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Nicasio (Images of America)
by Anne M. PapinaSituated in the geographic center of Marin County, Nicasio was home to the Coast Miwok village of Echatamal and likely named for a Tamal Indian and alcalde, Guequistabal, who was baptized as Nicasio at Mission Dolores in 1802. As European settlers arrived, many established themselves as dairy ranchers and timbermen. Soon a town square began to take shape, complete with a merchandise store, a butcher shop, two saloons, a racetrack, a livery stable, a Catholic church, and a luxurious three-story hotel. These pioneers aspired to make Nicasio the county seat, a bid that was ultimately lost by a single vote in 1863. The land reserved for civic buildings was repurposed as a baseball diamond, which at one time hosted semipro games and continues to serve local little leaguers. The Rancho Nicasio now stands in place of the hotel, yet the town otherwise appears untarnished by time. Not surprisingly, a number of residents have roots tracing back to Nicasio's founders, with newcomers drawn to its pastoral charm and a lifestyle in deep contrast to that of nearby San Francisco.
Niche Tourism
by Marina NovelliNiche Tourism examines one of the fastest growing areas within the tourism sector. This book provides an integrated picture of speciality/niche tourism as a whole looking at both the 'macro' and 'micro' niche area. It has a comprehensive theoretical framework, and discusses initiatives, policies and strategies adopted internationally. With an emphasis on linking theory to practice, it is underpinned by up-to-date international case studies from around the world.Divided into 3 parts, it covers a variety of aspects under the headings of special interest tourism, tradition and culture base tourism and activity-based tourism.
Nicollet Island
by Rushika February Hage Christopher HageAbove St. Anthony Falls, in the middle of the Mississippi River, hidden in the heart of Minneapolis, lies Wita Waste, the beautiful island. Named Wita Waste by Dakota Indians, it is known now as Nicollet Island, the only inhabited island in the Mississippi. Over the centuries, it has been a sacred birthing place, at the center of the lumber and flour-milling industries that built Minneapolis, and involved in the collapse of the Eastman tunnel, which almost doomed those industries. One of Minneapolis's largest fires, the great conflagration of 1893, started there. It has been the home of pioneers, veterans, elite barons of the Gilded Age, Roman Catholic monks, hippies, artists, vagrants, and donkeys. Many of their houses still remain, preserving Minneapolis's architectural heritage. Nicollet Island has been at the center of numerous controversies ranging from its original land claim to proposals to locate the state capitol there, to, more recently, the threatened demolition of its historic houses. Nicollet Island is the history of Minnesota in miniature, and its tale is one of beauty, romance, disaster, and conflict.
Niederländisch für Dummies (Für Dummies)
by Margreet Kwakernaak"Niederländisch für Dummies" bietet einen leichten Einstieg in die niederländische Sprache. Nach einer Einführung in die sprachlichen Besonderheiten, die Aussprache und die Grammatik wird es auch schon praktisch: Jedes Kapitel beschäftigt sich mit einer Alltagssituation. Sie lernen, wie Sie sich auf Niederländisch vorstellen, im Restaurant Essen bestellen oder ein Hotelzimmer reservieren. Ganz nebenbei erhalten Sie viele Informationen zu Alltag und Kultur in den Niederlanden. Am Ende jedes Kapitels gibt es eine kleine Übung, mit der Sie Ihre neu erworbenen Sprachkenntnisse prüfen können.
Nigeria - Culture Smart!
by Diane LemieuxNigeria, the most populous country in Africa with an internal market of 150 million people and an economy growing at around 8 percent a year, is potentially Africa's next powerhouse. It is nearly one and a half times the size of Texas, with a landmass varying from sandy beaches and tropical jungles, to plains, mountains, and desert. This important West African nation is made up of 250 culturally distinct ethno-linguistic groups. The largest communities are the Hausa in the north, rooted in the Islamic city-states of the famed trans-Saharan trade routes; the Yoruba of the southwest, where ancient kingdoms nurtured some of Africa's best-known art forms; and the Igbo of the southeast, where decentralized, egalitarian communities have produced many of the country's most successful traders and businessmen. Nigeria has had a bad press: international reports of violence, corruption, and natural disasters completely overlook the vibrancy and artistic sophistication of its diverse cultural groups, most of whom live peacefully in mixed communities. Although Nigeria is the world's fifth-largest producer of oil, there is a huge disparity in income. The competition for scarce resources and the country's dense diversity have fostered ingenuity and perseverance on the part of its ambitious citizens. They are natural entrepreneurs, and intelligent and shrewd negotiators. They are also proud, and sensitive to criticism. Most are devout, gregarious, and hospitable, and disgusted by corruption. Now, in the twelfth consecutive year of democracy after years of military rule, major political and economic reforms are under way. Culture Smart! Nigeria is a unique introduction to life there today. Most of what is written about the country comes from the perspective of one or other tribe. There is nothing quite like this concise description of its major cultural traditions. The people most visitors will meet are well-educated, sophisticated, and well-versed in Western ways. Nonetheless, foreign businesspeople cannot hope to be successful without understanding the ancient and complex systems of behavior, values, and attitudes that underlie the country's vibrant social and business life.
The Night Before Christmas in New York (Night Before Christmas Series)
by Betty Lou Phillips Roblyn HerndonSanta visits the big city—and winds up playing himself in the Macy&’s parade—in this merry take on the classic Christmas poem… Santa&’s pre-Christmas jitters start just before Thanksgiving, and Mrs. Claus knows just what he needs to boost his holiday spirit—a trip to fabulous NYC for a little R&R (and a little shopping for her). They&’re checking out chic stores when what should happen but the Macy&’s parade official spots this Santa on the street and convinces him to fill in and &“play&” Santa in the parade. Santa can&’t help but laugh at the thought of how surprised everyone would be if they knew. The cheering of the children will boost Santa&’s confidence for another year—and later that night, Mr. C borrows the parade sleigh to take a flight over all the boroughs of the city…
Night on the Flint River: Accidental Journey in Knowing God
by Roberta C. BondiThe following is the story of an adventure that took place not too many years ago. Pam and I and our friend Jeff had gone out intending to take a short, simple, and relaxing Sunday afternoon canoe trip on the Flint River not very far from Atlanta. Nothing turned out as we expected, however, and before long we were in trouble. There had been a drought some time before, which had killed many trees. Almost as soon as we were in the water we found ourselves entangled among their dead trunks, roots, and branches that had fallen across the river. Having decided, in spite of the obvious, to push on in hope of finding that the water would be clear farther along, within hours we were in total darkness, the likes of which I, at least, had never known before. During the long hours till the dawn that followed, I truly believed that I was living out the last night of my life. This book recounts not just what happened to us on that October 18, but also something of my interior reflections as I stumbled along in the wet blackness with my two friends, expecting to die. As for these reflections, I have learned from experience that when something happens to me that puts me in a place of danger, delight, beauty, loss, illness, accident, or pain that is as far from my ordinary experience as this night was, I need to pay attention, and to pay that attention in the presence of God. When I do, I learn things and receive gifts that I am generally aware I can learn and receive no other way.
The Night Tiger: The Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
by Yangsze ChooTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'The two main characters will captivate you as their paths are destined to cross... you won't be able to put this one down!'Reese Witherspoon'I was willingly propelled into a fascinating and exotic world'Daily MailThey say a tiger that devours too many humans can take the form of a man and walk among us... In 1930s colonial Malaya, a dissolute British doctor receives a surprise gift of an eleven-year-old Chinese houseboy. Sent as a bequest from an old friend, young Ren has a mission: to find his dead master's severed finger and reunite it with his body. Ren has forty-nine days, or else his master's soul will roam the earth forever. Ji Lin, an apprentice dressmaker, moonlights as a dancehall girl to pay her mother's debts. One night, Ji Lin's dance partner leaves her with a gruesome souvenir that leads her on a crooked, dark trail. As time runs out for Ren's mission, a series of unexplained deaths occur amid rumours of tigers who turn into men. In their journey to keep a promise and discover the truth, Ren and Ji Lin's paths will cross in ways they will never forget.Captivating and lushly written, The Night Tiger explores the rich world of servants and masters, ancient superstition and modern ambition, sibling rivalry and unexpected love. Woven through with Chinese folklore and a tantalizing mystery, this novel is a page-turner of the highest order.'An exuberant medley of magic, romance and weirdness'The Times'[A] highly imaginative and a spellbinding read'Woman's Weekly
The Night Tiger: The Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
by Yangsze ChooTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'The two main characters will captivate you as their paths are destined to cross... you won't be able to put this one down!'Reese Witherspoon'I was willingly propelled into a fascinating and exotic world'Daily MailThey say a tiger that devours too many humans can take the form of a man and walk among us... In 1930s colonial Malaya, a dissolute British doctor receives a surprise gift of an eleven-year-old Chinese houseboy. Sent as a bequest from an old friend, young Ren has a mission: to find his dead master's severed finger and reunite it with his body. Ren has forty-nine days, or else his master's soul will roam the earth forever. Ji Lin, an apprentice dressmaker, moonlights as a dancehall girl to pay her mother's debts. One night, Ji Lin's dance partner leaves her with a gruesome souvenir that leads her on a crooked, dark trail. As time runs out for Ren's mission, a series of unexplained deaths occur amid rumours of tigers who turn into men. In their journey to keep a promise and discover the truth, Ren and Ji Lin's paths will cross in ways they will never forget.Captivating and lushly written, The Night Tiger explores the rich world of servants and masters, ancient superstition and modern ambition, sibling rivalry and unexpected love. Woven through with Chinese folklore and a tantalizing mystery, this novel is a page-turner of the highest order.'An exuberant medley of magic, romance and weirdness'The Times'[A] highly imaginative and a spellbinding read'Woman's Weekly
Night Train, Night Train
by Robert BurleighRide the rails of the night train in this beautifully rendered journey conducted by renowned artist Wendell Minor and frequent collaborator Robert Burleigh.Rhyming, lyrical text describes the sights and sounds of a nighttime journey from country to city on a passenger train in the 1940s. Largely painted in black and white, breathtaking illustrations feature pops of color as the train continues its trip until the full-color spectrum appears as dawn breaks and passengers arrive at the station. A nostalgic and innovative choice for readers fascinated by trains.
Nightingales in Berlin: Searching for the Perfect Sound
by David RothenbergA celebrated figure in myth, song, and story, the nightingale has captivated the imagination for millennia, its complex song evoking a prism of human emotions,—from melancholy to joy, from the fear of death to the immortality of art. But have you ever listened closely to a nightingale’s song? It’s a strange and unsettling sort of composition—an eclectic assortment of chirps, whirs, trills, clicks, whistles, twitters, and gurgles. At times it is mellifluous, at others downright guttural. It is a rhythmic assault, always eluding capture. What happens if you decide to join in? As philosopher and musician David Rothenberg shows in this searching and personal new book, the nightingale’s song is so peculiar in part because it reflects our own cacophony back at us. As vocal learners, nightingales acquire their music through the world around them, singing amidst the sounds of humanity in all its contradictions of noise and beauty, hard machinery and soft melody. Rather than try to capture a sound not made for us to understand, Rothenberg seeks these musical creatures out, clarinet in tow, and makes a new sound with them. He takes us to the urban landscape of Berlin—longtime home to nightingale colonies where the birds sing ever louder in order to be heard—and invites us to listen in on their remarkable collaboration as birds and instruments riff off of each other’s sounds. Through dialogue, travel records, sonograms, tours of Berlin’s city parks, and musings on the place animal music occupies in our collective imagination, Rothenberg takes us on a quest for a new sonic alchemy, a music impossible for any one species to make alone. In the tradition of The Hidden Life of Trees and The Invention of Nature, Rothenberg has written a provocative and accessible book to attune us ever closer to the natural environment around us.
Nights of Awe
by Harri Nykanen Kristian London'Nykänen's twist on Nordic crime fiction may be the most inventive of the year. Ariel Kafka, a middle-aged bachelor, is a detective in Helsinki (think early Harry Hole) and, as far as he knows, the only Jew on the entire Helsinki police force, which is why he's picked to head up the investigation of a series of murders that began with two Arabic-looking men who may have been shouting Jewish obscenities as they died. Set during the days leading up to Yom Kippur, this complex tale moves quickly, as Ari attempts to figure it all out. With pressure from his colleagues, police administration, his brother, and the local Jewish community, can he uncover everything before the holiest day in the Jewish calender? The clever combination of classic Jewish themes with the traditions of Nordic crime makes for a refreshing tale with wide appeal. And the subtle humor, combined with a hero who is not completely depressed and alcoholic, makes it even better. Not just for readers of Nordic fiction, this should also be suggested to those who relate to New York Jewish detectives, including Lenny Briscoe (from Law & Order) and John Munch (from Homicide and Law & Order: SVU), as well as readers who enjoy the black humor of Stuart MacBride.' BooklistHarri Nykänen, born in Helsinki in 1953, was a well-known crime journalist before turning to fiction. He won the Finnish crime writing award The Clue in 1990 and in 2001. His fiction exposes the local underworld through the eyes of the criminal, the terrorist, and, most recently, from the point of view of an eccentric Helsinki police inspector.
Nights of Rain and Stars: The perfect summer read
by Maeve Binchy'The perfect summer read' Mail on Sunday'The landscape is evocatively Greek, the characters so real you feel you know them. Warm, thoughtful, vintage Maeve Binchy' Choice MagazineMaeve Binchy at her very best - the superb novel of one summer, and four people whose lives are irrevocably changed. Four strangers, with nothing in common but a need to escape, meet in a Greek taverna high above the small village of Aghia Anna. From Ireland, America, Germany and England they have each left behind their homes and their old lives, when a shocking tragedy throws them unexpectedly together.Nights of Rain and Stars is the story of one summer and four people, each with a life in turmoil - and Vonni, the Irish exile who would very much like to help them, but has demons of her own to battle . . .Read by Terry Donnelly(p) 2004 Audible Ltd
Nights of Rain and Stars: The perfect summer read
by Maeve Binchy'The perfect summer read' Mail on SundayMaeve Binchy at her very best - the superb novel of one summer, and four people whose lives are irrevocably changed.'The setting is wonderfully seductive . . . Binchy weaves her usual magic . . . Binchy is degrees better than most other novelists and her storytelling ability is second to none' Sunday ExpressFour strangers, with nothing in common but a need to escape, meet in a Greek taverna high above the small village of Aghia Anna. From Ireland, America, Germany and England they have each left behind their homes and their old lives, when a shocking tragedy throws them unexpectedly together.Nights of Rain and Stars is the story of one summer and four people, each with a life in turmoil - and Vonni, the Irish exile who would very much like to help them, but has demons of her own to battle . . .'It's always a treat to read one of Maeve Binchy's novels and this is no exception . . . she introduces us to a group of characters - a random group of holidaymakers thrown together by tragedy - and leaves us caring about them as if they are our friends' Best
Nights of Rain and Stars: The perfect summer read
by Maeve Binchy*SPECIAL 'MEMORIES OF MAEVE' EDITION*'The perfect summer read' MAIL ON SUNDAY'One of my all-time favourites' LORRAINE KELLY'An absolute joy. Maeve sweeps you away to an island paradise!' VERONICA HENRY___________'They were still talking as the first stars came into the sky...' Four strangers meet at a taverna on a beautiful Greek island, with nothing in common except a need to escape. But over one magical summer they'll discover that sometimes, the people who understand you the best can be the ones who don't know you at all...___________SPECIAL EDITION FEATURING 'MEMORIES OF MAEVE' FROM: Minnie Driver - Marian Keyes - Cathy Kelly - Veronica Henry Jilly Cooper - Lorraine Kelly - Jenny Colgan - Katie Fforde - Ruby Wax Patricia Scanlan - Liz Nugent - Megan Nolan - Maeve's friends & colleagues Introduced by Maeve's husband, Gordon Snell. ___________Find out why millions of readers adore Maeve Binchy...'A brilliant storyteller' GRAHAM NORTON'A master storyteller' NEW YORK TIMES'Maeve Binchy was my hero' MARIAN KEYES'The Queen of Fiction' IRISH TIMES'A true star' JILLY COOPER'A remarkable writer' RUBY WAX'Wielded her pen with dizzying genius' CATHY KELLY___________'Her descriptions of Greece and the mouth-watering local delicacies served at the Mesanihta café and the taverna will no doubt ensure that the Greek tourist authorities will have to brace themselves for a massive onslaught of visitors to their shores ... Wonderful' IRISH TIMES
Nightwatch: Alone On The Prairie With The Hutterites
by Robert RhodesWhat would compel a daily newspaper journalist, raised in an affluent family in the South, to abandon his career and embark on a spiritual odyssey that would take him, his wife, and young daughter to live among the Plain people of the prairies, the Hutterian Brethren? From 1995 to 2002, the author and his family gave up all claims to personal property, moved to Starland Colony in Minnesota, and joined the often contradictory Old World existence of the Hutterites, whose isolated farming communes stretch across the American Great Plains and the prairie provinces of Canada. In Nightwatch, the author explores the modern-day expression of Hutterianism, born amid the flames and persecution of the Reformation and transplanted in the 1870s from Russia to the western United States. This is a story not only of spiritual questioning, but an inquiry into what it is to be "strangers among strangers," looking at the inner callings that bring people together, and in some cases drive them apart. "Several months after we had moved to Starland, a period during which we had passed a long and dormant winter, seldom traveling because of the deep and smothering snow, I made a trip into the Twin Cities, about 80 miles away. Having lived so far from the rest of society, even for a few months, I felt a distinct anxiety when I found myself in downtown Minneapolis that first time, navigating the crowds and passing among buildings much taller than our colony's feed mill leg, which was the tallest object in all of Sibley County. An encounter with the homeless in Minneapolis, or the sight of a man and woman begging for money beneath an overpass while their small fire smoldered and snow drifted around them, filled me with despair and dread. Returning to our place that night, down the snow-streaked county roads, past gray dairies and mailboxes with Norwegian names, I sat in the minister's living room. I told him I was glad I had such a place to come home to, that we didn't have to live like the people in the big evil cities. David Vetter looked at me a moment and said something I did not expect: "Spoken like a true Pharisee," he said. "You've only been here a few short months, and already you're getting to be just like us."
Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club
by Anne AllisonIn Nightwork, Anne Allison opens a window onto Japanese corporate culture and gender identities. Allison performed the ritualized tasks of a hostess in one of Tokyo's many "hostess clubs": pouring drinks, lighting cigarettes, and making flattering or titillating conversation with the businessmen who came there on company expense accounts. Her book critically examines how such establishments create bonds among white-collar men and forge a masculine identity that suits the needs of their corporations. Allison describes in detail a typical company outing to such a club—what the men do, how they interact with the hostesses, the role the hostess is expected to play, and the extent to which all of this involves "play" rather than "work. " Unlike previous books on Japanese nightlife, Allison's ethnography of one specific hostess club (here referred to as Bijo) views the general phenomenon from the eyes of a woman, hostess, and feminist anthropologist. Observing that clubs like Bijo further a kind of masculinity dependent on the gestures and labors of women, Allison seeks to uncover connections between such behavior and other social, economic, sexual, and gendered relations. She argues that Japanese corporate nightlife enables and institutionalizes a particular form of ritualized male dominance: in paying for this entertainment, Japanese corporations not only give their male workers a self-image as phallic man, but also develop relationships to work that are unconditional and unbreakable. This is a book that will appeal to anyone interested in gender roles or in contemporary Japanese society.
Nikola Tesla: Engineer with Electric Ideas (Movers, Shakers, and History Makers)
by Emily HuddNikola Tesla was a scientist and inventor in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Among his many inventions and experiments, he helped create the modern electricity system. Learn more about Tesla's life as a famous inventor!
Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing
by Olga Mecking'Niksen is an increasingly popular Dutch relaxation technique where you relinquish control and just ... stop. At a time when meditative practices can feel like yet another thing to do, niksen is liberatingly simple' the Guardian The Dutch concept of niksen comes at no cost and zero effort. It's literally doing nothing, but consciously so.In this concise and witty book, Olga Mecking will provide tips on how to niksen in the most important areas of your life: work, home and leisure. Talking to experts from around the world, she reveals how doing nothing can make you happier, more productive and creative. In addition, we are given a fun glimpse of Dutch culture to show us why the Dutch are one of the happiest people in the world and why they are so good at doing nothing every once in a while. We all have a concept of what doing nothing means to us, but do our ideas actually correspond with the truth behind niksen? A common hurdle towards embracing idleness, for example, is that we feel the need to be productive, contributing members of society. In fact, even the Dutch tend to say, niksen is niks or, in English, doing nothing is good for nothing. That constant need to work can lead to more stress, decreased mental wellbeing and paradoxically, being less productive. Stress and burnout are on the rise. The antidote: Niksen.
Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing
by Olga Mecking'Niksen is an increasingly popular Dutch relaxation technique where you relinquish control and just ... stop. At a time when meditative practices can feel like yet another thing to do, niksen is liberatingly simple' the Guardian The Dutch concept of niksen comes at no cost and zero effort. It's literally doing nothing, but consciously so.In this concise and witty book, Olga Mecking will provide tips on how to niksen in the most important areas of your life: work, home and leisure. Talking to experts from around the world, she reveals how doing nothing can make you happier, more productive and creative. In addition, we are given a fun glimpse of Dutch culture to show us why the Dutch are one of the happiest people in the world and why they are so good at doing nothing every once in a while. We all have a concept of what doing nothing means to us, but do our ideas actually correspond with the truth behind niksen? A common hurdle towards embracing idleness, for example, is that we feel the need to be productive, contributing members of society. In fact, even the Dutch tend to say, niksen is niks or, in English, doing nothing is good for nothing. That constant need to work can lead to more stress, decreased mental wellbeing and paradoxically, being less productive. Stress and burnout are on the rise. The antidote: Niksen.
The Nile: A Journey Downriver Through Egypt's Past and Present (Vintage Departures)
by Toby WilkinsonA hypnotic journey in the company of one of the world's most acclaimed Egyptologists over the fabled river telling how the Nile continually brought life to an ancient civilization now dead and how it sustained its successors, now in tumult.Renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson leads us through space as much as time: from the river's mystical sources (the Blue Nile which rises in Ethiopia, and the White Nile coursing from majestic Lake Victoria); to Thebes, with its Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and Luxor Temple; the fertile Delta; Giza, home of the Great Pyramid, the sole surviving Wonder of the Ancient World; and finally, to the pulsating capital city of Cairo, where the Arab Spring erupted on the bridges over the Nile. Along the way, he introduces us to mysterious and fabled characters-the gods, godlike pharaohs, emperors and empresses, who joined their fate to the Nile and gained immortality; the adventurers, archaeologists, and historians who have all fallen under its spell. With matchless erudition and storytelling skill, through a lens equal to both panoramas and close-ups, Wilkinson brings millennia of history into view.
Nine for California
by Sonia LevitinAmanda travels by stagecoach with her four siblings and her mother from Missouri to California to join her father.
Nine Hills To Nambonkaha: Two Years In The Heart Of An African Village
by Sarah Erdman"When Sarah Erdman, a Peace Corps volunteer, arrived in Nambonkaha, she became the first Caucasian to venture there since the French colonialists. But even though she was thousands of miles away from the United States, completely on her own in this tiny village in the West African nation of Cote d'Ivoire, she did not feel like a stranger for long. As her narrative unfolds, Erdman draws us into the changing world of the village that became her home. Here is a place where electricity is expected but never arrives, where sorcerers still conjure magic, where the tok-tok sound of women grinding corn with pestles rings out in the mornings like church bells. Rare rains provoke bathing in the streets and the most coveted fashion trend is fabric with illustrations of Western cell phones. Yet Nambonkaha is also a place where AIDS threatens and poverty is constant, where women suffer the indignities of patriarchal customs, where children work like adults while still managing to dream"
Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (Vintage Departures Ser.)
by William DalrympleThree brothers from a remote village in the Himalayas are driven by poverty to become monks. One becomes a famous masked dancer; the second an accomplished player of the Tibetan temple trumpet; and the third a great Buddhist scholar. A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her best friend ritually starve herself to death. A woman leaves her middle class family in Calcutta and her job in a jute factory, only to find unexpected love and fulfillment living as a tantric in a skull-filled hut in remote a cremation ground. A prison warder from Kerala becomes for two months of the year a temple dancer and is worshipped as an incarnate deity; then, at the end of February each year, he returns to prison. An idol maker, the thirty-fifth of a long line of sculptors going back to the legendary Chola bronze makers, regards creating Gods as one of the holiest callings in India, but has to reconcile himself to his son who only wants to study computer engineering. An illiterate goat herd from Rajasthan keeps alive an ancient 200,000-stanza sacred epic that he, virtually alone, still knows by heart. A devadasi - or temple prostitute - initially resists her own initiation into sex work, yet pushes both her daughters into a trade she regards as a sacred calling. Nine people, nine lives. Each one taking a different religious path, each one an unforgettable story. Exquisite and mesmerizing, and told with an almost biblical simplicity, William Dalrymple's first travel book in a decade explores how traditional forms of religious life in South Asia have been transformed in the vortex of the region's rapid change. Nine Lives is a distillation of twenty-five years of exploring India and writing about its religious traditions, taking you deep into worlds that you would never have imagined even existed.
The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches From A Precarious State
by Declan WalshA New York Times New Book to Watch For (November 2020) The former New York Times Pakistan bureau chief paints an arresting, up-close portrait of a fractured country. Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times’s most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this strange, wondrous, and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals. On assignment as the country careened between crises, Walsh traveled from the raucous port of Karachi to the salons of Lahore, and from Baluchistan to the mountains of Waziristan. He met a diverse cast of extraordinary Pakistanis—a chieftain readying for war at his desert fort, a retired spy skulking through the borderlands, and a crusading lawyer risking death for her beliefs, among others. Through these “nine lives” he describes a country on the brink—a place of creeping extremism and political chaos, but also personal bravery and dogged idealism that defy easy stereotypes. Unbeknownst to Walsh, however, an intelligence agent was tracking him. Written in the aftermath of Walsh’s abrupt deportation, The Nine Lives of Pakistan concludes with an astonishing encounter with that agent, and his revelations about Pakistan’s powerful security state. Intimate and complex, attuned to the centrifugal forces of history, identity, and faith, The Nine Lives of Pakistan offers an unflinching account of life in a precarious, vital country.