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  Georgy Zhukov: The Life and...

  Editors Charles River

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  In the warm predawn darkness of June 22, 1941, 3 million men waited along a front hundreds of miles long, stretching from the Baltic coast of Poland to the Balkans. Ahead of them in the darkness lay the Soviet Union, its border guarded by millions of Red Army troops echeloned deep throughout the huge spaces of Russia. This massive gathering of Wehrmacht soldiers from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich and his allied states – notably Hungary and Romania – stood poised to carry out Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's surprise attack against the country of his putative ally, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.  
  Of the Soviet generals, none played as crucial a role in the war as Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, one of the most highly decorated army officers in Russian military history. At critical stages during the Second World War, it seemed as if it was Zhukov alone who stood between Russian defeat and German victory. Zhukov was ultimately involved in all the major battles on the Eastern Front, including Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kursk, Bagration, and the final assaults into Poland and Germany to capture Berlin.  
  Stalin came to depend on Zhukov’s ruthless military skills for victory, but in the cut-throat Soviet Union, that was always a double-edged sword, because it seemed that Stalin envied Zhukov and feared him as well. Zhukov, who could be as aggressive and blunt as Stalin, was one of the few people prepared to stand up to the Soviet dictator and argue with him, and as many Soviet politicians and generals learned to their detriment, going toe to toe with one of the most brutal leaders of the 20th century was a highly risky venture. However, the mutual understanding they forged as they confronted the Germans may have played the biggest role in Hitler’s demise. 

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  We Agnostics: How William James...

  Paul Schulte

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  Bill Wilson was a washed up Wall Street analyst after the Great Crash of 1929 who was dying of alcoholism and decided to clean up. He read “Varieties off Religious Experience” by eminent Harvard Professor William James (whose own brother had died of alcoholism). The rest, as they say, is history and the result was what Aldous Huxley called the most Important social movement of the 20th century. This book weaves together brief excerpts from James’ book (which had radical ideas about spirituality being an end to itself and mostly separate from religion) with the writings of Bill Wilson to show how the two men’s thinking interacted to create the 12 Step movement. It sheds light on the profound influence James had on early 20th Century Agnosticism. It is solid analysis of James’ important contribution to American Spiritualism. Most of all, though, it is a reflection on the 12 Steps of AA & a meditation on what ‘Higher Power’ means. It is a soothing hot soak in the great writing of two men who developed a way out of the soul sickness that is addiction. They both saw spirituality as separate from religion which arises from the basic human need for some private higher power during moments of self-despair. The relief that comes makes life larger, allows us (finally) to belong and offers dignity — for alcoholics or those who live with alcoholics. It works. It really does. Read a sentence or a page per day. This book is a journey of reflection and meditation.

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  War of the Keys The: The History...

  Editors Charles River

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  It has been famously pointed out that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, but it was also not an empire in the sense people expect when hearing the term. In theory, the emperor was the highest prince in Christendom, and his dominion extended the length and breadth of Western Europe. The empire had been created by the papacy when Pope Leo III famously crowned the supposedly unwitting Charlemagne in Saint Peter’s Basilica, intending to recreate the Western Roman Empire. In truth, the imperial power did not extend beyond central Europe, which by the beginning of the 16th century included Germany, northern Italy, and the Netherlands. Even in these lands, however, the emperor struggled to command obedience. His dominion over northern Italy was theoretical only, the cities of the Netherlands were deeply conscious of their ancient rights and privileges, and Germany had long ceased to be compliant. The latter had become a collection of principalities, dukedoms and bishoprics which vied with each other and pursued their own agendas. They were, however, united in only one sense: denying the emperor power and resisting attempts to centralize the government. 
  The clergy occupied a privileged place in medieval society. Europe had inherited Christianity from the Roman Empire, and the concept of a united Christendom and empire were practically synonymous. Indeed, there was no real consciousness of the Roman Empire ever having ended. After the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late 5th century, the Germanic rulers of Western Europe continued to recognize the Eastern Emperor in Constantinople until Charlemagne, and after the dissolution of the Frankish Empire, the imperial seat was transferred to Otto I, King of East Francia in modern Germany. 
  By the late 10th century, however, the emperor’s reach was rarely felt beyond Germany and northern Italy, and the question of who was supposed to be the imperial head was unresolved.

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  Solemates - A History of Our...

  Adam Zmith

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  Why are feet so hot? When Jesus washed his bros' feet, what kind of love was he showing? Why did feet show up in poetry written during a medieval outbreak of gonorrhoea? How did early sexologists convince us that loving feet is deviant? And what did Victorian lesbians make of all this?
  These are the questions thrusting Adam Zmith into a history of toe-botherers who will guide the reader through the sex archives, the online forums and a millennium of art, with his trademark queer lens.
  Solemates will bring to light the history of this peculiarly popular kink. From Tarantino films to Bible stories, from Renaissance paintings to OnlyFans, Solemates is the rich and messy tale of our obsession with everything below the ankle, and what it reveals about how we view our bodies and our sex lives.

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  While Idaho Slept - The Hunt for...

  J. Reuben Appelman

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  The author of the acclaimed true-crime memoir, The Kill Jar, tells the inside story of the “University of Idaho Murders,” offering a memorable, thoughtful dive into our societal fascination with true crime, the media’s seeming blood-frenzy, and the future of homicide investigations, while cultivating an intimate look into the minds and hearts of the victims and their suspected killer alike.  
  Just after 4:00 am on November 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students were viciously stabbed to death in an off-campus house. The killings would shake the small blue-collar college town of Moscow, Idaho, dominate mainstream news coverage, and become a social media obsession, drawing millions of clicks and views. While a reticent Moscow Police Department, the FBI, and the Idaho State Police searched for the killer, unending conjecture and countless theories blazed online, in chatrooms and platforms from Reddit and YouTube to Facebook and TikTok. For more than a month, the clash of armchair investigators and law enforcement professionals raged, until a suspect—a 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate studying criminology—was arrested at his family home 2,500 miles away in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania on the day before New Year’s Eve. 
  While Idaho Slept is a thought-provoking, literary chronicle of a small-town murder investigation blistering beneath the unceasing light of international interest, as traditional investigators, citizen sleuths, and the true-crime media acted—sometimes together, often in conflict—to uncover the truth. As J. Reuben Appelman brings this terrible crime into focus, he humanizes the four victims, examining the richness of their lives, dissects the mind and motivations of their presumed killer, and explores the world of northern Idaho, a rugged, deeply conservative stronghold steeped in Christian values and American patriotism.  
  Going deep inside the case, Appelman addresses a crucial question: With so many millions of citizens armed by access and hungry to take part in a true crime hunt of their own, has the nature of homicide investigations permanently changed? Rising above the sensational, While Idaho Slept illuminates the intrinsic connection between today’s media, citizen sleuths, our societal mania for murder tales, and an impatient public’s insatiable appetite for spectacle as never before. Running beneath, the pulse of the story is a heartbreaking narrative of the people we love, the dreams we all share, and the uncertain time left for sharing them. 
   

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  On Dreams

  Aristotle

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  In his treatise On Dreams, Aristotle offers a detailed analysis of the phenomenon of dreaming. He begins by outlining the different types of dreams that people experience, before going on to explore the causes and purposes of dreaming. Aristotle's account of dreaming is both nuanced and insightful, offering a rich understanding of this common human experience. His work remains relevant today, as it provides a valuable perspective on the nature of dreams and their significance in our lives. Read in English, unabridged.

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