Other books that might interest you

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  Delhi Sultanate - Muslim...

  Rolf Hedger

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  The Delhi Sultanate was a defining era in Indian history, marking the establishment of Muslim rule in northern India. Its rise was shaped by a series of invasions, strategic conquests, and the formation of a centralized administration. The foundation of the Sultanate can be traced back to the late 12th century when Muslim forces, primarily from Central Asia, began making inroads into the Indian subcontinent. These incursions set the stage for a new political order that would influence the region for centuries. 
  One of the earliest significant Muslim invasions was led by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century. Although he did not establish permanent rule, his raids weakened Indian kingdoms and demonstrated the vulnerability of the region. However, it was Muhammad Ghori in the late 12th century who laid the groundwork for the Delhi Sultanate. Unlike Mahmud, Ghori aimed for long-term control rather than mere plundering. His victory over Prithviraj Chauhan at the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192 was a turning point, allowing Muslim forces to establish a foothold in northern India. 
  Following Ghori’s assassination in 1206, his general, Qutb al-Din Aibak, took control of his Indian territories and proclaimed himself the first Sultan of Delhi. Aibak, originally a slave who rose through the ranks, became the founder of the Mamluk or Slave Dynasty. He consolidated his rule by strengthening administrative structures and commissioning architectural marvels like the Qutb Minar, which symbolized the establishment of Muslim rule. However, his reign was short-lived, and his successor, Iltutmish, played a more crucial role in shaping the Delhi Sultanate into a powerful and stable empire.

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  Extra Salty: Jennifer's Body

  Fredrick Blichert

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  Megan Fox, a diabolic indie rock band, toxic friendship, fluid sexuality, feminist reckoning, and a literal man-eater in the body of a high school cheerleader: Jennifer’s Body has it all 
   
  Featuring an original interview with director Karyn Kusama 
   
  What would be an easy sell in 2021 ― women at the helm (screenwriter Diablo Cody, director Karyn Kusama), a bankable cast (Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried), and a deceptively complex skewering of gender politics ― was a box office flop in 2009. In Extra Salty, Frederick Blichert flips the script on how Jennifer’s Body was labeled a failure to celebrate all that is scrumptious (as Jennifer would say) about it: supernatural horror, dark comedy, queer love, and a nuanced handling of gendered violence. The movie could have been to the aughts what Heathers was to the eighties, and it’s finally getting its due ― whether in the flood of tenth-anniversary praise, the parade of Jennifer Halloween costumes, or Halsey’s nod to it (“Killing Boys”) on her platinum-selling album. 
   
  With insight into the genre’s cinematic tropes, our current cultural reckoning with misogyny, and an original interview with director Karyn Kusama, Extra Salty solidifies the status of Jennifer’s Body as a cult classic.

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  Directing Great Television -...

  Dan Attias

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  Whether it’s the high-stakes pressure of solving a last-minute problem on set, or the joy of pulling off a perfect shot by the skin of your teeth, Attias brings you right into the director’s chair, sharing his knowledge and taking you through the process one challenging episode at a time. Offering a fundamental focus on story, and eschewing industry language for plain talk, Attias offers in-depth guidance how best to work with actors, how to “speak” through the camera, how to work with a showrunner, and how to be ready for the many ways a director will be challenged, large and small. Directing Great Television is a fascinating window into television’s best shows, compelling to directors and non-directors alike. Attias’s book transcends other filmmaking guides by detailing his journey to a surprising place of self-discovery, one with applications beyond entertainment.

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  The Rolling Stones' Some Girls

  Cyrus R.K. Patell

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  It’s October 1977, and the Rolling Stones are in a Paris recording studio. They’re under siege. Keith Richards’s legal troubles after his arrest for heroin possession threaten the band’s future, and the broad consensus among rock aficionados is that the band will never again reach the heights of Exile on Main Street.But Mick Jagger is writing lyrics inspired by the year he has just spent in New York City, where he was hanging out with the punks at CBGB and with the glitterati at Studio 54. And new bandmember Ron Wood is helping Richards recapture the two-guitar groove that the band had been missing since the Brian Jones era. The result? Some Girls, the band’s response both to punk rock and to disco, an album that crackles with all the energy, decadence, and violence of New York in the 1970s. Weaving together the history of the band and the city, Cyrus R. K. Patell traces the genesis and legacy of the album that Jagger would later call the band’s best since Let It Bleed.

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  Chola Empire : 9th to 12th Century

  Saurabh Kumar

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  The book takes us through the era of the Great Chola Empire between the 9th and 12th centuries and also throws light on the era of Rajaraja and Rajendra I.

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  Only Wanna Be with You - The...

  Tim Sommer

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  In 1985, Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in a dorm shower at the University of South Carolina and asked him to form a band. For the next eight years, Hootie & the Blowfish—completed by bassist Dean Felber and drummer Soni Sonefeld—played every frat house, roadhouse, and rock club in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, becoming one of the biggest independent acts in the region. 
   
   
   
  In Only Wanna Be with You, Tim Sommer, the ultimate insider who signed Hootie to Atlantic Records, pulls back the curtain on a band that defied record-industry odds to break into the mainstream by playing hacky sack music in the age of grunge. He chronicles the band's indie days; the chart-topping success—and near-cancelation—of their major-label debut, cracked rear view; the year of Hootie (1995) when the album reached no. 1, the "Only Wanna Be with You" music video collaboration with ESPN's SportsCenter became a sensation, and the band inspired a plotline on the TV show Friends; the lean years from the late 1990s through the early 2000s; Darius Rucker's history-making rise in country music; and one of the most remarkable comeback stories of the century. Featuring extensive new interviews with the band members, some of their most famous fans, and stories from the recording studio, tour bus, and golf course, this book is a must-listen for Hootie lovers and music buffs.

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