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Benjamin's Crossing
by Jay PariniA novel, but based on a true person confronting the philosophy of civilization.
Benjamin's Crossing: A Novel
by Jay PariniSoon to be a motion picture starring Colin Firth and directed by Pat O'Connor.The acclaimed and now-classic biographical novel of Walter Benjamin's last days--adapted into screenplay by Jay Parini. It is 1940. For the past decade, Walter Benjamin--the German-Jewish critic and philosopher--has been writing his masterpiece in a library in Paris, a city he loves. Now Nazi tanks have overrun the suburbs, and Benjamin is forced to flee. With a battered briefcase that contains his precious manuscript of a thousand handwritten pages, he sets off for the border and is led by chance to a young anti-Nazi who is taking Jews and other refugees over the Pyrenees into Spain, where they may (with luck) make their way to freedom in Portugal or South America. Beloved biographical novelist Jay Parini's thrilling tale of escape is beautifully interwoven with vignettes of Benjamin's complex, cosmopolitan past: his privileged childhood in Berlin, his years with the German Youth Movement, his university days. His close friendship with Gershom Scholem, the eminent scholar of Jewish mysticism, and many other well-known artists and intellectuals who were part of Benjamin's intimate circle between the two world wars. Part tragedy, part dark comedy, this sharply realized historical novel tells one of the great and most moving peripheral stories of the Holocaust.
The Benn Diaries: 1940-1990
by Tony BennThe Benn Diaries, embracing the years 1940-1990, are already established as a uniquely authoritative, fascinating and readable record of political life. The selected highlights that form this single-volume edition include the most notable events, arguments and personal reflections throughout Benn's long and remarkable career as a leading politician.The narrative starts with Benn as a schoolboy and takes the reader through his youthful wartime experiences as a trainee pilot, his nervous excitement as a new MP during Clement Atlee's premiership and the tribulations of Labour in the 1950s, when the Conservatives were in firm control. It ends with the Tories again in power, but on the eve of Margaret Thatcher's fall, while Tony Benn is on a mission to Baghdad before the impending Gulf War.Over the span of fifty years, the public and private turmoil in British and world politics is recorded as Benn himself moves from wartime service to become the baby of the House, Cabinet Minister, and finally the Commons' most senior Labour Member.
Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled
by Kate FullagarThe first joint biography of Bennelong and Governor Arthur Phillip, two pivotal figures in Australian history – the colonised and coloniser – and a bold and innovative new portrait of both.Australian Book Review Books of the Year 2023Sydney Morning Herald Best Reads of the Year for 2023 Bennelong and Phillip were leaders of their two sides in the first encounters between Britain and Indigenous Australians, Phillip the colony&’s first governor, and Bennelong the Yiyura leader. The pair have come to represent the conflict that flared and has never settled. Fullagar&’s account is also the first full biography of Bennelong of any kind and it challenges many misconceptions, among them that he became alienated from his people and that Phillip was a paragon of Enlightenment benevolence. It tells the story of the men&’s marriages, including Bennelong&’s best-known wife, Barangaroo, and Phillip&’s unusual domestic arrangements, and places the period in the context of the Aboriginal world and the demands of empire. To present this history afresh, Bennelong & Phillip relates events in reverse, moving beyond the limitations of typical Western ways of writing about the past, which have long privileged the coloniser over the colonised. Bennelong&’s world was hardly linear at all, and in Fullagar&’s approach his and Phillip&’s histories now share an equally unfamiliar framing.
Bennewitz, Goethe, 'Faust'
by David G. JohnFritz Bennewitz (1926-1995) was the director-in-chief of East Germany's Weimar National Theatre. Extraordinary in his capacity for cultural and linguistic adjustment, he directed productions in twelve countries, always adapting shows to make them meaningful to local audiences. Notably, Bennewitz conducted stagings of Goethe's Faust in four different languages over a series of seven productions -- three in pre-unification Weimar, one in the reunited Germany, and one each in New York, Manila, and Mumbai.The first comprehensive account of Bennewitz's remarkable career, Bennewitz, Goethe, Faust is also a pioneering study of intercultural interpretations of Faust. David G. John brings to light previously unknown archival materials -- including annotated playbooks, correspondence, translations, videos, and reception information -- as well as unpublished production photos from the stagings discussed in the book. Bennewitz, Goethe, Faust makes a cogent argument for this director's place alongside the twentieth century's greatest theatre innovators.
Bennington (Postcard History Series)
by Bennington Historical Society Bennington MuseumNestled in the southwest corner of Vermont, Bennington is rich in history and natural beauty. On August 16, 1777, the Green Mountain Boys and militia from surrounding states defeated British troops at the Battle of Bennington. Like other small towns in New England, this agricultural community soon found its waterways dominated by large factories. When manufacturing declined in the early 1900s, the town reinvented itself as a tourist destination. Postcards promoting local scenery, quaint covered bridges, bustling downtown streets, modern amenities, and significant historic sites explained the town's importance to travelers and fostered local pride.
Bennington and the Civil War (Civil War Series)
by William MorganThe people of Bennington often refer to the American Revolution as "our war," as it was the site of the decisive Battle of Bennington. Yet more than one thousand Bennington boys fought in the Civil War, and residents on the homefront played their parts to support the United States, too. All the machinery used to produce gunpowder and nearly all the horseshoes for the United States Army were manufactured in Bennington, and a Bennington native was instrumental in the building of the USS "Monitor. "Mrs. Jefferson Davis visited friends in Bennington shortly after the war, and two Medal of Honor winners lived here as well. In this book, historian Bill Morgan unveils the important ways that Bennington helped preserve the United States during the Civil War.
Bennington and the Green Mountain Boys: The Emergence of Liberal Democracy in Vermont, 1760-1850 (Reconfiguring American Political History)
by Robert E. ShalhopeIn this lively study, Robert E. Shalhope supplies a fascinating microcosmic view of the rise and triumph of liberal individualism in America and explores its impact on political culture.Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic TitleOriginally published in 1996. Americans who lived between the Revolution and Civil War felt the brunt of resounding and sometimes frightening changes, which together eventually influenced the political culture of early America. In this lively study, Robert E. Shalhope examines one of the changes most difficult to gauge and most controversial among students of the period—the rise and triumph of liberal individualism in America—and explores its impact on political culture.Taking Bennington, Vermont, and its environs as a case study, Shalhope untangles the clash among three competing elements in the community—the egalitarian communalism of the Strict Congregationalists; the democratic individualism of the revolutionary Green Mountain Boys; and the hierarchical authority of the community's Federalist gentlemen of property and standing. None of these players anticipated (and indeed did not wish for) the result—the emergence of democratic liberalism. Shalhope writes of class tension, economic competition, and religious differences—and ultimately of cultural conflict and political partisanship—and yet throughout uses individual life experiences to give the narrative piquancy and to emphasize the significance of seemingly small, personal decisions. Shalhope thus demonstrates how the private lives of ordinary people played a role in the settlement of public issues.As an account of a single town and how its residents responded to change, Bennington and the Green Mountain Boys supplies a fascinating microcosmic view of the larger story of how liberal America came to be.
Benny Goodman And The Swing Era
by James Lincoln CollierBenny Goodman and other jazz musicians introduced Swing to America at a time, when people needed to dance to forget the depression, and all that brought to the world. This music, is what millions still remember and love today. Reading this book will help you know why.
Benoy Kumar Sarkar: Restoring the nation to the world (Pathfinders)
by Satadru SenThis book explores the life and times of the pioneering Indian sociologist Benoy Kumar Sarkar. It locates him simultaneously in the intellectual history of India and the political history of the world in the twentieth century. It focuses on the development and implications of Sarkar’s thinking on race, gender, governance and nationhood in a changing context. A penetrating portrait of Sarkar and his age, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of modern Indian history, sociology, and politics.
Ben's Revolution: Benjamin Russell and the Battle of Bunker Hill
by Nathaniel PhilbrickHistory comes alive in this gripping account of a young boy caught up in the start of the Revolutionary War. Based on an episode in National Book Award–winning author Nathaniel Philbrick&’s New York Times bestseller Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution, this engrossing story allows readers to experience history from a child&’s perspective, and Wendell Minor&’s stunning paintings will transport readers back to the early days of the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Russell is in school on the morning of April 19th, 1775, when his teacher announces, &“The war&’s begun, and you may run!&” Ben knew this day was coming; after all, tensions had been mounting between the colonists and the British troops ever since the Boston Tea Party. And now they have finally reached the breaking point. Ben and his friends excitedly rush out of their classroom to bear witness, and follow the throngs of redcoats marching out of Boston toward Concord. Much to Ben&’s surprise, Boston is sealed off later that day—leaving the boys stuck outside the city, in the middle of a war, with no way to reach their families. But Ben isn&’t worried—he&’s eager to help the Patriots! He soon becomes a clerk to the jovial Israel Putnam, a general in the provincial army. For months he watches the militia grow into an organized army, and when the Battle of Bunker Hill erupts, Ben is awed by the bravery of the Patriots, although saddened by the toll war takes. He later goes on to become an apprentice at a Revolutionary newspaper, and it&’s a happy day when they get to report on the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Praise for Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution &“Philbrick guides us beautifully through Revolutionary Boston, with the Battle of Bunker Hill as his story&’s grand climax.&”—The New York Times Book Review &“Masterly narrative . . . Philbrick tells the complex story superbly . . . gripping book.&”—The Wall Street Journal &“A masterpiece of narrative and perspective. . . . This is not only . . . the greatest American story. It is also the American story.&”—The Boston Globe &“You will delight in the story and the multitude of details Philbrick offers up.&”—USA Today
The Benson Murder Case: Large Print (An American Mystery Classic #0)
by S. S. Van DineBrilliant amateur sleuth Philo Vance solves a puzzling murder in one of the most influential detective novels of the twentieth century All of Wall Street and Manhattan high society is abuzz after playboy stockbroker Alvin Benson is discovered dead in his brownstone mansion, slumped over in an easy chair with a bullet in his head. The man’s body is found in a room locked from the inside, and his head is missing the toupee that usually adorned it. Ballistics experts, detectives, and the NYPD’s top brass can’t solve the crime, but luckily they don’t have to: New York’s leading flaneur and art connoisseur, Philo Vance, is on the case, and he’s got precisely the far-flung and esoteric knowledge needed to interpret the clues and determine whodunnit. By carefully examining the crime scene and reconstructing the deadly shooting, Vance determines a number of things about the murderer, including his or her height—and this is only the first of many deductive feats that he will pull off before the investigation comes to a close. But will he be able to pierce the alibi of the true killer and prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? The first novel in one of the most influential detective series of the early twentieth century, The Benson Murder Case introduces iconic amateur sleuth Philo Vance with a plot loosely based on the true-life murder of a famous bridge player. Its aristocratic Golden Age New York setting, obscure art cultural references, and devilishly complicated puzzle plot make this a must-read for nostalgia buffs and for anyone who appreciates a classic mystery.
Benson's Wild Animal Farm
by Bob GoldsackBenson's Wild Animal Farm in Hudson, New Hampshire, opened to the public in 1927. Due in part to the evolution of the automobile, the attraction grew in size and attendance to become one of New England's major family destinations. Benson's was a zoo to the public, a work station for many circus animal trainers and performers, and a source of summer employment for generations of local teenagers. The attraction closed in 1987 and a bit of Americana faded away, but its memory remains vivid to many. The property was sold to the state for the development of a highway, which never materialized. In 2009, after years of negotiations, the town purchased the land from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation with plans to develop it into a large park filled with picnic areas, walking paths, and bicycle trails. A Benson's museum is planned for the future.
Bent: The Play (Applause Books)
by Martin Sherman(Applause Books). Martin Sherman's worldwide hit play Bent took London by storm in 1979 when it was first performed by the Royal Court Theatre, with Ian McKellen as Max (a character written with the actor in mind). The play itself caused an uproar. <p><p>"It educated the world," Sherman explains. "People knew about how the Third Reich treated Jews and, to some extent, gypsies and political prisoners. But very little had come out about their treatment of homosexuals." Gays were arrested and interned at work camps prior to the genocide of Jews, gypsies, and handicapped, and continued to be imprisoned even after the fall of the Third Reich and liberation of the camps. The play Bent highlights the reason why: a largely ignored German law, Paragraph 175, making homosexuality a criminal offense, which Hitler reactivated and strengthened during his rise to power.
Bent
by Joe ThomasGuardian Best Book of 2020 Irish Times Best Crime Fiction of 2020 Times Book of the Month Mail on Sunday Thriller of the Month The Spectator Crime Fiction of the Month Crime Time Book of the Year 2020 'Vivid, stylish, funny' Mick Heron The first time I met Harold Challenor, he frisked me for weapons - I was ten years old. Bent is the explosive story of the rise and fall of SAS commando, and notorious Detective Sergeant, Harold 'Tanky' Challenor. During the Second World War, Challenor was parachuted behind enemy lines into Italy and France, performing remarkable feats of bravery. In the grimy underbelly of 1960s Soho, he was a ferocious and controversial presence, mediating between factions of club owners and racketeers, and cultivating informers. But just how far will he go to break the protection gang that has a grip on his manor? It can be a fine line that divides hero and villain. PRAISE FOR JOE THOMAS 'Brilliant' The Times 'Feverish energy' Guardian 'Wonderfully vivid' Mail on Sunday'Sophisticated, dizzying' GQ'Vivid and visceral' The Times'Superbly realised vivid and atmospheric' Guardian'Original' Mail on Sunday'A stylish, atmospheric treat an inspired blend of David Peace and early Pinter' Irish Times 'Sparse, energetic, fragmented prose' The Spectator 'Vibrant, colourful, and complex' Irish Independent 'Stylish, sharp-witted, taut. A must for modern noir fans' NB Magazine 'Definitive confident and energetic' Crime Time 'Brilliant manic energy' Jake Arnott 'Wildly stylish and hugely entertaining' Lucy Caldwell 'Vivid, stylish, funny' Mick Herron 'Gripping, fast-paced, darkly atmospheric' Susanna Jones 'Snappy, thoughtful, moving' John King 'Exciting, fresh, incredibly assured' Stav Sherez 'Happy days!' Mark Timlin 'Utterly brilliant' Cathi Unsworth 'Had James Ellroy and David Peace collaborated on a novel they'd have written something like this' Paul Willets
Bentham (Political Thinkers Ser. #Vol. 5)
by James SteintragerFirst published in 1977 this volume challenges the accepted interpretations of Bentham's political thought and in particular the landmark criticism by John Stuart Mill and Elie Halévy, the author consulted the extensive manuscript collections left by Bentham to the University of London and the British museum in the preparation of this volume.
Bentham's Political Thought (Routledge Library Editions: Social and Political Thought in the Nineteenth Century #7)
by Bhikhu ParekhIn this book, first published in 1973, the editor has drawn heavily on Bentham’s manuscripts and has tried to provide a coherent statement of Bentham’s legal and political thought. Unlike Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes or Mill, Bentham did not write one single work containing the basic principles of his legal and political philosophy. This titles presents Bentham’s work in a systematic manner, and will be of interest to students of philosophy, politics and history.
Bentham's Theory of Law and Public Opinion
by Xiaobo Zhai Michael QuinnThis collection represents the latest research from leading scholars whose work has helped to frame our understanding of Bentham since the publication of H. L. A. Hart's Essays on Bentham. The authors explore fundamental areas of Bentham's thought, including the relationship between the rule of law and public opinion; law and popular prejudices or manipulated tastes; Bentham's methodology versus Hart's; sovereignty and codification; and the language of natural rights. Drawing on original manuscripts and volumes in The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham, the chapters combine philosophical and historical approaches and offer new and more faithful interpretations of Bentham's legal philosophy and its development. As a coherent whole, the book challenges the dominant understandings of Bentham among legal philosophers and rescues him from some famous mischaracterizations.
Benton MacKaye: Conservationist, Planner, and Creator of the Appalachian Trail (Creating the North American Landscape)
by Larry AndersonPlanner and originator of the Appalachian Trail and a cofounder of the Wilderness Society, Benton MacKaye (1879-1975) was a pioneer in linking the concepts of preservation and recreation. Spanning three-quarters of a century, his long and productive career had a major impact on emerging movements in conservation, environmentalism, and regional planning. MacKaye's seminal ideas on outdoor recreation, wilderness protection, land-use planning, community development, and transportation have inspired generations of activists, professionals, and adventurers seeking to strike a harmonious balance between human need and the natural environment.This pathbreaking biography provides the first complete portrait of this significant and unique figure in American environmental, intellectual, and cultural history. Drawing on extensive research, Larry Anderson traces MacKaye's extensive career, examines his many published works, and describes the importance of MacKaye's relationships with such influential figures as Lewis Mumford, Aldo Leopold, and Walter Lippmann. This book will appeal to students, scholars, and professionals in preservation, conservation, recreation, planning, and American studies, as well as general readers interested in these subjects.
Benton’s Row
by Frank YerbyAn epic story of four generations of a Louisiana family, from the 1840s to the 1920s.
Bentonville
by Nathaniel Cheairs HughesThe battle of Bentonville, the only major Civil War battle fought in North Carolina, was the Confederacy's last attempt to stop the devastating march of William Tecumseh Sherman's army north through the Carolinas. Despite their numerical disadvantage, General Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate forces successfully ambushed one wing of Sherman's army on March 19, 1865 but were soon repulsed. For the Confederates, it was a heroic but futile effort to delay the inevitable: within a month, both Richmond and Raleigh had fallen, and Lee had surrendered. Nathaniel Hughes offers a full-length tactical study of the battle of Bentonville, the only major Civil War battle fought in North Carolina and the Confederacy's last attempt to stop the devastating march of Sherman's army north through the Carolinas. In careful detail, Hughes lays out Confederate and Union troop movements and places the engagement within the larger military framework of the last months of the war. Analyzing the reasons for the initial success and eventual failure of General Joseph E. Johnston's offensive, Hughes maintains that Sherman showed great restraint by remaining committed to the larger goal of reaching Goldsboro rather than stopping to pursue or destroy the defeated Confederates. -->
Bent's Fort
by David LavenderBent's Fort was a landmark of the American frontier, a huge private fort on the upper Arkansas River in present southeastern Colorado. Established by the adventurers Charles and William Bent, it stood until 1849 as the center of the Indian trade of the central plains. David Lavender's chronicle of these men and their part in the opening of the West has been conceded a place beside the works of Parkman and Prescott.
Beothuk: How Story Made a People (Almost) Disappear
by Christopher Patrick AylwardThe well-known story of the Beothuk is that they were an isolated people who, through conflict with Newfoundland settlers and Mi’kmaq, were made extinct in 1829. Narratives about the disappearance of the Beothuk and the reasons for their supposed extinction soon became entrenched in historical accounts and the popular imagination.Beothuk explores how the history of a people has been misrepresented by the stories of outsiders writing to serve their own interests – from Viking sagas to the accounts of European explorers to the work of early twentieth-century anthropologists. Drawing on narrative theory and the philosophy of history, Christopher Aylward lays bare the limitations of the accepted Beothuk story, which perpetuated but could never prove the notion of Beothuk extinction. Only with the integration of Indigenous perspectives, beginning in the 1920s, was this accepted story seriously questioned. With the accumulation of new sources and methods – archaeological evidence, previously unexplored British and French accounts, Mi’kmaq oral history, and the testimonies of Labrador Innu and Beothuk descendants – a new historical reality has emerged.Rigorous and compelling, Beothuk demonstrates the enduring power of stories to shape our understanding of the past and the impossibility of writing Indigenous history without Indigenous storytellers.
The Beothuk Saga
by Bernard AssiniwiThis astounding novel fully deserves to be called a saga. It begins a thousand years ago in the time of the Vikings in Newfoundland. It is crammed with incidents of war and peace, with fights to the death and long nights of lovemaking, and with accounts of the rise of local clan chiefs and the silent fall of great distant empires. Out of the mists of the past it sweeps forward eight hundred years, to the lonely death of the last of the Beothuk.The Beothuk, of course, were the original native people of Newfoundland, and thus the first North American natives encountered by European sailors. Noticing the red ochre they used as protection against mosquitoes, the sailors called them "Red-skins," a name that was to affect an entire continent. As a people, they were never understood.Until now. By adding his novelist's imagination to his knowledge as an anthropologist and a historian, Bernard Assiniwi has written a convincing account of the Beothuk people through the ages. To do so he has given us a mirror image of the history rendered by Europeans. For example, we know from the Norse Sagas that four slaves escaped from the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. What happened to them? Bernard Assiniwi supplies a plausible answer, just as he perhaps solves the mystery of the Portuguese ships that sailed west in 1501 to catch more Beothuk, and disappeared from the paper records forever.The story of the Beothuk people is told in three parts. "The Initiate" tells of Anin, who made a voyage by canoe around the entire island a thousand years ago, encountering the strange Vikings with their "cutting sticks" and their hair "the colour of dried grass." His encounters with whales, bears, raiding Inuit and other dangers, and his survival skills on this epic journey make for fascinating reading, as does his eventual return to his home where, with the help of his strong and active wives, he becomes a legendary chief, the father of his people.
Beowulf: An Anglo-saxon Epic Poem (Enriched Classics)
by Anonymous<P>The story of one man's triumph over a legendary monster, Beowulf marks the beginning of Anglo-Saxon literature as we know it today. <P>This Enriched Classic includes: <br>• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information <br>• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context <br>• An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations <br>• Detailed explanatory notes <br>• Critical analysis and modern perspectives on the work <br>• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction <br>• <P>A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. <P>The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. Series edited by Cynthia Brantley Johnson