Otros libros que te pueden interesar

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  Pin Action

  Gianmarc Manzione

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  Most of us think of bowling as a 'sport' in quotation marks, and bowling alleys are places with disco balls, matching shirts, and funny shoes. But in the 1960s, New York City was the center of 'action bowling,' a form of high-stakes gambling in which bowlers - often teenagers - faced off for thousands of dollars every night. When money like that is changing hands, you can bet the pressure is on (and the balls are rigged), and losses come with dire consequences. But for a few kids, the world of action bowling would turn out to be a ticket off the mean streets and onto the Professional Bowlers Association Tour. For Ernie Schlegel, it would be a chance to shed his hustler ways and become a bona fide champion.

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  Reflections on Captivity - A...

  Porter Alexander Halyburton

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  On October 17, 1965, Navy LTJG Porter Halyburton was shot down over North Vietnam and listed as killed in action. One-and-a-half years later, he was found to be alive and a prisoner of war. Halyburton was held captive for more than seven years. Reflections on Captivity is a collection of fifty short stories about this naval officer's experiences as a POW in North Vietnam.This book recounts difficult times but focuses more on the positive aspects—the humor, creativity, friendships, courage, and leadership of an amazing group of Americans and how they helped each other survive and even thrive. These vignettes demonstrate how the human mind, body, and spirit can adapt and find meaning in life in the most challenging circumstances. There are powerful lessons learned from this complex experience that continue to guide the author's life to this day. Despite hardship, suffering, and long separation, Halyburton strongly believes one's quality of life is determined more by choices made than by circumstances, and the most liberating choice we can make is to forgive.Reflections on Captivity furthers the listener's understanding about the nature of captivity, race relations, human relations, aspects of the air war against North Vietnam, and highlights the importance of leadership, ethics, and devotion to duty in difficult times.

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  What Blest Genius - The Jubilee...

  Andrew McConnel Stott

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  In September 1769, three thousand people descended on Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate the artistic legacy of the town’s most famous son, William Shakespeare. Attendees included the rich and powerful, the fashionable and the curious, eligible ladies and fortune hunters, and a horde of journalists and profiteers. For three days, they paraded through garlanded streets, listened to songs and oratorios, and enjoyed masked balls. It was a unique cultural moment—a coronation elevating Shakespeare to the throne of genius.Except it was a disaster. The poorly planned Jubilee imposed an army of Londoners on a backwater hamlet peopled by hostile and superstitious locals, unable and unwilling to meet their demands. Even nature refused to behave. Rain fell in sheets, flooding tents and dampening fireworks, and threatening to wash the whole town away.Told from the dual perspectives of David Garrick, who masterminded the Jubilee, and James Boswell, who attended it, What Blest Genius? is rich with humor, gossip, and theatrical intrigue. Recounting the absurd and chaotic glory of those three days in September, Andrew McConnell Stott illuminates the circumstances in which William Shakespeare became a transcendent global icon.

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  Learning My Lines: An Autobiography

  Ray Brooks

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  Learning My Lines by Ray Brooks.  'Ray Brooks’ acting career has spanned more than four decades, from his breakthrough role in iconic 1960s film The Knack, to infamy as the murderer of Pauline Fowler in EastEnders.  The diary Ray wrote while working on EastEnders provides us with a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes at Albert Square, and also prompts Ray to take dips into his past: growing up in Brighton with his bus conductress mother, working with Ken Loach on the ground-breaking BBC drama, Cathy Come Home, fighting off Daleks in Dr Who and starring as gambler Robbie Box in the hit TV show Big Deal.  His theatrical tales cover early days in rep, almost appearing in The Sound of Music, and working on classic comedies by Alan Ayckbourn and Tom Stoppard. To a whole generation, Ray Brooks is the voice of Mr Benn, the popular children’s animated series, and his seductive tones have also been used to persuade us to buy everything from margarine to lemonade – until Terry Wogan got in on the act!  But as the accolades build up over the years, so do the insecurities: What job will I get when this one finishes? That fat, bald bloke on the screen surely can’t be me? Can I still learn lines? Revealing the vulnerability of an actor’s life, this candid account is full of down-to-earth humour and captivating honesty.

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  The Letters of Joe Hill

  Joe Hill

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  The legendary songwriter and labor rights activist reveals his personal struggles and political philosophy in this collection of letters. 
   
  As a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, Joe Hill dedicated his life to the union cause. The original bard of the working class, he spread a message of solidarity and struggle through unforgettable, bitingly satirical songs. But after a suspicious arrest and controversial trial, Hill was convicted of murder in 1914. A year later, he was put to death by the capitalist state. 
   
  In this collection of letters, many of which were written from prison in Salt Lake City, readers get to know the man behind the legendary songs. Hill corresponds with friends and fellow workers, discussing his case, his life, his music, and cheering on the Wobblies even as he faces death. 
   
  “Joe Hill's influence is everywhere. Without Joe Hill, there's no Woody Guthrie, no Dylan, no Springsteen, no Clash, no Public Enemy, no Minor Threat, no System of a Down, no Rage Against the Machine.” —Tom Morello, from the foreword

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  Mischief in Greenland - Only a...

  H.W. Tilman

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  'Only a man in the devil of a hurry would wish to fly to his mountains, forgoing the lingering pleasure and mounting excitement of a slow, arduous approach under his own exertions.'
  H.W. 'Bill' Tilman's mountain travel philosophy, rooted in Africa and the Himalaya and further developed in his early sailing adventures in the southern hemisphere, was honed to perfection with his discovery of Greenland as the perfect sailing destination. His Arctic voyages in the pilot cutter Mischief proved no less challenging than his earlier southern voyages. The shorter elapsed time made it rather easier to find a crew but the absence of warm tropical passages meant that similar levels of hardship were simply compressed into a shorter timescale.
  First published fifty years before political correctness became an accepted rule, Mischief in Greenland is a treasure trove of Tilman's observational wit. In this account of his first two West Greenland voyages, he pulls no punches with regard to the occasional failings, leaving the reader to seek out and discover the numerous achievements of these voyages. The highlight of the second voyage was the identification, surveying and successful first ascent of Mount Raleigh, first observed on the eastern coast of Baffin Island by the Elizabethan explorer John Davis in 1585. For the many sailors and climbers who have since followed his lead and ventured north into those waters, Tilman provides much practical advice, whether from his own observations or those of Davis and the inimitable Captain Lecky. Tilman's typical gift of understatement belies his position as one of the greatest explorers and adventurers of the twentieth century.

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