Other books that might interest you

• 

  Forever Blue - The True Story of...

  Michael D'Antonio

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Resented by some in New York and beloved in Los Angeles, O'Malley is one of the most controversial owners in the history of American sports. He remade major league baseball and altered the course of history in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles when he moved the Dodgers to California. But while many New York critics attacked him, O'Malley looked to the future, declining to argue his case. As a result, fans across the nation have been unable to stop arguing about him-until now. 
   
  Using never-before-seen documents and candid interviews with O'Malley's players, associates, and relatives, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael D'Antonio finally reveals this complex sportsman and industry pioneer. Born into Tammany Hall connections, O'Malley used political contacts to grow wealthy during the Great Depression, and then maneuvered to take control of the formerly downtrodden Dodgers. After his defeat in a war of wills with the famed power broker Robert Moses, O'Malley uprooted the borough's team and transplanted them to Los Angeles. Once in Los Angeles, O'Malley overcame opponents of his stadium and helped define the city. Other owners came to regard him as their unofficial commissioner as he worked behind the scenes to usher in the age of the players' union and free agency. 
   
  Filled with new revelations about O'Malley's battle with Moses, his pioneering business strategies, and his relationship with Jackie Robinson, Forever Blue is a fascinating history of baseball, business, and the American West.

  Show book

• 

  Beyond Hope - A powerful story...

  Bariz Shah

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A powerful story of how one man didn't let other people define him 
    
  'Bariz gifts us his truth-telling, delivered with unwavering optimism.' Matt Brown, author of She Is Not Your Rehab 
  'Beautifully written. Takes us right inside a young person's life and is ultimately uplifting in the way they take control of that life.' Kathryn Ryan, RNZ Nine to Noon  
   
  At age 18, Bariz Shah ended up in an Auckland prison. As an Afghan migrant who was deeply affected by 9/11, Bariz spiralled from schoolyard fights into crime and drugs - until prison made him rethink the story of his life. 
  Years later, in Christchurch, Bariz had turned everything around when a terrorist walked into the local mosque and took the lives of 51 people in his community. Driven by a new purpose, Bariz and his wife Saba raised money to return to Afghanistan and establish 51 small businesses in honour of those they lost.  
  In this memoir about finding self-belief, belonging and positive change, Bariz's story reminds us that we always have the power to change ourselves for the better. 
  'The book is sensitive and insightful about how pain comes into a life and how it lasts.' Phillip Matthews, The Press 
  'Extraordinary. A powerful story of redemption and hope.' Hon Lianne Dalziel CNZM, former Mayor of Christchurch 
  'Bariz has been through adversity and emerged with love, care and kindness. He shows that nothing is impossible.' Meng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner 2019-2023  
  HarperCollins Australia 2024

  Show book

• 

  Chance

  Joseph Conrad

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Chance is a novel by Joseph Conrad, published in 1913 following serial publication the previous year. Although the novel was not one upon which Conrad's later critical reputation was to depend, it was his greatest commercial success upon initial publication.he narrators describe and attempt to interpret various episodes in the life of Miss de Barral, the daughter of a convicted swindler named Smith de Barral (though this character is famous in the world of the novel as a criminal, he may, at least at first, have been merely an incompetent banker). Miss de Barral leads a sheltered life while her father is prosperous, then must rely on the generosity of others, who resent her or have agendas for her, before she escapes by marrying one Captain Anthony. Much of the book involves the musing of the various narrators over what she and the Captain expected from this union, and what they actually got from it. When her father is released from prison, he joins them on ship, and the book heads towards its denouement.

  Show book

• 

  Francis of Assisi - The Life and...

  André Vauchez

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A biography of the saint as both mystic and man: “The single best book about Francis now available in English” (Commonweal).   In this towering work, Andre Vauchez draws on the vast body of scholarship on Francis of Assisi, particularly the important research of recent decades, to create a complete and engaging portrait of the saint. He also explores how the memory of Francis was shaped by contemporaries who recollected him in their writings, and completes the book by setting “il Poverello” in the context of his time, bringing to light what was new, surprising, and even astonishing in the life and vision of this man.   The first part of the book is a fascinating reconstruction of Francis’s life and work. The second and third parts deal with the texts—hagiographies, chronicles, sermons, personal testimonies, etc.—of writers who recorded aspects of Francis’s life and movement as they remembered them, and used those remembrances to construct a portrait of Francis relevant to their concerns. Finally, Vauchez explores those aspects of Francis’s life, personality, and spiritual vision that were unique to him, including his experience of God, his approach to nature, his understanding and use of Scripture, and his impact on culture as well as culture’s impact on him.   “Considered one of the great spiritual leaders of humankind, Francis of Assisi was also a man of many faces and personas: ascetic, the founder of a religious order, a romantic hero, a mystic, a defender of the poor, a promoter of peace. But as Vauchez emphasizes—and this biography constantly reminds us—Francis was also a flesh-and-blood human being . . . A bracing, erudite account of a mystic’s life.” —Booklist

  Show book

• 

  Short Story Collection Vol 004

  Various

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Librivox’s Short Story Collection 004: a collection of 20 short essays and fiction in the public domain read by a variety of Librivox members.

  Show book

• 

  The Men Who Lost America -...

  Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Questioning popular belief, a historian and re-examines what exactly led to the British Empire’s loss of the American Revolution.The loss of America was an unexpected defeat for the powerful British Empire. Common wisdom has held that incompetent military commanders and political leaders in Britain must have been to blame, but were they? This intriguing book makes a different argument. Weaving together the personal stories of ten prominent men who directed the British dimension of the war, historian Andrew O’Shaughnessy dispels the incompetence myth and uncovers the real reasons that rebellious colonials were able to achieve their surprising victory. In interlinked biographical chapters, the author follows the course of the war from the perspectives of King George III, Prime Minister Lord North, military leaders including General Burgoyne, the Earl of Sandwich, and others who, for the most part, led ably and even brilliantly. Victories were frequent, and in fact the British conquered every American city at some stage of the Revolutionary War. Yet roiling political complexities at home, combined with the fervency of the fighting Americans, proved fatal to the British war effort. The book concludes with a penetrating assessment of the years after Yorktown, when the British achieved victories against the French and Spanish, thereby keeping intact what remained of the British Empire.“A remarkable book about an important but curiously underappreciated subject: the British side of the American Revolution. With meticulous scholarship and an eloquent writing style, O'Shaughnessy gives us a fresh and compelling view of a critical aspect of the struggle that changed the world.”—Jon Meacham, author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power

  Show book