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First Rate: The Greatest Warships in the Age of Sail
by Rif WinfieldIn the sailing era First Rates were the largest, most powerful and most costly ships to construct, maintain and operate. Built to the highest standards, they were lavishly decorated and given carefully considered names that reflected the pride and prestige of their country. They were the very embodiment of national power, and as such drew the attention of artists, engravers and printmakers. This means that virtually every British First Rate from the Prince Royal of 1610 to the end of sail is represented by an array of paintings, drawings, models or plans.This book is a celebration of these magnificent ships, combining an authoritative history of their development with reproductions of many of the best (and least familiar) images of the ships, chosen for their accuracy, detail and sheer visual power in an extra-large format that does full justice to the images themselves. It also includes comparative data on similar vessels in other navies, so it is a book that everyone with an interest in wooden warships will find both enlightening and a pleasure to peruse.
First Resorts: Pursuing Pleasure at Saratoga Springs, Newport & Coney Island
by Jon Sterngass“[A] scrupulously researched and beautifully crafted account of how nineteenth-century Americans went in search of health, rest, and diversion.” —Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker, coauthors of The Beach. The History of Paradise on EarthIn First Resorts: Pursuing Pleasure at Saratoga Springs, Newport, and Coney Island, Jon Sterngass follows three of the best-known northeastern American resorts across a century of change. Saratoga Springs, Newport, and Coney Island began, he finds, as similar pleasure destinations, each of them featuring “grand” hotels where visitors swarmed public spaces such as verandas, dining rooms, and parlors. As the century progressed, however, Saratoga remained much the same, while Newport turned to private (and lavish) “cottages” and Coney Island shifted its focus to amusements for the masses.Fifty-nine illustrations enliven Sterngass’s unique study of the commodification of pleasure that occurred as capitalist values flourished, travel grew more accessible, and leisure time became democratized. These three resorts, he argues, served as forerunners of twentieth-century pleasure cities such as Aspen, Las Vegas, and Orlando.“An engaging, creative book replete with evocative illustrations and witty quotes . . . a pleasant read.” —Thomas A. Chambers, New York Academy of History“Sterngass’s discussions about privacy, community, commercialization, consumption, leisure, and the desire to be conspicuous are important and new. With its well-chosen illustrations, this is a handsome book as well as an important one.” —Kathryn Allamong Jacob, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University“Having mined every conceivable source about his three sites, Sterngass has presented a wealth of interesting material not only about the resort experience but also about the residents, politicians, and entrepreneurs who built them.” —Journal of American History
First Resorts: Pursuing Pleasure at Saratoga Springs, Newport, and Coney Island
by Jon SterngassThis history of Saratoga Springs, Newport, and Coney Island explores the cultural and social forces that shaped tourism, defined leisure, and developed these places into the diverse vacation spots we know today."At the dawn of the nineteenth century, Saratoga Springs hosted no more than a thousand hardy travelers yearly, Newport floundered in the midst of a fifty-year commercial decline, and Coney Island's beach resembled a wind-swept wilderness. A hundred years later, the number of summer visitors to Saratoga had increased a hundredfold, the antics of high society at Newport transfixed America, and at least five million pleasure seekers visited Coney annually. 'Those who talk of the mushroom growth of our Western cities,' declared an astounded writer for Harper's Weekly in 1878, 'might better spend their wonder and enthusiasm upon our Eastern watering-place.'"—From the IntroductionIn First Resorts: Pursuing Pleasure at Saratoga Springs, Newport, and Coney Island, Jon Sterngass follows three of the best-known northeastern American resorts across a century of change. Saratoga Springs, Newport, and Coney Island began, he finds, as similar pleasure destinations, each of them featuring "grand" hotels where visitors swarmed public spaces such as verandas, dining rooms, and parlors. As the century progressed, however, Saratoga remained much the same, while Newport turned to private (and lavish) "cottages" and Coney Island shifted its focus to amusements for the masses. Fifty-nine illustrations enliven Sterngass's unique study of the commodification of pleasure that occurred as capitalist values flourished, travel grew more accessible, and leisure time became democratized. These three resorts, he argues, served as forerunners of twentieth-century pleasure cities such as Aspen, Las Vegas, and Orlando.
First Responders: Inside the U.S. Strategy for Fighting the 2007-2009 Global Financial Crisis
by Henry M. Paulson Jr. Ben S. Bernanke Timothy F. Geithner J. Nellie LiangAn insider’s view of the U.S. government’s response to the 2007–2009 global financial crisis, as recounted by the people who made the key decisions In 2008, the world’s financial system stood on the brink of disaster. The United States faced an unprecedented crisis when the investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, setting off a global panic. Faced with the prospect of a new Great Depression, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and other agencies took extraordinary measures to contain the damage and steady the financial system and the economy. Edited by three of the policymakers who led the government’s response to the crisis, with chapters written by the teams tasked with finding policy solutions, this book provides a comprehensive accounting of the internal debates and controversies surrounding the measures that were taken to stabilize the financial system and the economy. Offering previously untold insight into the key choices (including rejected options) and a frank evaluation of successes and failures, this volume is both an important historical document and an indispensable guide for confronting future financial calamities.
First Russia, Then Tibet [Illustrated Edition]
by Robert ByronOver the course of several months during 1931 and 1932, Robert Byron journeyed to three countries teetering on the brink of change.In Russia, which was stricken by famine, Lenin had just died, Stalin's dictatorship was in its infancy and the Great Terror had yet to begin. Having taken the first commercial flight to India, which took an astounding seven days, Byron was thrown into the tumultuous last years of the British Raj. Gandhi was imprisoned, while rioting and clashes between Hindus and Muslims had become commonplace. Finally Byron entered Tibet, the forbidden country. Exploring "The Land of Snows", he saw Tibet as it was when the then Dalai Lama was still ensconced in the Potala Palace, twenty years before China's invasion.First Russia, Then Tibet is an invaluable first-hand account of transformative moments in periods of change and upheaval.-Print ed.Richly illustrated throughout.
First SEALs: The Untold Story of the Forging of America's Most Elite Unit
by Patrick K. O'DonnellFrom bestselling author Patrick K. O'Donnell, the untold story of World War II's first unit of special operations combat swimmers-precursors of today's US Navy SEALs
First Season / Bride to Be
by Jane AshfordTwo classic Regency romances by beloved bestselling author Jane Ashford celebrate the adventures of a London SeasonFIRST SEASONWidowed Lady Anabel Wyndham was married right out of the schoolroom and has never before experienced the delights of a London Season. She's dazzled by the attention of the fascinating Sir Charles Norbury, a man whose touch seems to melt her very soul, but a notorious rake. She's drawn to handsome friend-of-the-family Christopher Hanford and the comfort and serenity he offers. But how does one choose between two such charming suitors? Anabel is finding that love is so much more dangerous the second time around.BRIDE TO BEEmily Crane is the toast of the ton-and she couldn't find it more tedious. Until she encounters the darkly sensual stranger whose life she once saved and the London Season becomes infinitely more exciting. Recently returned from the wilds of South America, Lord Richard Sheldon has only contempt for tiresome London chits, but he finds himself stunningly intrigued by the dauntless Emily Crane. When the two become embroiled in a budding scandal and are forced into an engagement, they discover a passion more dangerous than any killer...Praise for The Bride Insists: "Another perfectly delightful Regency romance...remarkably executed." -Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Ashford captures readers with her keen knowledge of the era and deft writing." -RT Book Reviews, 4 stars"Fabulous...well-written, great characters." -Fresh Fiction
First Snow, Last Light
by Wayne JohnstonFrom the author of the critically acclaimed, prizewinning and internationally bestselling The Colony of Unrequited Dreams comes an epic family mystery with a powerful, surprise ending, which features the return of the ever-fascinating Sheilagh Fielding, one of the most memorable characters in fiction.Ned Vatcher, only 14, ambles home from school in the chill hush that precedes the first storm of the winter of 1936 to find the house locked, the family car missing, and his parents gone without a trace. From that point on, his life is driven by the need to find out what happened to the Vanished Vatchers. His father, Edgar, born to a poor family of fishermen, had risen to become the right-hand man to the colony's prime minister, then suffered an unexpected fall from grace. Were he and his wife murdered? Was it suicide? Had they run away? If so, why had they left their only child behind? Ned soon finds himself enmeshed in another family, that of his missing father and the poverty from which the man somehow escaped. His grandparents, Nan and Reg, his Uncle Cyril and others, are themselves haunted by the inexplicable disappearance of a third Vatcher, a young man who was lost at sea on a calm and sunny day years earlier. Two other people loom large as Ned becomes Newfoundland's first media mogul, building an empire to insulate him from loss: a Jesuit priest named Father Duggan, and Sheilagh Fielding, a boozy giantess who, while wandering the city streets at night, composes satiric columns that scandalize the rich and powerful. In Ned, Fielding sees a surrogate for her two lost children, the secret that dogs her life, while Ned believes the enigmatic Fielding to be his soulmate. The novel builds to a spectacular resolution of the mystery of all the Vanished Vatchers. Only Wayne Johnston could create such larger-than-life, mythic characters embroiled in events that leave us contemplating not only their tragedies and triumphs, but the forces that compel us all to act in ways that surprise and sometimes terrify us.
First Soldiers Down: Canada's Friendly Fire Deaths in Afghanistan
by Ron Corbett Colonel Pat StogranOn April 18, 2002, "friendly fire" killed four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, Canada’s first combat deaths since the Korean War. On April 18, 2002, Alpha Company, Third Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, was on a training exercise at Tarnak Farms, a former Taliban artillery range in southern Afghanistan. The exercise had been underway for nearly seven hours when two American fighter pilots flew overhead. One, Major Harry Schmidt, saw the artillery fire below, and thinking he was under attack, dropped a laser-guided bomb.Four Canadian soldiers died that night, the first Canadian combat fatalities since the Korean War. For many in Canada the tragedy signalled the true beginning of Canada’s lengthy combat mission in Afghanistan.First Soldiers Down recounts what happened that evening through archival material and the recollections of troops. It also tells the personal stories of the fallen Sergeant Marc Lger, Corporal Ainsworth Dyer, Private Richard Green, and Private Nathan Smith as well as what happened to the loved ones of each of the four in the decade since the incident.
First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty
by Bill MinutaglioMinutaglio, a Texas journalist who has worked for some of the state's major newspapers, tells the story of a powerful political family, beginning with the turn-of-the-century emergence of the influential Bush-Walker clan and of Prescott Bush, the Connecticut patrician who ingrained in his family an ethos that continues to exert influence on his son, former President George Bush, and his grandsons Jeb and George W. Bush. How these scions of the Bush dynasty struggle to live up to their legacy is the cen...
First Special Service Force 1942-44
by Michael Welply Bret WernerThis is a concise history of the unique integrated commando-style brigade of US and Canadian volunteers formed in 1942. Hand picked, and trained in airborne, amphibious, mountain and winter warfare, demolitions and close-quarter tactics, they left a combat legacy still recognized amongst today's Special Forces. This book explores the remarkable results the FSSF achieved in Italy - in the harsh mountain fighting on the Winter Line, in the trenches of Anzio, and in the breakthrough to Rome. Accompanied by unique combat photography and illustrations of their distinctive uniforms, this is an insight into a famous, but little explored unit.
First Steps In Egyptian: A Book For Beginners (Egypt Ser.)
by BudgeFirst published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
First Steps in Egyptian Hieroglyphics: A Book for Beginners (Egypt Ser.)
by E. A. Wallis BudgeAnyone curious about hieroglyphics will appreciate this classic primer. This practical grammar comprises lists of frequently used signs and determinatives, a vocabulary of about 500 words, a series of 31 texts and extracts (with interlinear transliteration and word-for-word translation), and a few untransliterated and untranslated texts (with glossary), to be worked out independently.
First Steps in Space-Time: A Brief Introduction to Special Relativity (Discovering Physics)
by Ed MacaulayFirst Steps in Space-Time: A Brief Introduction to Special Relativity provides an accessible, authentic, and readable introduction to the theory of special relativity. The academic level of the book builds only on skills that would be covered in a GCSE maths course, such as Pythagoras's theorem, and rearranging equations, and no prior knowledge of relativity (or physics) is assumed. The key benefits of the work are to bridge the gap between popular science books and university textbooks, and make the theory of relativity as broadly accessible as physically possible. The book allows the reader to discover and appreciate that relativity is not an intractable esoteric curiosity, but a beautiful and succinct theory that profoundly shaped the course of history and our interpretation of our day-to-day lives. This book is ideal for readers with an interest in physics and a little working knowledge of maths, who have studied mathematics at about A-level standard: professionals such as accountants, bankers, doctors, economists, engineers, lawyers, pharmacists and teachers, or high school students who might be considering studying physics or a related subject at university.
First Strike: America, Terrorism, and Moral Tradition
by Mark TottenCan the use of force first against a less-than-imminent threat be both morally acceptable and consistent with American values? In this timely book Mark Totten offers the first in-depth, historical examination of the use of preemptive and preventive force through the lens of the just war tradition. Although critical of the American incursion into Iraq as a so-called "preemptive war," Totten argues that the new terrorist threat nonetheless demands careful consideration of when the first use of force is legitimate. The moral tradition, he concludes, provides a principled way forward that reconciles American values and the demands of security.
First Strike: Preemptive War in Modern History
by Matthew J. FlynnPreemptive warfare is the practice of attempting to avoid an enemy’s seemingly imminent attack by taking military action against them first. It is undertaken in self-defense. Preemptive war is often confused with preventive war, which is an attack launched to defeat a potential opponent and is an act of aggression. Preemptive war is thought to be justified and honorable, while preventive war violates international law. In the real world, the distinction between the two is highly contested. In First Strike, Matthew J. Flynn examines case studies of preemptive war throughout history, from Napoleonic France to the American Civil War, and from Hitler’s Germany to the recent U.S. invasion of Iraq. Flynn takes an analytical look at the international use of military and political preemption throughout the last two hundred years of western history, to show how George W. Bush’s recent use of this dubiously "honorable" way of making war is really just the latest of a long line of previously failed attempts. Balanced and historically grounded, First Strike provides a comprehensive history of one of the most controversial military strategies in the history of international foreign policy.
First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign
by John B. LundstromFrom huddled command conferences to cramped cockpits, John Lundstrom guides readers though the maelstrom of air combat at Guadalcanal in this impressively researched sequel to his earlier study. Picking up the story after Midway, the author presents a scrupulously accurate account of what happened, describing in rich detail the actual planes and pilots pitted in the ferocious battles that helped turn the tide of war. Based on correspondence with 150 American and Japanese veterans, or their families, he reveals the thoughts, pressures, and fears of the airmen and their crews as he reconstructs the battles. These are the stories of the Wildcat and Zero fighters, and the Dauntless, Avenger, Betty, Kate, and Val bombers. Lavishly illustrated with drawings, maps, and photographs, this fresh look at the campaign set a standard for aviation histories when first published in 1994.
First Templar Nation: How Eleven Knights Created a New Country and a Refuge for the Grail
by Freddy SilvaOverturns the long-established historical narrative about the origins and purpose of the Knights Templar • Explains how and why the Templars created Europe’s first nation-state, Portugal, with one of their own as king • Reveals the Portuguese roots of key founding members, their relationship with the Order of Sion, the Templars’ devotion to Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist, and the meaning and exact location of the Grail • Provides evidence of Templar holy sites and hidden chambers throughout Portugal • Includes over 700 references, many from new and rare sources Conventional history claims that nine men formed a brotherhood called the Knights Templar in Jerusalem in 1118 to provide protection for pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Overturning this long-established historical narrative, Freddy Silva shows that the Order of the Temple existed a decade earlier on the opposite side of Europe, that the protection of pilgrims was entrusted to a seperate organization, and that, in league with the Cistercian monks and the equally mysterious Order of Sion, the Templars executed one of history’s most daring and covert plans: the creation of Europe’s first nation-state, Portugal, with one of their own as king. Including over 700 references, many from new and rare sources, Silva reveals Portugal, not Jerusalem, as the first Templar stronghold. He shows how there were eleven founding members and how the first king of Portugal, a secret Templar, was related to Bernard de Clairvaux, head of the Cistercians. The author explains the Templars’ motivation to create a country far from the grasp of Rome, where they could conduct their living resurrection initiation--whose candidates were declared “risen from the dead”--a secret for which the Church silenced millions and which the Templars protected to the death. Placing the intrepid Knights in a previously unknown time and place, Silva’s historical narrative reveals the Portuguese roots of key founding members, their relationship with the Order of Sion, the Templars’ unshakeable devotion to Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist, and how they protected a holy bloodline in Portugal. He also provides evidence of secret Templar holy sites, initiation chambers, and hidden passageways throughout Portugal, often coinciding with pagan and Neolithic temples, and explains how their most important site forms a perfect triangle with the Abbey of Mont Sion in Jerusalem and the Osirion temple in Egypt. The author also reappraises the meaning of the Grail and reveals its exact location, hidden in plain sight to this very day.
First Test: Book 1 of the Protector of the Small Quartet (Protector of the Small #1)
by Tamora PierceTamora Pierce returns to the land of Tortall with a heroine who refuses to quit in this first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Protector of the Small series.Ten years after knighthood training was opened to both males and females, no girl has been brave enough to try. But knighthood is Keladry's one true desire, and so she steps forward to put herself to the test.Up against the traditional hazing of pages and a grueling schedule, Kel faces one roadblock that seems insurmountable: Lord Wyldon, the training master of pages and squires. He is absolutely against girls becoming knights. So while he is forced to train her, Wyldon puts her on a probationary trial period that no male page has ever had to endure. Further set apart from her fellow trainees, Kel's path to knighthood is now that much harder. But she is determined to try, and she's making friends in the most unlikely places. One thing is for sure, Kel is not a girl to underestimate.From the Hardcover edition.
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
by Loung UngUntil the age of five, Lounge Ung lived in Phnom Penh, one of seven children of a high-ranking government official. She was a precocious child who loved the open city markets, fried crickets, chicken fights, and sassing her parents. While her beautiful mother worried that Loung was a troublemaker -- that she stomped around like a thirsty cow -- her beloved father knew Loung was a clever girl. When Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into Phnom Penh in April 1975, Ung's family fled their home and moved from village to village to hide their identity, their education, their former life of privilege. Eventually, the family dispersed in order to survive. Because Loung was resilient and determined, she was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, while other siblings were sent to labor camps.
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
by Loung UngOne of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed. Harrowing yet hopeful, Loung's powerful story is an unforgettable account of a family shaken and shattered, yet miraculously sustained by courage and love in the face of unspeakable brutality.
First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game
by Nadirah SimmonsThis enlightening book reframes the history of hip-hop—and this time, women are given credit for all their trailblazing achievements that have left an undeniable impact on music. FIRST THINGS FIRST, hip-hop is not just the music, and women have played a big role in shaping the way it looks today. FIRST THINGS FIRST takes readers on a journey through some notable firsts by women in hip-hop history and their importance. Factual firsts like Queen Latifah becoming the first rapper to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lauryn Hill making history as the first rapper to win the coveted Album of the Year Award at the GRAMMYs, April Walker being the first woman to dominate in the hip-hop fashion game, and Da Brat being the first solo woman rapper to have an album go platinum, and metaphorical firsts like Missy Elliott being the first woman rapper to go to the future. (Trust me, she really did.) There are chapters on music legends like Nicki Minaj, Lil&’ Kim and Mary J. Blige, tv and radio hosts like Big Lez and Angie Martinez, and so many more ladies I would name but I don&’t want to spoil the book! There are games, charts and some fire images, too. Altogether, FIRST THINGS FIRST is a celebration of the achievements of women in hip-hop who broke down barriers and broke the mold. So the next time someone doesn&’t have their facts straight on the ladies in hip-hop, you can hit them with &“first things first&”…
First Through The Clouds: The Autobiography of a Box-Kite Pioneer
by Frederick Warren MerriamThe early years of aviation were marked by flimsy, unreliable machines and daring adventurous young men. One of the pioneer aviators leading the way in Britain was F. Warren Merriam who, following Louis Blriots first flight across the Channel in 1809, joined the Bristol and Colonial Aeroplane Company through which he obtained a Royal Aero Clubs aviators certificate.Much of the flying training in those early days was a case of the blind leading the blind and, as Merriam wrote, Flying was a dangerous business then. Airplanes were constantly breaking up in the air let alone on takeoff and landing; there were no parachutes and the pilots were ever expectant of mishaps. This was hardly the career for a decent young man and for a long time he had to keep his flying a secret from his parents.Aviation did indeed develop into a career, with Merriam becoming a certified instructor at Brooklands aerodrome. There he taught many of the men who became pioneers in aviation and others who joined the Royal Flying Corps that crossed to France in the early months of the First World War.The term pioneer could also be ascribed to Merriam for he was the first person in Britain to fly through the clouds. Until that day in 1912, it had been assumed that pilots would always stay within sight of the ground. Why would anyone want to go so high?This entertaining autobiography takes the reader on a journey through Merriams early flying career, from how it started through his first shaky solo, through a series of crashes into his First World War service. His account is the story of the early history of aviation, the development of aircraft and the personalities that led the way in those exciting, if risk-strewn days of yore.
First Time with a Highlander
by Gwyn CreadyFrom the "master of time travel romance": Award-winning author Gwyn Cready continues her steamy Sirens of the Scottish Borderlands seriesShe needs a man-but only for a nightWhat do you get when you imbibe centuries-old whiskey-besides a hangover the size of the Highlands? If you're twenty-first century ad exec Gerard Innes, you get swept back to 18th-century Edinburgh and into the bed of a gorgeous, fiery redhead. Gerard has only a foggy idea what he and the lady have been up to...but what he does remember draws him into the most dangerous and exhilarating campaign of his life.Be careful what you wish for...Serafina Seonag Fallon's scoundrel of a fiancé has left her with nothing, and she's determined to turn the tables. If she can come up with a ringer, she can claim the cargo he stole from her. But the dashing man she summons from the future demands more than a night, and Serafina finds it easier to command the seas under her feet than the crashing waves he unleashes in her heart.Praise for Just in Time for a Highlander: "Highly satisfying... filled with humor, clever schemes, and a wonderful cast of imaginative characters." -Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review. "Wonderfully entertaining...romantic and wickedly witty...Cready has outdone herself." -RT Book Reviews, 4 stars "RITA Award winner and master of time-travel romance Cready has done it again... Political intrigue, young spies, an embezzling estate manager, and a witch add to the fun." -Booklist
