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William B. Gill: From the Goldfields to Broadway (Forgotten Stars of the Musical Theatre)
by Kurt GanzlFirst Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
William Barton Rogers and the Idea of MIT
by A. J. AnguloWinner, 2009 Outstanding Book Award, History of Education SocietyWinner, 2009 Richard Slatten Prize for Excellence in Virginia Biography, Virginia Historical SocietyConceptual founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, William Barton Rogers was a highly influential scientific mind and educational reformer of the nineteenth century. A. J. Angulo recounts the largely unknown story of one man's ideas and how they gave way to the creation of one of America’s premier institutions of higher learning. MIT's long tradition of teaching, research, and technological innovation for real-world applications is inexorably linked to Rogers’ educational philosophy. Emphasizing the "useful arts"—a curriculum of specialized scientific study stressing theory and practice, innovation and functionality—Rogers sought to revolutionize standard educational practices of the day. Controversial in an era typified by a generalist approach to teaching the sciences, Rogers’ model is now widely emulated by institutions throughout the world. Exploring the intersection of Rogers' educational philosophy and the rise of technical institutes in America, this biography offers a long-overdue account of the man behind MIT.
William Beckford
by Perry GauciThis first-ever biography of William Beckford provides a unique look at eighteenth-century British history from the perspective of the colonies. Even in his own time, Beckford was seen as a metaphor for the dramatic changes occurring during this era. He was born in 1709 into a family of wealthy sugar planters living in Jamaica, when the colonies were still peripheral to Britain. By the time he died in 1770, the colonies loomed large and were considered the source of Britain's growing global power. Beckford grew his fortune in Jamaica, but he spent most of his adult life in London, where he was elected Lord Mayor twice. He was one of the few politicians to have experienced imperial growing pains on both sides of the Atlantic, and his life offers a riveting look at how the expanding empire challenged existing political, social, and cultural norms.
William Blake: A New Kind of Man
by Michael DavisThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1977.
William Blake Now: Why He Matters More Than Ever
by John Higgs'If a thing loves, it is infinite' William BlakeA short, impassioned argument for why the visionary artist William Blake is important in the twenty-first centuryThe visionary poet and painter William Blake is a constant presence throughout contemporary culture - from videogames to novels, from sporting events to political rallies and from horror films to designer fashion. Although he died nearly 200 years ago, something about his work continues to haunt the twenty-first century. What is it about Blake that has so endured? In this illuminating essay, John Higgs takes us on a whirlwind tour to prove that far from being the mere New Age counterculture figure that many assume him to be, Blake is now more relevant than ever.
William Blake vs the World
by John Higgs'A glittering stream of revelatory light . . . Fascinating' THE TIMES'Rich, complex and original' TOM HOLLAND'One of the best books on Blake I have ever read' DAVID KEENAN'Absolutely wonderful!' TERRY GILLIAM'An alchemical dream of a book' SALENA GODDEN'Tells us a great deal about all human imagination' ROBIN INCE***Poet, artist, visionary and author of the unofficial English national anthem 'Jerusalem', William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. His life passed without recognition and he worked without reward, mocked, dismissed and misinterpreted. Yet from his ignoble end in a pauper's grave, Blake now occupies a unique position as an artist who unites and attracts people from all corners of society, and a rare inclusive symbol of English identity. Blake famously experienced visions, and it is these that shaped his attitude to politics, sex, religion, society and art. Thanks to the work of neuroscientists and psychologists, we are now in a better position to understand what was happening inside that remarkable mind, and gain a deeper appreciation of his brilliance. His timeless work, we will find, has never been more relevant.In William Blake vs the World we return to a world of riots, revolutions and radicals, discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s, and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics and comparative religion. Taking the reader on wild detours into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into context. And although the journey begins with us trying to understand him, we will ultimately discover that it is Blake who helps us to understand ourselves.
William Blake vs. the World
by John HiggsA wild and unexpected journey through culture, science, philosophy and religion to better understand the mercurial genius of William Blake.Poet, artist, and visionary, William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. His life passed without recognition and he worked without reward, often mocked, dismissed and misinterpreted. Yet from his ignoble end in a pauper's grave, Blake now occupies a unique position as an artist who unites and attracts people from all corners of society—a rare inclusive symbol of human identity. Blake famously experienced visions, and it is these that shaped his attitude to politics, sex, religion, society, and art. Thanks to the work of neuroscientists and psychologists, we are now in a better position to understand what was happening inside that remarkable mind and gain a deeper appreciation of his brilliance. His timeless work, we will find, has never been more relevant. In William Blake vs the World we return to a world of riots, revolutions, and radicals; discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s; and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics, and comparative religion. Taking the reader on a wild adventure into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into fascinating context. And although the journey begins with us trying to understand him, we will ultimately discover that it is Blake who helps us to understand ourselves.
William Boyd Dawkins & the Victorian Science of Cave Hunting: Three Men in a Cavern
by Mark WhiteWilliam Boyd Dawkins was a controversial Victorian geologist, palaeontologist and archaeologist who has divided opinion as either a hero or villain. For some, he was a pioneer of Darwinian science as a member of the Lubbock-Evans network, while for others he was little more than a reckless vandal who destroyed irreplaceable evidence and left precious little for future generations to assess. In this volume, Professor Mark White provides an unbiased archaeological and geological account of Boyd Dawkins&’ career and legacy by drawing on almost twenty years of research as well as his archive of published and unpublished work which places him at the centre of Victorian Darwinian science and society. White examines his work in both the field and study to provide a critical yet balanced account of his achievements and standing in relation to the field today as well as among his peers. At the heart of this book is a detailed study of the circumstances surrounding the Victorian excavations at Creswell Crags, where two celebrated finds became a cause celebre.
William Bradford: Plymouth's Faithful Pilgrim
by Gary D. SchmidtBiography of the pilgrim William Bradford, who lived at the New Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.
William C. Van Horne: Railway Titan
by Valerie KnowlesWilliam C. Van Horne was one of North America’s most accomplished men. Born in Illinois in 1843, Van Horne started working in the railway business at a young age. In 1881 he was lured north to Canada to become general manager of the fledgling Canadian Pacific Ralway. The railroading general pushed through construction of the CPR’s transcontinental line and then went on to become the company’s president. During his time with the CPR, Van Horne developed a telegraph service, launched the Empress line of Pacific steamships in 1891, and founded CP Hotels. He capped his career by opening up Cuba’s interior with a railway. A man of prodigious energy and many talents, he also became Canada’s foremost art collector and one of the country’s leading financiers. For all of his amazing accomplishments, Van Horne was knighted in 1894. When he died church bells throughout the length and breadth of Cuba tolled to mark his passing, and when his funeral train made its way across Canada, all traffic on the CPR system was suspended for five minutes.
William Cameron Menzies
by James CurtisHe was the consummate designer of film architecture on a grand scale, influenced by German expressionism and the work of the great European directors. He was known for his visual flair and timeless innovation, a man who meticulously preplanned the color and design of each film through a series of continuity sketches that made clear camera angles, lighting, and the actors' positions for each scene, translating dramatic conventions of the stage to the new capabilities of film. Here is the long-awaited book on William Cameron Menzies, Hollywood's first and greatest production designer, a job title David O. Selznick invented for Menzies' extraordinary, all-encompassing, Academy Award-winning work on Gone With the Wind (which he effectively co-directed). It was Menzies--winner of the first-ever Academy Award for Art Direction, jointly for The Dove (1927) and Tempest (1928), and who was as well a director (fourteen pictures) and a producer (twelve pictures)--who changed the way movies were (and still are) made, in a career that spanned four decades, from the 1920s through the 1950s. His more than 120 films include Rosita (1923), Things to Come (1936), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Kings Row (1942), Mr. Lucky (1943), The Pride of the Yankees (1943), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Address Unknown (1944), It's a Wonderful Life (1947), Invaders from Mars (1953), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). Now, James Curtis, acclaimed film historian and biographer, writes of Menzies' life and work as the most influential designer in the history of film. His artistry encompassed the large, scenic drawings of Douglas Fairbanks' The Thief of Bagdad (1924), which created a new standard for beauty on the screen and whose exotic fairy-tale sets are still regarded as pure genius. ("I saw The Thief of Bagdad when it first came out," said Orson Welles--he was, at the time, a nine-year-old boy. "I'll never forget it.") Curtis writes of Menzies' design and supervision of John Barrymore's Beloved Rogue (1927), a film that remains a masterpiece of craft and synthesis, one of the most distinctive pictures to emerge from Hollywood's waning days of silent films, and of his extraordinary, opulent appointments for Gone With the Wind (1939). It was Menzies who defined and solidified the role of art director as having overall control of the look of the motion picture, collaborating with producers like David O. Selznick and Samuel Goldwyn; with directors such as D. W. Griffith, Raoul Walsh, Alfred Hitchcock, Lewis Milestone, and Frank Capra. And with actors as varied as Ingrid Bergman, W. C. Fields, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, John Barrymore, Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Reagan, Gary Cooper, Vivien Leigh, Carole Lombard, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, and David Niven. Interviewing colleagues, actors, directors, friends, and family, and with full access to the William Cameron Menzies family collection of original artwork, correspondence, scrapbooks, and unpublished writing, Curtis brilliantly gives us the path-finding work of the movies' most daring and dynamic production designer: his evolution as artist, art director, production designer, and director. Here is a portrait of a man in his time that makes clear how the movies were forever transformed by his startling, visionary work.(With 16 pages of color illustrations, and black-and-white photographs throughout.)From the Hardcover edition.
William Carey Father of Modern Missions
by Walter Bruce DavisBiography of William Carey years of exceedingly fruitful service in India during which, nearly always embroiled in controversy, he laid down modern missionary principles and developed almost every form of missionary effort.
William Carlos Williams: A New World Naked
by Paul MarianiWilliam Carlos Williams (1883-1963) emerged alongside Pound, Eliot, Stevens, Frost, and Yeats as one of the foremost poets of the 20th century. Paterson, Williams's epic masterpiece, raised everyday American speech to the highest levels of poetic imagination. A finalist for the national Book Award and a New York Times Notable Book, William Carlos Williams: A New World Naked is a remarkable, rich blend of art and scholarship. From a small-town doctor who delivered more than 3,000 babies to an extraordinary revolutionary, Paul Mariani unfolds Williams' life and times while simultaneously letting the reader inside the poet's mind and language in this definitive masterwork.
William & Catherine: Their Romance and Royal Wedding in Photographs
by David Elliot CohenExperience the fairytale romance and historic wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in this volume of more than 200 spectacular photographs.Few events capture the worlds heart and imagination like a British royal wedding. Through more than two hundred photographs—including 80 pages of their wedding alone—William & Catherine recounts the couple’s wildly different childhoods, their romance and engagement, the events leading up to the wedding, and the grand affair itself.Here are the massive crowds lining the parade route, the sparkling celebrities at Westminster Abbey, the brides spectacular gown, “The Kisses” on the Buckingham Palace balcony, and the worldwide celebrations. Also included is a brief pictorial history of British royal weddings from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840 to Prince Charles and Lady Diana in 1981. With informative and fascinating captions, as well as a foreword by renowned royal watcher Robert Jobson, this book magnificently illustrates the pomp, the pageantry, the history and enchantment of the romance that charmed the world.
William Caxton (History Heroes #5)
by Damian HarveyWilliam Caxton led the way in bringing the printing press to the English and made books accessible to many people. Discover the stories of people who have helped to shape history, ranging from early explorers such as Christopher Columbus to more modern figures like Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web.These chapter books combine historical fact with engaging narrative and humourous illustration, perfect for the newly independent reader.
William Clark and the Shaping of the West
by Landon Y. JonesBetween 1803 and 1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark co-captained the most famous expedition in American history. But while Lewis ended his life just three years later, Clark, as the highest-ranking Federal official in the West, spent three decades overseeing its consequences: Indian removal and the destruction of Native America. In a rare combination of storytelling and scholarship, best-selling author Landon Y. Jones presents for the first time Clark's remarkable life and influential career in their full complexity.Like every colonial family living on Virginia's violent frontier, the Clarks killed Indians and acquired land; acting on behalf of the United States, William would prove successful at both. Clark's life was spent fighting in America's fifty-year running war with the Indians (and their European allies) over the Western borderlands. The struggle began with his famed brother George Roger's western campaigns during the American Revolution, continued through the vicious battles of the War of 1812, and ended with the Black Hawk War in the 1830s. In vividly depicting Clark's life, Jones memorably captures not only the dark and bloody ground of America's early West, but also the qualities of character and courage that made him an unequalled leader in America's grander enterprise: the shaping of the West. No one played a larger part in that accomplishment than William Clark. William Clark and the Shaping of the West is an unforgettable human story that encompasses in a single life the sweep of American history from colonial Virginia to the conquest of the West.
William Clarke Quantrill: His Life And Times
by Alfred E. CastelThe Quantrill legend is rooted in acts of savage violence throughout Kansas and Missouri during the Civil War--deeds both romanticized and vilified. In William Clarke Quantrill, Albert Castel's classic biography, the story of Quantrill and his men comes alive through facts verified from firsthand, original sources. Castel traces Quantrill's rise to power, from Kansas border ruffian and Confederate Army captain to lawless leader of "the most formidable band of revolver fighters the West ever knew." During the Civil War Quantrill and his men descended on Lawrence, Kansas, and carried out a frightful massacre of the civilian population. Some of Quantrill's bushwhackers made names for themselves at Lawrence or after the war, as outlaws: "Bloody Bill" Anderson, Cole Younger, George Todd, "Little Archie" Clement, and Frank and Jesse James.-Print ed.
William Cooper's Town: Power And Persuasion On The Frontier Of The Early American Republic
by Alan TaylorWilliam Cooper and James Fenimore Cooper, a father and son who embodied the contradictions that divided America in the early years of the Republic, are brought to life in this Pulitzer Prize-winning book. William Cooper rose from humble origins to become a wealthy land speculator and U.S. congressman in what had until lately been the wilderness of upstate New York, but his high-handed style of governing resulted in his fall from power and political disgrace. His son James Fenimore Cooper became one of this country’s first popular novelists with a book, The Pioneers, that tried to come to terms with his father’s failure and imaginatively reclaim the estate he had lost. In William Cooper’s Town, Alan Taylor dramatizes the class between gentility and democracy that was one of the principal consequences of the American Revolution, a struggle that was waged both at the polls and on the pages of our national literature. Taylor shows how Americans resolved their revolution through the creation of new social reforms and new stories that evolved with the expansion of our frontier.
William Cullen Bryant: Author of America
by Gilbert H. Muller2008 CHOICE Outstanding Academic TitleProclaimed by James Fenimore Cooper to be "the author of America," William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) was one of nineteenth-century America's foremost poets and public intellectuals. In this, the first major biography of Bryant in almost forty years, Gilbert H. Muller reintroduces a quintessential New Yorker who commanded the nation's literary, cultural, urban, and political life for more than half a century.A transplanted Yankee, Bryant arrived on the unpaved streets of Manhattan in the early 1820s and he would soon find himself at the locus of the many political and cultural transformations sweeping Manhattan and the nation. The bedrock of Bryant's cultural authority was his reputation as "America's first poet," and he enthralled a nation and his peers—including Whitman, Poe, Longfellow, and Emerson—who praised the excellence of his verse. A literary celebrity for almost seventy years, Bryant served as the editor of the New-York Evening Post for five decades, and was a major force behind the establishment of Central Park, the National Academy of Design, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Drawing on previously unavailable letters and nineteenth-century files of the New-York Evening Post, Muller creates a humanistic portrait of New York City's "first citizen," establishes him as a first-rate poet, and makes a convincing case for Bryant's role in defining the idea of democratic culture in America.
William F. Buckley (Christian Encounters Series)
by Jeremy LottChristian Encounters, a series of biographies from Thomas Nelson Publishers, highlights important lives from all ages and areas of the Church. Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests. But all, through their relationships, struggles, prayers, and desires, uniquely illuminate our shared experience. William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008) was a voice to millions, hosting the long-running "Firing Line" TV show, writing more than 50 books, and launching National Review magazine in 1955 to "fix the newly cast conservative cannons on the enemies of collectivism, liberalism, and Communism." Jeremy Lott makes a nuanced case for the profound influence of Buckley's faith--he was a Catholic with Irish-Protestant roots--on his emergence as a modern-day Jonah, warning of "the doom to come if America didn't change course, quickly." Buckley viewed the challenges of his era as ultimately religious in nature. Like the other members of his colorful family, he believed that God, family, and country--in that order--"demanded our unswerving loyalty." Lott traces the thread of faith that ran through Buckley's public life, from his call for a return to orthodoxy at Yale University to his doomed but entertaining run for mayor of New York, from his jaw-dropping verbal joust with Gore Vidal to his surprisingly fresh final thoughts on the end of the Cold War.
William F. Buckley Jr.: The Maker of a Movement
by Lee EdwardsThe modern-day Renaissance man who forged the conservative movementNoted conservative historian Lee Edwards, who knew William F. Buckley Jr. for more than forty years, delivers a much-needed intellectual biography of the man has been called "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century." In this concise and compelling book, Edwards reveals how Buckley did more than any other person to build the conservative movement. Once derided as a set of "irritable mental gestures," conservatism became, under Buckley's guidance, a political and intellectual force that transformed America.As conservatives debate the ideas that should drive their movement, William F. Buckley Jr.: The Maker of a Movement reminds us of the principles that animated Buckley, as well as the thinkers who inspired him. The four most important intellectual influences on this great molder of American conservatism, Edwards shows, were libertarian author and social critic Albert Jay Nock, conservative political scientist Willmoore Kendall, former Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers, and realpolitik apostle James Burnham. Having dug deep into the voluminous Buckley papers, Edwards also illuminates the profound influence of Buckley's close-knit family and his unwavering Catholic faith.
William F. Buckley Jr.: The Maker of a Movement
by Lee EdwardsThe modern-day Renaissance man who built the conservative movement The polysyllabic vocabulary, the wit, the charm, the sailing adventures, the spy novels—all of these have become part of the William F. Buckley Jr. legend. But to consider only Buckley's charisma and ceaseless energy is to miss that, above all, he was committed to advancing ideas. Now, noted conservative historian Lee Edwards, who knew Bill Buckley for more than 40 years, delivers a much-needed intellectual biography of the man who has been called "the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century." In this concise and compelling book, Edwards reveals how Buckley did more to build the conservative movement than did any other person. Once derided as a set of "irritable mental gestures," conservatism became, under Buckley's guidance, a political and intellectual force that transformed America. As conservatives debate the ideas that should drive their movement, William F. Buckley Jr.: The Maker of a Movement reminds us of the principles that animated Buckley, as well as the thinkers who inspired him. Having dug deep into the voluminous Buckley papers, Edwards also illuminates the profound influence of Buckley's close-knit family and his unwavering Catholic faith. Edwards brilliantly captures the free spirit and unbounded energy of the conservative polymath, but he also shows that Buckley did not succeed merely on the strength of a winning personality. Rather, Buckley's achievements were the result of a long series of quite deliberate political acts—many of them overlooked today.William F. Buckley Jr.: The Maker of a Movement tells the incredible story of a man who could have been a playboy, sailing his yacht and skiing in Switzerland, but who chose to be the St. Paul of the conservative movement, carrying the message far and wide. Lee Edwards shows how and why it happened—and the remarkable results.
William F. Winter and the New Mississippi: A Biography (Willie Morris Books in Memoir and Biography)
by Charles C. BoltonFor more than six decades, William F. Winter (1923–2020) was one of the most recognizable public figures in Mississippi. His political career spanned the 1940s through the early 1980s, from his initial foray into Mississippi politics as James Eastland's driver during his 1942 campaign for the United States Senate, as state legislator, as state tax collector, as state treasurer, and as lieutenant governor. Winter served as governor of the state of Mississippi from 1980 to 1984. A voice of reason and compromise during the tumultuous civil rights battles, Winter represented the earliest embodiment of the white moderate politicians who emerged throughout the “New South.” His leadership played a pivotal role in ushering in the New Mississippi—a society that moved beyond the racial caste system that had defined life in the state for almost a century after emancipation. In many ways, Winter's story over nine decades was also the story of the evolution of Mississippi in the second half of the twentieth century. Winter remained active in public life after retiring from politics following an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign against Thad Cochran in 1984. He worked with a variety of organizations to champion issues that were central to his vision of how to advance the interests of his native state and the South as a whole. Improving the economy, upgrading the educational system, and facilitating racial reconciliation were goals he pursued with passion. The first biography of this pivotal figure, William F. Winter and the New Mississippi traces his life and influences from boyhood days in Grenada County, through his service in World War II, and through his long career serving Mississippi.
William Faulkner: A Life through Novels
by Foreword by Philip Weinstein. With the collaboration of Roger Little. Translated by Miriam Watchorn. André Bleikasten André BleikastenWriting to American poet Malcolm Cowley in 1949, William Faulkner expressed his wish to be known only through his books. He would go on to win the Nobel Prize for literature several months later, and when he died famous in 1962, his biographers immediately began to unveil and dissect the unhappy life of "the little man from Mississippi." Despite the many works published about Faulkner, his life and career, it still remains a mystery how a poet of minor symbolist poems rooted in the history of the Deep South became one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. Here, renowned critic André Bleikasten revisits Faulkner’s biography through the author’s literary imagination. Weaving together correspondence and archival research with the graceful literary analysis for which he is known, Bleikasten presents a multi-strand account of Faulkner’s life in writing. By carefully keeping both the biographical and imaginative lives in hand, Bleikasten teases out threads that carry the reader through the major events in Faulkner’s life, emphasizing those circumstances that mattered most to his writing: the weight of his multi-generational family history in the South; the formation of his oppositional temperament provoked by a resistance to Southern bourgeois propriety; his creative and sexual restlessness and uncertainty; his lifelong struggle with finances and alcohol; his paradoxical escape to the bondages of Hollywood; and his final bent toward self-destruction. This is the story of the man who wrote timeless works and lived in and through his novels.