- Table View
- List View
A Moment of War: A Memoir (The Autobiographical Trilogy #3)
by Laurie LeeA memoir of the Spanish Civil War with &“the plainness of Orwell but the metaphorical soaring of a poem . . . An extraordinary book&” (The New York Times Book Review).In December 1937 I crossed the Pyrenees from France—two days on foot through the snow. I don&’t know why I chose December; it was just one of a number of idiocies I committed at the time. Such was Laurie Lee&’s entry into the Spanish Civil War. Six months after the Nationalist uprising forced him to leave the country he had grown to love, he returned to offer his life for the Republican cause. It seemed as simple as knocking on a farmhouse door in the middle of the night and declaring himself ready to fight. It would not be the last time he was almost executed for being a spy. In that bitter winter in a divided Spain, Lee&’s youthful idealism came face to face with the reality of war. The International Brigade he sought to join was not a gallant fighting force, but a collection of misfits without proper leadership or purpose. Boredom and bad food and false alarms were as much a part of the experience of war as actual battle. And when the decisive moment finally came—the moment of him or the enemy—it left Lee feeling the very opposite of heroic. The final volume in Laurie Lee&’s acclaimed autobiographical trilogy—preceded by Cider with Rosie and As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning—is a clear-eyed and vital snapshot of a young man, and a proud nation, at a historic crossroads.
A Month in Siena
by Hisham MatarFrom the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Return comes a profoundly moving contemplation of the relationship between art and life. After finishing his powerful memoir The Return, Hisham Matar, seeking solace and pleasure, traveled to Siena, Italy. Always finding comfort and clarity in great art, Matar immersed himself in eight significant works from the Sienese School of painting, which flourished from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Artists he had admired throughout his life, including Duccio and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, evoke earlier engagements he’d had with works by Caravaggio and Poussin, and the personal experiences that surrounded those moments.Including beautiful full-color reproductions of the artworks, A Month in Siena is about what occurred between Matar, those paintings, and the city. That month would be an extraordinary period in the writer’s life: an exploration of how art can console and disturb in equal measure, as well as an intimate encounter with a city and its inhabitants. This is a gorgeous meditation on how centuries-old art can illuminate our own inner landscape—current relationships, long-lasting love, grief, intimacy, and solitude—and shed further light on the present world around us.Praise for A Month in Siena“As exquisitely structured as The Return, driven by desire, yearning, loss, illuminated by the kindness of strangers. A Month in Siena is a triumph.”—Peter Carey
A Most Wicked Conspiracy: The Last Great Swindle of the Gilded Age
by Paul StarobinA tale of Gilded Age corruption and greed from the frontier of Alaska to America's capital.In the feverish, money-making age of railroad barons, political machines, and gold rushes, corruption was the rule, not the exception. Yet the Republican mogul "Big Alex" McKenzie defied even the era's standard for avarice. Charismatic and shameless, he arrived in the new Alaskan territory intent on controlling gold mines and draining them of their ore. Miners who had rushed to the frozen tundra to strike gold were appalled at his unabashed deviousness.A Most Wicked Conspiracy recounts McKenzie's plot to rob the gold fields. It's a story of how America's political and economic life was in the grip of domineering, self-dealing, seemingly-untouchable party bosses in cahoots with robber barons, Senators and even Presidents. Yet it is also the tale of a righteous resistance of working-class miners, muckraking journalists, and courageous judges who fought to expose a conspiracy and reassert the rule of law.Through a bold set of characters and a captivating narrative, Paul Starobin examines power and rampant corruption during a pivotal time in America, drawing undoubted parallels with present-day politics and society.
A Mountain In Tibet: The Search for Mount Kailas and the Sources of the Great Rivers of Asia
by Charles AllenThroughout the East there runs a legend of a great mountain at the centre of the world, where four rivers have their source. Charles Allen traces this legend to Western Tibet where there stands Kailas, worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists alike as the home of their gods and the navel of the world. Close by are the sources of four mighty rivers: the sacred Ganges, the Indus, the Sutlej and Tsangpo-Brahmaputra.For centuries Kailas remained an enigma to the outside world. Then a succession of remarkable men took up the challenge of penetrating the hostile, frozen wastelands beyond the Western Himalayas, culminating in the great age of discovery, the final years of the Victorian era.A Mountain in Tibet is an extraordinary story of exploration and high adventure, full of the excitement and colour expected from the author of Plain Tales from the Raj.
A Mountain In Tibet: The Search for Mount Kailas and the Sources of the Great Rivers of Asia
by Charles AllenThroughout the East there runs a legend of a great mountain at the centre of the world, where four rivers have their source. Charles Allen traces this legend to Western Tibet where there stands Kailas, worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists alike as the home of their gods and the navel of the world. Close by are the sources of four mighty rivers: the sacred Ganges, the Indus, the Sutlej and Tsangpo-Brahmaputra.For centuries Kailas remained an enigma to the outside world. Then a succession of remarkable men took up the challenge of penetrating the hostile, frozen wastelands beyond the Western Himalayas, culminating in the great age of discovery, the final years of the Victorian era.A Mountain in Tibet is an extraordinary story of exploration and high adventure, full of the excitement and colour expected from the author of Plain Tales from the Raj.
A Mountain In Tibet: The Search for Mount Kailas and the Sources of the Great Rivers of Asia
by Charles AllenThroughout the East there runs a legend of a great mountain at the centre of the world, where four rivers have their source. Charles Allen traces this legend to Western Tibet where there stands Kailas, worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists alike as the home of their gods and the navel of the world. Close by are the sources of four mighty rivers: the sacred Ganges, the Indus, the Sutlej and Tsangpo-Brahmaputra.For centuries Kailas remained an enigma to the outside world. Then a succession of remarkable men took up the challenge of penetrating the hostile, frozen wastelands beyond the Western Himalayas, culminating in the great age of discovery, the final years of the Victorian era.A Mountain in Tibet is an extraordinary story of exploration and high adventure, full of the excitement and colour expected from the author of Plain Tales from the Raj.
A Mouth Sweeter than Salt: An African Memoir
by Toyin FalolaA Mouth Sweeter Than Salt gathers the stories and reflections of the early years of Toyin Falola, the grand historian of Africa and one of the greatest sons of Ibadan, the notable Yoruba city-state in Nigeria. Redefining the autobiographical genre altogether, Falola miraculously weaves together personal, historical, and communal stories, along with political and cultural developments in the period immediately preceding and following Nigeria's independence, to give us a unique and enduring picture of the Yoruba in the mid-twentieth century. This is truly a literary memoir, told in language rich with proverbs, poetry, song, and humor. Falola's memoir is far more than the story of one man's childhood experiences; rather, he presents us with the riches of an entire culture and community--its history, traditions, pleasures, mysteries, household arrangements, forms of power, struggles, and transformations.
A Mouthful of Stars: A Constellation of Favorite Recipes from My World Travels
by Kim SuneeThe acclaimed author of Trail of Crumbs shares recipes and stories from her many culinary adventures in this beautifully illustrated cookbook.From Seoul to New Orleans, Provence, and beyond, Kim Sunee has spent her life exploring the world and its many cuisines. In A Mouthful of Stars, she shares her interpretation of some of her favorite recipes and cooking discoveries from her many travels. Recipes range from Tuscan crostini di fegatini to Louisiana dirty rice, traditional North African dishes, and favorites from the years she spent in Provence and Paris. Each one tells a story of discovery and new horizons, of cherished togetherness, or replenishing solitude. A Mouthful of Stars is a culinary journey celebrating the author’s time in many lands and cooking in many kitchens.
A Mouthful of Stars: A Constellation of Favorite Recipes from My World Travels
by Kim SuneeThe acclaimed author of Trail of Crumbs shares recipes and stories from her many culinary adventures in this beautifully illustrated cookbook.From Seoul to New Orleans, Provence, and beyond, Kim Sunee has spent her life exploring the world and its many cuisines. In A Mouthful of Stars, she shares her interpretation of some of her favorite recipes and cooking discoveries from her many travels. Recipes range from Tuscan crostini di fegatini to Louisiana dirty rice, traditional North African dishes, and favorites from the years she spent in Provence and Paris. Each one tells a story of discovery and new horizons, of cherished togetherness, or replenishing solitude. A Mouthful of Stars is a culinary journey celebrating the author’s time in many lands and cooking in many kitchens.
A Mutiny in Time (Infinity Ring #1)
by James DashnerScholastic's next multi-platform mega-event begins here!History is broken, and three kids must travel back in time to set it right!When best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time travel -- a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring -- they're swept up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course.Now it's up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks . . . and to save Dak's missing parents while they're at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!
A Narrative of Italian Travels in Persia in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Hakluyt Society, First Series)
by Charles GreyThis volume contains the translations of the following accounts: Travels in Persia, by Caterino Zeno; A short narrative of the life and acts of the King Ussun Cassano, by G. M. Angiolello; The travels of a merchant in Persia; Narrative of ... V. d'Alessandri, ambassador to the King of Persia. The first three accounts are translated from the second volume of Ramusio's 'Delle navigationi et viaggi'. Originally bound together with 49a but separately paginated. This is a new print-on-demand hardback edition of the volume first published in 1873.
A Natural History of Nature Writing
by Frank StewartA Natural History of Nature Writing is a penetrating overview of the origins and development of a uniquely American literature. Essayist and poet Frank Stewart describes in rich and compelling prose the lives and works of the most prominent American nature writers of the19th and 20th centuries, including: *Henry D. Thoreau, the father of American nature writing. *John Burroughs, a schoolteacher and failed businessman who found his calling as a writer and elevated the nature essay to a loved and respected literary form. *John Muir, founder of Sierra Club, who celebrated the wilderness of the Far West as few before him had. *Aldo Leopold, a Forest Service employee and scholar who extended our moral responsibility to include all animals and plants. *Rachel Carson, a scientist who raised the consciousness of the nation by revealing the catastrophic effects of human intervention on the Earth's living systems. *Edward Abbey, an outspoken activist who charted the boundaries of ecological responsibility and pushed these boundaries to political extremes. Stewart highlights the controversies ignited by the powerful and eloquent prose of these and other writers with their expansive - and often strongly political - points of view. Combining a deeply-felt sense of wonder at the beauty surrounding us with a rare ability to capture and explain the meaning of that beauty, nature writers have had a profound effect on American culture and politics. A Natural History of Nature Writing is an insightful examination of an important body of American literature.
A Natural History of Trail Ridge Road: Rocky Mountain National Park's Highway to the Sky (Natural History)
by Amy LawConstructed from 1929 to 1932 and opened to tourists and drivers the following year, Trail Ridge Road earned immediate inclusion among the scenic wonders of the world. The new path through the park followed the ancient trail across Tombstone Ridge and offered visitors breathtaking views and a privileged glimpse at unique ecosystems. Today, Trail Ridge Road endures as a truly otherworldly place. It is the country's highest continuous paved road, peaking at over twelve thousand feet and running forty-eight miles. Join author Amy Law on a tour across the Continental Divide and through the history of Colorado's most famous byway.
A Natural State: Essays on Texas
by Stephen Harrigan&“The personal essay at its best. What Edward Abbey did for the desert Southwest and what E. B. White did for Maine, Harrigan has done for Texas.&” —Houston Chronicle In this remarkable collection of essays, Stephen Harrigan explores, with an unfailing depth of feeling, the human longing to feel at home in the world of nature. In vivid and convincing prose, he evokes the landscape of his home territory, Texas, and his own reactions, sometimes droll, sometimes haunted, to the extraordinary power of place that Texas projects. &“Like our best nature writers, he tells us not only what&’s out there, but connects it to our everyday lives . . . A Natural State is recommended reading not just for Texans but for all who would explore their connections to the natural world.&” —The Washington Post &“While &‘luminous&’ is not a word that you would think of in connection with the Lone Star State, that&’s what these pieces are . . . They are filled with poetry, wit, and delightfully offbeat observations.&” —The San Diego Union-Tribune &“Harrigan defty weaves fact, historical perspective, and personal experience into a tightly interlaced evocative fabric . . . By the end of the book, he brings the vast Texas landscape within grasp of even the most skeptical reader.&” —The Denver Post &“Harrigan&’s observations are not those of an academically trained naturalist but rather the fresh outlook of a city-bred tourist rejoicing in the exhilaration of discovery.&” —Booklist &“Though several of the essays display a strong ecological bent, the author is never shrill. He is an accomplished prose stylist who combines accurate research with an unerring eye for detail. Highly recommended.&” —Science
A Naturalist Goes Fishing: Casting in Fragile Waters from the Gulf of Mexico to New Zealand's South Islands
by James McClintockIn the tradition of fishing classics, A Naturalist Goes Fishing combines elements of the triumph between fisher and fish, humor and wit, and a passionate concern for the natural environment. James McClintock takes us to some of the most breathtaking waters the world has to offer while capturing the drama and serendipity in the beloved sport of fishing. We follow him and his fishing buddies and professional guides, as he fishes off the marshy barrier islands of Louisiana, teeming with life but also ravaged by recent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill. We travel to the remote waters of New Zealand's Stewart Island, where the commercial fishing industry is fast disappearing; fish for gigantic Antarctic toothfish through a drilled ice hole at McMurdo Station; and scout for spotted bass on Alabama's Cahaba River, which has the highest diversity of fresh water fish in North America. As we take this global journey, we see how sea level rise, erosion, pollution, water acidification, and overfishing each cause damage.This strikingly beautiful narrative is a must read for anglers and nature lovers alike.
A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic
by E.C. PielouThis book is a practical, portable guide to all of the Arctic's natural history—sky, atmosphere, terrain, ice, the sea, plants, birds, mammals, fish, and insects—for those who will experience the Arctic firsthand and for armchair travelers who would just as soon read about its splendors and surprises. It is packed with answers to naturalists' questions and with questions—some of them answered—that naturalists may not even have thought of.
A Nature Guide to Ontario
by Winifred WakeFrom Hudson Bay to Pelee Island, from Rainy River to the Quebec border, Ontario offers a rich variety of experiences for nature-lovers of all ages and interests. A Nature Guide to Ontario showcases more than six hundred of the best sites for viewing the many forms of plant and animal life found across the province. All sites are open to the general public, most are easily accessible, and a surprising number are located in or near the province's biggest cities.The book is divided into seven regions, and sites are listed under county, district, or municipality. Entries contain instructions on how to reach sites, descriptions of the major landscape and habitat features, information about typical as well as important or unusual animals and plants to be found at the site, and an address to contact for more information. Introductory chapters give an overview of Ontario's natural history and its rich and diverse plant and animal life. The book also discusses environmental concerns, offers tips on how to get the most out of an outing, and lists the 'top ten' nature sites in Ontario. There are lists of useful addresses and references, a site index, and an extensive glossary.This volume is a project of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, whose affiliates and individual members have contributed to the book. A Nature Guide to Ontario, an invaluable reference for all who want to experience and enjoy the best of Ontario's natural areas and wildernesses.
A Neighborhood Guide to Washington, D.C.'s Hidden History (Hidden History)
by Jeanne FogleA historic guide to Washington, D.C.&’s neighborhoods, featuring photographs, maps, and beautiful drawings. - Get off the National Mall and enjoy nine walking and driving tours of Washington, D.C.&’s historic neighborhood - Discover the hidden history of the nation&’s capital with tales of political intrigue, scandal, romance and tragedy. - Experience the overlooked architectural and cultural treasures in such neighborhoods as Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan and Mount Vernon Square. Owner of A Tour de Force Guided Tours, D.C. historian Jeanne Fogle leads her readers through the hidden sites and history of Washington, D.C.&’s neighborhoods. Charming sketches by Edward Fogle and vintage photographs accompany each tour, casting a new light on the city. Visitors and local alike will be surprised and delighted by the discoveries that can be made beyond the monuments.
A New Voyage Round the World
by William Dampier'A roaring tale ... remains as vivid and exciting today as it was on publication in 1697' GuardianThe pirate and adventurer William Dampier circumnavigated the globe three times, and took notes wherever he went. This is his frank, vivid account of his buccaneering sea voyages around the world, from the Caribbean to the Pacific and East Indies. Filled with accounts of raids, escapes, wrecks and storms, it also contains precise observations of people, places, animals and food (including the first English accounts of guacamole, mango chutney and chopsticks). A bestseller on publication, this unique record of the colonial age influenced Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels and consequently the whole of English literature.Edited with an Introduction by Nicholas Thomas
A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, by Lionel Wafer: Surgeon on Buccaneering Expeditions in Darien, the West Indies, and the Pacific, from 1680 to 1688. With Wafer's Secret Report (1698), and Davis's Expedition to the Gold Mines (1704) (Hakluyt Society, Second Series)
by L. E. Elliot JoyceThe text of the 1699 edition, with slight changes, and additional material, edited with introduction, notes and appendices. This is a new print-on-demand hardback edition of the volume first published in 1934.
A New Voyage to Carolina
by John LawsonJohn Lawson's amazingly detailed yet lively book is easily one of the most valuable of the early histories of the Carolinas, and it is certainly one of the best travel accounts of the early eighteenth-century colonies. An inclusive account of the manners and customs of the Indian tribes of that day, it is also a minute report of the soil, climate, trees, plants, animals, and fish in the Carolinas.Lawson's observation is keen and thorough; his style direct and vivid. He misses nothing and recounts all -- from the storms at sea to his impressions of New York in 1700, the trip down the coast to Charleston, and his travels from there into North Carolina with his Indian guides.The first edition of this work was published in London in 1709. While various editions followed in the eighteenth century -- including two in German -- this edition is a true copy of the original and is the first to include a comprehensive index. It also contains "The Second Charter," "An Abstract of the Constitution of Carolina," Lawson's will, and several previously unpublished letters written by Lawson. A number of DeBry woodcuts of John White's drawings of Indian life, sketches of the beasts of Carolina which appeared in the original 1709 edition, and Lawson's map contribute additional interest to this volume.
A New World Order: Essays (Vintage International)
by Caryl PhillipsA NEW WORLD ORDER ranges widely across, the Atlantic World that Caryl Phillips has charted in his award winning novels and non-fiction during the course of the past twenty years. He begins this collection by establishing his belief that there is a 'new world order' of cultural plurality, one which is being promoted by the increasingly central role of the migrant and the refugee in the modern world. He goes on to reflect on the work of such seminal figures as Derek Walcott, V S Naipaul, J M Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer, Steven Spielberg, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Marvin Gaye. Phillips writes ahout the moment when St Kitts, the small island of his birth, became independent and talks about the role and responsibility of being a writer born into a postcolonial world who lives on both sides of the Atlantic. He then turns the spotlight on Britain speculating about his parents' migration in the late fifties, the continued legacy of racism, his own helpless loyalty to Leeds United, and his anxieties at feeling as though he both of, and not of, Britain.
A Norway Summer
by Laura D. NicholsIt is a long way to Norway, but Ellen's family gives her permission to go. She writes home often. But can romance happen without even a word being spoken?
A Not So Perfect Crime
by Peter Bush Teresa SolanaA prominent politician's wife is suspected of infidelity. The case for our twin private investigators becomes nasty when she is found poisoned. A satire of Catalan politics and life and habits of Barcelona's inhabitants, diurnal and nocturnal.
A Notorious Woman: Anne Royall in Jacksonian America
by Elizabeth J. ClappDuring her long career as a public figure in Jacksonian America, Anne Royall was called everything from an "enemy of religion" to a "Jackson man" to a "common scold. " In her search for the source of such strong reactions, Elizabeth Clapp has uncovered the story of a widely read woman of letters who asserted her right to a political voice without regard to her gender. Widowed and in need of a livelihood following a disastrous lawsuit over her husband’s will, Royall decided to earn her living through writing--first as a travel writer, journeying through America to research and sell her books, and later as a journalist and editor. Her language and forcefully expressed opinions provoked people at least as much as did her inflammatory behavior and aggressive marketing tactics. An ardent defender of American liberties, she attacked the agents of evangelical revivals, the Bank of the United States, and corruption in government. Her positions were frequently extreme, directly challenging the would-be shapers of the early republic’s religious and political culture. She made many enemies, but because she also attracted many supporters, she was not easily silenced. The definitive account of a passionate voice when America was inventing itself, A Notorious Woman re-creates a fascinating stage on which women’s roles, evangelical hegemony, and political involvement were all contested.