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  The Basis of Everything

  Andrew Ramsey

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  Before the Manhattan Project, before nuclear warfare and the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was the twentieth century's great scientific quest to fathom the secrets of the atom.The unlikely story of an Antipodean friendship that changed the world forever. 
    
  Centered on the inter-war years - within the ivy clad walls of Cambridge University's famed Cavendish Laboratory, amid the windswept valleys of north Wales, and in the industrial heartland of Birmingham - The Basis of Everything is the story of the coming of the atomic bomb, and how the unlikely union of two scientists - Ernest Rutherford, the son of a New Zealand farmer, and Mark Oliphant, a peace-loving vegetarian from a tiny Australian hills village - would change the world. 
  The story that bonds Ernest Rutherford and Mark Oliphant is as extraordinary as it is unlikely. They were kindred souls, schooled and steeped in the furthest frontiers of Britain's empire, whose restless intellect and tireless conviction fused in the crucible of discovery at Cambridge University's celebrated Cavendish Laboratory, at a time when nature's deepest secrets were being revealed. Their brilliance illuminated the sub-atomic recesses of the natural world and, as a direct result, set loose the power of nuclear fusion. 
  It was a heartfelt, enduring partnership, born at the University of Adelaide's modest physics department and then flourishing further in the confines of the Cavendish before ultimately driving the famed Manhattan Project, which produced the world's first nuclear weapons, unleashed to such devastating effect on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 
  Rutherford and Oliphant were men with a shared devotion to pure science, who, through circumstance and necessity, found themselves betrayed as instruments of wars they detested but were duty-bound to prosecute. Consequently, their influence was pivotal in the last great global conflict the world witnessed and in engendering the thermonuclear threat that has held the planet hostage ever since. Yet their pioneering work also lives on in a vast array of innovations seeded by nuclear physics, from radiocarbon dating and TV screens to life-saving diagnostic-imaging devices. 
  PRAISE FOR THE BASIS OF EVERYTHING 
  ""In The Basis of Everything, journalist Andrew Ramsey has succeeded in telling a story so detailed and compelling that even knowing where it leads does not distract from the journey."" The Sydney Morning Herald

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  From Plotzk to Boston

  Mary Antin

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  An intensely personal account of the immigration experience as related by a young Jewish girl from Plotzk (a town in the government of Vitebsk, Russia). Mary Antin, with her mother, sisters, and brother, set out from Plotzk in 1894 to join their father, who had journeyed to the "Promised Land" of America three years before. Fourth class railroad cars packed to suffocation, corrupt crossing guards, luggage and persons crudely "disinfected" by German officials who feared the cholera, locked "quarantine" portside, and, finally, the steamer voyage and a famiily reunited. For anyone who has ever wondered what it was like for their grandparents or great grandparents to emmigrate from Europe to the United States last century, this is a fascinating narrative. Mary Antin went on to become an immigration rights activist. She also wrote an autobiography, The Promised Land, published in 1912, which detailed her assimilation into American culture. (Summary by Sue Anderson)

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  Hans Urs von Balthasar -...

  Kevin Mongrain

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  “There will never be beings unloved by God, since God is absolute love.” – Hans Urs von BalthasarExplore the profound spirituality of Hans Urs von Balthasar. Born in Switzerland, Balthasar (1905–1988) was one of the most prolific and sophisticated Catholic thinkers of the twentieth century. As you will discover, Balthasar’s theology provides a powerful model for the Catholic Church in the modern world.In Hans Urs von Balthasar: Rediscovering Holistic Christianity, you will join Balthasar expert Dr. Kevin Mongrain (Ph.D., Yale University) in exploring this great theologian. When first approaching Balthasar, his corpus of works can seem like a daunting, complex labyrinth. Under Dr. Mongrain’s guidance, however, you will discover enlightening threads throughout Balthasar’s powerful thought.Deeply influenced by the Jesuits, Balthasar eventually left the Society of Jesus to become a secular priest, that is, wholly engaged in the world. As you will see in this course, he became a spokesperson of the contemplative-charismatic strand of the Catholic tradition. His vision of the Church promoted unity between its hierarchical, theological, and contemplative strands.Under Dr. Mongrain’s guidance, you will explore Balthasar’s ideas about authentic prayer, mystical experience, and prophecy. You will also see how his ideas addressed the modern world. Balthasar wove together spirituality and metaphysics, and he sought a holistic Christianity, that is, one that wove together the visions of the saints throughout the ages.Experience the power of Balthasar’s vision today. (Photo of Hans Urs von Balthasar ©Archiv Hans Urs von Balthasar, Basel)

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  Plutarco Elías Calles and the...

  Jürgen Buchenau

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  This biography of the Mexican revolutionary examines his rise from soldier to president to his continued influence as Jefe Maximo. Hailing from the border state of Sonora, Plutarco Elías Calles found his calling in the early years of the revolution, quickly rising to national prominence. As president from 1924 to 1928, Calles undertook an ambitious reform program, modernized the financial system, and defended national sovereignty against an interventionist U.S. government. Yet these reforms failed to eradicate underdevelopment, corruption, and social injustice. Moreover, his unyielding campaigns against political enemies and the Catholic Church earned him a reputation as a repressive strongman. After his term as president, Calles continued to exert broad influence as his country's foremost political figure while three weaker presidents succeeded each other in an atmosphere of constant political crisis. He played a significant role in founding a ruling party that reined in power-hungry military leaders and helped workers attain better living conditions. This dynastic party and its successors, including the present-day Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Party of the Institutional Revolution), remained in power until 2000. Through this comprehensive assessment of a quintessential Mexican politician, Buchenau opens an illuminating window into both the Mexican Revolution and contemporary Mexico.

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  The Amazing Mrs Livesey - The...

  Freda Marnie Nicholls

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  This is the truly remarkable life story of the notorious Ethel Livesey, a serial fraudster and confidence trickster who became a media sensation after she ran out on her society wedding in 1945 and later was arrested for obtaining goods by false pretences. 
  
  
  With a prologue by Ethel Livesey's granddaughter, this extraordinary tale of Australia's greatest fraudster is told for the first time in rich and fascinating detail.

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  Inheriting the Trade - A...

  Thomas Norman DeWolf

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  In 2001, at forty-seven, Thomas DeWolf was astounded to discover that he was related to the most successful slave-trading family in American history, responsible for transporting at least 10,000 Africans to the Americas. His infamous ancestor, U.S. senator James DeWolf of Bristol, Rhode Island, curried favor with President Jefferson to continue in the trade after it was outlawed. When James DeWolf died in 1837, he was the second-richest man in America.When Katrina Browne, Thomas DeWolf's cousin, learned about their family's history, she resolved to confront it head-on, producing and directing a documentary feature film, Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North.Inheriting the Trade is Tom DeWolf's powerful and disarmingly honest memoir of the journey in which ten family members retraced the steps of their ancestors and uncovered the hidden history of New England and the other northern states. Their journey through the notorious Triangle Trade - from New England to West Africa to Cuba - proved life-altering, forcing DeWolf to face the horrors of slavery directly for the first time. It also inspired him to contend with the complicated legacy that continues to affect black and white Americans, Africans, and Cubans today.Inheriting the Trade reveals that the North's involvement in slavery was as common as the South's. Not only were black people enslaved in the North for over two hundred years, but the vast majority of all slave trading in America was done by northerners. Remarkably, half of all North American voyages involved in the slave trade originated in Rhode Island, and all the northern states benefited.With searing candor, DeWolf tackles both the internal and external challenges of his journey - writing frankly about feelings of shame, white male privilege, the complicity of churches, America's historic amnesia regarding slavery - and our nation's desperate need for healing. An urgent call for meaningful and honest dialogue, Inheriting the Trade illuminates a path toward a more hopeful future and provides a persuasive argument that the legacy of slavery isn't merely a southern issue but an enduring American one."Tom DeWolf's deeply personal story, of his own journey as well as his family's, is required reading for anyone interested in reconciliation. Healing from our historic wounds, which continue to separate us, requires us to walk this road together." - Myrlie Evers-Williams, civil rights leader, chairman emeritus of the NAACP (1995-98), and author of The Autobiography of Medgar Evers, Watch Me Fly, and For Us, the Living"Inheriting the Trade is like a slow-motion mash-up, a first-person view from within one of the country's founding families as it splinters, then puts itself back together again." - Edward Ball, author of Slaves in the Family

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