-Titulo Original : The Killer Of Little Shepherds A True Crime Story And The Birth Of Forensic Science-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: About the Author Douglas Starr is codirector of the Center for Science and Medical Journalism and a professor of journalism at Boston University. His book Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce won the 1998 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and became a PBS-TV documentary special. A veteran science, medical, and environmental reporter, Starr has contributed to many national publications, including Smithsonian, Audubon, National Wildlife, Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Time, and has served as a science editor for PBS-TV. He lives near Boston. Winner of the Gold Dagger AwardA fascinating true crime story that details the rise of modern forensics and the development of modern criminal investigation. At the end of the nineteenth century, serial murderer Joseph Vacher terrorized the French countryside, eluding authorities for years, and murdering twice as many victims as Jack The Ripper. Here, Douglas Starr revisits Vachers infamous crime wave, interweaving the story of the two men who eventually stopped him-prosecutor Emile Fourquet and Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne, the eras most renowned criminologist. In dramatic detail, Starr shows how Lacassagne and his colleagues were developing forensic science as we know it. Building to a gripping courtroom denouement, The Killer of Little Shepherds is a riveting contribution to the history of criminal justice. Review “Chilling . . . An exemplar of historical true-crime nonfiction.” -Mark Dunkelman, Favorite Books of 2010, The Providence Journal “Absorbing . . . Starr’s thought-provoking journey, through the strange underbelly of a vividly rendered France, lingers in the reader’s memory.” -Elyssa East, The New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice) “Engrossing and carefully researched.” -The New Yorker “A- . . . Gripping, almost novelistic . . . Like an episode of CSI: 19th-Century France.” -Tina Jordan, Entertainment Weekly “Riveting.” -Laura Spinney, Nature “Gripping . . . Starr’s description of the legal, medical and even philosophical questions around Vacher’s responsibility are strikingly current.” -Drew DeSilver, The Seattle Times “The perfect true-crime book to curl up with on an autumn night.” -Doug Childers, Richmond Times-Dispatch “Riveting, yet cerebral . . .Besides focusing on Joseph Vacher, also known as the Killer of Little Shepherds, Starr explains and expands on the fascinating achievements of those studying the criminal world.” -Elizabeth Humphrey, San Francisco Book Review “A gripping book that alternately appalls and fascinates.” -Mark Dunkelman, Providence Journal “Superior . . . This book is sensational and swift. But its real strength is the ability to show the history and progress of forensic science and its effect on the criminal justice system . . . This book reads like fiction and fascinates with fact.” -Bethany Latham, Historical Novel Review “Lively . . . With drama and stunning detail, Starr documents one of the earliest examples of criminal profiling, Vacher’s murders, his arrest, and the twists and turns of the trial that followed. The Killer of Little Shepherds is an important contribution to the history of criminal justice. It is crisply written, meticulously researched, and rich in historical detail.” -Larry Cox, Tucson Citizen “Douglas Starr’s riveting, sophisticated book provides the distance and perspective needed to facilitate systematic but critical thinking about forensic science.” -Stanley J. Morse, PsycCritiques “Fascinating . . . Compelling . . . Written with the dramatic tension of a good novel and the impeccable detail of a well-researched history.” -Erika Engelhaupt, ScienceNews “Deft . . . Admirable . . . Riveting . .. The Killer of Little Shepherds is deeply rooted in historical sources and subtle context, b...

-Titulo Original : Brother & Sister A Memoir-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWhen they were kids in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the 1950s, Diane Keaton and her younger brother, Randy, were best friends and companions. But as they grew up, Randy became troubled, then reclusive. Before he was thirty, he was divorced, an alcoholic, a man who couldn’t hold on to full-time work-his life a world away from his sister’s, and from the rest of their family. Now Diane delves into the nuances of their shared, and separate, pasts to confront the difficult question of why and how Randy ended up living his life on “the other side of normal.” In beautiful and fearless prose intertwined with journal entries, letters, and poetry-much of it Randy’s own-and supplemented by personal photographs and artwork, this insightful, heartfelt memoir contemplates the inner workings of a family, the ties of love and responsibility that hold it together, and the special bond between siblings-even those who are pulled far apart. Review “[A] brave memoir . . . Keaton takes a long, hard look at her relationship with her younger brother, Randy, whose descent into mental illness parallels her climb to the stratosphere of stardom.” -The New York Times Book Review“With prose as quirky and affecting as her on-screen personas, Diane Keaton’s third memoir is the most wrenching yet.” -O, The Oprah Magazine“[A] poignant story about two siblings, Brother & Sister is a fascinating exercise in writing a personal and methodical tale about someone who has come to feel, in some sense, like a stranger.” -The Atlantic “A powerful account of one family’s struggle with mental illness.” -The New Yorker “An exercise in the redemptive power of admitting weakness and error.” -The Washington Post “Candid. . . . A raw, often difficult read. . . . In clean, piercing prose, [Keaton] examines midcentury American family dynamics and gender roles. . . .‘I want to have another chance at being a better sister,’ Keaton writes in the book’s final pages, and she’s embracing what time she and Randy have left to do just that.” -USA Today “A new book by [Diane Keaton] is always an event worth paying attention to. [Brother & Sister] tenderly traces her evolving relationship with her younger brother.” -Entertainment Weekly “A deeply personal portrait of Diane Keaton’s family [and] a beautiful look at the bonds and barriers of siblinghood.” -Literary Hub “Fascinating. . . . Fitting for a performer who tries to bring to life the lives of others, Keaton continually tries to grasp what makes her brother tick. . . . Tough-minded, unvarnished and, finally, affecting in the extreme.” -Columbus Dispatch “[Keaton] intimately describes loving and living with a troubled sibling, tracing her childhood with her brother Randy. . . . Illustrating years they spent both together and apart, Keaton showcases the difficulties of loving someone you can never fully understand.” -Time “Immersive and haunting . . . Keaton eloquently and unflinchingly examines her younger brother’s life, drawing from excerpts of his poetry and her mother’s journals and letters . . . A cohesive, honest look at an entire family impacted by a troubled individual, as well as how Keaton maintained a bond with her sibling despite tremendous challenges.” -Library Journal “Poignant. . . . Keaton thoughtfully wrestles with her conscience while attempting to assemble a clearer picture of her brothers nature. She sheds her whimsical persona to explore difficult burdens, which those with an unstable sibling will recognize.” -Kirkus Reviews “A resonant family memoir-a slim but weighty book. Keaton focuses on her complex relationship with her younger brother, whose escalating instability-vividly described-affected Keaton, her parents, and her two sisters. . . . A haunting meditation on mortality, sibling love, mental illness, and regret.” -Publishers Weekly About the Author DIANE KEATON has starred in some of the most memorable films of ...

-Titulo Original : Shah Of Shahs-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: In Shah of Shahs Kapuscinski brings a mythographers perspective and a novelists virtuosity to bear on the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, one of the most infamous of the United States client-dictators, who resolved to transform his country into a second America in a generation, only to be toppled virtually overnight. From his vantage point at the break-up of the old regime, Kapuscinski gives us a compelling history of conspiracy, repression, fanatacism, and revolution.Translated from the Polish by William R. Brand and Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand. Review A book of great economy and power...with vivid imagery, a breathless way of writing that carries the reader along, and a supreme sense of the absurd. -New RepublicLike Sir Richard Butron, Evelyn Waugh and Mungo Park, [Kapuscinski] makes literature out of journalism. -NewsweekInsightful and important.... A readable, timely and valuable contribution to the understanding of the revolutionary forces at work in Iran.... The reader almost becomes a participant. -The New York Times Book ReviewA supercharged particle of a book. -Los Angeles Times From the Publisher A book of great economy and power...with vivid imagery, a breathless way of writing that carries the reader along, and a supreme sense of the absurd.--The New Republic From the Back Cover In this book, the author brings a mythographers perspective and novelists virtuosity to bear on the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, one of the most infamous of the United States client-dictators, who resolved to transform his country into a second America in a generation, only to be toppled virtually overnight. About the Author Ryszard Kapuscinski, Poland’s most celebrated foreign correspondent, was born in 1932 in Pinsk (in what is now Belarus) and spent four decades reporting on Asia, Latin America, and Africa. He is also the author of Imperium, Another Day of Life, and The Soccer War. His books have been translated into 28 languages. Kapuscinski died in 2007...

-Titulo Original : The Autobiography Of Alice B. Toklas-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: About the Author Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 1874. At Radcliffe College she studied under William James, who remained her lifelong friend, and then went to Johns Hopkins to study medicine. Abandoning her studies, she moved to Paris with her brother Leo in 1903. At 27 rue de Fleurus, Gertrude Stein lived with Alice B. Toklas, who would remain her companion for 40 years. Not only was she an innovator in literature and a supporter of modern poetry and art, she was the friend and mentor of those who visited her at her now-famous home: Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Her body of work include Three Lives, Tender Buttons, The Making of Americans, and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Steins most famous work; one of the richest and most irreverent biographies ever written. Review Largely to amuse herself, [ Gertrude Stein ] wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1932...using as a sounding board her companion Miss Toklas, who had been with her for twenty-five years. It has been said that the writing takes on very much Miss Toklas conversational style, and while this is true the style is still a variant of Miss Steins conversation style. ...She usually insisted that writing is an entirely different thing from talking, and it is part of the miracle of this little scheme of objectification that she could by way of imitating Miss Toklas put in writing something of her own beautiful conversation. So that, aside from making a real present of her past, she created a figure of herself, established an identity a twin, a Doppelganger.... The book is full of the most lucid and shapely anecdotes, told in a purer and more closely fitting prose... than even Gide or Hemingway have ever commanded .... -- Donald Sutherland... The record of nearly thirty years of life in a fantastically changing Paris and else where -- a life passed in the most stimulating and important society.-- Louis Bromfield... One of the richest, wittiest, and most irreverent [biographies] ever written.-- William Troy From the Inside Flap Steins most famous work; one of the richest and most irreverent biographies ever written. From the Back Cover Largely to amuse herself, Gertrude Stein wrote this book in 1932..using as a sounding board her companion Miss Toklas, who had been with her for twenty-five years. The book is full of the most lucid and shapely anecdotes, told in a purer and more closely fitting prose...than even Gide or Hemingway have ever commanded...

-Titulo Original : Our Man Richard Holbrooke And The End Of The American Century-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: *Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography**Winner of the Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography**Winner of the 2019 Hitchens Prize*Portrays Holbrooke in all of his endearing and exasperating self-willed glory...Both a sweeping diplomatic history and a Shakespearean tragicomedy... If you could read one book to comprehend Americans foreign policy and its quixotic forays into quicksands over the past 50 years, this would be it.--Walter Isaacson, The New York Times Book ReviewBy the end of the second page, maybe the third, you will be hooked...There never was a diplomat-activist quite like [Holbrooke], and there seldom has been a book quite like this -- sweeping and sentimental, beguiling and brutal, catty and critical, much like the man himself.--David M. Shribman, The Boston GlobeRichard Holbrooke was brilliant, utterly self-absorbed, and possessed of almost inhuman energy and appetites. Admired and detested, he was the force behind the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan wars, Americas greatest diplomatic achievement in the post-Cold War era. His power lay in an utter belief in himself and his idea of a muscular, generous foreign policy. From his days as a young adviser in Vietnam to his last efforts to end the war in Afghanistan, Holbrooke embodied the postwar American impulse to take the lead on the global stage. But his sharp elbows and tireless self-promotion ensured that he never rose to the highest levels in government that he so desperately coveted. His story is thus the story of America during its era of supremacy: its strength, drive, and sense of possibility, as well as its penchant for overreach and heedless self-confidence. In Our Man, drawn from Holbrookes diaries and papers, we are given a nonfiction narrative that is both intimate and epic in its revelatory portrait of this extraordinary and deeply flawed man and the elite spheres of society and government he inhabited. Review “It is impossible to read George Packer’s new biography of Richard Holbrooke without a piercing sense of melancholy, not only that a man so supremely alive should be dead, but also because such people-Our Man, in Packer’s title, the incarnation of vanished glory, imperial hubris, exceptional Americanism-no longer walk the earth… Extraordinary.”-James Traub, Foreign Policy This book is a real accomplishment; it’s hands down the best biography I have read this year... Deeply researched and reported... Sure to win a prize (or two or three) in the 2019 literary-awards sweepstakes. -Adam B. Kushner, Philadelphia InquirerThis is the kind of biography (massive, detailed) by the kind of author (respected, experienced) reserved for great books on great men... Packer make[s] a case for Holbrooke’s place in the pantheon, showing that there was real idealism and skill buried beneath the layers of self-regard.-Mary Ann Gwin, The Seattle TimesRiveting... A pitch-perfect portrait. -Norman Pearlstine, Los Angeles TimesHolbrooke... has never been as interesting as he is in Packer’s sympathetic hands.-Durango HeraldAs Packer so artfully shows us, the diplomatic journey of Holbrooke and the U.S. in the last half-century carries a ton of insightful lessons about how to resolve complicated challenges that haven’t been solved - or even considered - before.-Howard Homonoff, ForbesHolbrooke’s life-and Packer’s telling of it-also offers a set of lessons about the limits of American liberalism at home and abroad, in the past and in the present...[Packer] addresses his readers in the manner of a brilliant... dinner-party conversationalist, weaving in context and anecdote and gossipy digressions that make us feel we’re being given a privileged, intimate view of the American elite... It gives us a better understanding of what happened to a generation of liberals who helped create the country we now live in. -The NationI was hooked after the first paragraph - maybe after the first sentence... Packer’s writing ...

-Titulo Original : Gandhi Before India-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: A New York Times Notable Book and a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the YearA revelatory work of biography, Gandhi Before India is an illuminating portrait of the life, the work, and the historical context of one of the most abidingly influential-and controversial-men in modern history. From Gandhi’s birth in 1869, through his upbringing in Gujarat and his years as a student in London, to his two decades as a lawyer and community organizer in South Africa, acclaimed author Ramachandra Guha brings the past to light with extraordinary grace and clarity. Drawing on a wealth of newly uncovered materials, Gandhi Before India strips away the myths that have sprung up around the Mahatma to uncover the remarkable story of how Gandhi came of age abroad, and how he set the stage for his return to India. Review “Remarkable. . . . [A] moving portrait.” -The New York Times Book Review“Guha is a brilliant historian who combines the gift of a storyteller, the discipline of an academic and the critical ability of seeing Gandhi as a fascinating human being, by not placing him on a pedestal. . . . [He] has re-created the past by connecting scattered dots . . . to weave a rich tapestry.” -San Francisco Chronicle“Striking. . . . Guha ably shows, for all that Gandhi influenced events in South Africa, it was he who experienced the greater change.” -The Economist “Deeply contextualized, dexterously researched, and judiciously written, this deserves to become the landmark biography of the early Gandhi.” -Maya Jasanoff, New Republic“Fascinating. . . . A biography with a remarkable ear for the resonances of Gandhi’s work and time-for the fan-mail and hate-mail; for overheard disagreements with family and colleagues; for his exchanges with political acquaintances, including his enemies. . . . As exhaustively researched a biography of the African Gandhi as we will have for some time.” -The Independent (London) “[A] magisterial study. . . . Guha summarizes the traits of Gandhi’s character and the stages during the first half of his life that prepared him for the much more difficult journey he would undertake once he returned to India. . . . I was rewarded beyond all of my expectations [by Gandhi Before India].” -Charles R. Larson, Counterpunch “Substantial enough to be comprehensive, yet concise enough to be approachable by the general reader. . . . Sharp, insightful, balanced and impeccably researched.” -Alex von Tunzelmann, The Times (London) “A work of vivid social history as well as biography. . . . One of the surprises in Gandhi Before India is just how much fresh material it contains. Guha has a gift for tracking down obscure letters and newspaper reports and patching them together to make history come alive.” -Patrick French, The Guardian (London) “Fascinating. . . . [Gandhi Before India] reveals how an impossibly shy young man, who donned top hat and tails as a student at Inner Temple, transformed himself into Churchill’s ‘half-naked fakir,’ dedicated to his spinning wheel while simultaneously challenging the might of the Empire.” -The Sunday Times (London) “The portrait offered in historian Ramachandra Guha’s biography is of Gandhi as a human being, not just a hero.” -Financial Times “Gandhi Before India should be required reading for the student of contemporary affairs. . . . Guha’s carefully rendered observations about class, religion, and ethnicity-how they divide people and how they can be bridged by common concerns and simple decency-are the heart of this book. . . . Remarkable.” -The Christian Science Monitor “A magisterial history. . . . In Ramachandra Guha, a great man has found a great biographer, a wise, persistent and elegant historian who has done justice to perhaps his nation’s greatest story. . . . One senses, in the author’s approach, something of Gandhi’s own intensity and rigour. . . . [The] book never ceases to inform and intrigue.” -Sydney Morning Herald “What sets [Gandhi Before India] ...

-Titulo Original : Nine Lives In Search Of The Sacred In Modern India (vintage Departures)-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: About the Author William Dalrymple is the author of six previous acclaimed works of history and travel, including City of Djinns, which won the Young British Writer of the Year Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; the best-selling From the Holy Mountain; White Mughals, which won Britain’s most prestigious history prize, the Wolfson; and The Last Mughal, which won the Duff Cooper Prize for History and Biography. He divides his time between New Delhi and London, and is a contributor to The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The Guardian. From the author of The Last Mughal, an enlightening book that explores with remarkable compassion and expansive insight nine varieties of religious devotion in India today.In portraits of people we might otherwise never know William Dalrymple distills his twenty-five years of travel in India to explore the challenges faced by practitioners of traditional forms of faith in contemporary India. For two months a year, a man in Kerala divides his time between jobs as a prison warden and a well-builder and his calling as an incarnate deity. A temple prostitute watches her two daughters die from AIDS after entering a trade she regards as a sacred calling. A Jain nun recalls the pain of watching her closest friend ritually starve herself to death.Together, these tales reveal the resilience of individuals in the face of the relentless onslaught of modernity, the enduring legacy of tradition, and the hope and honor that can be found even in the most unlikely places. Review A singular achievement. . . . A deeply respectful and sympathetic portrait of those modest souls seldom mentioned in the headlines. -Pico Iyer, TimeNot only a masterful text, but also an extaordinarily important work. -San Francisco ChronicleFascinating and sometimes painfully moving. . . . This is the India we seldom see, peopled by obscure people whose lives are made vivid by their eloquent troubles and reckless piety. -The New York Times Book Review[This is] the age for writers like Mr. Dalrymple, who fall in with the rhythms and languages of foreign lands. Nine Lives shows us lives hidden almost entirely from Western readers. . . opening up the world in a compelling way. -Wall Street Journal“Informed, compassionate, and careful to place the emphasis where it belongs: on the extraordinary people whose stories [Dalrymple] conveys.” -Harper’s “Strikingly colorful. . . . [Dalrymple’s] point-which he makes elegantly by quoting many voices-is that, as India hurtles toward modernity, it may be losing some of its soul.” -The Washington Post “Luminous. . . . Consists of nine riveting and thickly reported tales of individual devotion, which together summon up a whole world and sometimes end with devastating twists. . . . Nine Lives will only enhance [Dalrymple’s] reputation.” -The New Republic “Fulfills the premise that a master artist can make something very difficult look easy. . . . You don’t have to know a thing about India to enjoy this book, but when you’re done you will know and appreciate much more about its people and their various lives-of the body, of the spirit and of the heart.” -The Seattle Times “Fascinating. . . . These might seem like exotic characters, but Dalrymple allows them to tell their own stories, and they emerge as deeply sympathetic and human.” -Newsday “Triumphant. . . . Not only illuminates India’s relationship with religion but casts the genre itself in a new light. . . . A wise and rewarding book fizzing with Dalrymple’s signature erudition and lightness of touch. . . . The travel book of the year.” -The Guardian (London) “An absolutely beautiful book, clean and honest and edifying and moving. . . . It’s a delight.” -Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love “A wonderful pageant of believers whose stories are as much about spirituality as about society.”-Christian Science Monitor “Moving. . . His nine articulate individuals are from h...

-Titulo Original : Reporter A Memoir-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: Reporter is just wonderful. Truly a great life, and what shines out of the book, amid the low cunning and tireless legwork, is Hershs warmth and humanity. This book is essential reading for every journalist and aspiring journalist the world over. -John le Carre “A master class in the craft of reporting. -Alan Rusbridger, The New York Times Book ReviewFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-selling author and preeminent investigative journalist of our time-a heartfelt, hugely revealing memoir of a decades-long career breaking some of the most impactful stories of the last half-century, from Washington to Vietnam to the Middle East.Seymour Hershs fearless reporting has earned him fame, front-page bylines in virtually every major newspaper in the free world, honors galore, and no small amount of controversy. Now in this memoir he describes what drove him and how he worked as an independent outsider, even at the nations most prestigious publications. He tells the stories behind the stories-riveting in their own right-as he chases leads, cultivates sources, and grapples with the weight of what he uncovers, daring to challenge official narratives handed down from the powers that be. In telling these stories, Hersh divulges previously unreported information about some of his biggest scoops, including the My Lai massacre and the horrors at Abu Ghraib. There are also illuminating recollections of some of the giants of American politics and journalism: Ben Bradlee, A. M. Rosenthal, David Remnick, and Henry Kissinger among them. This is essential reading on the power of the printed word at a time when good journalism is under fire as never before. Review A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018 | A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year“What a story. What a life. It’s hard to read this book without a tinge of envy and a lot of admiration.” -Charles Glass, Times Literary Supplement“A master class in the craft of reporting. -Alan Rusbridger, The New York Times Book Review“Reporter is a miracle. . . The stories brim with humor, wit, poignancy, pointillist portraits of brilliant color-above all, [Hershs] own voice.” -Andrew Meier, Bookforum “One of the most compelling and significant books ever written about American journalism.” -Jon Schwarz, The InterceptIntimate without ever turning to confession . . . Like all good memoirs, this one shows more than it says, and is a work of conscience as well as memory. -David Bromwich, Times Literary Supplement “Books of the Year”“[Hersh] is a classic American archetype-the lone warrior on a quest for truth and justice . . . good books about the making of journalism are few and far between, and Hersh’s memoir is a welcome addition.” -Glenn Frankel, The Washington Post“Cinematically-detailed and warmly human storytelling thats at once reminiscent of vintage Hersh and also tonally unlike anything else hes ever written . . . Ultimately the book yields up a warts-and-all picture not just of Hersh but of an entire era of journalism.” -Steve Donoghue, Christian Science Monitor“Riveting.” -James Bovard, American Conservative “When it comes time for the next generation of journalists to re-discover what this job is supposed to be about, they can at least read Reporter. Its all in here.” -Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone“Hersh has been one of America’s premier investigative journalist . . . an untethered operator whose scoops have resulted from veering from the pack. Reporter offers a best-practices guide to journalism as well as an implicit critique of the way it’s practiced today.” -Michael Massing, The Nation “The experience of reading Hersh’s memoir is like visiting a lost world . . . To put it in a callow way, this stuff is cool.” -Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic “In Reporter, even the footnotes are priceless . . . [the book] has more juicy background, action-packed storytelling and name-drops per page than any book in recent memory, all told in straight...

-Titulo Original : The Killing Of Crazy Horse-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1When we were young,all we thought about was going to war.it was nearing midday on the shortest day of the year in 1866 when Indians attacked a detachment of soldiers sent out from Fort Phil Kearny in northern Wyoming to cut firewood for the post. The weather was mild and clear. A light powdering of recent snow lingered in the shadows of the hills. The Indians could not be seen from the fort itself, but a soldier stationed on a nearby hill signaled the opening of the attack. Through the gates of the fort emerged a relief party of eighty men, cavalry in the lead, infantry hurrying behind. They circled north around some low hills, passing out of sight of the fort. Ahead of the soldiers, retreating back up the slope of a ridge, were ten Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, all practicing the oldest ruse of warfare on the plains. Each man in his own way was hurrying without hurrying, like a quail skittering through the brush away from her nest, trailing a wing, showing herself to hungry fox or coyote. It was the custom of decoys to lure and tantalize-to taunt the soldiers with shouted insults, to show their buttocks, to dismount and check their horses feet as if they were lame. The decoys would linger back, just at the edge of rifle shot, almost within reach.This moment had a long history. Fort Phil Kearny was the first of three posts established in the early summer of 1866 to protect whites traveling north to the Montana goldfields along a new road named after the man who had mapped it out a year earlier, John Bozeman. For twenty- five years the Sioux Indians had traded peacefully with whites at Fort Laramie two hundred miles to the south and east, but the Bozeman Road threatened their last and best hunting country. The chiefs spoke plainly; the whites must give up the road or face war. In June, they had been invited to gather at Fort Laramie, where white officials hoped to patch together some kind of agreement for use of the road. A friendly chief of the Brule Sioux warned an Army officer that talk was futile. There is a treaty being made at Laramie with the Sioux that are in the country where you are going, Standing Elk told an officer heading north. The fighting men in that country have not come to Laramie, and you will have to fight them. They will not give you the road unless you whip them.All that summer Fort Phil Kearny was under virtual siege by the Indians. They prowled the country daily, watching or signaling from the ridges. They often attacked soldiers sent out to cut wood or hay and they killed numerous travelers-thirty-three by the end of August, according to the commander of the fort. At every chance the Indians ran off horses and cattle, threatening the fort with hunger. When the fall buffalo hunting was over, thousands of Sioux and Cheyenne converged on the isolated fort, but they hid themselves, taking care that the soldiers never saw more than a few at a time. During one midday raid on the forts dwindling cattle herd in November, soldiers on horseback suddenly charged out of the fort in angry disorder, infuriated by the endless attacks. This set the Indians to thinking.In early December the decoy trick almost succeeded in luring reckless soldiers into an ambush. On December 19, the Indians tried again, but the decoys were too clumsy, or the soldiers too cautious; they turned back when the Indians passed up over the ridge north of the fort. But two days later, encouraged by a promise of success from a two-souled person or winkte, the Indians organized a second effort on a still larger scale and this time everything was done right. The great mass of warriors hid themselves in the grass and brush on the far side of the long ridge as it sloped down and away from the fort. No overexcited young men dashed out ahead of the others. The horses were held back out of the way. The decoys were convincing. The eighty soldiers never slacked their rush up the rid...

-Titulo Original : Mamas Boy A Story From Our Americas-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: This heartfelt, deeply personal memoir explores how a celebrated filmmaker and activist and his conservative Mormon mother built bridges across today’s great divides-and how our stories hold the power to heal.Dustin Lance Black wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Milk and helped overturn California’s anti-gay marriage Proposition 8, but as an LGBTQ activist he has unlikely origins-a conservative Mormon household outside San Antonio, Texas. There he was raised by a single mother who, as a survivor of childhood polio, endured brutal surgeries as well as braces and crutches for life. Despite the abuse and violence of two questionably devised Mormon marriages, she imbued Lance with her inner strength and irrepressible optimism. When Lance came out to his mother at age twenty-one, she initially derided his sexuality as a sinful choice. It may seem like theirs was a house destined to be divided-and at times it was. But in the end, they did not let their differences define them or the relationship that had inspired two remarkable lives. This heartfelt, deeply personal memoir explores how a mother and son built bridges across great cultural divides-and how our stories hold the power to heal. Review ONE OF BOOK RIOTS BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR“Mama’s Boy is a beautifully written, utterly compelling account of growing up poor and gay with a thrice married, physically disabled, deeply religious Mormon mother, and the imprint this irrepressible woman made on the character of Dustin Lance Black. Their extraordinary bond left me exhilarated-it actually gave me hope for the future of the republic, which is no mean feat, given the dark mood of our current moment.”-Jon Krakauer, author of Missoula and Under the Banner of Heaven “A fast read with witty observations, and all the emotions to go along. . . . [A] testament to the powerful impact a good parent has on children. . . . Black and Mama’s Boy show just how far the unlikeliest of children can go with pure, unabashed grit.”-San Francisco Chronicle“A fascinating and poignant combination of memoir and family history. . . . Both personal and universal. . . . The most emotional moments come as Black finds himself in personal encounters with those who might be considered obviously antagonistic to his world, including leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and more conservative members of his own family. . . . Finding common ground is indeed the powerful throughline in Mama’s Boy.”-Salt Lake City Weekly “Reverence is at [this memoir’s] heart. . . . There would be ample room for Lance to boast in this memoir, but you wait for it in vain. He’s done what he’s done and, here, told us how, with film-industry luminaries and gay activist colleagues, but even more compellingly through his deep, unbroken involvement with his family of origin and the transfer of that experience to what is now his own family.”-The Bay Area Reporter“A memoir of an enduring mother-son bond that transcends even the deepest ideological divides. . . . [A] heartfelt tribute.”-USA Today, “5 Books Not to Miss” “A loving portrait of [the author’s mother], a tiny, fierce woman who didn’t let any of her challenges-including poverty, the polio that cost her the use of her legs, and two bad marriages-stop her from living a full life, setting an example for her three sons.”-San Antonio Express-News “The story of how a mother and son came to reconcile their differences and realize the importance of family.”-NPR “Dustin Lance Black’s memoir comes at exactly the right time; his complicated, surprising, and ultimately touching journey with his mom is a great example in our ideologically divided times.”-Andy Cohen, author of Superficial and The Andy Cohen Diaries “[A] sharp, affecting memoir.”-Town & Country “Black’s tender and heartfelt love letter to his remarkable mother is an act of courage and reclamation. It’s a well-deserved tribute.”-New York Journal of Books“At the cente...

-Titulo Original : Elizabeth And Mary Cousins, Rivals, Queens-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: Superb.... A perceptive, suspenseful account. --The New York Times Book ReviewDunn demythologizes Elizabeth and Mary. In humanizing their dynamic and shifting relationship, Dunn describes it as fueled by both rivalry and their natural solidarity as women in an overwhelmingly masculine world. --Boston HeraldThe political and religious conflicts between Queen Elizabeth I and the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, have for centuries captured our imagination and inspired memorable dramas played out on stage, screen, and in opera. But few books have brought to life more vividly the exquisite texture of two women’s rivalry, spurred on by the ambitions and machinations of the forceful men who surrounded them. The drama has terrific resonance even now as women continue to struggle in their bid for executive power. Against the backdrop of sixteenth-century England, Scotland, and France, Dunn paints portraits of a pair of protagonists whose formidable strengths were placed in relentless opposition. Protestant Elizabeth, the bastard daughter of Anne Boleyn, whose legitimacy had to be vouchsafed by legal means, glowed with executive ability and a visionary energy as bright as her red hair. Mary, the Catholic successor whom England’s rivals wished to see on the throne, was charming, feminine, and deeply persuasive. That two such women, queens in their own right, should have been contemporaries and neighbours sets in motion a joint biography of rare spark and page-turning power. Review “A perceptive, suspenseful account of complex English history. . . . By the end of this satisfying book, one feels sympathy for both women, brave queens in an age when ‘no one considered that a woman could effectively rule alone.’ ” -The New York Times Book Review“Elegant. . . . Dunn demythologizes Elizabeth and Mary. In humanizing their dynamic and shifting relationship, Dunn describes it as fueled by both rivalry and their natural solidarity as women in an overwhlemingly masculine world.” --Boston Herald“A balanced, nuanced, and eminently clear account. . . . Brilliantly conceived, elegantly executed, and compellingly readable.” --Richmond Times-Dispatch“A wholly engrossing and sumptuous retelling of a tale that entered legend even before its protagonists were dead.” --Newsday From the Back Cover The political and religious conflicts between Queen Elizabeth I and the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, have for centuries captured our imagination and inspired memorable dramas played out on stage, screen, and in opera. But few books have brought to life more vividly than Jane Dunns Elizabeth and Mary the exquisite texture of two womens rivalry, spurred on by the ambitions and machinations of the forceful men who surrounded them. The drama has terrific resonance even now as women continue to struggle in their bid for executive power. Against the backdrop of sixteenth-century England, Scotland, and France, Dunn paints portraits of a pair of protagonists whose formidable strengths were placed in relentless opposition. Protestant Elizabeth, the bastard daughter of Anne Boleyn, whose legitimacy had to be vouchsafed by legal means, glowed with executive ability and a visionary energy as bright as her red hair. Mary, the Catholic successor whom Englands rivals wished to see on the throne, was charming, feminine, and deeply persuasive. That two such women, queens in their own right, should have been contemporaries and neighbours sets in motion a joint biography of rare spark and page-turning power. About the Author Jane Dunn is the author of Moon in Eclipse: A Life of Mary Shelley; A Very Close Conspiracy: Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell; Antonia White: A Life; and Read My Heart: A Love Story in Englands Age of Revolution. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, is married to the linguist and writer Nicholas Ostler, and lives in Bath, England. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved....

-Titulo Original : Winstons War Churchill, 1940-1945-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. IntroductionChurchill was the greatest Englishman and one of the greatest human beings of the twentieth century, indeed of all time. Yet, beyond that bald assertion, there are infinite nuances in considering his conduct of Britain’s war between 1940 and 1945, which is the theme of this book. It originated nine years ago, when Roy Jenkins was writing his biography of Churchill. Roy flattered me by inviting my comments on the typescript, chapter by chapter. Some of my suggestions he accepted; many he sensibly ignored.When we reached the Second World War, his patience expired. Exasperated by the profusion of my strictures, he said: “You’re trying to get me to do something which you should write yourself, if you want to!” By that time, his health was failing. He was impatient to finish his own book, which achieved triumphant success before his death.In the years which followed, I thought much about Churchill and the war, mindful of some Boswellian lines about Samuel Johnson: “He had once conceived the thought of writing The Life Of Oliver Crom - well . . . He at length laid aside his scheme, on discovering that all that can be told of him is already in print; and that it is impracticable to procure any authentick information in addition to what the world is already possessed of.” Among the vast Churchillian bibliography, I was especially apprehensive about venturing anywhere near the tracks of David Reynolds’s extraordinarily original and penetrating 2005 In Command of History. The author dissected successive drafts of Churchill’s war memoirs, exposing contrasts between judgements on people and events which the old statesman initially proposed to make, and those which he finally deemed it prudent to publish. Andrew Roberts has painted a striking portrait of wartime Anglo-American relations in his 2009 Masters and Commanders. We have been told more about Winston Churchill than any other human being. Tens of thousands of people of many nations have recorded even trifling encounters, noting every word which they heard him utter. The most vivid wartime memory of one soldier of Britain’s Eighth Army derived from a day in 1942 when he found the prime minister his neighbour in a North African desert latrine. Churchill’s speeches and writings fill many volumes.Yet much remains opaque, because he wished it thus. Always mindful of his role as a stellar performer upon the stage of history, he became supremely so after May 10, 1940. He kept no diary because, he observed, to do so would be to expose his follies and inconsistencies to posterity.Within months of his ascent to the premiership, however, he told his staff that he had already schemed the chapters of the book which he would write as soon as the war was over. The outcome was a ruthlessly partial six-volume work which is poor history, if sometimes peerless prose. We shall never know with complete confidence what he thought about many personalities-for instance Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Brooke, King George VI, his Cabinet colleagues-because he took good care not to tell us. Churchill’s wartime relationship with the British people was much more complex than is often acknowledged. Few denied his claims upon the premiership. But between the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940 and El Alamein in November 1942, not only many ordinary citizens, but also some of his closest colleagues wanted operational control of the war machine to be removed from his hands, and some other figure appointed to his role as minister of defence. It is hard to overstate the embarrassment and even shame of the British people, as they perceived the Russians playing a heroic part in the struggle against Nazism, while their own army seemed incapable of winning a battle. To understand Britain’s wartime experience, it appears essential to recognise, as some narratives do not, the sense of humiliation which afflicted Britain amid the failures of its soldiers, co...

-Titulo Original : Queen Anne The Politics Of Passion-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: Five years after ascending the throne in 1702, Queen Anne united England and Scotland and became the first queen of modern Great Britain. By the end of her reign, Britain had emerged as a major power; the victories won by her general, the Duke of Marlborough, had humbled France and laid the foundations for naval and colonial supremacy. But while the Queen’s military was performing dazzling exploits, her own attention increasingly rested on a more intimate conflict: her passionate and tormented relationship with Sarah Churchill, the beautiful Duchess of Marlborough, whose scathing wit and personal enmity have long distorted our view of Anne. Award-winning biographer Anne Somerset has drawn extensively on royal archives and previously unpublished material to create a riveting reassessment of a shy, overlooked monarch-one who was both shrewder and more fascinating than we knew. Review Winner of the 2013 Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography“A spirited and extremely convincing defense of . . . an unlikely queen.” -The New York Times Book Review“History at its best. . . . A grand achievement. . . . If ever a work of history managed to be ‘definitive’ and yet great fun to read, this is it.” -The Daily Beast“A triumph of research and empathy. . . . Here, in brilliant detail, unfolds the passionate highs and tragic lows of a woman who fought to place her own mark in history.” -Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire “A meticulously crafted view from the cockpit of power. . . . Queen Anne, Somerset shows, deserves fresh respect.” -Times Literary Supplement (London) “Definitive. . . . Clearly the fullest, best and most sympathetic account of Queen Anne yet written.” -Evening Standard (UK) “Wonderfully pacy and absorbing.” -Daily Mail (UK) “Formidable. . . . It is has taken immense patience and skill . . . to create a new and subtler image of the last of the Stuart monarchs. Anne Somerset has done a real service both to us and to her namesake.” -Sunday Times (London) “Sympathetic and engaging. . . . Somerset brings Anne’s anxious and dutiful character to life with delicacy.” -Daily Express (UK) “Magisterial . . . incisive and compelling.” -Country Life “Fascinating and rewarding. . . . In this excellent biography [Queen] Anne’s reputation is reclaimed.” -Sunday Express (UK) “Excellent. . . . It is time to think differently about Queen Anne.” -Mail on Sunday (UK) About the Author Anne Somerset was born in London and graduated from King’s College, London. She is the author of The Life and Times of King William IV, Ladies in Waiting and Elizabeth I. She has worked as a research assistant for several historians, among them Antonia Fraser. Somerset, the daughter of the 11th Duke of Beaufort, lives in London. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter Seven Nothing But Uneasiness The duke and duchess of Marlborough’s only surviving son, John, Lord Blandford, was studying at Cambridge. He was sixteen years old and considered a promising student, when in February 1703 he caught the dreaded smallpox. His distraught and fearful mother immediately rushed to Cambridge to be at his bedside. The Queen was naturally appalled to hear that this talented young man had contracted the deadly disease that had killed her daughters fifteen years earlier, and was desperate to do all she could to help. She des- patched two of her personal physicians in her own coach to tend the boy and fretted when they were “long upon the road.” She also sent medicine that she believed might bring him through the illness, wishing that the messenger carrying it “could fly, that nothing may be wanting.” Sadly, none of this availed to save Blandford. Having been summoned to Cam- bridge by Sarah, the Duke arrived there just in time to see his son die on 20 February. Once it had become clear that there was little hope of Blandford’s survival, Anne had written to h...

-Titulo Original : Sugar In The Blood A Familys Story Of Slavery And Empire-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart’s earliest known maternal ancestor, George Ashby, set sail from England to settle in Barbados. He fell into the life of a sugar plantation owner by mere chance, but by the time he harvested his first crop, a revolution was fully under way: the farming of sugar cane, and the swiftly increasing demands for sugar worldwide, would not only lift George Ashby from abject poverty and shape the lives of his descendants, but it would also bind together ambitious white entrepreneurs and enslaved black workers in a strangling embrace. Stuart uses her own family story-from the seventeenth century through the present-as the pivot for this epic tale of migration, settlement, survival, slavery and the making of the Americas. As it grew, the sugar trade enriched Europe as never before, financing the Industrial Revolution and fuelling the Enlightenment. And, as well, it became the basis of many economies in South America, played an important part in the evolution of the United States as a world power and transformed the Caribbean into an archipelago of riches. But this sweet and hugely profitable trade-“white gold,” as it was known-had profoundly less palatable consequences in its precipitation of the enslavement of Africans to work the fields on the islands and, ultimately, throughout the American continents. Interspersing the tectonic shifts of colonial history with her family’s experience, Stuart explores the interconnected themes of settlement, sugar and slavery with extraordinary subtlety and sensitivity. In examining how these forces shaped her own family-its genealogy, intimate relationships, circumstances of birth, varying hues of skin-she illuminates how her family, among millions of others like it, in turn transformed the society in which they lived, and how that interchange continues to this day. Shifting between personal and global history, Stuart gives us a deepened understanding of the connections between continents, between black and white, between men and women, between the free and the enslaved. It is a story brought to life with riveting and unparalleled immediacy, a story of fundamental importance to the making of our world. About the Author Andrea Stuart was born and raised in the Caribbean. She studied English at the University of East Anglia and French at the Sorbonne. Her book The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon’s Josephine was published in the United States in 2004, has been translated into three languages and won the Enid McLeod Literary Prize. Stuart’s work has been published in numerous anthologies, newspapers and magazines, and she regularly reviews books for The Independent. She has also worked as a TV producer. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1There was a wind over England, and it blew.(Have you heard the news of Virginia?)A west wind blowing, the wind of a western star,To gather men’s lives like pollen and cast them forth,Blowing in hedge and highway and seaport town,Whirling dead leaf and living but always blowing,A salt wind, a sea wind, a wind from the world’s end,From the coasts that have new wild names, from the huge unknown.-stephen vincent benet, “western star”george ashby’s story began as all migrants’ stories do: with a journey.Some time in the late 1630s, when George Ashby was finally given notification that his ship was ready to sail, he must have been afraid. He was a blacksmith, a young man in his late teens, about to leave behind everything he had ever known. Though the voyage carried the seeds of his dreams he, like most of the population, had probably never undergone a long sea journey before and had no real idea of what to expect when he arrived in the Americas.Those who chose to undertake the fearsome Atlantic crossing in search of a new life were generally tough-or else dangerously foolish. But what else can we know about George Ashby, my great-gr...

-Titulo Original : Walden & Civil Disobedience (vintage Classics)-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: About the Author HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862) was an American poet, naturalist, abolitionist, and transcendentalist philosopher, born in Concord, Massachusetts. He is best known for Walden, his extensive nature writing, and his advocacy of civil disobedience to unjust laws. Henry David Thoreau’s account of his adventure in self-reliance on the shores of a pond in Massachusetts-part social experiment, part spiritual quest-is an enduringly influential American classic.In 1845, Thoreau began building a cabin at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. The inspiring and lyrical book that resulted is both a record of the two years Thoreau spent in withdrawal from society and a declaration of personal independence. By virtue of its casual, offhandedly brilliant wisdom and the easy splendor of its nature writing, Thoreau’s account of his immersion in solitude has become a signpost for the modern mind in an increasingly bewildering world. Also included in this edition is Thoreau’s famous essay, “Civil Disobedience,” inspired by his anti-war and anti-slavery sentiments, which has influenced nonviolent resistance movements around the world ever since...

-Titulo Original : The World As It Is Inside The Obama White House-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: ‘One of the most compelling stories I’ve seen about what it’s actually like to serve the American people’ BARACK OBAMA A revelatory, behind-the-scenes account of the Obama presidency and a political memoir about the power of words to change our world This is a book about two people making the most important decisions in the world. One is Barack Obama. The other is Ben Rhodes. A young writer and Washington outsider, Rhodes was plucked from obscurity aged 29. For nearly ten years, he was at the centre of the Obama Administration - first as a speech-writer, then a policy maker, and finally a close collaborator. Here, Rhodes tells the full story of his partnership - and, ultimately, friendship - with a historic president. From the early days of the Obama campaign to the final hours in the Oval Office, he puts us in the room at the most tense and poignant moments in recent history. ‘Vivid, lucid, enjoyable… A compelling account of life in the Obama White House’ Justin Webb, The Times ‘A stylish, beautifully written political memoir’ Colum McCan...

-Titulo Original : Gandhi The Years That Changed The World, 1914-1948-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: Opening in July 1914, as Mohandas Gandhi leaves South Africa to return to India, Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914-1918 traces the Mahatma’s life over the three decades preceding his assassination. Drawing on new archival materials, acclaimed historian Ramachandra Guha follows Gandhi’s struggle to deliver India from British rule, to forge harmonious relations between India’s Hindus and Muslims, to end the pernicious practice of untouchability, and to nurture India’s economic and moral self-reliance. He shows how in each of these campaigns, Gandhi adapted methods of nonviolence that successfully challenged British authority and would influence revolutionary movements throughout the world. A revelatory look at the complexity of Gandhi’s thinking and motives, the book is a luminous portrait of not only the man himself, but also those closest to him-family, friends, and political and social leaders. Review “[A] monumental biography. . . . Extraordinarily intimate.” -The New York Times Book Review“Wise, graceful and entertaining. . . . Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914-1948 will not be bettered, and it is essential reading even for those who do not think of themselves as India buffs, because Gandhi is a maker of our whole modern world.” -Ferdinand Mount, The Wall Street Journal“A comprehensive account of the most remarkable figure of the past century.” -San Francisco Chronicle “An important biography. . . . Guha admires Gandhi’s achievements, but does not gloss over the man’s flaws.” -The New York Times “Expertly chronicled.” -The Washington Post “Massive, meticulous, and engrossing.” -The Times Literary Supplement “Deeply affecting. . . . A rendering of the subject in such fullness that the reader feels himself wrestling directly with the protagonist, his time, and his ideas. . . . Guha’s biography builds with perfect tone and economy of expression towards its moving conclusion.” -Financial Times “[A] monumental biography.” -Edward Glaeser, The Wall Street Journal “The book’s details of Gandhi’s life help the reader comprehend how he influenced the world.” -The Christian Science Monitor “Drawing from hundreds of sources, including some never before available to historians, Guha presents a nuanced portrait of a brilliant spiritual and political leader with egalitarian principles and a vision for a nonsectarian India. . . . Readers will be richly reward.” -Library Journal (starred review) “Magnificent.” -The American Interest “A magisterial account of a compassionate man. . . . The author skillfully traces the evolution of Gandhi’s political beliefs. . . . He conveys Gandhi’s playfulness as well as his intellect.” -The Economist “Dramatic and detailed. . . . [The] second and final volume of Guha’s huge, definitive biography of Mahatma Gandhi draws on every imaginable source.” -Foreign Affairs “A thoroughly researched and well-written account and a faithful chronicle.” -New Statesman “Guha mines newly discovered archival material to produce a portrait of the Indian leader that is both panoramic in scope and surprisingly intimate, both admiring of Gandhi and cognizant of his flaws. . . . Incisively written, this is a landmark account of Gandhi’s engagement with the world he would transform forever.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review) “This masterly assessment should serve for several generations, and for non-Indians as well.” -The Literary Review “Superb. On nearly every page, Guha offers evidence why Gandhi remains relevant in the world 70 years after his death.” -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “The most exhaustive account yet of Gandhi’s temporal and spiritual crusades. A vivid and absorbing read. . . . Guha is as dogged a researcher as Gandhi was an agitator.” -The Sunday Times (London) About the Author Ramachandra Guha has taught at Stanford University, the University of Oslo, the Indian Institute of Science, and the London School...

-Titulo Original : Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: A new Vintage Classics edition of the abolitionist leader’s classic autobiography. This dramatic autobiography of the early life of an American slave was first published in 1845, when its young author had just achieved his freedom. Frederick Douglass’s childhood in Maryland was marked by tragedy, physical abuse, and deprivation; he had limited contact with his mother and no knowledge of his father (who might have been his owner), and he regularly endured brutal beatings. Yet despite his harrowing experiences, through determination and sheer force of character he was able to secretly acquire literacy and eventually escape to the North, where he became a forceful and dazzling proponent of abolition. In telling his personal story, Douglass gives eloquent expression to the principles that made him the first great African-American leader in the United States. About the Author Frederick Douglass, an outspoken abolitionist, was born into slavery in 1818 and, after his escape in 1838, repeatedly risked his own freedom as an antislavery lecturer, writer, and publisher.Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. The author of numerous books, including the widely acclaimed memoir Colored People, Professor Gates has also edited several anthologies and is coeditor with Kwame Anthony Appiah of Encarta Africana, an encyclopedia of the African Diaspora. An influential cultural critic, he is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and other publications and is the recipient of many honors, including a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and the National Humanities Medal. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. CHAPTER I I WAS born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit. The nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old. My mother was named Harriet Bailey. She was the daughter of Isaac and Betsey Bailey, both colored, and quite dark. My mother was of a darker complexion than either my grandmother or grandfather. My father was a white man. He was admitted to be such by all I ever heard speak of my parentage. The opinion was also whispered that my master was my father; but of the correctness of this opinion, I know nothing; the means of knowing was withheld from me. My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant-before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor. For what this separation is done, I do not know, unless it be to hinder the development of the child’s affection toward ...

-Titulo Original : My Life The Early Years Volume I The Early Years-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: #1 New York Times BestsellerPresident Bill Clinton’s My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public. My Life: The Early Years (Volume I) shows us the progress of a remarkable American, who, through his own enormous energies and efforts - fueled by an impassioned interest int he political process - made the unlikely journey from his birth in hope Arkansas, to his election as the 42nd President of the United States. Also available - My Life: The Presential Years (Volume II) Review By a generous measure, the richest American presidential autobiography-no other book tells us as vividly or fully what it is like to be president of the United States.... And he can write.” --Larry McMurtry, The New York Times Book Review “My Lifeis,without question, the best written U.S. presidential tome of all time.” --Douglas Brinkley, Financial Times “A hell of a good story.” --Frank McCourt, Entertainment Weekly“It’s an almost voluptuous pleasure to read Clinton when he’s recounting and analyzing a political race or a legislative battle, whether it’s one of his own or somebody else’s.” -The New Yorker “Consistently fascinating.” --The Seattle Times“Clinton talks with disarming frankness [and] writes with grace and fluidity. . . . He is also a born storyteller.”--The New Republic“Might just be the perfect representation of the man himself.” --The Plain Dealer “Clinton has many tales to tell, particularly a rich, sometimes moving account of his years before the public life, fit for future analytical historians and biographers. . . . The personal and the political are intertwined. . . . Clinton’s story very much reflects the man we know.” --The Nation “He manages to create the distinct impression that he is sitting in the living room talking to the reader. . . . Anyone who is geninely interested in American politics will find his insights and anecdotes fascinating. . . . The book helps to elucidate the question of ‘how he did it.’ ” --Deseret Morning News“It’s a saga worthy of Cecil B. DeMille, a rags-to-riches tale full of the stuff of human frailty, with a cast of hundreds, complete with low-life villians and high-minded heroes and, as such stories require, an upbeat ending. . . . The 1990s come to life once again as a time of uncommon tumult and riveting personalities. . . . The personalities on parade are as vivid as the events.” --Newark Star-Ledger“ Tremendously interesting and entertaining. . . . Clinton’s is a truly American story to which the average person can relate. . . . Future politicians will find it a must-read, and average Americans will identify with the highs and lows we all experience as we make our way through life.” --Chattanooga Times Free Press “Takes readers through a strong account of the achievements and failures of his administrattion. . . . No other presidential memoir is likely to be so lively. . . . Bill Clinton is hard to dismiss, and so is an account of his extraordinary life.” -- The Tennessean“A reading of MyLife is a necessity for lovers of good autobiograpy. It reads like a down-home history of a life and, thus, anchors Clinton as a superb storyteller. . . . Candid. . . . Honest. . . . Stimulating.” --Huntsville Times About the Author WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, 42nd President of the United States, led the U.S. to the longest economic expansion in American history, including the creation of more than 22 million jobs. After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation, and today, the renamed Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, works to improve global health and wellness, increase opportunity for girls and women, reduce childhood obesity, create economic opportunity and growth, and help communities address the effects of climate change. In addition to his Fo...

-Titulo Original : A Journey My Political Life-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. TWELVE9/11: “SHOULDER TO SHOULDER”It is amazing how quickly shock is absorbed and the natural rhythm of the human spirit reasserts itself. A cataclysm occurs. The senses reel. In that moment of supreme definition, we can capture in our imagination an event’s full significance. Over time, it is not that the memory of it fades, exactly; but its illuminating light dims, loses its force, and our attention moves on. We remember, but not as we felt at that moment. The emotional impact is replaced by a sentiment which, because it is more calm, seems more rational. But paradoxically it can be less rational, because the calm is not the product of a changed analysis, but of the effluxion of time.So it was with 11 September 2001. On that day, in the course of less than two hours, almost 3,000 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack the world has ever known. Most died in the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center that dominated the skyline of New York. It was a workplace for as diverse a workforce as any in the world, from all nations, races and faiths, and was not only a symbol of American power but also the edifice that most eloquently represented the modern phenomenon of globalisation.The explosion as the planes hit killed hundreds outright, but most died in the inferno that followed, and the carnage of the collapse of the buildings. As the flames and smoke engulfed them, many jumped in terror and panic, or just because they preferred that death to being on fire. Many who died were rescue workers whose heroism that day has rightly remained as an enduring testament to selfless sacrifice.The Twin Towers were not the only target. American Airlines Flight 77, carrying sixty-four people from Washington to Los Angeles, was flown into the Pentagon. A total of 189 people died. United Airlines Flight 93, bound from Newark to San Francisco with forty-four on board, was hijacked, its target probably the White House. It came down in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Its passengers, realising the goal of the hijack, stormed the cabin. In perishing, they saved the lives of many others.It was an event like no other. It was regarded as such. The British newspapers the next day were typical of those around the globe: “at war,” they proclaimed. The most common analogy was Pearl Harbor. The notion of a world, not just America, confronted by a deadly evil that had indeed declared war on us all was not then dismissed as the language of the periphery of public sentiment. It was the sentiment. Thousands killed by terror-what else should we call it?Opinions were forthright and clear, and competed with each other in resolution, not only in the West but everywhere. In the Arab world, condemnation was nearly universal, only Saddam ensuring that Iraqi state television played a partisan song, “Down with America,” calling the attacks “the fruits of American crimes against humanity.” Yasser Arafat condemned the acts on behalf of the Palestinians, though unfortunately, most especially for the Palestinian cause, the TV showed pictures of some jubilant Palestinians celebrating.The most common words that day were “war,” “evil,” “sympathy,” “solidarity,” “determination” and, of course, “change.” Above all, itwas accepted that the world had changed. How could it be otherwise? The reason for such a description was also not hard to divine. The first attempt to attack the World Trade Center, in 1993, had been foiled, but the planning this time had obviously been meticulous. The enemy had been prepared to wait until it had accumulated the necessary means and opportunity.However, more than that, a terror attack of this scale was not calculated to do limited damage. It was designed for maximum casualty. It was delivered by a suicide mission. It therefore had an intent, a purpose and a scope beyond anything we had encountered before. This was terror without limit; without mercy; without regard to h...

-Titulo Original : Life 3.0 Being Human In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: In this authoritative and eye-opening book, Max Tegmark describes and illuminates the recent, path-breaking advances in Artificial Intelligence and how it is poised to overtake human intelligence. How will AI affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology-and there’s nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who’s helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial. How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give today’s kids? How can we make future AI systems more robust, so that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle? What sort of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time. It doesn’t shy away from the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues-from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos. Review “Anyone who wants to discuss how artificial intelligence is shaping the world should read this book. Tegmark, a physicist by training, takes a scientific approach. He doesn’t spend a lot of time saying we should do this or that, and as a result, Life 3.0 offers a terrific baseline of knowledge on the subject.” -Bill Gates, “10 Favorite Books about Technology”“Original, accessible, and provocative. . . . Tegmark successfully gives clarity to the many faces of AI, creating a highly readable book that complements The Second Machine Age’s economic perspective on the near-term implications of recent accomplishments in AI and the more detailed analysis of how we might get from where we are today to AGI and even the superhuman AI in Superintelligence. . . . At one point, Tegmark quotes Emerson: ‘Life is a journey, not a destination.’ The same may be said of the book itself. Enjoy the ride, and you will come out the other end with a greater appreciation of where people might take technology and themselves in the years ahead.” -Science“Lucid and engaging, it has much to offer the general reader. Mr. Tegmark’s explanation of how electronic circuitry-or a human brain-could produce something as evanescent and immaterial as thought is both elegant and enlightening. But the idea that machine-based superintelligence could somehow run amok is fiercely resisted by many computer scientists. . . . Yet the notion enjoys more credence today than a few years ago, partly thanks to Mr. Tegmark.” -Wall Street Journal “This is a compelling guide to the challenges and choices in our quest for a great future of life, intelligence and consciousness-on Earth and beyond.”-Elon Musk, Founder, CEO and CTO of SpaceX and co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors“All of us-not only scientists, industrialists and generals-should ask ourselves what can we do now to improve the chances of reaping the benefits of future AI and avoiding the risks. This is the most important conversation of our time, and Tegmark’s thought-provoking book will help you join it.” -Professor Stephen Hawking, Director of Research, Cambridge Centre for Theoretical Cosmology “Tegmark’s new book is a deeply thoughtful guide to the most important conversation of our time, about how to create a benevolent future civilization as we merge our biological thinking with an even greater intelligence of our own creation.” -“Being an eminent physicist and the leader of the Future of Life Institute has given Max Tegmark a unique vantage point from which to give the reader an inside scoop on the mo...

-Titulo Original : Winners Take All The Elite Charade Of Changing The World-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The groundbreaking investigation of how the global elites efforts to change the world preserve the status quo and obscure their role in causing the problems they later seek to solve. An essential read for understanding some of the egregious abuses of power that dominate today’s news.Impassioned.... Entertaining reading.” -The Washington PostAnand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, where the rich and powerful fight for equality and justice any way they can-except ways that threaten the social order and their position atop it. They rebrand themselves as saviors of the poor; they lavishly reward “thought leaders” who redefine “change” in ways that preserve the status quo; and they constantly seek to do more good, but never less harm. Giridharadas asks hard questions: Why, for example, should our gravest problems be solved by the unelected upper crust instead of the public institutions it erodes by lobbying and dodging taxes? His groundbreaking investigation has already forced a great, sorely needed reckoning among the world’s wealthiest and those they hover above, and it points toward an answer: Rather than rely on scraps from the winners, we must take on the grueling democratic work of building more robust, egalitarian institutions and truly changing the world-a call to action for elites and everyday citizens alike. Review New York Times Bestseller | One of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year | One of NPRs Best Books of the Year | One of the Financial Times Books of the Year | One of The Washington Posts 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction | One of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Best International Nonfiction” Books | One of the GreenBiz “10 Best Climate and Business Books” of the Year | 800-CEO-READ Business Book of the Year“Entertaining and gripping . . . For those at the helm, the philanthropic plutocrats and aspiring change agents who believe they are helping but are actually making things worse, it’s time for a reckoning with their role in this spiraling dilemma. I suggest they might want to read a copy of this book while in the Hamptons this summer.” -Joseph E. Stiglitz, The New York Times Book Review “Anand Giridharadas takes a swipe at the global elite in a trenchant, provocative and well-researched book about the people who are notionally generating social change . . . Read it and beware.” -Martha Lane Fox, Financial Times, “Books of the Year 2018”“A splendid polemic . . . Giridharadas writes brilliantly on the parasitic philanthropy industry.” -The Economist“Impassioned . . . That Giridharadas questions an idea that has become part of the air we breathe is alone worth the price of the book, and his delicious skewering of the many who exalt their own goodness while making money from dubious business practices makes for entertaining reading.” -Bethany McLean, The Washington Post“One of the most insightful and provocative books about what’s going on in America that I’ve read in years.” -Senator Brian Schatz (Hawaii)“The past years have seen some outstanding books on how philanthropists and their dollars have shaped public policy . . . [Anand Giridharadas] zeros in on what he sees as a glaring hypocrisy among affluent elites: that while many well-meaning (and well-off) Americans claim to want to improve societys inequalities, they dont challenge the structures that preserve that inequality, not wanting to jeopardize their own privileged positions.” -Jessica Smith, NPR, “Best Books of 2018” “Important . . . [An] empathic tone gives the book its persuasive power to touch the hearts of even those readers, like myself, who are the targets of its criticism.” -Mark Kramer, Stanford Social Innovation Review“An extraordinarily important book.” -Lydia Polgreen, editor-in-chief, Huffington Post“Important . . . [Winners Take All] levels a devastating attack on philanthrocapitalism.” -Benjamin Soskis, T...

-Titulo Original : A Civil Action-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * The true story of one man so determined to take down two of the nations largest corporations accused of killing children from water contamination that he risks losing everything. The legal thriller of the decade. -Cleveland Plain Dealer Described as “a page-turner filled with greed, duplicity, heartache, and bare-knuckle legal brinksmanship by The New York Times, A Civil Action is the searing, compelling tale of a legal system gone awry-one in which greed and power fight an unending struggle against justice. Yet it is also the story of how one man can ultimately make a difference. Representing the bereaved parents, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges: a young, flamboyant Porsche-driving lawyer who hopes to win millions of dollars and ends up nearly losing everything, including his sanity. With an unstoppable narrative power reminiscent of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, A Civil Action is an unforgettable reading experience that will leave the reader both shocked and enlightened. A Civil Action was made into a movie starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall. Review In America, when somebody does you wrong, you take em to court. W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods had been dumping a cancer-causing industrial solvent into the water table of Woburn, Massachusetts, for years; in 1981, the families of eight leukemia victims sued. However, A Civil Action demonstrates powerfully that--even with the families hotshot lawyers and the evidence on their side--justice is elusive, particularly when it involves malfeasance by megacorporations. Much of the legal infighting can cause the eyes to glaze. But the story is saved by great characters: the flawed, flamboyant Jan Schlichtmann and his group of bulldogs for the prosecution; Jerome Facher, the enigmatic lawyer for Beatrice, who proves to be more than a match; John J. Riley, the duplicitous, porcine tannery owner; and a host of others. Its impossible not to feel the drama of this methodical book, impossible not to grieve for the parents who lost children, and impossible not to share Schlichtmanns desperation as he runs out of money. A Civil Action reads like one long advertisement for a few well-placed Molotov cocktails. (But that wouldnt make for a very long book, now would it?) Review Whether in truth or fiction, I have never read a more compelling chronicle of litigation. -John GrishamA page-turner. Rich and vivid ... eventful and gripping. -The New York TimesOnce you start A Civil Action, you probably will not be able to put it down. -Washington Post Book WorldThe legal thriller of the decade. -Cleveland Plain Dealer From the Inside Flap The legal thriller of the decade. --Cleveland Plain DealerNow a Major Motion Picture!In this true story of an epic courtroom showdown, two of the nations largest corporations stand accused of causing the deaths of children. Representing the bereaved parents, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges: a young, flamboyant Porsche-driving lawyer who hopes to win millions of dollars and ends up nearly losing everything, including his sanity. A searing, compelling tale of a legal system gone awry--one in which greed and power fight an unending struggle against justice--A Civil Action is also the story of how one determined man can ultimately make a difference. With an unstoppable narrative power, it is an unforgettable reading experience. From the Back Cover The legal thriller of the decade. --Cleveland Plain Dealer Now a Major Motion Picture! In this true story of an epic courtroom showdown, two of the nations largest corporations stand accused of causing the deaths of children. Representing the bereaved parents, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges: a young, flamboyant Porsche-driving lawyer who hopes to win millions of dollars and ends up nearly losing everything, including his sanity. A searing, compelli...

-Titulo Original : 1493 Uncovering The New World Columbus Created-Fabricante : Vintage-Descripcion Original: Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Seams of Panagaea Although it had just finished raining, the air was hot and close. Nobody else was in sight; the only sound other than those from insects and gulls was the staticky low crashing of Caribbean waves. Around me on the sparsely covered red soil was a scatter of rectangles laid out by lines of stones: the outlines of now- vanished buildings, revealed by archaeologists. Cement pathways, steaming faintly from the rain, ran between them. One of the buildings had more imposing walls than the others. The researchers had covered it with a new roof, the only structure they had chosen to protect from the rain. Standing like a sentry by its entrance was a hand- lettered sign: Casa Almirante, Admiral’s House. It marked the first American residence of Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, the man whom generations of schoolchildren have learned to call the discoverer of the New World. La Isabela, as this community was called, is situated on the north side of the great Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in what is now the Dominican Republic. It was the initial attempt by Europeans to make a permanent base in the Americas. (To be precise, La Isabela marked the beginning of consequential European settlement-Vikings had established a short-lived village in Newfoundland five centuries before.) The admiral laid out his new domain at the confluence of two small, fast- rushing rivers: a fortified center on the north bank, a satellite community of farms on the south bank. For his home, Columbus-Cristobal Colon, to give him the name he answered to at the time-chose the best location in town: a rocky promontory in the northern settlement, right at the water’s edge. His house was situated perfectly to catch the afternoon light. Today La Isabela is almost forgotten. Sometimes a similar fate appears to threaten its founder. Colon is by no means absent from history textbooks, of course, but in them he seems ever less admirable and important. He was a cruel, deluded man, today’s critics say, who stumbled upon the Caribbean by luck. An agent of imperialism, he was in every way a calamity for the Americas’ first inhabitants. Yet a different but equally contemporary perspective suggests that we should continue to take notice of the admiral. Of all the members of humankind who have ever walked the earth, he alone inaugurated a new era in the history of life.The king and queen of Spain, Fernando (Ferdinand) II and Isabel I, backed Colon’s first voyage grudgingly. Transoceanic travel in those days was heart-toppingly expensive and risky-the equivalent, perhaps, of spaceshuttle flights today. Despite relentless pestering, Colon was able to talk the monarchs into supporting his scheme only by threatening to take the project to France. He was riding to the frontier, a friend wrote later, when the queen “sent a court bailiff posthaste” to fetch him back. The story is probably exaggerated. Still, it is clear that the sovereigns’ reservations drove the admiral to whittle down his expedition, if not his ambitions, to a minimum: three small ships (the biggest may have been less than sixty feet long), a combined crew of about ninety. Colon himself had to contribute a quarter of the budget, according to a collaborator, probably by borrowing it from Italian merchants.Everything changed with his triumphant return in March of 1493, bearing golden ornaments, brilliantly colored parrots, and as many as ten captive Indians. The king and queen, now enthusiastic, dispatched Colon just six months later on a second, vastly larger expedition: seventeen ships, a combined crew of perhaps fifteen hundred, among them a dozen or more priests charged with bringing the faith to these new lands. Because the admiral believed he had found a route to Asia, he was sure that China and Japan- and all their opulent goods-were only a short journey beyond. The goal of this second expedition was to create a p...