happier, and home life was being re-organised around the loom - paid for out of the gradually improving Macdonald family income - for the weaving of the wool that his mother spun and dyed in the traditional colours of Crotal and White. Economic sufficiency and the heightened social aspirations it brought with it served, paradoxically, only to increase the pressure on the 13 pupils of the village school in the Northlands - away from the village but still on Harris.And so it was that Finlay J. Macdonald had to leave behind him a life that could never be replaced, evoked here in a subtle blend of hard fact, wry comment and uproarious story-telling.
Crotal And White: Scenes from a Hebridean Boyhood
by Finlay J. MacdonaldFinlay J. Macdonald's impressions of a Hebridean childhood in Crowdie and Cream were hailed as 'the best portrayal of the Hebrides by an insider'. Now his journey continues into adolescence, and if his progress is sometimes hilariously inept, his commentary on his early village life, peopled as ever with larger-than-life characters involved in often break-neck escapades, is a valuable social document, which is none the less valid for being highly amusing. In the 1930s the people in the Western Islands of Scotland knew hardships against which the adversities of the 1980s pale into insignificance. The villagers' spirit, forged in the co-operative if independent times when cash was almost foreign to their economy, saw them through to the better days when tourism was beginning to bring its mixed blessings to the young Finlay's previously unspoilt home. Village life was getting easier and happier, and home life was being re-organised around the loom - paid for out of the gradually improving Macdonald family income - for the weaving of the wool that his mother spun and dyed in the traditional colours of Crotal and White. Economic sufficiency and the heightened social aspirations it brought with it served, paradoxically, only to increase the pressure on the 13 pupils of the village school in the Northlands - away from the village but still on Harris.And so it was that Finlay J. Macdonald had to leave behind him a life that could never be replaced, evoked here in a subtle blend of hard fact, wry comment and uproarious story-telling.
Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men
by Richard Erdoes Leonard C. Dog“Through the experiences of this family of great medicine men, readers are taken on an intimate journey through 120 years of Lakota history.” —Library Journal“I am Crow Dog. I am the fourth of that name. Crow Dogs have played a big part in the history of our tribe and in the history of all the Indian nations of the Great Plains during the last two hundred years. We are still making history.”Thus opens the extraordinary and epic account of a Native American clan. Here the authors, Leonard Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes (coauthor of Lakota Woman) tell a story that spans four generations and sweeps across two centuries of reckless deeds and heroic lives, and of degradation and survival.The first Crow Dog, Jerome, a contemporary of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, was a witness to the coming of white soldiers and settlers to the open Great Plains. His son, John Crow Dog, traveled with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. The third Crow Dog, Henry, helped introduce the peyote cult to the Sioux. And in the sixties and seventies, Crow Dog’s principal narrator, Leonard Crow Dog, took up the family’s political challenge through his involvement with the American Indian Movement (AIM). As a wichasha wakan, or medicine man, Leonard became AIM’s spiritual leader and renewed the banned ghost dance. Staunchly traditional, Leonard offers a rare glimpse of Lakota spiritual practices, describing the sun dance and many other rituals that are still central to Sioux life and culture. “An illuminating introduction to Sioux culture.” —Publishers Weekly
Crow Mary: A Novel
by Kathleen GrissomThe New York Times bestselling author of the book club classics The Kitchen House and Glory Over Everything returns with a sweeping and &“richly detailed story of a woman caught between two cultures&” (Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author) inspired by the real life of Crow Mary—an Indigenous woman in 19th-century North America.In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow Native woman, marries Abe Farwell, a white fur trader. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the long trip to his trading post in Saskatchewan, Canada. Along the way, she finds a fast friend in a Métis named Jeannie; makes a lifelong enemy in a wolfer named Stiller; and despite learning a dark secret of Farwell&’s past, falls in love with her husband. The winter trading season passes peacefully. Then, on the eve of their return to Montana, a group of drunken whiskey traders slaughters forty Nakota—despite Farwell&’s efforts to stop them. Mary, hiding from the hail of bullets, sees the murderers, including Stiller, take five Nakota women back to their fort. She begs Farwell to save them, and when he refuses, Mary takes two guns, creeps into the fort, and saves the women from certain death. Thus, she sets off a whirlwind of colliding cultures that brings out the worst and best in the cast of unforgettable characters and pushes the love between Farwell and Crow Mary to the breaking point. From &“a tremendously gifted storyteller&” (Jim Fergus, author of The Vengeance of Mothers), Crow Mary is a &“tender, compelling, and profoundly educational and satisfying read&” (Sadeqa Johnson, author of The Yellow Wife) that sweeps across decades, showcasing the beauty of the natural world, while at the same time probing the intimacies of a marriage and one woman&’s heart.
Crowbar Governor: The Life and Times of Morgan Gardner Bulkeley (The Driftless Connecticut Series)
by Kevin MurphyWhile president of Aetna Life from 1879 to 1922, Morgan Bulkeley served four terms as mayor of Hartford, two terms as Connecticut's governor, and one term as a United States senator. His friends and business and political acquaintances were a who's who of the Gilded Age: Samuel Clemens, J. P. Morgan, Samuel and Elizabeth Colt, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, Albert Spalding, General Sherman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Katherine Hepburn, as well as every president from Ulysses Grant to Warren Harding. In 1874 Bulkeley formed the Hartford Dark Blues who soon joined the unruly National Association, antecedent of the National League. He served as the league's first president for a year, and was later elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. It was during Bulkeley's controversial "holdover" term as governor that he earned the nickname "Crowbar Governor." He used a crowbar to remove a lock that had been placed on his office door after refusing to vacate the governor's chambers on a technicality. Written in classic storyteller fashion, and augmented by copious research, Crowbar Governor offers readers a privileged glimpse into life and politics in Connecticut during the Gilded Age.
Crowdie And Cream And Other Stories: Memoirs of a Hebridean Childhood
by Finlay J. MacdonaldCROWDIE AND CREAM: Peopled with characters like Great Aunt Rachel, 'built like a Churchill tank and with a personality to match', these are the stories of a childhood, of the hard years of the Depression, and then the departure of the island's young men to fight in the Second World War. Together they bring alive the warmth and closeness of a unique Hebridean community. CROTAL AND WHITE: Finlay J Macdonald continues his story with a witty account of his adolescent years during the depression. Hard days for the villagers, but their sense of humour never deserted them. And when young Finlay won the bursary to secondary school in the Northlands it was with a mixture of joy and sadness that he prepared to leave behind him a community that would soon be changed forever...THE CORNCRAKE AND THE LYSANDER: As Finlay Macdonald set out for high school in Tarbert, Hitler's growing military strength had begun to menace the people of Europe. But to Finlay this was just one more exciting prospect along with living in Big Grandfather's house, making new friends and meeting the girls of his adolescent dreams.
Crowdie And Cream And Other Stories: Memoirs of a Hebridean Childhood
by Finlay J. MacdonaldCROWDIE AND CREAM: Peopled with characters like Great Aunt Rachel, 'built like a Churchill tank and with a personality to match', these are the stories of a childhood, of the hard years of the Depression, and then the departure of the island's young men to fight in the Second World War. Together they bring alive the warmth and closeness of a unique Hebridean community. CROTAL AND WHITE: Finlay J Macdonald continues his story with a witty account of his adolescent years during the depression. Hard days for the villagers, but their sense of humour never deserted them. And when young Finlay won the bursary to secondary school in the Northlands it was with a mixture of joy and sadness that he prepared to leave behind him a community that would soon be changed forever...THE CORNCRAKE AND THE LYSANDER: As Finlay Macdonald set out for high school in Tarbert, Hitler's growing military strength had begun to menace the people of Europe. But to Finlay this was just one more exciting prospect along with living in Big Grandfather's house, making new friends and meeting the girls of his adolescent dreams.
Crowe on the Banjo: The Music Life of J.D. Crowe (Music in American Life)
by Marty GodbeyIn this first biography of legendary banjoist J. D. Crowe, Marty Godbey charts the life and career of one of bluegrass's most important innovators. Born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, Crowe picked up the banjo when he was thirteen years old, inspired by a Flatt & Scruggs performance at the Kentucky Barn Dance. Godbey relates the long, distinguished career that followed, as Crowe performed and recorded both solo and as part of such varied ensembles as Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, the all-acoustic Kentucky Mountain Boys, and the revolutionary New South, who created an adventurously eclectic brand of bluegrass by merging rock and country music influences with traditional forms. Over the decades, this highly influential group launched the careers of many other fresh talents such as Keith Whitley, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, and Doyle Lawson. With a selective discography and drawing from more than twenty interviews with Crowe and dozens more with the players who know him best, Crowe on the Banjo: The Music Life of J. D. Crowe is the definitive music biography of a true bluegrass original.
Crowley's: Detroit's Friendly Store (Landmarks)
by Bruce Allen KopytekOperating in the shadow of the enormous J.L. Hudson Co., Crowley's earned Detroit's trade with fine merchandise and good service, all in an atmosphere that made it the Motor City's "friendly" department store. Generations of customers still hold Crowley's close in their memories, fondly recalling the store's ancient wooden escalators, fashionable merchandise and special events like "Breakfast with Santa." Wander back in time with historian Bruce Allen Kopytek through the venerable old store and its suburban branches to discover all the things that made Crowley's such a special retail destination.
Crown & Sceptre: 1000 Years of Kings and Queens
by Tracy Borman'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle' (William Shakespeare, Richard II)The British monarchy is the one of the most iconic and enduring institutions in the world. It has weathered the storms of rebellion, revolution and war that brought many of Europe's royal families to an abrupt and bloody end. Its unique survival owes much to the fact that, for all its ancient traditions and protocol, the royal family has proved remarkably responsive to change, evolving to reflect the times. But for much of its history, it also spearheaded seismic change, shaping our religious, political and cultural identity and establishing the British monarchy as the envy of the world.There has never been a more apposite moment to consider the history of this extraordinary survivor. Within the next decade, there is likely to be a change of monarch, sparking renewed global interest on a scale not seen since Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. Even the media and popular frenzy evoked by recent royal events such as royal weddings and births will not compare to that generated by the accession of a new king. In the lead up to this pivotal moment in Britain's history, Crown & Sceptre explores the history and evolution of the monarchy from 1066 to the present day, feeding the renewed interest not just in the modern royals but in the predecessors who helped shape the institution into what it is today.(P) 2021 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Crown & Sceptre: 1000 Years of Kings and Queens
by Tracy BormanA stunning tour de force and a remarkable achievement.- Alison WeirThis is Our Island Story for the modern age. - Charles Spencer'Not just a brilliant compendium of biographies, but the biography of an institution: a marvellous read' - Tom Holland'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle'(William Shakespeare, Richard II)The British monarchy is the one of the most iconic and enduring institutions in the world. It has weathered the storms of rebellion, revolution and war that brought many of Europe's royal families to an abrupt and bloody end. Its unique survival owes much to the fact that, for all its ancient traditions and protocol, the royal family has proved remarkably responsive to change, evolving to reflect the times. But for much of its history, it also spearheaded seismic change, shaping our religious, political and cultural identity and establishing the British monarchy as the envy of the world.There has never been a more apposite moment to consider the history of this extraordinary survivor. Within the next decade, there is likely to be a change of monarch, sparking renewed global interest on a scale not seen since Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. Even the media and popular frenzy evoked by recent royal events such as royal weddings and births will not compare to that generated by the accession of a new king. In the lead up to this pivotal moment in Britain's history, Crown & Sceptre explores the history and evolution of the monarchy from 1066 to the present day, feeding the renewed interest not just in the modern royals but in the predecessors who helped shape the institution into what it is today."Crown and Sceptre shows an astonishing command of a thousand years of the British monarchy, its traditions, roles and realities beyond the pageantry and romance. Beautifully crafted, insightful, and a genuine pleasure to read, it underscores the royal heritage at the heart of a nation." - Lauren Mackay"Crown and Sceptre" combines an eminently accessible narrative with a lucid scholarly lens. Tracy Borman skilfully unravels the trials and triumphs of this ever-shifting institution. By charting both the majesty and mechanics of monarchy, we get a vivid understanding of why its glittering gears shifted over time, and by whom the levers of change were pulled. A triumph.' - Owen Emmerson, Curator at Hever Castle'Tracy Borman's passion for the British monarch and the crown is infectious and compelling!' - Estelle Paranque'Borman embraces a huge task' - Gerard DeGroot, The TimesEnlightening, gripping and skilfully composed, Tracy Borman navigates the twists and turns of the British monarchy with an expert hand. A pacy narrative that's simply bursting with colour and intrigue, Crown and Sceptre is both powerful and compulsively readable. A masterpiece. - Nicola Tallis
Crown & Sceptre: A New History of the British Monarchy from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II
by Tracy BormanA stunning tour de force and a remarkable achievement. - Alison WeirThis is Our Island Story for the modern age. - Charles Spencer'Not just a brilliant compendium of biographies, but the biography of an institution: a marvellous read' - Tom Holland'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle'(William Shakespeare, Richard II)The British monarchy is the one of the most iconic and enduring institutions in the world. It has weathered the storms of rebellion, revolution and war that brought many of Europe's royal families to an abrupt and bloody end. Its unique survival owes much to the fact that, for all its ancient traditions and protocol, the royal family has proved remarkably responsive to change, evolving to reflect the times. But for much of its history, it also spearheaded seismic change, shaping our religious, political and cultural identity and establishing the British monarchy as the envy of the world.There has never been a more apposite moment to consider the history of this extraordinary survivor. Within the next decade, there is likely to be a change of monarch, sparking renewed global interest on a scale not seen since Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. Even the media and popular frenzy evoked by recent royal events such as royal weddings and births will not compare to that generated by the accession of a new king. In the lead up to this pivotal moment in Britain's history, Crown & Sceptre explores the history and evolution of the monarchy from 1066 to the present day, feeding the renewed interest not just in the modern royals but in the predecessors who helped shape the institution into what it is today."Crown and Sceptre shows an astonishing command of a thousand years of the British monarchy, its traditions, roles and realities beyond the pageantry and romance. Beautifully crafted, insightful, and a genuine pleasure to read, it underscores the royal heritage at the heart of a nation." - Lauren Mackay"Crown and Sceptre" combines an eminently accessible narrative with a lucid scholarly lens. Tracy Borman skilfully unravels the trials and triumphs of this ever-shifting institution. By charting both the majesty and mechanics of monarchy, we get a vivid understanding of why its glittering gears shifted over time, and by whom the levers of change were pulled. A triumph.' - Owen Emmerson, Curator at Hever Castle'Tracy Borman's passion for the British monarch and the crown is infectious and compelling!' - Estelle Paranque'Borman embraces a huge task' - Gerard DeGroot, The TimesEnlightening, gripping and skilfully composed, Tracy Borman navigates the twists and turns of the British monarchy with an expert hand. A pacy narrative that's simply bursting with colour and intrigue, Crown and Sceptre is both powerful and compulsively readable. A masterpiece. - Nicola Tallis
Crown & Sceptre: A New History of the British Monarchy, from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II
by Tracy BormanThe author of The Private Lives of the Tudors illuminates the almost thousand-year history of the British monarchy. Since William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, crossed the English Channel in 1066 to defeat King Harold II and unite England&’s various kingdoms, forty-one kings and queens have sat on Britain&’s throne. &“Shining examples of royal power and majesty alongside a rogue&’s gallery of weak, lazy, or evil monarchs,&” as Tracy Borman describes them in her sparkling chronicle, Crown & Sceptre. Ironically, during very few of these 955 years has the throne&’s occupant been unambiguously English—whether Norman French, the Welsh-born Tudors, the Scottish Stuarts, and the Hanoverians and their German successors to the present day. Acknowledging the intrinsic fascination with British royalty, Borman lifts the veil to reveal the remarkable characters and personalities who have ruled and, since the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, more ceremonially reigned. It is a crucial distinction explaining the staying power of the monarchy as the royal family has evolved and adapted to the needs and opinions of its people, avoiding the storms of rebellion that brought many of Europe&’s royals to an abrupt end. Richard II; Henry VIII; Elizabeth I; George III; Victoria; Elizabeth II: their names evoke eras and the dramatic events Borman recounts. She is equally attuned to the fabric of monarchy: royal palaces; the way monarchs have been portrayed in art, on coins, in the media; the ceremony and pageantry surrounding the crown. Elizabeth II is already one of the longest reigning monarchs in history. Crown & Sceptre is a fitting tribute to her remarkable longevity and that of the magnificent institution she represents.
Crown of Glory: The Life of Pope Pius XII
by Alden Hatch Seamus WalsheBiography of Pope Pius, XII who was elected Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in March 1939. Pius XII was pope during the turbulent years of World War II through most of the 1950's. This book describes the Pope's efforts to secure peace between the Allied and Axis powers. It also tells of the role of the Vatican in providing protection to displaced refugees and all persecuted persons while trying to prevent the spread of Communism. Image descriptions added.
Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee -- The War They Fought, the Peace They Forged
by William C. DavisA dual biography and a fresh approach to the always compelling subject of these two iconic leaders--how they fashioned a distinctly American war, and a lasting peace, that fundamentally changed our nation