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  McGuffey's Eclectic Readers: Fifth

  William McGuffey

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  Born in 1800, William Holmes McGuffey had a remarkable ability to memorize, and could commit to mind entire books of the Bible. After becoming a teacher at the age of 14, classroom size was just one of several challenges faced by McGuffey. In many one-teacher schools, students' ages varied from six to twenty-one, and few textbooks existed. In 1835, a publishing firm asked McGuffey to create a series of graded Readers for primary level students. The series consisted of stories, poems, essays and speeches and it is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. Since 1961 they have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. No other textbook bearing a single person's name has come close to that mark.

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  The Discourses of Epictetus - As...

  Epictetus

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  Epictetus was born a slave but at an early age developed a passion for philosophy and with the permission of his master he studied under Musonius Rufus. He obtained his freedom sometime after the death of Nero in 68 AD and later began teaching in Rome until his banishment from the city around 93 AD, after which he travelled to Nicopolis in Greece and carried on teaching there for the remainder of his days. His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in 'The Discourses' and later summarised in 'The Enchiridion'. They have been influential since they were written and are referenced frequently by Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations.Epictetus puts a strong focus on philosophy being practiced as a way of life, and not just a theoretical consideration. He also emphasises that many events are largely beyond our control and so we should learn to accept events calmly and dispassionately and instead put our focus on our own actions.This recording includes the Discourses and accompanying fragments.

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  Tsunami Days

  John Barnie

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  "We need more writers with bite. We have lived in the flatlands too long," writes John Barnie in one of his 'observations' ('Art in the Flatlands'). And bite he delivers.
  
  Ranging across politics, history, culture, ecological disaster, the meaning of truth, poetry, what we mean by identity and more… Barnie shares a window onto the world that is both erudite and particular. Leaning towards pessimism in a darkening world, these observations are often provocative, not from any bullish desire to antagonise, but as the result of mining a rationalist line of thought with an honesty and consistency that is applied as much to the author as to his subjects. There is a clarity here that some may find uncomfortable, but the aim is always dialogue above agreement; intellectual engagement above cheap solutions and sentimentality.
  
  Barnie asks us to think, consider and dig deeper, but most of all he asks that we "…live richly among our secondary self-created meanings, while recognising them for what they are. To face without flinching the nullity of the great void." ('Varieties of Meaning')
  Tsunami Days is a vital collection of essays for those prepared to engage with its unflinching observations.

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  Victor Lustig: The Life and...

  Charles River Editors

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  “Never pry into a person's personal circumstances (they'll tell you all eventually).” – “The Ten Commandments for Con Men,” attributed to Victor Lustig 
  The art of the confidence trick is a controversial craft that is as old as time itself. In the early years of civilization, unscrupulous folks bottled and peddled assortments of fake cures and potions. Snake oil salesmen aside, charlatans posed as mystical beings with supernatural powers, promising to end droughts and other misfortunes of the gullible with what were in reality parlor tricks and illusions. 
  Despite several famous con men, there is one con man in particular who, despite being frequently overshadowed by various counterparts, managed to pull off capers so audacious that they seemed to come straight out of an adventure thriller. As a matter of fact, the mystery man in question, Victor Lustig, has often been credited with authoring the figurative handbook that modern-day con artists continue to rely on, and his story has been studied or described in countless works of literature, most notably Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power. Lustig was a notorious master of deception, a dangerously charismatic and conniving fellow, and could boast of exploits as incredible as selling the Eiffel Tower, not once, but twice. 
  Victor Lustig: The Life and Legacy of the 20th Century’s Most Notorious Con Artist profiles one of the most eccentric personalities of his age.

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  Satchmo Blows Up the World -...

  Penny M. Von Eschen

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  At the height of the ideological antagonism of the Cold War, the U.S. State Department unleashed an unexpected tool in its battle against Communism: jazz. From 1956 through the late 1970s, America dispatched its finest jazz musicians to the far corners of the earth, from Iraq to India, from the Congo to the Soviet Union, in order to win the hearts and minds of the Third World and to counter perceptions of American racism. 
  Penny Von Eschen escorts us across the globe, backstage and onstage, as Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and other jazz luminaries spread their music and their ideas further than the State Department anticipated. Both in concert and after hours, through political statements and romantic liaisons, these musicians broke through the government's official narrative and gave their audiences an unprecedented vision of the black American experience. In the process, new collaborations developed between Americans and the formerly colonized peoples of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—collaborations that fostered greater racial pride and solidarity. 
  Though intended as a color-blind promotion of democracy, this unique Cold War strategy unintentionally demonstrated the essential role of African Americans in U.S. national culture. Through the tales of these tours, Von Eschen captures the fascinating interplay between the efforts of the State Department and the progressive agendas of the artists themselves, as all struggled to redefine a more inclusive and integrated American nation on the world stage.

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  Origins of Humans

  IntroBooks Team

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  Human evolution can be considered to be a lengthy procedure of several transformations in which the people originated from the ape-like ancestors. There are several scientific evidence that reveals that the behavioral and the physical traits that are shared by all the organisms have originated from the ape-like ancestors. They have evolved across lengthy periods of approximately six million years ago. 
  One of the earliest human traits that have defined the human evolution, bipedalism is the ability for walking on two legs have evolved over four million years ago. There are several other human characteristics including the complex and human brains, the ability to make several innovative tools, along with the complex symbolic representation and elaborative cultural diversity have emerged mainly during the past several millions of years. 

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