Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Rise and Fall of a Medieval...

  Kathryn Warner

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  The Despensers were a baronial English family who rose to great prominence in the reign of Edward II (1307-27) when Hugh Despenser the Younger became the king's chamberlain, favorite, and perhaps, lover. He and his father Hugh the Elder wielded great influence, and Hugh the Younger's greed and tyranny brought down a king for the first time in English history and almost destroyed his own family. 
   
   
   
  The Rise and Fall of a Medieval Family tells the story of the ups and downs of this fascinating family from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, when three Despenser lords were beheaded and two fell in battle. We begin with Hugh, Chief Justiciar of England, who died rebelling against King Henry III and his son in 1265, and end with Thomas Despenser, summarily beheaded in 1400 after attempting to free a deposed Richard II, and Thomas's posthumous daughter Isabella, a countess twice over and the grandmother of Richard III's queen. 
   
   
   
  From the medieval version of Prime Ministers to the (possible) lovers of monarchs, the aristocratic Despenser family wielded great power in medieval England. Drawing on the popular intrigue and infamy of the Despenser clan, Kathryn Warner's book traces the lives of the most notorious, powerful, and influential members of this patrician family over a 200 year span.

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  Afrolantica Legacies

  Derrick Bell

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  Derrick Bell is perhaps best known for the principled stand he took at Harvard in 1990 when he quit his tenured position on the law-school faculty to protest the school's failure to grant tenure to a black woman. Now a visiting professor at New York Law School, Bell is still deeply interested in issues of race relations and has chosen to explore the subject fictionally in ""Afrolantica Legacies."" In a nutshell, the story goes like this: a mysterious land mass suddenly appears in the Atlantic Ocean, a fabulous island on which only black people can survive. American blacks set sail to the island to begin a new life, only to see it sink again before they can reach the shore. On the return trip to America, the passengers draw up a list of principles called the Afrolantica Legacies, defining how they want to reposition themselves in American society. The book uses a fictional setting to outline some remedies for the problem of race relations between African Americans and white people in our society.

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  Normally Weird and Weirdly...

  Robin Ince

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  This audiobook is read with warmth, humility and humour by the author, Robin Ince, and includes an audio-exclusive Q&A between Robin and scientist and author Camilla Pang.'Authentic, heartbreakingly wonderful and refreshingly grounded — this book captures the internal neurodivergent experience with rare grace and warmth' - Camilla Pang'Tingles with the joy of being different. This book made me so happy' - Chris Packham, naturalist and author of Fingers in the Sparkle JarA powerful, personal exploration of anxiety, ADHD and neurodiversity, Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal reminds us all – no matter how weird we feel – that it’s okay to be a little different. We all are. What if being a bit weird is actually entirely normal? What if sharing our internal struggles wasn’t a sign of weakness, but strength?For over thirty years, award-winning broadcaster and comedian Robin Ince has entertained thousands in person and on air. But underneath the surface, a whirlwind was at play – a struggle with sadness, concentration, self-doubt and near-constant anxiety. But then he discovered he had all the hallmarks of ADHD and his stumbling blocks became stepping stones.In Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, Robin uses his own experiences to explore the neurodivergent experience and to ask what the point of 'being normal' really is. Packed with personal insights, intimate anecdotes and interviews with psychologists, neuroscientists and many neurodivergent people he has met along the way, this is a quirky and witty dive into the world of human behaviour.'This is a comforting hug of a book. Insightful, warm, funny and compassionate, it will make readers, whether neurotypical or neurodivergent, feel less alone' - Laura Bates, bestselling author of Everyday Sexism'Weirdness is inescapable, and no one does it better than Robin Ince. A superb book, celebrating the needed weirdness in us all' - Chris Hadfield, astronaut and five-time bestselling author

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  Modern Germany: The History and...

  Editors Charles River

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  The history of Germany and the German-speaking peoples is as complex and multifaceted as any in Europe. It is also one of the most difficult to pinpoint conceptually and historically, since every nation is a construct to some extent. Language is certainly important, and the German language is a unifying factor for any notion of a unified Germany, yet even today, many German-speakers live outside the borders of modern Germany. Shared customs and traditions gave Germans a common sense of identity to some extent, but these were often local in origin. Germans were also split between several versions of Christianity.  
  	Nevertheless, ideas of a German nation were present by the 19th century, leading up to the official unification in 1871. Neil MacGregor, a historian of modern Germany, has explained that the two defining events leading to the rise of German nationalism and the movement toward unification were the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars. During the Thirty Years' War, more than 200 German states were part of the Holy Roman Empire's loose confederation, and that war was predominantly fought in German states by foreign powers, including France, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, and the Netherlands. MacGregor noted that “horrors were experienced across all Germany, and were never forgotten,” to the extent that they were invoked during World War II. The religious basis of the Thirty Years’ War saw the split between Catholicism and Protestantism, which was at the heart of the Reformation. Some foreign leaders even invoked defending "German freedoms" for their invasion. 
  	From the German point of view, the Thirty Years' War was proof of their vulnerability to foreign aggression. Atrocities such as the "sacking" of Magdeburg in 1631, where more than 30,000 people were killed, were embedded in the German consciousness. All told, 8 million people died during the Thirty Years’ War.

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  Gentlemen of the Shade: My Own...

  Jen Sookfong Lee

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  Gus Van Sant’s film and the ’90s cult of the alternative Gus Van Sant’s 1991 indie darling My Own Private Idaho perplexed and provoked, inspiring a new ethos for a new decade: being different was better than being good. Gentlemen of the Shade examines how the film was a coming-of-age for a generation of young people who would embrace the alternative and bring their outsider perspectives to sustainability, technology, gender constructs, and social responsibility. My Own Private Idaho ― fragmented and saturated with colour and dirt and a painfully beautiful masculinity ― also crept into popular media, and its influence can still be traced. R.E.M. Portlandia. Hipsterism. James Franco. Referencing the often-funny and sometimes-tragic cultural touchstones of the past 26 years, Gentlemen of the Shade sets the film as social bellwether for the many outsiders who were looking to join the right, or any, revolution.

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  What Happened to Belén - The...

  Ana Elena Correa

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  ""There are many women like Belén whose names we don’t know, but whose stories are just as important. An uplifting chronicle of one woman’s fight for justice.""—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 
  Foreword by Margaret Atwood 
  The heartbreaking true story of an Argentinian woman imprisoned for having a miscarriage—an injustice that galvanized a feminist movement and became a global rallying cry in the fight for reproductive rights. 
  In 2014, Belén, a twenty-five-year-old woman living in rural Argentina, went to the hospital for a stomachache—and soon found herself in prison. While at the hospital she had a miscarriage—without knowing she was pregnant. Because of the nation’s repressive laws surrounding abortion and reproductive rights, the doctors were forced to report her to the authorities. Despite her protestations, Belén was convicted and sentenced to two years for homicide. 
  Belén’s imprisonment is a glaring example of how women’s health care has become increasingly criminalized, putting the most vulnerable—BIPOC, rural, and low-income—women at greater risk of prosecution. Belén’s cause became the centerpiece of a movement to achieve greater protections for all women. After two failed attempts to clear her name, Belén met feminist lawyer Soledad Deza, who quickly rallied Amnesty International and ignited an international feminist movement around #niunamas—not one more—symbolized by thousands of demonstrators around the globe donning white masks, the same kind of mask Belén wore when leaving prison. The #niunamas movement was instrumental in pressuring Argentine president Alberto Fernández to decriminalize abortion in 2021.  
  In this gripping and personal account of the case and its impact on local law, Ana Correa, one of Argentina’s leading journalists and activists, makes clear that what happened to Belén could happen to any woman—and that we all have the power to raise our collective voices and demand change. 
  Translated by Julia Sanches

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