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  France’s Most Famous Palaces:...

  Editors Charles River

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  For the French, and those who study their history, Versailles is a symbol of, as Charles Dickens once put it, “the best of times…the worst of times.” It was here that the Sun King, Louis XIV, built a palace worthy of a great nation during a time when peace was, at best, short-lived. It was at Versailles that Russian Tsar Peter the Great studied the palace’s architecture and gardens so that he could recreate them in his home country. Indeed, the greatest minds and artistic geniuses of the later stages of the Renaissance came to Versailles to build and paint, and it was here that Madame de Pompadour and her successor, Madame du Barry, used their wit and beauty to charm a king into doing their bidding. 
  	France, like all European countries, has had its fair share of palaces over time, but none suffered the rise and fall of fortune like the Tuileries. Built by a widow with a flair for architecture, it grew for more than a decade, along with the royal family that it housed. Then, during the French Revolution, it fell from grace with that family and even became a sight of execution, its famous gardens providing the background for the infamous guillotine.  
  	The Louvre's very name conjures up scenes of art and elegance, and of long halls filled with beauty and people strolling through them whispering quietly among themselves about the glories they are witnessing. Even those who have never been to the Louvre know some of its most prized possessions, from ancient statues to Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”. As the world’s largest museum, the Louvre is unquestionably the cultural highpoint of Paris, a city that has long been considered the cultural center of Europe. 

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  Combing Through the White House...

  Theodore Pappas

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  Read by the author. 
  Discover a fascinating and novel look at the U.S. presidents, the first families, and American history—all through the lens of hair. With meticulous detail and engaging storytelling, encyclopedia editor Theodore Pappas combs through American history, teasing out long-forgotten and little-known ways that hair has influenced the presidency and the public and private lives, personal scandals, and tragedies of the men and women who have occupied the White House. 
  Go deep into the history of such topics as:Abraham Lincoln's famously ridiculed appearance and the surprising role hair played in both his presidency and assassinationJohn F. Kennedy's connection to James Bond and how hair factored into his vast image-making and infidelitiesThe lush tradition of collecting hair as a way of honoring leaders, remembering our loved ones, and preserving their memoriesScientific hair analysis and how DNA has been used to solve long-standing presidential mysteriesThe connection of hair to the lives, loves, scandals, and tragedies that shaped presidents, first ladies, and the nation at large 
    
  This unique window into the past shines entertaining new light on the decisions, relationships, and tragedies that have shaped the role of the president and the place of the U.S. in the world. Whether you're interested in presidential trivia or historical mysteries, Combing Through the White House personalizes the past through an element of life we can all relate to—hair—giving us new glimpses into our country and even ourselves. 
  The images can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

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  Innovations of World War I The:...

  Charles River Editors

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  World War I, also known in its time as the “Great War” or the “War to End all Wars”, was an unprecedented holocaust in terms of its sheer scale. Fought by men who hailed from all corners of the globe, it saw millions of soldiers do battle in brutal assaults of attrition which dragged on for months with little to no respite. Tens of millions of artillery shells and untold hundreds of millions of rifle and machine gun bullets were fired in a conflict that demonstrated man’s capacity to kill each other on a heretofore unprecedented scale. 
  	Since the industrial revolution, arms and materiel output had increased by orders of magnitude, as had the quality and uniformity of the products. Several developments had already taken place in the years building up to the conflict, stepping stones towards the vast escalation in military innovation which took place immediately prior to and during World War I. Innovations included the adoption into service of the first belt-fed machine guns, predecessors of those which would wreak such slaughter in the trenches, and the development of cannon which did not roll backwards after each shot as 19th century pieces did, but remained fixed in place.  
  	The arms race before the war and the attempt to break the deadlock of the Western and Eastern Fronts by any means possible changed the face of battle in ways that would have previously been deemed unthinkable. Before 1914, flying machines were objects of public curiosity; the first flights of any account on rotor aircraft had been made less than 5 years before and were considered to be the province of daredevils and lunatics. By 1918, all the great powers were fielding squadrons of fighting aircraft armed with machine-guns and bombs, to say nothing of light reconnaissance planes. Tanks, a common feature on the battlefield by 1918, had not previously existed outside of the realm of science fiction stories written by authors like H.G. Wells.

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  Joy Strategist The: Your Path to...

  Grace Harry

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  A prescriptive on how to re-discover joy and live with it in our personal, professional, and creative lives, written by a top music executive who guided the careers of legendary hip-hop, R&B, and pop singers. In her thirty years working as a music industry executive at Island Def Jam and Jive Records, Grace Harry has lived her many creative lives at the intersection of music, art, and the passionate pursuit of joy—a long forgotten, but vital birthright. Many of us have no idea what joy truly is, and capturing it is often easier said than done. In The Joy Strategist, Grace takes readers on a journey to explore all dimensions of joy: how we find it, how we can re-discover it, and how we can incorporate it into our daily lives. Sometimes lighthearted and always real, The Joy Strategist shows readers how to break through creative or emotional ruts that keep them from tapping into their innate ability to feel true and unfettered joy. Grace coaches readers with meaningful autobiographical anecdotes and her toolbox of playful activities, which include: --Reconnecting with your “inner GPS,” the pilot light that guided you toward joyful experience without inhibition as a child. --Ceasing the war you’ve waged against your Heart and heal the wounds preventing you from giving and receiving love. -- Cultivating your “Starting Five,” or the community of people closest to you that will show up and support you on your journey, and how to best show up for them as well. --Breaking free from your Ego and dismantling the limiting beliefs that keep your deepest hopes and aspirations out of grasp. A mix of memoir, prescriptive self-help exercises, and cultural commentary on joy, The Joy Strategist will equip readers to define what exactly brings them joy so that they can live lives imbued with wonder, self-love, and creative abundance.

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  Straight Talk about ADHD in...

  PhD Stephen P. Hinshaw

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  Parenting a daughter with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is no easy path—especially because of the myth that the disorder is rare to nonexistent in girls. From pioneering researcher Stephen P. Hinshaw, this empowering guide provides vital information and advice to help you understand and meet your daughter's needs. Dr. Hinshaw delivers up-to-date facts on what ADHD is, why symptoms often appear differently in girls than in boys, why girls with ADHD behave the way they do, how to get an accurate diagnosis, and what treatments are most effective. There is so much pressure on girls to be "perfect"—and for those with ADHD, it feels especially hard to measure up. Learn concrete steps you can take to support your daughter's success from preschool through high school and beyond, while nurturing her confidence and self-worth.

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  Smoky God The - A Voyage to the...

  Willis George Emerson

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  It may be that the true home of Apollo was not at Delphi, but in that older earth-center of which Plato speaks, where he says: "Apollo's real home is among the Hyperboreans, in a land of perpetual life, where mythology tells us two doves flying from the two opposite ends of the world met in this fair region, the home of Apollo. Indeed, according to Hecataeus, Leto, the mother of Apollo, was born on an island in the Arctic Ocean far beyond the North Wind."

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