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Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America
by William SouderJohn James Audubon is renowned for his masterpiece of natural history and art, The Birds of America, the first nearly comprehensive survey of the continent's birdlife. And yet few people understand, and many assume incorrectly, what sort of man he was. How did the illegitimate son of a French sea captain living in Haiti, who lied both about his parentage and his training, rise to become one of the greatest natural historians ever and the greatest name in ornithology? In Under a Wild Sky this Pulitzer Prize finalist, William Souder reveals that Audubon did not only compose the most famous depictions of birds the world has ever seen, he also composed a brilliant mythology of self. In this dazzling work of biography, Souder charts the life of a driven man who, despite all odds, became the historical figure we know today.
Under a Wing
by Reeve LindberghMemoir of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Charles Lindbergh's family written by their youngest daughter.
Under the Bearskin: A junior officer’s story of war and madness
by Mark Evans Andrew Sharples'A fast-paced, thrilling account of British heroism, brave men surrounded and fighting against overwhelming odds. This is the real, sometimes shocking, and deeply personal story of modern warfare and PTSD.' Andy McNab'This hugely timely book reveals in gripping detail the personal stories of its hidden victims - lest we forget.' Damien LewisTrapped in an isolated outpost on the edge of the Helmand desert, a small force of British and Afghan soldiers is holding out against hundreds of Taliban fighters. Under brutal siege conditions, running low on food and ammunition, he experiences the full horror of combat. As the casualties begin to mount and the enemy closes in, Evans finds both his leadership and his belief in the war severely tested. Returning home, he is haunted by the memories of Afghanistan. He can't move on and his life begins to spin out of control.Under the Bearskin was previously published as Code Black.
Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History Of L. A. Punk
by John Doe Tom DesaviaUnder the Big Black Sun explores the nascent Los Angeles punk rock movement and its evolution to hardcore punk as it's never been told before. Authors John Doe and Tom DeSavia have woven together an enthralling story of the legendary west coast scene from 1977-1982 by enlisting the voices of people who were there. The book shares chapter-length tales from the authors along with personal essays from famous (and infamous) players in the scene. Additional authors include: Exene Cervenka (X), Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Mike Watt (The Minutemen), Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go's), Dave Alvin (The Blasters), Jack Grisham (TSOL), Teresa Covarrubias (The Brat), Robert Lopez (The Zeros, El Vez), as well as scencesters and journalists Pleasant Gehman, Kristine McKenna, and Chris Morris. Through interstitial commentary, John Doe "narrates" this journey through the land of film noir sunshine, Hollywood back alleys, and suburban sprawl-the place where he met his artistic counterparts Exene, DJ Bonebrake, and Billy Zoom-and formed X, the band that became synonymous with, and in many ways defined, L.A. punk. Under the Big Black Sun shares stories of friendship and love, ambition and feuds, grandiose dreams and cultural rage, all combined with the tattered, glossy sheen of pop culture weirdness that epitomized the operations of Hollywood's underbelly. Readers will travel to the clubs that defined the scene, as well as to the street corners, empty lots, apartment complexes, and squats that served as de facto salons for the musicians, artists, and fringe players that hashed out what would become punk rock in Los Angeles.
Under the Big Top
by Bruce FeilerBoth a great American adventure and a rare entry into asheltered world, Under the Big Top describes one man's pursuit of every child's fantasy: running away to join the circus. Bruce Feiler's unforgettable year as a clown will forever change your view of one of the world's oldest art forms and remind you of how dreams can go horribly wrong -- and then miraculously come true.
Under the Birch Tree: A Memoir of Discovering Connections and Finding Home
by Nancy ChadwickA birch tree grows tall and arabesque in the front yard of Nancy Chadwick&’s childhood home. Over time the tree becomes her buddy and first learned connection, synonymous with home—and one spring morning, she makes a discovery under its boughs that foreshadows the many disconnections within her family, relationships, jobs, and home that are to come. Through the chapters in her life, Chadwick&’s search for home carries her through with unflinching honesty, but in the end, it is a story of survival and triumph over adversity. She does not wallow in self-pity but remains tenacious as she examines her life. An exploration of what it means to belong, Under the Birch Tree is a success story of finding home.
Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates
by David CordinglyFor this rousing, revisionist history, the former head of exhibitions at England's National Maritime Museum has combed original documents and records to produce a most authoritative and definitive account of piracy's "Golden Age." As he explodes many accepted myths (i. e. "walking the plank" is pure fiction), Cordingly replaces them with a truth that is more complex and often bloodier.
Under the Black Hat: My Life in the WWE and Beyond
by Paul O'Brien Jim RossFrom legendary wrestling announcer Jim Ross comes a candid, colorful memoir about the inner workings of the WWE and the personal crises he weathered at the height of his career.If you&’ve caught a televised wrestling match anytime in the past THIRTY years, you&’ve probably heard Jim Ross&’s throaty Oklahoma twang. The beloved longtime announcer of WWE is already an icon to generations of wrestling fans, and he&’s not slowing down, having just signed on as the announcer of the starry new wrestling venture All Elite Wrestling. In this follow-up to his bestselling memoir Slobberknocker, he dishes about not only his long career, which includes nurturing global stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena, but also about the challenges of aging and disability, his split from collaborator Vince McMahon, and the sudden death of his beloved wife, Jan. The result is a gruff, endearing, and remarkably human-scale portrait, set against the larger-than-life backdrop of professional wrestling. Ross&’s ascent in WWE mirrors the rise of professional wrestling itself from a DIY sideshow to a billion-dollar business. Under the Black Hat traces all the highs and lows of that wild ride, in which Jim served not only as on-air commentator, but talent manager, payroll master, and even occasional in-ring foil to threats like Paul &“Triple H&” Levesque and Undertaker. While his role brought him riches and exposure Jim never dreamed of growing up in a small town in Oklahoma, he chafed against the strictures of a fickle corporate culture and what he saw as a narrow vision of what makes great wrestlers—and great story lines. When suddenly stricken with Bell&’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis that makes it impossible to smile, he stared down his greatest fear—being cast out of the announcing booth for good. Picking up where Slobberknocker left off and ending on the cusp of a new career in a reimagined industry, Under the Black Hat is the triumphant tale of a country boy who made it to the top, took a few knocks, and stuck around—just where his fans like him.
Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910-1945
by Hildi KangIn the rich and varied life stories in Under the Black Umbrella, elderly Koreans recall incidents that illustrate the complexities of Korea during the colonial period. Hildi Kang here reinvigorates a period of Korean history long shrouded in the silence of those who endured under the "black umbrella" of Japanese colonial rule. Existing descriptions of the colonial period tend to focus on extremes: imperial repression and national resistance, Japanese subjugation and Korean suffering, Korean backwardness and Japanese progress. "Most people," Kang says, "have read or heard only the horror stories which, although true, tell only a small segment of colonial life. "The varied accounts in Under the Black Umbrella reveal a truth that is both more ambiguous and more human the small-scale, mundane realities of life in colonial Korea. Accessible and attractive narratives, linked by brief historical overviews, provide a large and fully textured view of Korea under Japanese rule. Looking past racial hatred and repression, Kang reveals small acts of resistance carried out by Koreans, as well as gestures of fairness by Japanese colonizers. Impressive for the history it recovers and preserves, Under the Black Umbrella is a candid, human account of a complicated time in a contested place.
Under the Blue Flag: My Mission in Kosovo
by Philip KearneySeeking to escape the monotony of his job as assistant District Attorney in San Francisco, Philip Kearney needed a change. His solution came one day in a casual email from a friend: “ U.N. has opening here for an international prosecutor doing war crimes stuff. You should apply.” “ Here” meant Pristina, Kosovo, and "stuff" Kearney soon found out— after landing the job despite his inexperience with international law and an inability to speak any foreign languages— meant a harrowing string of investigations involving the most brutal and devastating crimes imaginable. Abruptly removed from the comforts of home and the order and stability of America's justice system, Kearney found himself the sole international prosecutor assigned to a region of nearly one million people. Under the Blue Flag reads like an international legal thriller as Kearney and his colleagues are shuttled in armored vehicles between crime scenes and the makeshift courtrooms where Kosovo's fledgling legal system is tested daily. In the face of almost insurmountable obstacles— witness intimidation, corrupt law enforcement, and deep ethnic biases— the truth is slowly revealed. And with the truth emerges a cast of conflict-weary locals and displaced internationals, many of whom come to represent the war's most courageous and unheralded heroes. Under the Blue Flag is a passionate and eye-opening look at a post-war Kosovo that continues to straddle the stubborn gap between a past corrupted by violence and injustice and a future governed by the rule of law.
Under the Camelthorn Tree: The Impact of Trauma on One Family
by Kate NichollsKate Nicholls left England to raise her five children in Botswana: an experience that would change each of their lives. Living on a shoestring in a lion conservation camp, Kate home-schools her family under a camelthorn tree while they also learn at first hand about the individual lives of wild lions. Their deep attachment to these magnificent animals is palpable.This contemporary, gritty and humorous memoir explores the shocking impact of PTSD on a close-knit family, and their eventual recovery. It is a timely book that shines a light on an aspect of sexual crime that is often shrouded in shame: children of parents with PTSD can suffer collateral damage. The character-driven narrative moves effectively across time and place, revealing the gradual fragmentation of a strong woman. Kate Nicholls pulls no punches and her passion to act as advocate for the secondary victims of trauma is expressed in raw, unsentimental prose. She skilfully counterbalances this with amusing insight into family life. She explores the universal challenges of child-rearing with wit and engaging honesty, offering an unsanitised insight into raising a family in the African bush. Kate Nicholls' tightly constructed narrative has received widespread praise and she made a much-acclaimed appearance at the Hay Festival with Jane Garvey in May 2019.
Under the Camelthorn Tree: The Impact of Trauma on One Family
by Kate NichollsKate Nicholls left England to raise her five children in Botswana: an experience that would change each of their lives. Living on a shoestring in a lion conservation camp, Kate home-schools her family while they also learn at first hand about the individual lives of wild lions. Their deep attachment to these magnificent animals is palpable.The setting is exotic but it is also precarious. When the author is subjected to a brutal attack by three men, it threatens to destroy her and her family: post-traumatic stress turns a good mother into a woman who is fragmented and out of control. In this powerfully written, raw and often warmly funny memoir, we witness the devastation of living with a mother whose resilience is almost broken, and how familial structures shift as the children mature and roles change. Under the CamelthornTree addresses head-on the many issues surrounding motherhood, education, independence, and the natural world; and highlights the long-lasting effect of gender violence on secondary victims. Above all, it is an inspiring account of family love, and a powerful beacon of hope for life after trauma.
Under the Duvet
by Marian KeyesFrom the acclaimed bestselling author of Sushi for Beginners and Angels comes a collection of personal essays on shopping, writing, moviemaking, motherhood and all the assorted calamities involved in being a savvy woman in the new millennium. Her novels are read and adored by millions around the world, and with Under the Duvet, Marian Keyes tackles the world of nonfiction. These are her collected pieces: regular bulletins from the woman writing under the covers. Marian loves shoes and her LTFs (Long-Term Friends), hates realtors and lost luggage, and she once had a Christmas office party that involved roasting two sheep on a spit, Moroccan-style. She's just like you and me ... Featuring a wide compilation of Marian's journalism from magazines and newspapers, plus some exclusive, previously unpublished material, Under the Duvet is bursting with funny stories: observations on life, in-laws, weight loss, parties and driving lessons that will keep you utterly gripped -- either wincing with recognition or roaring with laughter.
Under the Eye of the Clock: The Life Story of Christopher Nolan
by Christopher NolanThis memoir, told as the story of Joseph. Nolan's birth injuries left him quadriplegic and completely unable to speak, so for years no one suspected that his mind, though caged in an inert body, was burning to express his inner thoughts and ideas.
Under the Fifth Sun: A Novel of Pancho Villa
by Earl ShorrisThis is a work of great scope, a powerful illumination of an enigmatic figure. Told from the point of view of an ancient shaman, this is the dark and mystical story of Mexico's greatest revolutionary general, Pancho Villa. Shedding the Hollywood mantle of the drunken, womanizing bandit-turned-hero, the Villa who comes to life in this extraordinary novel is part man and part myth, part visionary hoodlum and part brilliant general. A troubled childhood--marked by his father's early death in the fields and his sister's rape by a local landowner--and a prophetic dream propel young Villa through a period of lawlessness and drifting and into life as a military leader. The story moves convincingly through the events of Villa's life, showing him to be a man of fierce passions and moral conviction, a natural leader for the rebellion.
Under the Freedom Tree
by Susan VanHeckeTaut free verse tells the little-known story of the first contraband camp of the Civil War—seen by some historians as the "beginning of the end of slavery in America." One night in 1861, three escaped slaves made their way from the Confederate line to a Union-held fort. The runaways were declared "contraband of war" and granted protection. As word spread, thousands of runaway slaves poured into the fort, seeking their freedom. These "contrabands" made a home for themselves, building the first African American community in the country. In 1863, they bore witness to one of the first readings of the Emancipation Proclamation in the South—beneath the sheltering branches of the tree now known as Emancipation Oak.
Under the Gaze of Angels: Stories
by Said HabibUnder the Gaze of Angels offers treasured views of family and neighborhood life, native to the Galilee, in the years leading up to and following the upheavals of 1948. A collection of four stories, told with simplicity and warmth, they include three set during the time of British mandate rule: &“Zuha and the Book Vendor,&” &“The English Gramophone,&” and &“Yildiz the Turkish Woman.&” These are followed by the book&’s title work, a remembrance that travels from childhood to elder years, pursued by loss. Imagined or recalled in exile, these vivid, evocative mementos quietly disarm the violence that surrounds them, restoring a stolen past to memory under the gaze of angels.
Under the Guns of the Kaiser's Aces: Böhome, Müller, von Tutschek and Wolff, The Complete Record of Their Victories and Victims
by Norman Franks Hal GiblinThe Under the Guns series continues with an all-encompassing look at four highly decorated German fighter aces and their dogfights in World War I. Following their imaginative, popular and successful approach to identifying and describing all the airmen who were claimed by Manfred von Richthofen in Under the Guns of the Red Baron, and by Immelmann, Voss, Göring and Lothar von Richthofen in Under the Guns of the German Aces, air historians Franks and Giblin have put four more equally distinguished German aces of World War One under the microscope. In doing so, they profile not only the aces themselves, all of whom received the &“Blue Max&”—Germany&’s highest award for bravery in action—but also the Allied airmen they fought and downed. By extensive and exhaustive research into records, and carefully studying maps, timings and intelligence reports—contemporary and retrospective—as full a picture as possible is revealed with excellent photographic coverage of the many protagonists involved. All four of the aces, Böhme, Müller, von Tutschek and Wolff were unit leaders at different times, one commanded a Jagdesgeschwader, the others commanded Jagdstaffels. All four were destined to die in actions against the Royal Flying Corps. Every one of their combats is detailed here, with color artwork. This is the last in the Under the Guns trilogy, to complete the set.
Under the Ice: A Marine Biologist at Work
by Kathy ConlanKathy Conlan is a marine biologist who has scuba-dived in the Arctic and Antarctic. A fascinating first-person account of a woman scientist at work
Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush
by Graeme ThompsonThe first ever in-depth study of Kate Bush's life and career, Under The Ivy features over 70 unique and revealing new interviews with those who have viewed from up close both the public artist and the private woman: old school friends, early band members, long-term studio collaborators, former managers, producers, musicians, video directors, dance instructors and record company executives.
Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty
by Bradley K. MartinThe strange story of the Nation and the Dynasty.
Under the Nakba Tree: Fragments of a Palestinian Family in Canada (Our Lives: Diary, Memoir, and Letters)
by Mowafa Said HousehMowafa Said Househ’s family fled Palestine in 1948 and arrived in Canada in the 1970s. He spent his childhood in Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up as a visible minority and a Muslim whose family had a deeply fractured history. In the year 2000, when Mowafa visited his family’s homeland of Palestine at the beginning of the Second Intifada, he witnessed the effects of prolonged conflict and occupation. It was those observations and that experience that inspired him not only to tell his story but to realize many of the intergenerational and colonial traumas that he shares with the Indigenous people of Turtle Island. His moving memoir depicts the lives of those who live on occupied land and the struggles that define them.
Under the Open Skies: Finding Peace And Health In Nature
by Markus TorgebyIn the vein of Erling Kagge&’s Silence and Lars Mytting&’s Norwegian Wood, Under the Open Skies: A Practical Guide to Living Close to Nature combines escapism and adventure with a love of nature and the desire for a simpler life. Twenty years ago, Markus Torgeby traded his hectic urban lifestyle for a small hut in the forests of northern Sweden. He ended up living there for four years, in perfect solitude and in harmony with nature. Today, he and his wife Frida and their three children live in a house he built with his own hands, near the site where he once survived on nothing but oatmeal, river water and the forest&’s own pantry. Framed with stunning photographs taken by Frida, Under the Open Skies is the story of Markus&’s journey from broken youth, to living alone in the forest, to a self-healed family man. Torgeby is proof of the restorative powers of the outdoors and his descriptions of living close to nature combine everyday philosophy and inspirational insights with helpful advice as he shares how to make fire, the best techniques for chopping logs and how best to forage for food. Part practical guide to how to live in the wild, part a meditation on the human need for a connection with the natural world, Under the Open Skies is the beguiling and timely portrait of how the desire for a simpler existence helped one man find contentment and connection with the world around him, and how we can all learn from his experience.
Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba
by Alma Flor AdaThe author recalls her life and impressions growing up in Cuba.<P><P> Winner of the Pura Belpre Medal
Under the Same Sky: From Iran to Australia, an unforgettable story of seeking refuge, being torn apart by government detention and freed by love
by Milad Jafari Mojgan ShamsalipoorIn Iran a woman has no rights. After years of abuse, Mojgan Shamsalipoor was about to be married off to a much older man. She was seventeen years old. Her mother, who had been unable to protect her, urged her to seek refuge somewhere safe. Making their way to Indonesia, Mojgan and her brother Hossein paid people smugglers to help them find sanctuary. They were told Australia would help them.Years earlier, Milad Jafari and his family fled political persecution in Iran. They had also risked their lives to come to Australia by boat. It was before the tide turned on compassion towards refugees.Then Milad meet Mojgan. After time in Christmas Island, Darwin and Brisbane detention centres, Mojgan was allowed to go to school and live in the community. They fell in love and dreamed of making a life together in Australia. They married and made plans.Their dreams were shattered when Mojgan was sent back to detention. Her refugee status was denied and so was her chance to study. Mojgan and Hossein were locked away, and told they had to return to their country of origin. For them, that would mean prison, torture or death.For two years the Brisbane community fought for Mojgan's release. But the loudest voice was always Milad's. A campaign to Free Mojgan gained country-wide support and in September 2016, Mojgan was released. But there is still no certainty for her, and no guarantee that she will be allowed to stay. Their story, UNDER THE SAME SKY, shares Mojgan and Milad's powerful refugee experiences, reminding us that any compassion we give brings our country great rewards. Ultimately, it shows that love can find a way, no matter the obstacles.