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Undercover
by Joe CarterA compelling true story of the reality of undercover police workFor over 20 years, Joe Carter has worked for the police as an undercover cop. Travelling the globe on different passports, fraternising with thieves and international drugs and arms dealers, working alongside dangerous criminals, Carter always knew his life would come crashing down around him at any point. His story is a gripping account of the secret, solitary work of an undercover officer and the many ‘sticky’ situations he found himself in, as well as the moving confession of the difficulty in reconciling his two identities with his family life.This book explores the resilience needed to lead a double life, the thrilling challenge of working with the biggest criminals in Britain, and maintaining a sense of justice through the many adventures he encounters.
Undercover Cop: How I Brought Down the Real-Life Sopranos
by Mike Russell Patrick W. Picciarelli“Nobody did undercover better than Mike Russell. His story is grittier than The Sopranos, more volatile than Goodfellas. A must read.” —George Anastasia, New York Times–bestselling authorNearly taken out of the game by a shooting, New Jersey state trooper Mike Russell eventually found himself in the right place at the right time to save Andy Gerardo, one of the ranking captains of the Genovese crime family, from an attack. Quickly earning the trust of his new friend, Russell would orchestrate one of the biggest Mafia takedowns of all time.Urged by his police handlers, Russell used his cover story—an ex-cop fired for excessive force who now made his living from an oil-delivery business—and street skills to assimilate into the Genovese crime family in New Jersey, ultimately leading to more than fifty arrests of mobsters, corrupt prison officials, and even a state senator. Straddling the thin line between collecting evidence and participating in the very crimes he was leaking to the cops, Russell consistently placed himself at risk—especially when his police handlers disregarded his wishes and his well-being, conducting premature raids on the gangsters. With his marriage suffering and his family in danger, Russell took extraordinary steps to ensure his financial security and safety, demanding better terms from the police and allowing a film crew to document the final moments of the epic bust for a documentary that was later sold to HBO.A real-life version of The Sopranos, Undercover Cop immerses readers in the colorful yet harrowing trials of a standout cop who faced the mob on his own terms, crippled organized crime in New Jersey, and forever redefined undercover law enforcement.
Undercover Epicenter Nurse: How Fraud, Negligence, and Greed Led to Unnecessary Deaths at Elmhurst Hospital
by Erin Marie OlszewskiUndercover Epicenter Nurse blows the lid off the COVID-19 pandemic. What would you do if you discovered that the media and the government were lying to us all? And that hundreds, maybe thousands of people were dying because of it? Army combat veteran and registered nurse Erin Olszewski&’s most deeply held values were put to the test when she arrived as a travel nurse at Elmhurst Hospital in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. After serving in Iraq, she was back on the front lines—and this time, she found, the situation was even worse. Rooms were filthy, nurses were lax with sanitation measures, and hospital-acquired cases of COVID-19 were spreading like wildfire. Worse, people who had tested negative multiple times for COVID-19 were being labeled as COVID-confirmed and put on COVID-only floors. Put on ventilators and drugged up with sedatives, these patients quickly deteriorated—even though they did not have coronavirus when they checked in. Doctors-in-training were refusing to perform CPR—and banning nurses from doing it—on dying patients whose families had not consented to &“Do Not Resuscitate&” orders. Erin wasn&’t about to stand by and let her patients keep dying on her watch, but she knew that if she told the truth, people wouldn&’t believe her. It was just too shocking. Willing to go to battle for her patients, Erin made the decision to go deep undercover, recording conversations with other nurses, videos of malpractice, and more. She began to share what she found on social media. Unsurprisingly, she was fired for it. Now, Erin is standing up to tell the whole horrifying story of what happened inside Elmhurst Hospital to demand justice for those who fell victim to the hospital&’s greed. Not only must the staff be held accountable for their unethical actions; but also, this kind of corruption must be destroyed so that future Americans are not put at risks. The deaths have to end, and Erin won&’t rest until the bad actors are exposed. Undercover Epicenter Nurse: How Fraud, Negligence, and Greed Led to Unnecessary Deaths at Elmhurst Hospital is a shocking and infuriating inside exposé of the American healthcare system gone wrong. At the same time, it&’s the story of a woman who traveled from the small-town streets of Wisconsin, to the battlefields of Iraq, to the mean streets of Queens, on a quest to help fight for her country. With this book, the real battle has begun.
Undercover Girl: The Lesbian Informant Who Helped the FBI Bring Down the Communist Party
by Lisa E. DavisAt the height of the Red Scare, Angela Calomiris was a paid FBI informant inside the American Communist Party. As a Greenwich Village photographer, Calomiris spied on the New York Photo League, pioneers in documentary photography. While local Party officials may have had their sus-picions about her sexuality, her apparent dedication to the cause won them over. When Calomiris testified for the prosecution at the 1949 Smith Act trial of the Party's National Board, her identity as an informant (but not as a lesbian) was revealed. Her testimony sent eleven party leaders to prison and decimated the ranks of the Communist Party in the US.Undercover Girl is both a new chapter in Cold War history and an intimate look at the relationship between the FBI and one of its paid inform-ants. Ambitious and sometimes ruthless, Calomiris defied convention in her quest for celebrity.
Undercover Policing and the Corrupt Secret Society Within
by Keith Potter Garry RogersA former police officer reveals all in a shocking autobiography “detailing his time undercover amongst some of the UK’s toughest criminals” (Daily Mirror).Garry Rogers played a key role in one of the UK’s most successful undercover policing operations, targeting the football hooliganism which blighted the domestic and international game. From Old Trafford to Turkey and Sweden to Sardinia, this working class lad turned undercover cop infiltrated some of the most notorious hooligan gangs at club and England level as part of Greater Manchester Police’s groundbreaking Omega Unit.When the force extended its undercover policing operations to target serious and violent crime, it was Garry who gained the trust of armed robbers, drug dealers and a murderer securing the evidence to take them off the streets, often for many years.But after five years at the cutting edge of covert operations, and with a new, inexperienced and ultimately corrupt officer in charge of the unit, Garry found himself dangerously exposed to violent criminals living just minutes from his family home. And when he turned to the force for support he was met with a wall of silence, accusations, and what one chief constable later described as a Masonic conspiracy that eventually pushed him out of the job after 28 years. Now he’s determined to tell his story—the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Undercover Policing and the Corrupt Secret Society Within
by Keith Potter Garry RogersA former police officer reveals all in a shocking autobiography “detailing his time undercover amongst some of the UK’s toughest criminals” (Daily Mirror).Garry Rogers played a key role in one of the UK’s most successful undercover policing operations, targeting the football hooliganism which blighted the domestic and international game. From Old Trafford to Turkey and Sweden to Sardinia, this working class lad turned undercover cop infiltrated some of the most notorious hooligan gangs at club and England level as part of Greater Manchester Police’s groundbreaking Omega Unit.When the force extended its undercover policing operations to target serious and violent crime, it was Garry who gained the trust of armed robbers, drug dealers and a murderer securing the evidence to take them off the streets, often for many years.But after five years at the cutting edge of covert operations, and with a new, inexperienced and ultimately corrupt officer in charge of the unit, Garry found himself dangerously exposed to violent criminals living just minutes from his family home. And when he turned to the force for support he was met with a wall of silence, accusations, and what one chief constable later described as a Masonic conspiracy that eventually pushed him out of the job after 28 years. Now he’s determined to tell his story—the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Undercover: Operazione Julie - La Verità
by Stephen BentleySi dice che l'Operazione Julie sia la >. Questa è la storia vera di uno di solo quattro detective sotto-copertura dell'Operazione Julie. L'Operazione Julie è ancora oggi il punto di riferimento per tutte le operazioni sotto-copertura e gli addestramenti britannici. Nel 2011 la BBC ha affermato che questa grandiosa ed unica operazione di polizia fu l'inizio della guerra contro le droghe. Stephen Bentley era uno dei quattro detective sotto-copertura coinvolti nell'Operazione Julie, uno dei più grandi colpi antidroga del mondo. Assieme al suo partner sotto-copertura, si infiltrò nella gang producente circa il 90% dell'LSD nel mondo e scoprì una trama per importare copiose quantità di cocaina boliviana nel Regno Unito. La malavita conobbe l'autore come Steve Jackson. Come riuscì ad infiltrarsi con successo nelle due gang? Dovette fare uso di droghe? E come lo influenzò >? Scoprite le risposte ed entrate nella mente di Steve Jackson, detective sotto-copertura. Un affascinante, diretto, onesto resoconto di un insider che in realtà era un outsider... un racconto di avidità oltraggiosa, lussuria, violenza e prodezza di pochi uomini che avevano un obiettivo ammirevole e di come lo gestirono. Una prospettiva dall'interno del traffico di droga, raccontata con fascino, intelligenza e in certi casi con umorismo da un uomo talentuoso, particolarmente qualificato a raccontare la storia vera, che più di tutti era un decente uomo onesto. Semplicemente una bella lettura. - Estratto di una recensione.
Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience
by Natasha Carthew'At times roaring and visceral, in turn gentle and embracing, always driven by hope and determination' RAYNOR WINN 'Haunting and powerful' KATE MOSSE To grow up in rural poverty is to fight for life before you can walk.Natasha Carthew was born into a world that sat alongside picture-postcard Cornwall, one where second homes took the sea view of council properties, summer months shifted the course of people's lives, and wealth converged with poverty on sandy beaches.In the rockpools and hedgerows of the natural world, Natasha found solace in the beauty of the landscape, and in the mobile library she found her means of escape. In Undercurrent she returns to the cliff paths of her childhood, determined to make sense of an upbringing shaped by political neglect and a life defined by the beauty of nature.This is a journey through place, and a vivid story of hope, beauty and fierce resilience.'Marvellous, moving and mesmerising' ANITA SETHI 'A story of queer resistance, of community and of finding your own voice' DAMIAN BARR
Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience
by Natasha CarthewThere's a Cornish saying that nothing is left behind in an autumnal tide, the powerful tug between the sun and the equator makes the water surface stronger, and it pulls and builds until we are left with what is known as great tides - but as I stand here on my childhood beach someplace in my 40s, all I can see is the stretch of grey rocks and sand where the ebb has come and gone.Natasha Carthew grew up in rural poverty in Cornwall, battling limited opportunities, precarious resources, escalating property prices, isolation and a community marked by the ravages of inequality. Her world existed alongside the postcard picture Cornwall, where wealth and privilege converged on sandy beaches and expensive second homes.In the rockpools and hedgerows of the natural world, Natasha found solace in the beauty of the landscape, and in the mobile library she found her means of escape. In her first non-fiction audiobook she returns to the cliff-paths of her childhood, determined to make sense of an upbringing shaped by political neglect and a life defined by the beauty of nature.Undercurrent is part-memoir, part-investigation, part love-letter to Cornwall. It is a vivid, powerful exploration of rural poverty, and the often devastating impact of living without the means or support to build a future. This is a journey through place, and a story of hope, beauty, and fierce resilience.(P) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Undercurrent: Tank Commander Cadet in the Yom Kippur War
by Amir Bega"This fascinating memoir recounts the experience of Amir as a young soldier, caught up in the chaos and violence of the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. It vividly retells the constant fighting through the entire war as the initially overconfident Israeli military learns hard lessons and regains its balance to take the fight to its enemies." — Military Heritage Magazine Tank commander cadet Amir Bega is about to leave training for the Jewish High Holiday of Yom Kippur when a surprise attack on Israel by Egyptian and Syrian forces upends this peaceful reprieve, throwing the teenager into an unexpected war. A war in which the confidence and complacency of the Israeli army led to disaster. Believing himself well-trained and the Israeli army unstoppable, Bega struggles to accept the horrifying events surrounding him. His battalion was annihilated in one of the first combats by new anti-tank weaponry. He survived and joined a reserve unit, with which he fought to stop the Egyptian army from advancing beyond the first line of defense, all through the war’s end. In this realm of death and destruction, Bega comes face to face with the conflicts between the reality of war, his core beliefs, and his basic ideology. As the war progresses, he deals with the horrific losses of both those around him and his own innocence. Tank after tank that he joins is destroyed or damaged, and he is seen as a bad omen by those still alive. Gnawed by survivor guilt, the young soldier agrees to go on a sole perilous mission to rescue an army technical unit surrounded by Egyptian commandos. This captivating first-hand account, as viewed through the eyes of the young soldier, conveys the heavy toll of the Yom Kippur War and its impact on the people of Israel. Ultimately, Undercurrent is a story about survival, friendship, humanity, duty, and honor.
Underfoot In Show Business
by Helene HanffIn her spirited, witty and vastly entertaining memoir, Helene Hanff recalls her ingenuous attempts to crash Broadway in the early forties as one of “the other 999.”Naive, nearsighted, frequently penniless but hopelessly stagestruck, she found her life governed by Flanagan’s Law: “No matter what happens to you, it’s unexpected.” Therefore, as a prize-winning Theatre Guild protégée with a brilliant future, Helene naturally found that all the producers who were going to produce her plays didn’t, and all the agents who were going to sell her plays couldn’t.Together with her best friend Maxine, an aspiring actress consigned to playing the comedy-ingénue in plays that regularly folded after five performances, she cultivated the “delicate, illegal art of getting everything for nothing”—from free seats to every Broadway show and neighborhood movie and borrowed outfits from Saks to voice lessons for Maxine and Greek lessons for Helene. To keep body and soul together until Broadway fame arrived, they devised an economic survival system that embraced such unlikely jobs as taking street-corner.Reviews — “Miss Hanff, having a good memory and a lively sense of humor, has composed a theater sketch that is realistic as well as hilarious....One of the most amusing recent theater books about the Broadway theater.”—Brooks Atkinson“A delightful book by an irrepressible author....What really lifts the book to a high level of entertainment is the sparkling humor. To describe the incidents wouldn’t do justice to the book’s charm which comes from the style of writing and Miss Hanff’s boundless optimism.”—Library Journal“A gay and entertaining book which also has substance.”—Boston Herald“Hilarious and highly successful. If you need cheering up, this is it. Here’s hoping Miss Hanff finds more failures to write books about.”—Columbus Dispatch
Underground Ranger: Adventures in Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Other Remarkable Places
by Doug ThompsonFor six exciting years Doug Thompson worked as a park ranger at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. In Underground Ranger he passes along the essence of what he learned on this unusual job and in his related adventures exploring the surrounding Chihuahuan Desert. He overcame his fear of tight spaces and heights, learned to climb rope, and went on to explore many of the deep vertical caves in the Guadalupe Mountains of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico—including Lechuguilla Cave, one of the most spectacular underground wonders of the world. He even became a member of the park&’s technical rescue team and made a fifty-story rappel into one of the deepest underground pits in the United States. In visceral detail, Thompson shares the physical and mythical stories of caves and shows what it&’s like to experience the extravagant beauty of nature&’s underground realm.
Underground in Berlin
by Anthea Bell Marie Jalowicz SimonBy turns thrilling and terrifying, Underground in Berlin is the autobiographical account of a young Jewish woman who ripped off her yellow star and survived the war by going underground from 1942 to 1945. Berlin, 1941. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a 19-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary decision. All around her, Jews are being rounded up for deportation, forced labour and extermination. Marie decides to survive. She takes off the yellow star, turns her back on the Jewish community and vanishes into the city. In the years that follow, Marie lives under an assumed identity, moving between almost 20 different safe houses. She is forced to accept shelter wherever she can find it, and many of those she stays with expect services in return. She stays with foreign workers, committed communists and even convinced Nazis. Any false move might lead to arrest. Never certain who can be trusted and how far, it is her quick-witted determination and the most amazing and hair-raising strokes of luck that ensure her survival. Underground in Berlin is Marie's extraordinary story, told in her own voice with unflinching honesty, for the first time after more than 50 years of silence.
Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany
by Anthea Bell Hermann Simon Marie Jalowicz SimonA thrilling piece of undiscovered history, this is the true account of a young Jewish woman who survived World War II in Berlin. In 1941, Marie Jalowicz Simon, a nineteen-year-old Berliner, made an extraordinary decision. All around her, Jews were being rounded up for deportation, forced labor, and extermination. Marie took off her yellow star, turned her back on the Jewish community, and vanished into the city.In the years that followed, Marie lived under an assumed identity, forced to accept shelter wherever she found it. Always on the run, never certain whom she could trust, Marie moved between almost twenty different safe-houses, living with foreign workers, staunch communists, and even committed Nazis. Only her quick-witted determination and the most hair-raising strokes of luck allowed her to survive.
Underground: A Novel
by Antanas SileikaA tragic love triangle set in a forgotten place during an invisible war. Inspired by true events, Underground tells the story of a troubled romance between Lukas and Elena, two members of the underground Lithuanian resistance movement in mid- 1940s. After shooting up a room full of Soviet government workers during their engagement party, Lukas and Elena become folk heroes to their political cause, but are forced deep into hiding in order to escape punishment for their role in the massacre. When their secret bunker is discovered, Lukas is nearly captured. Believing his beloved Elena has been killed in the raid, Lukas is forced to flee the country and the increasingly hopeless resistance movement that he has defended over the years. Finding himself stranded in Paris, Lukas tries in vain to generate some political interest in the plight of his country. Settling quietly in Europe, Lukas falls in love again, remarries, and begins his life anew. When an unexpected crisis arises back home, the tranquility of Lukas’ new life is shattered. Stealing back into his former country, Lukas embarks on the most important fight of his life. Based on true historical revelations and fragments of the author’s family history, Underground is an engaging literary thriller and love story that explores the narrow range of options open to men and women in desperate situations, when history crashes into personal desires and private life.
Underneath the Lemon Tree: A Memoir of Depression and Recovery
by Mark Rice-OxleyOn paper, things looked good for Mark Rice-Oxley: wife, children, fulfilling job. But then, at his 40th birthday party, his whole world crumbled as he succumbed to depression...How many men do you know who have been through periods when their lives haven't seemed right? How badly askew were things for them? Many men suffer from depression yet it is still a subject that is taboo. Men often don't visit the doctor, or they don't want to face up to feelings of weakness and vulnerability. By telling his story, Mark Rice-Oxley hopes it will enable others to tell theirs. In this intensely moving memoir he retraces the months of his utmost despair, revisiting a landscape from which at times he felt he would never escape.Written with lyricism and poignancy, Mark captures the visceral nature of this most debilitating of illnesses with a frightening clarity, while at the same time offering a sympathetic and dispassionate view of what is happening, and perhaps why. This is not a self-help book but a memoir that is brimful of experience, understanding and hope for all those who read it. It is above all honest, touching and surprisingly optimistic.
Underneath the Lemon Tree: A Memoir of Depression and Recovery
by Mark Rice-OxleyOn paper, things looked good for Mark Rice-Oxley: wife, children, fulfilling job. But then, at his 40th birthday party, his whole world crumbled as he succumbed to depression...How many men do you know who have been through periods when their lives haven't seemed right? How badly askew were things for them? Many men suffer from depression yet it is still a subject that is taboo. Men often don't visit the doctor, or they don't want to face up to feelings of weakness and vulnerability. By telling his story, Mark Rice-Oxley hopes it will enable others to tell theirs. In this intensely moving memoir he retraces the months of his utmost despair, revisiting a landscape from which at times he felt he would never escape.Written with lyricism and poignancy, Mark captures the visceral nature of this most debilitating of illnesses with a frightening clarity, while at the same time offering a sympathetic and dispassionate view of what is happening, and perhaps why. This is not a self-help book but a memoir that is brimful of experience, understanding and hope for all those who read it. It is above all honest, touching and surprisingly optimistic.
Undersong
by Kathleen Winter&“A stunning, spellbinding, poetic triumph." —Toronto Star From Giller-shortlisted author Kathleen Winter (author of the bestseller Annabel): A stunning novel reimagining the lost years of misunderstood Romantic Era genius Dorothy Wordsworth.When young James Dixon, a local jack-of-all-trades recently returned from the Battle of Waterloo, meets writer Dorothy Wordsworth, he quickly realizes he&’s never met another woman anything like her. In her early thirties at the time of the meeting, Dorothy has already lived a wildly unconventional life. As her famous brother William Wordsworth&’s confidante and creative collaborator—considered by some in their circle to be the secret to his success as a poet—she has carved a seemingly idyllic existence for herself, alongside William and his wife, in England&’s Lake District. One day, Dixon is approached by William to do some handiwork around the Wordsworth estate. At William&’s urging, he takes on more and more chores—and quickly understands that his real, unspoken responsibility is to keep an eye on Dorothy, who is growing frail and melancholic. The unlikely pair of misfits form a sympathetic bond despite the sometimes troubling chasm in social class between them, and soon Dixon is the quiet witness to everyday life in Dorothy&’s family and glittering social circle, which includes literary legends Samuel Coleridge, Thomas de Quincy, William Blake, and Charles and Mary Lamb. Through the fictional James Dixon—a gentle but troubled soul, more attuned to the wonders of the garden he faithfully tends than to vexing worldly matters—we step inside the Wordsworth family, witnessing their dramatic emotional and artistic struggles, hidden traumas, private betrayals and triumphs. At the same time, Winter slowly weaves a darker, complex &“undersong&” through the novel, one as earthy and elemental as flower and tree, gradually revealing the pattern of Dorothy's rich, hidden life—that of a woman determined, against all odds, to exist on her own terms despite societal norms. But the unsettling effects of Dorothy&’s tragically repressed brilliance take their toll, and when at last her true voice finally sings out, it is so searing and bright that Dixon, compelled equally by love and grief and fear, must make an impossible choice.
Understanding Earth: Women Who Led the Way (Super SHEroes of Science) (Super SHEroes of Science)
by Nancy DickmannThis brand-new series highlights some of the major contributions women have made in the world of science.What shapes our planet? Women have been answering the question for centuries on many levels. Scientists such as Marie Curie have investigated the building blocks of matter, and the physical forces that act upon them. Geologists have studied the rocks beneath our feet by venturing dangerously close to erupting volcanoes, and have figured out what lies at Earth’s center and why its surface moves as it does. Women have also led the way in exploring the planet’s atmosphere and the causes and effects of climate change, the most urgent problem scientists are trying to solve. This book tells their stories and describes their vital contributions.
Understanding Military Workforce Productivity
by Robert M. Bray Laurel L. Hourani Jason Williams Marian E. Lane Mary Ellen MarsdenFrom the stresses of repeated deployments to the difficulties of re-entry into civilian life, we are just beginning to understand how protracted conflicts, such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, are affecting service members. Issues such as risky health behaviors and chemical dependence raise productivity concerns as they do with all organizations, but they also have a profound impact on the safety and readiness of troops--and by extension, the military as a whole--in life-or-death situations. Understanding Military Workforce Productivity cuts through the myths and misconceptions about the health and resilience of today's active-duty armed forces. This first-of-its-kind volume presents up-to-date findings across service branches in core health areas including illness and injury, alcohol and drug abuse, tobacco use, obesity, and mental health. The short- and long-term implications discussed relate to the quality of the lives of service members and their families, the quality and preparedness of the military as a workforce, and prevention and intervention efforts. The book: Presents data from ten large-scale health behavior surveys sponsored by the Department of Defense. Offers background context for understanding health and behavioral health and productivity among service members. Introduces a health and behavioral health model of productivity loss in the armed forces. Compares key indicators of substance abuse, health, and mental health in military and civilian populations. Reviews approaches for improving military productivity. Identifies areas for further study. Understanding Military Workforce Productivity offers a rare close-up of health issues in the services, making it an invaluable source of information for practitioners and researchers in mental health, substance abuse, health behaviors, and military behavioral health.
Understanding Pat Conroy (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)
by Catherine SeltzerAn insightful look at the life and work of the extraordinary popular Southern writer.Pat Conroy’s novels and memoirs have indelibly shaped the image of the South in the American imagination. His writing has rendered the physical landscape of the South Carolina lowcountry familiar to legions of readers, and has staked out a more complex geography as well—one defined by domestic trauma, racial anxiety, religious uncertainty, and cultural ambivalence.In Understanding Pat Conroy, Catherine Seltzer engages in a sustained consideration of Conroy and his work. The study begins with a sketch of Conroy’s biography, which, while fascinating in its own right, is employed here to illuminate many of the motifs and characters that define his work and to locate him within southern literary tradition. Seltzer then explores each of Conroy’s major works, tracing the evolution of the themes within and among each of his novels, including The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, and South of Broad, and his memoirs, among them The Water Is Wide and My Losing Season.Seltzer’s insightful close readings of Conroy’s work are supplemented by interviews and archival material, shedding new light on the often-complex dynamics between text and context in Conroy’s oeuvre. More broadly, Understanding Pat Conroy explores the ways that Conroy delights in troubling the boundaries that circumscribe the literary establishment—and links his work to existing debates about the contemporary American canon.
Understanding Thomas Jefferson
by E. M. HallidayRecent biographies of Thomas Jefferson have stressed the sphinx-like puzzles of his character-famous champion of freedom yet lifelong slaveholder, foe of miscegenation yet secret lover of a beautiful slave for 30 years, aristocrat yet fervent advocate of government by the people. E. M. Halliday's absorbing and lucid portrait recognizes these and other puzzles about this great founder, but shows us how understandable they can be in light of his personal and social circumstances. Halliday takes readers deep into Jefferson's private life-exploring his childhood, his literary taste, and his unconventional religious thinking and moral philosophy. Here, too, are his adamant opinions on women, the evolution of his ideas on democracy and freedom of expression, and fresh insights into his relationship with Sally Hemings. A longtime senior editor of American Heritage, E. M. Halliday is the author of a memoir of the poet John Berryman and an account of the Allied invasion of Soviet Russia in 1918-19, as well as a number of articles for The New Yorker.
Understanding Thomas Jefferson
by E. M. HallidayRecent biographies of Thomas Jefferson have stressed the sphinxlike puzzles of his character—famous champion of freedom yet lifelong slaveholder, foe of miscegenation yet secret lover of a beautiful slave for 30 years, aristocrat yet fervent advocate of government by the people. E. M. Halliday's absorbing and lucid portrait recognizes these and other puzzles about this great founder, but shows us how understandable they can be in light of his personal and social circumstances. Halliday takes readers deep into Jefferson's private life—exploring his childhood, his literary taste, and his unconventional religious thinking and moral philosophy. Here, too, are his adamant opinions on women, the evolution of his ideas on democracy and freedom of expression, and fresh insights into his relationship with Sally Hemings.
Understanding Through Fiction: A Selection from Teresa, My Love: An Imagined Life of the Saint of Avila (To the Point)
by Julia KristevaBorn in 1515, Teresa of Avila survived the Spanish Inquisition and was a key reformer of the Carmelite Order. Her experience of ecstasy, which she intimately described in her writings, released her from her body and led to a complete realization of her consciousness, a state Julia Kristeva explores as it was expressed in Teresa's writing. Incorporating notes from her own psychoanalytic practice, as well as literary and philosophical references, Kristeva builds a fascinating dual diagnosis of contemporary society and the individual psyche while sharing unprecedented insights into her own character. Through her dazzlingly varied formats Kristeva tests the borderlines of atheism and the need for faith, feminism and the need for a benign patriarchy.
Understanding Through Fiction: An Imagined Life of the Saint of Avila
by Julia KristevaBorn in 1515, Teresa of Avila survived the Spanish Inquisition and was a key reformer of the Carmelite Order. Her experience of ecstasy, which she intimately described in her writings, released her from her body and led to a complete realization of her consciousness, a state Julia Kristeva explores as it was expressed in Teresa's writing. Incorporating notes from her own psychoanalytic practice, as well as literary and philosophical references, Kristeva builds a fascinating dual diagnosis of contemporary society and the individual psyche while sharing unprecedented insights into her own character. Through her dazzlingly varied formats Kristeva tests the borderlines of atheism and the need for faith, feminism and the need for a benign patriarchy.