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The Virgin Warrior: The Life and Death of Joan of Arc
by Larissa Juliet Taylor&“A fresh and provocative biography of La Pucelle . . . her transformation from a naive girl to a strong-willed, bold, and gifted captain of war.&”—Frederic J. Baumgartner, author of France in the Sixteenth CenturyFrance&’s great heroine and England&’s great scourge: whether a lunatic, a witch, a religious icon, or a skilled soldier and leader, Joan of Arc&’s contemporaries found her as extraordinary and fascinating as the legends that abound about her today. But her life has been so endlessly cast and recast that we have lost sight of the remarkable girl at the heart of it—a teenaged peasant girl who, after claiming to hear voices, convinced the French king to let her lead a disheartened army into battle. In the process she changed the course of European history.In The Virgin Warrior, Larissa Juliet Taylor paints a vivid portrait of Joan as a self-confident, charismatic and supremely determined figure, whose sheer force of will electrified those around her and struck terror into the hearts of the English soldiers and leaders. The drama of Joan&’s life is set against a world where visions and witchcraft were real, where saints could appear to peasants, battles and sieges decided the fate of kingdoms and rigged trials could result in burning at the stake. Yet in her short life, Joan emboldened the French soldiers and villagers with her strength and resolve. A difficult, inflexible leader, she defied her accusers and enemies to the end. From her early years to the myths and fantasies that have swelled since her death, Taylor &“goes deep into Joan of Arc&’s heart and soul and shows us the maiden, the warrior and the heroine&” (Kate Williams, New York Times bestselling author).
The Virgin of Bennington
by Kathleen NorrisShy and sheltered as a young woman, Kathleen Norris wasn't prepared for the sex, drugs, and bohemianism of Bennington College in the late 1960s-and when she moved to New York City after graduation, it was a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. <P><P>In this chronicle, Norris remembers the education she received, both formal and fortuitous; the influence of her mentor Betty Kray, who shunned the spotlight while serving as a guiding force in the poetry world of the late 20th century; her encounters with such figures as James Merrill, Jim Carroll, Denise Levertov, Stanley Kunitz, Patti Smith, and Erica Jong; and her eventual decision to leave Manhattan for the less-crowded landscape she described so memorably in Dakota. <P>This account of the making of a young writer will resonate with anyone who has stumbled bravely into a bigger world and found the poetry that lurks on rooftops and in railroad apartments-and with anyone who has enjoyed the blessings of inspiring teachers and great friends.
The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions into Devotion (American Lives)
by Sonja LivingstonWith organized religion becoming increasingly divisive and politicized and Americans abandoning their pews in droves, it’s easy to question aspects of traditional spirituality and devotion. In response to this shifting landscape, Sonja Livingston undertakes a variety of expeditions—from a mobile confessional in Cajun Country to a eucharistic procession in Galway, Ireland, to the Death and Marigolds Parade in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mass in a county jail on Thanksgiving Day—to better understand devotion in her own life.The Virgin of Prince Street chronicles her quest, offering an intimate and unusually candid view into Livingston’s relationship with the swiftly changing Catholic Church and into her own changing heart. Ultimately, Livingston’s meditations on quirky rituals and fading traditions thoughtfully and dynamically interrogate traditional elements of sacramental devotion, especially as they relate to concepts of religion, relationships, and the sacred.
The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation
by Lynne CheneyA vivid account of leadership focusing on the first four Virginia presidents--George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe--from the bestselling historian and author of James Madison.From a small expanse of land on the North American continent came four of the nation's first five presidents--a geographic dynasty whose members led a revolution, created a nation, and ultimately changed the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were born, grew to manhood, and made their homes within a sixty-mile circle east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Friends and rivals, they led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution, and building a working republic. Acting together, they doubled the territory of the United States. From their disputes came American political parties and the weaponizing of newspapers, the media of the day. In this elegantly conceived and insightful new book from bestselling author Lynne Cheney, the four Virginians are not marble icons but vital figures deeply intent on building a nation where citizens could be free.Focusing on the intersecting roles these men played as warriors, intellectuals, and statesmen, Cheney takes us back to an exhilarating time when the Enlightenment opened new vistas for humankind. But even as the Virginians advanced liberty, equality, and human possibility, they held people in slavery and were slaveholders when they died. Lives built on slavery were incompatible with a free and just society; their actions contradicted the very ideals they espoused. They managed nonetheless to pass down those ideals, and they became powerful weapons for ending slavery. They inspired Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and today undergird the freest nation on earth. Taking full measure of strengths and failures in the personal as well as the political lives of the men at the center of this book, Cheney offers a concise and original exploration of how the United States came to be.
The Virtues of Aging
by Jimmy Carter"We are not alone in our worry about both the physical aspect of aging and the prejudice that exists toward the elderly, which is similar to racism or sexism. What makes it different is that the prejudice also exists among those of us who are either within this group or rapidly approaching it. When I have mentioned the title of this book to a few people, most of them responded, 'Virtues? What could possibly be good about growing old?' The most obvious answer, of course, is to consider the alternative to aging. But there are plenty of other good answers--many based on our personal experiences and observations. "--from THE VIRTUES OF AGINGFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
The Vision: The Dramatic True Story of One Man's Search for Enlightenment
by Tom BrownTom Brown, Jr., the bestselling author of The Tracker and the acclaimed Field Guide series, simply and eloquently shares the beauty and enlightenment of his own spiritual awakening. <p><p> An ancient mystical experience, the Vision Quest was undertaken by Native American Indians as an odyssey of self-knowledge and fulfillment—a spiritual journey into the wilderness and the soul. The peace, insight and sense of well-being they gained on the Vision Quest is a lasting testament to man’s relationship with nature. <p><p> Now, America’s most respected outdoorsman reveals the secrets of this dramatic and profoundly moving ritual.
The Visionaries: Arendt, Beauvoir, Rand, Weil, and the Power of Philosophy in Dark Times
by Wolfram EilenbergerA soaring intellectual narrative starring the radical, brilliant, and provocative philosophers Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Ayn Rand by the critically acclaimed author of Time of the Magicians, Wolfram EilenbergerThe period from 1933 to 1943 was one of the darkest and most chaotic in human history, as the Second World War unfolded with unthinkable cruelty. It was also a crucial decade in the dramatic, intersecting lives of some of history&’s greatest philosophers. There were four women, in particular, whose parallel ideas would come to dominate the twentieth century—at once in necessary dialogue and in striking contrast with one another.Simone de Beauvoir, already in a deep emotional and intellectual partnership with Jean-Paul Sartre, was laying the foundations for nothing less than the future of feminism. Born Alisa Rosenbaum in Saint Petersburg, Ayn Rand immigrated to the United States in 1926 and was honing one of the most politically influential voices of the twentieth century. Her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged would reach the hearts and minds of millions of Americans in the decades to come, becoming canonical libertarian texts that continue to echo today among Silicon Valley&’s tech elite. Hannah Arendt was developing some of today&’s most important liberal ideas, culminating with the publication of The Origins of Totalitarianism and her arrival as a peerless intellectual celebrity. Perhaps the greatest thinker of all was a classmate of Beauvoir&’s: Simone Weil, who turned away from fame to devote herself entirely to refugee aid and the resistance movement during the war. Ultimately, in 1943, she would starve to death in England, a martyr and true saint in the eyes of many.Few authors can synthesize gripping storytelling with sophisticated philosophy as Wolfram Eilenberger does. The Visionaries tells the story of four singular philosophers—indomitable women who were refugees and resistance fighters—each putting forward a vision of a truly free and open society at a time of authoritarianism and war.
The Visionary Window: A Quantum Physicist's Guide to Enlightenment
by Amit GoswamiA thrilling synthesis of science and mysticism by a quantum physicist reared in the Hindu tradition with a thorough knowledge of Indian sacred literature. Goswami offers solid, scientific explanations for the concept of universal consciousness and the existence of mind beyond the function of the brain. Thoughtful readers will love his ingenious mix of data and ideas from Eastern philosophy, transpersonal psychology, and quantum physics to explore the scientific principles for why and how spiritual practice works.
The Visitor
by Liam Matthew BrockeyIn an age when few people ventured beyond their place of birth, André Palmeiro left Portugal on a journey to the far side of the world. Bearing the title âeoeFather Visitor,âe#157; he was entrusted with the daunting task of inspecting Jesuit missions spanning from Mozambique to Japan. A global history in the guise of a biography, The Visitor tells the story of a theologian whose extraordinary travels bore witness to the fruitful contactâe"and violent collisionâe"of East and West in the early modern era. In India, Palmeiro was thrust into a controversy over the missionary tactics of Roberto Nobili, who insisted on dressing the part of an indigenous ascetic. Palmeiro walked across Southern India to inspect Nobiliâe(tm)s mission, recording fascinating observations along the way. As the highest-ranking Jesuit in India, he also coordinated missions to the Mughal Emperors and the Ethiopian Christians, as well as the first European explorations of the East African interior and the highlands of Tibet. Orders from Rome sent Palmeiro farther afield in 1626, to Macau, where he oversaw Jesuit affairs in East Asia. He played a crucial role in creating missions in Vietnam and seized the opportunity to visit the Chinese mission, trekking thousands of miles to Beijing as one of Chinaâe(tm)s first Western tourists. When the Tokugawa Shogunate brutally cracked down on Christians in Japanâe"where neither he nor any Westerner had power to interveneâe"Palmeiro died from anxiety over the possibility that the last Jesuits still alive would apostatize under torture.
The Visitors' Book: In Francis Bacon's Shadow: The Lives of Richard Chopping and Denis Wirth-Miller
by Jon Lys TurnerDenis Wirth-Miller and Dicky Chopping were a couple at the heart of the mid-twentieth century art world, with the visitors' book of the Essex townhouse they shared from 1945 until 2008 painting them as Zeligs of British society. The names recorded inside make up an astonishing supporting cast - from Francis Bacon to Lucian Freud to Randolph Churchill to John Minton. Successful artists, although not household names themselves, writing Dicky and Denis off as just footnotes in history would be a mistake. After Denis's death in 2010, Jon Lys-Turner, one of two executors of the couple's estate, came into possession of an extraordinary archive of letters, works of art and symbolically loaded ephemera the two had collected since they met in the 1930s. It is no exaggeration to state that this archive represents a missing link in British art history - the wealth of new biographical information disclosed about Francis Bacon, for example, is truly staggering. The Visitors' Book is both an extraordinary insight into the minutiae of Dicky and Denis's life together and what it meant to be gay in pre-Wolfenden Britain, as well as a pocket social history of the era and a unique perspective into mid-twentieth century art. With reams of previously unseen material, this is a fascinating and unique opportunity to delve into post-war Britain.
The Vital Spark: 101 Outstanding Lives
by Lowell ThomasFrom Solomon to Winston Churchill, here are the biographies of 101 individuals who led amazing lives.
The Vixen Diaries
by Karrine SteffansKarrine Steffans continues to share the much-sought-after details of her star-studded life in this juicy tell-all—and dishes on the celebrity men that helped her get where she needed to be.This titillating expose chronicles the personal and professional adventures of this tabloid-laden socialite, dispelling some rumors, while confirming others.Diaries unveils the heavily shrouded Hollywood backrooms and its coveted secrets. Offering her ardent fans answers to burning questions and presenting lessons learned, this book will surely not disappoint.Karrine draws you in to get an up-close and personal look at the Hollywood life of fast money and sex; all the things that make for a great movie. She discusses her interactions with people after the release of Confessions of a Video Vixen and how she copes with it all.
The Vocation of Lady Christine
by Sister EblanaLady Christine, though not a beauty, won friends and suitors by her education and vibrant personality. At age 20 she left the pleasures of court for the cloister. This was a time when the Carmelite convents were overrun by aristocrats and luxury. But Christine lived a truly holy and mortified life in spite of this. What did she do? She prayed and was a model religious.
The Vogue Factor
by Kirstie ClementsThis addictive tell-all exposes the cutthroat culture of the world's most revered fashion masthead. Kirstie Clements started at the front desk answering phones for Vogue Australia. Years of hard work, risk-taking, and determination landed her at Editor-in-Chief. This is the story of her rise to the top. Of photo shoots in the jungles of Africa, clamoring for a spot at Fashion Week, celebrity interviews, deadlines, exotic travel, betrayals, and the danger inherent in the relentless pursuit of beauty. At once a career success story and a raw expose on the international fashion world, The Vogue Factor glitters with personality and is an unputdownable read for the fashion-obsessed - and anyone who wants to know what really happens at Vogue.
The Voice Inside
by John Farnham Poppy StockellAt last, the unflinching and unforgettable memoir of music and life from the much-loved Australian legend.Growing up in London and Melbourne, music was always part of John Farnham's world. But the young John never dreamed of what was to come. Pop stardom in the 1960s. The release of Whispering Jack, the critically acclaimed and highest-selling Australian album of all time. A decades-long touring career. Twenty-one ARIA awards. Australian of the Year. The list of accolades and achievements is long - so, at first glance, the John Farnham story is one filled with remarkable highs.It is, however, so much more than that. It is the story of the resilience John found as his stellar career stalled, record companies turned their backs, and he faced financial ruin. John has never shown how hard he fell and how difficult it was to stay true to himself in an industry that can be ruthless. It is the story of family, friendship and finding your voice.Throughout a lifetime filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, John has remained steadfast, never losing his unique musical talent, creative strength nor his powerful ability to make human connections through his music. After his devastating cancer diagnosis and far too many goodbyes, John is now telling his story, his way.The Voice Inside is like sitting down with an old friend sharing stories that are both deeply personal and wildly entertaining. Written alongside award-winning filmmaker Poppy Stockell, this is a captivating and powerfully honest insight into the man whose music is the soundtrack to so many of our lives.'Honesty, intimacy, vulnerability - these are the traits we tend to crave from this genre. And Farnham, ably assisted by Stockell as both interlocutor and co-writer, succeeds . . . A compelling and complete memoir' THE AUSTRALIAN
The Voice Is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac
by Joyce JohnsonA groundbreaking portrait of Kerouac as a young artist—from the award-winning author of Minor CharactersIn The Voice is All, Joyce Johnson, author of her classic memoir, Door Wide Open, about her relationship with Jack Kerouac, brilliantly peels away layers of the Kerouac legend to show how, caught between two cultures and two languages, he forged a voice to contain his dualities. Looking more deeply than previous biographers into how Kerouac’s French Canadian background enriched his prose and gave him a unique outsider’s vision of America, she tracks his development from boyhood through the phenomenal breakthroughs of 1951 that resulted in the composition of On the Road, followed by Visions of Cody. By illuminating Kerouac’s early choice to sacrifice everything to his work, The Voice Is All deals with him on his own terms and puts the tragic contradictions of his nature and his complex relationships into perspective.
The Voice Of Silence: A Life of Love, Healing and Inspiration
by Oonagh Shanley-ToffoloThe Voice of Silence is by an Irishwoman who has had an extraordinary life. Oonagh Shanley-Toffolo was brought up in 1930s rural Ireland where her father initiated her into the healing arts. At the age of 16, she entered a convent where she trained as a nurse, and was sent to India to look after the elderly (and knew Mother Teresa). Here, she felt it was the young, rather than the old, who needed more help and so she left her order and trained in midwifery. Later, in Paris, she was asked to nurse the Duke of Windsor just before he died - and many years later was introduced to Princess Diana and became her weekly confidante. In between, were bouts of serious illness, studying acupuncture in China - and being photographed by Snowdon. The Voice of Silence is the life story of a very unusual woman who has learned far more than most from all the remarkable things that have happened to her. It is also the author's thoughts on healing, spirituality and love - and how closely the three are intertwined. Full of feeling, poetic vision and insight, this book cannot fail to touch the heart of the reader, and inspire.
The Voice That Calls You Home
by Andrea RaynorA positive, affirming collection of essays that teaches how to understand and accept life's darkest hours -- The Voice That Calls You Home will improve the way readers live each and every day. As a hospice chaplain, cancer survivor, and a chaplain at Ground Zero following September 11, Andrea Raynor has gained a keen perspective on the meaning of life and death, comfort and grief. Through her own experiences, Raynor reminds readers that even in the most dire of circumstances, we still have the opportunity to recognize beauty, to be inspired by the tenacity of the human spirit, and to feel connected to something greater. Raynor acknowledges that we may not be able to prevent the difficulties that come in life, but we can always choose the way in which we face them. She urges us not to "live with our heads down, our eyes closed, and our hands in our pockets." Instead, she prompts us to remain open to the blessings that are all around us and to face life's challenges head-on -- "to increase our courage, re-new our hope, and unite us in the knowledge that we are not alone." In the tradition of Anne Lamott and Kate Braestrup, The Voice That Calls You Home is a warm, personal, and practical guide to appreciating the wondrous world we live in, offering perspective on how we can bear the sorrows that are sure to come with a steady eye and a sense of hope, and find the connection between the spiritual and the everyday.
The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights
by Russell Freedman"A voice like yours," celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini told contralto Marian Anderson, "is heard once in a hundred years." This insightful account of the great African American vocalist considers her life and musical career in the context of the history of civil rights in this country. Drawing on Anderson's own writings and other contemporary accounts, Russell Freedman shows readers a singer pursuing her art despite the social constraints that limited the careers of black performers in the 1920s and 1930s. Though not a crusader or a spokesperson by nature, Marian Anderson came to stand for all black artists -- and for all Americans of color -- when, with the help of such prominent figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, she gave her landmark 1939 performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which signaled the end of segregation in the arts.<P><P> Carefully researched, expertly told, and profusely illustrated with contemporary photographs, this Newbery Honor and Sibert Medal-winning book is a moving account of the life of a talented and determined artist who left her mark on musical and social history. Through her story, Newbery Medal-winning author Russell Freedman, one of today's leading authors of nonfiction for young readers, illuminates the social and political climate of the day and an important chapter in American history. Notes, bibliography, discography, index.<P> Newbery Honor book and Winner of the Sibert Medal
The Voice That Is Great within Us: American Poetry of the Twentieth Century
by Hayden CarruthThis famous anthology includes the works of more than 130 major American poets of the modern period--Robert Frost, Paul Goodman, Carl Sandburg and Gwendolyn Brooks among them--along with short biographies of each.
The Voice is All
by Joyce JohnsonFrom the award-winning author of Minor Characters, a groundbreaking portrait of Jack Kerouac as a young artist.
The Voice of America: Lowell Thomas and the Invention of 20th Century Journalism
by Mitchell Stephens**WINNER, Sperber Prize 2018, for the best biography of a journalist**The first and definitive biography of an audacious adventurer—the most famous journalist of his time—who more than anyone invented contemporary journalism.Tom Brokaw says: "Lowell Thomas so deserves this lively account of his legendary life. He was a man for all seasons."“Mitchell Stephens’s The Voice of America is a first-rate and much-needed biography of the great Lowell Thomas. Nobody can properly understand broadcast journalism without reading Stephens’s riveting account of this larger-than-life globetrotting radio legend.” —Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and author of CronkiteFew Americans today recognize his name, but Lowell Thomas was as well known in his time as any American journalist ever has been. Raised in a Colorado gold-rush town, Thomas covered crimes and scandals for local then Chicago newspapers. He began lecturing on Alaska, after spending eight days in Alaska. Then he assigned himself to report on World War I and returned with an exclusive: the story of “Lawrence of Arabia.” In 1930, Lowell Thomas began delivering America’s initial radio newscast. His was the trusted voice that kept Americans abreast of world events in turbulent decades – his face familiar, too, as the narrator of the most popular newsreels. His contemporaries were also dazzled by his life. In a prime-time special after Thomas died in 1981, Walter Cronkite said that Thomas had “crammed a couple of centuries worth of living” into his eighty-nine years. Thomas delighted in entering “forbidden” countries—Tibet, for example, where he met the teenaged Dalai Lama. The Explorers Club has named its building, its awards, and its annual dinner after him. Journalists in the last decades of the twentieth century—including Cronkite and Tom Brokaw—acknowledged a profound debt to Thomas. Though they may not know it, journalists today too are following a path he blazed. In The Voice of America, Mitchell Stephens offers a hugely entertaining, sometimes critical portrait of this larger than life figure.
The Voice of Anfield: My Fifty Years with Liverpool FC
by George SephtonGeorge Sephton's relationship with Liverpool Football Club began in 1971 when he wrote to the club secretary applying to be the stadium announcer. His first match also marked the debut of Kevin Keegan. For the past fifty years, Sephton has been at Anfield for all but a handful of home fixtures, as well as travelling with the team to major finals.From the highs of winning numerous league titles and European Cups, to the lows of Heysel and Hillsbrough, Sephton has been with Liverpool through it all. From encounters with great managers and legendary players - from Bill Shankly to Kenny Dalglish, John Barnes to Jurgen Klopp, he tells his unique and entertaining story of the greatest club in the world.
The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King, Jr
by Lewis V. BaldwinIn this book, Lewis V. Baldwin contends that King was fundamentally a man of the church. Beginning with King's roots in Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, Baldwin traces the evolution of King's attitude toward the church through his college, seminary, graduate school, and civil rights years. The emphasis is on King's concept of the church as "the voice of conscience. " Baldwin persuasively claims that King challenged the church over the need for a higher spiritual and ethical ideal, and that King's moral leadership and eventual martyrdom did much to reestablish the credibility of the church at a time when some theologians were declaring the death of God. Baldwin critiques the contemporary church on the basis of King's prophetic model, and concludes by insisting that this model, not the entrepreneurial spirituality of the contemporary megachurches, embodies the best potential for much-needed church renewal.
The Voice of Egypt
by Virginia DanielsonUmm Kulthum, the "voice of Egypt," was the most celebrated musical performer of the century in the Arab world. More than twenty years after her death, her devoted audience, drawn from all strata of Arab society, still numbers in the millions. Thanks to her skillful and pioneering use of mass media, her songs still permeate the international airwaves. In the first English-language biography of Umm Kulthum, Virginia Danielson chronicles the life of a major musical figure and the confluence of artistry, society, and creativity that characterized her remarkable career. Danielson examines the careful construction of Umm Kulthum's phenomenal popularity and success in a society that discouraged women from public performance. From childhood, her mentors honed her exceptional abilities to accord with Arab and Muslim practice, and as her stature grew, she remained attentive to her audience and the public reception of her work. Ultimately, she created from local precendents and traditions her own unique idiom and developed original song styles from both populist and neo-classical inspirations. These were enthusiastically received, heralded as crowning examples of a new, yet authentically Arab-Egyptian, culture. Danielson shows how Umm Kulthum's music and public personality helped form popular culture and contributed to the broader artistic, societal, and political forces that surrounded her. This richly descriptive account joins biography with social theory to explore the impact of the individual virtuoso on both music and society at large while telling the compelling story of one of the most famous musicians of all time. "She is born again every morning in the heart of 120 million beings. In the East a day without Umm Kulthum would have no color. "--Omar Sharif