Other books that might interest you

• 

  Benito Mussolini and Francisco...

  Charles River Editors

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  It’s easy to forget how young Italy was when Benito Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883. It is hard to conceive a territory with such a long and ancient history was once young and troubled with constant conflict and instability. Similar to Germany, Italy was unified in 1861, but contrary to its northern cousin, its previous history was one of separation. Italy had no great romantic idea of a “Great Germany,” keeping it unified even during the wars between city-states. Benito Mussolini was born and raised in a highly volatile environment where ideas already considered extreme by most contemporary observers, such as Socialism, would undergo a deep and violent transformation. Mussolini would ride that wave to power, and he would hold it for decades as he opportunistically tried to strengthen Italy's position and empire. That would lead him to foreign interventions in Africa, and eventually an alliance with Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler, ultimately costing him everything and devastating his country throughout World War II. 
  Born in the last decade of the 19th century, Francisco Franco was nevertheless synonymous with a number of trends of the 20th. In particular, his life was intertwined with the extremist ideologies of the era, in particular fascism and communism, and later the Cold War between the West and the communist bloc. In essence, however, Franco was a military man. Franco – although relatively restrained politically during the period – stood for order and maintaining the army’s role in Spanish society. When a group of officers launched a rebellion in July 1936, Franco quickly joined the army’s uprising and rapidly rose to the top of the nationalist’s chain of command. After his victory in the Spanish Civil War, Franco used political ideas and ideology as it suited him, though he did seem to advocate conservatism, militarism, Catholicism and monarchism.

  Show book

• 

  Walking the Border - A Journey...

  Ian Crofton

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This travelogue about one man’s journey by foot along the border between Scotland and England blends nature, history, and politics. In this book, Ian Crofton travels on foot from Gretna Green in the southwest to Berwick in the northeast, following as close as possible the Anglo-Scottish Border as it has been fixed since the union of the crowns in 1603. Much of the line of the Border runs through a wild, overwhelmingly unvisited no man’s land—the sort of trackless waste perfect for keeping two belligerent peoples apart? During the course of his journey, Crofton considers a number of questions like how “natural” are borderlines? Sometimes they follow physical barriers, sometimes an arbitrary line on a map, the compromise made by some committee of distant diplomats…Praise for Walking the Border“There is a lot of excellent natural description in this book, alongside a number of comic encounters with humans and livestock.” —The Guardian (UK)

  Show book

• 

  A Coney Island Reader - Through...

  Louis J. Parascandola, John...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This literary anthology celebrates the history and romance of Coney Island with works by some of the 19th and 20th centuries’ greatest authors and poets.   Featuring a stunning gallery of portraits by the world's finest poets, essayists, and fiction writers--including Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, José Martí, Maxim Gorky, Federico García Lorca, Isaac Bashevis Singer, E. E. Cummings, Djuna Barnes, Colson Whitehead, Robert Olen Butler, and Katie Roiphe—this anthology illuminates the unique history and transporting experience of New York City’s quintessential beach destination. Moody, mystical, and enchanting, Coney Island has thrilled newcomers and soothed native New Yorkers for decades. Its fantasy entertainments, renowned beach foods, world-class boardwalk, and expansive beach offer a kaleidoscopic panorama of people, places, and events that have inspired writers of all types and nationalities. It becomes, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti once wrote, "a Coney Island of the mind."

  Show book

• 

  Gaslight Days: Book 3 - The...

  Edward Forde Hickey

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Some children still spent summer hopping in Kent. Our class went camping in Ashdown Forest, a change from the bomb sites. We had the cubs and brownies where we earned proficiency badges in a number of skills. On Sundays, the Lido was a short bus ride away.More of our relations now came from Ireland and our Christmas parties were exciting. Passing the scholarship meant losing friends but gaining new ones. Among my friends in the streets of Paddington, this meant I was an outsider once more - a mixed blessed.

  Show book

• 

  Conversations with Kennedy

  Benjamin C. Bradlee

  • 1
  • 1
  • 0

  Distinguished journalist Benjamin C. Bradlee’s intimate biography of President John F. Kennedy and his Camelot years.Conversations with Kennedy is legendary reporter and executive Benjamin C. Bradlee’s account of his intimate dialogues with JFK—a man he counted as a confidante and friend. Beginning in 1958, when Kennedy was a US senator running for president, and continuing until 1963, the year that Kennedy died, Bradlee shared a close professional and personal relationship with the charismatic politician. Both men were war veterans, idealists, and up-and-coming American leaders, and they shared values that drove their friendship.   Kennedy was a politician equally at home with the bruising intellects he appointed to government posts and his working-class constituents. He respected his complicated father, understood his brothers, admired women, and had few illusions about human nature. Bradlee’s eye for detail reveals JFK’s views on everything from Communism to conservatism to freedom of the press.   From parties at the White House to weekends at Palm Beach to JFK’s enduring influence on Bradlee’s own life, this is an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the man behind a myth, written by a giant of American journalism.   

  Show book

• 

  Let Love Rule

  Lenny Kravitz, David Ritz

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "This captivating audiobook purports to be about the musical development of the multitalented Lenny Kravitz...  As he draws listeners into his world, however, listeners begin to see that he's talking about something broader than music: This deeply thoughtful man is talking about how his passion for learning and expressing himself was shaped." -- AudioFile Magazine     “I see my story as a suite of songs that have a magical connection. I never understood that connection until I sat down to write. It was then that the magic started to flow.”Let Love Rule is a work of deep reflection. Lenny Kravitz looks back at his life with candor, self-scrutiny, and humor.“My life is all about opposites,” he writes. “Black and white. Jewish and Christian. The Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. I accepted my Gemini soul. I owned it. I adored it. Yins and yangs mingled in various parts of my heart and mind, giving me balance and fueling my curiosity and comfort.”Let Love Rule covers a vast canvas stretching from Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, Los Angeles’s Baldwin Hills, Beverly Hills, and finally to France, England and Germany.It’s the story of a wildly creative kid who, despite tough struggles at school and extreme tension at home, finds salvation in music.We see him grow as a musician and ultimately a master songwriter, producer, and performer. We also see Lenny’s spiritual growth—and the powerful way in which spirit informs his music.The cast of characters surrounding Lenny is extraordinary: his father, Sy, a high-powered news executive; his mother, Roxie Roker, a television star; and Lisa Bonet, the young actress who becomes his muse.The central character, of course, is Lenny, who, despite his great aspirational energy, turns down record deal after record deal until he finds his true voice.The creation of that voice, the same voice that is able to declare “Let Love Rule” to an international audience, is the very heart of this story.“Whether recording, performing, or writing a book,” says Lenny, “my art is about listening to the inspiration inside and then sharing it with people. Art must bring the world closer together.” A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company

  Show book