Other books that might interest you

• 

  A Diamond in the Desert - Behind...

  Jo Tatchell

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Get a closer look at this glittering, oil-rich city in a “revealing travelogue through the capital of the United Arab Emirates” (Publishers Weekly).   Jo Tatchell first arrived in the city of Abu Dhabi as a child in 1974, when the discovery of oil was quickly turning a small fishing town into a growing international community. Decades later, this Middle Eastern capital is a dizzying metropolis of ten-lane highways and overlapping languages, and its riches and emphasis on cultural development have thrust it into the international spotlight.   Here, Tatchell returns to Abu Dhabi and explores the city and its contradictions: It is a tolerant melting-pot of cultures and faiths, but only a tiny percentage of its native residents are deemed eligible to vote by the ruling class, and the nation’s president holds absolute veto power over his advisory boards and councils. The Emirates boast one of the world’s highest GDP per capita, but the wealth inequality in its cities is staggering. Abu Dhabi’s royal family, worth an estimated $500 billion, lives off the sweat of the city’s migrant workers, who subject themselves to danger and poverty under barely observed labor laws. But now, the city is making an international splash with a showy investment in tourism, arts, and culture—perhaps signaling a change to a more open, tolerant state.   As this sparkling city surges into the future, it devotes just as much energy to concealing its past. Tatchell looks not only at history and social issues—the ancient system of tribal organization, the condition of the city’s million foreign workers, the emergence of women in Emirati society, but also her own experiences as both a child and adult in this fascinating city that has radically changed—and in other ways, stayed the same.

  Show book

• 

  Many Beautiful Things

  Vincent Schiavelli

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Vincent Schiavelli is known to most of us as a character actor who has appeared in such films as Ghost, Man on the Moon, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Schiavelli grew up in Brooklyn, speaking both Sicilian and English at home. Some of his earliest memories are of sitting at the kitchen table while his grandparents told stories of the life and the people they had left behind in Polizzi Generosa, a small city in the Madonie Mountains of Sicily.  As Schiavelli grew older, those stories, and the city about which they were told, took on a mythic quality. When he was nearly forty he made his first trip there, and what he found was more extraordinary than the "once upon a time" fables of his childhood.  In Many Beautiful Things, Schiavelli invites readers to join him in discovering the people, culture, and food of the city that has, in essence, become his second home. Equal parts memoir and cookbook, it is the best of both. Schiavelli is an accomplished and elegant writer who evokes a foreign and often closed culture from a unique perspective: an outsider fluent in the language with still-strong familial ties.  The recipes -- which reflect the ancient influences of Greece, North Africa, and Spain -- are simple, rustic, and delicious, depending on local products and seasonal bounty. This is not your usual Southern Italian fare but a unique regional cuisine: Pumpkin Caponata, Ditali with Drowned Lettuce, Fried Ricotta Omelet, Potato Gratin with Bay Leaves, Almond Love Bites, Veal Shoulder Roasted with Marsala, and Baked Pasta with Almonds (rigatoni baked in a pork ragu with chopped toasted almonds) are just a few of the extraordinary dishes you'll find in this book, all of which can be reproduced by cooks with delectable results.  Schiavelli provides a comprehensive list of mail-order sources. And if you want to visit Polizzi Generosa, there's a guide on how to get there, where to stay, and where to eat. Illustrated with black-and-white line drawings by Polizzi's best known artist, Santo Lipani (who also happens to be an extraordinary cook), Many Beautiful Things is a feast, both culinary and literary.

  Show book

• 

  American Cookery

  Amelia Simmons

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This eighteenth century kitchen reference is the first cookbook published in the U.S. with recipes using local ingredients for American cooks.  
   
  Named by the Library of Congress as one of the eighty-eight “Books That Shaped America,” American Cookery was the first cookbook by an American author published in the United States. Until its publication, cookbooks used by American colonists were British. As author Amelia Simmons states, the recipes here were “adapted to this country,” reflecting the fact that American cooks had learned to prepare meals using ingredients found in North America. This cookbook reveals the rich variety of food colonial Americans used, their tastes, cooking and eating habits, and even their rich, down-to-earth language. 
   
  Bringing together English cooking methods with truly American products, American Cookery contains the first known printed recipes substituting American maize for English oats; the recipe for Johnny Cake is the first printed version using cornmeal; and there is also the first known recipe for turkey. Another innovation was Simmons’s use of pearlash—a staple in colonial households as a leavening agent in dough, which eventually led to the development of modern baking powders. A culinary classic, American Cookery is a landmark in the history of American cooking.  
   
  “Thus, twenty years after the political upheaval of the American Revolution of 1776, a second revolution—a culinary revolution—occurred with the publication of a cookbook by an American for Americans.” —Jan Longone, curator of American Culinary History, University of Michigan 
   
  This facsimile edition of Amelia Simmons's American Cookery was reproduced by permission from the volume in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, founded in 1812.

  Show book

• 

  Shawshank Redemption Decoded...

  Filmic Universe

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION DECODED: TRIVIA, CURIOUS FACTS AND BEHIND THE SCENES SECRETS 
  EXTENDED EDITION 
    
  CREATED BY: FILMIC UNIVERSE 
    
  - 
    
  Do you think you know everything about THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION? 
    
  Do you want to know more than 100 curious facts and secrets of Frank Darabont's film? 
    
  This eBook is full of information about one of the best movies of 1994. You will find and REALLY LOVE abundant behind the scenes secrets. You can test your knowledge about this movie here. 
    
  - 
    
  HERE SOME EXAMPLES: 
    
  - Morgan Freeman threw the baseball for the entire nine hours without a word of complaint. He showed up for work the next day with his left arm in a sling. 
    
  - Morgan Freeman's favorite film of his own. 
    
  - Stephen King has considered this to be one of his favorite film adaptations based on his own work. 
    
  - Frank Darabont watched "Goodfellas (1990)" every Sunday while shooting this film, and drew inspiration from it, on using voice-over narration and showing the passage of time. 
    
  - Although it is never directly stated in the film, Brooks is in prison for allegedly murdering his wife and daughter after a losing streak at poker. 
    
  - Frank Darabont decided not to have the deleted scenes on the DVD release of the film, because he is embarrassed by them, and doesn't want them to be seen publicly. 
    
  - Despite being widely considered as one of the greatest movies of all time, it didn't receive a single Oscar win, though it was nominated for seven, including Best Picture. 
    
  AND MUCH MORE!

  Show book

• 

  Christian Science

  Mark Twain

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Having just lost a daughter to meningitis, Mark Twain wrote this book out of outrage toward the Christian Science movement and its founder Mary Baker Eddy. This movement emphasized the effects of prayer on healing the body and relieving sicknesses and other ailments. Although the founder of Christian Science appears to be altruistic with good intentions, Twain saw fraudulence and greed. Using his humor and wit, Mark Twain picks apart the movement in hopes of opening eyes to its falsehood.

  Show book

• 

  My Angels Wear Fur - Animals I...

  Devon O'day

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The country music radio host reveals how rescue animals have transformed her life again and again in this heartwarming story collection. 
   
  Devon O’Day has a passion for animal rescue and the things vulnerable animals can teach us about ourselves. In My Angels Wear Fur, she introduces readers to: 
   
  Tennessee Tess: A stray dog delivered to her front door by a man working on a construction crew in the neighborhood and who ended up living the glamorous life in Hollywood with O’Day’s sister, actress Faith Ford. 
   
  The Boxer of Mercy: A brindle boxer who delivers dogs in need to O’Day’s front door. As soon as he knows the other dog is in good hands, the boxer disappears. 
   
  With more than thirty stories, My Angels Wear Fur make you understand what O’Day means when she says, “There is a God-like quality in animals. They love without judgment. They are loyal and caring and they see through each of us . . . to the hidden souls of our real beings.”

  Show book