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  Shades A Phantasy - Ukranian...

  Vladimir Korolenko

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  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire on 27th July 1853. 
   
  His father died when he was 13 and life was then often struck with bouts of poverty, which resulted in his education being somewhat erratic.   A spell in exile at 23 was followed by another as the politics of the times opposed his volatile but heart-felt passions. 
   
  Writing was also coming to the fore and in 1879 his debut short story telling of a young Narodnik searching for social and spiritual identity, was published. 
   
  In 1881, Korolenko refused to swear allegiance to the new Russian Tsar and was again exiled, this time much farther afield.  He spent the next three years doing manual work, but took time to study local customs and history.  These impressions in exile provided rich material for his writings. 
   
  In 1885 he was allowed to settle in Nizhny, where again he repeatedly questioned the authorities.  That same year ‘Makar's Dream’ established his literary reputation and was part of his first collection ‘Sketches and Stories’, the following year. 
   
  In the early 1890’s when famine struck Central Russia, he went to work on relief missions, collecting donations, supervising the delivery and distribution of food, opening 45 free canteens, all this while writing the graphic reports that would later be published as ‘In the Year of Famine’ in 1893. 
   
  By 1896 despite some psychological disorders, he was well regarded amongst Russian writers and was even a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Throughout his writing career Korolenko was a staunch advocate of human rights, putting that sacred activity above what he called his 'part-time-writing'. 
   
  In the Revolutionary year of 1905, under his editorship, Russkoye Bogatstvo published the Manifest by the Petersburg Soviet of the Workers' deputies. Korolenko was now repeatedly harassed by the authorities, had his flat raided many times and materials confiscated. 
   
  As a lifetime opponent of Tsarism, he guardedly welcomed the Revolution of 1917.  Once the nature of Bolshevism was established, he soon started to criticize it. During the Russian Civil War that ensued, he condemned both the Red Terror and the White Terror.  
   
  Despite suffering from a progressive heart disorder, he collected food packages for children in famine-stricken Moscow and Petrograd as well as organised orphanages and shelters for the homeless.  
   
  Vladimir Korolenko died in Poltava, Ukraine, of the complications of pneumonia on 25th December 1921.  He was 68. 
   
  In this story Korolenko invokes the characters of Socrates and Elpidias who, after their deaths, involve themselves in a debate on God.  This is a tour-de-force of conception and execution.

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  Original Method Actors The: The...

  Editors Charles River

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  It would be no exaggeration to say that James Dean has been more mythologized than any other actor in history, a development due more to his off-screen personality and conduct than the films he actually starred in. Much of Dean’s appeal derives from his humble and ordinary origins, and audiences are drawn to the romance of the Indiana farm boy who catapulted to the top of the motion picture industry in a single year — the same year that would see him die. 	Of course, James Dean remains well-known for being anything but humble and ordinary. As famous as his films are, Dean’s story is inextricably tied to his love for racing cars and his death in a high speed car crash.  
  Marlon Brando. Few names in the acting profession evoke such a strong, almost visceral reaction. Over the course of his long, prolific career, he was considered perhaps the greatest actor of the 20th century as well as one of the most complicated and misunderstood. Uniquely able to be both emotionally charged and technically constrained in the same performance, he single-handedly changed the direction of not only the American style of acting, influencing successors such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and even Johnny Depp, but the acting profession on a global scale. His iconic interpretations of characters such as Stanley Kowalski (A Streetcar Named Desire), Terry Malloy (On the Waterfront) and Vito Corleone (The Godfather) have been forever burned into the collective memory of film and theatre aficionados, scholars and critics for their immense passion, rage, love, defiance, vulnerability, cruelty and tenderness – basically, the full spectrum of the human condition. With several Oscars and Golden Globes to his name, Brando’s contributions remain the gold standard of the acting craft, and the American Film Institute has listed him as the 4th greatest screen legend in history.  

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  The Sultan's Sex Potions - Arab...

  Daniel L. Newman

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  Arabic erotic literature has a long and rich history, which goes back as far as the ninth century. Far from being the pursuit of prurient pornographers, eroticism and sexuality received considerable attention from scholars.
  Written by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201 - 1274), one of the leading scientists of the age, The Sultan's Sex Potions is part of a relatively small group of works devoted to aphrodisiacs, as well as sexual stimulants, sexual practices and positions. Sober and measured in tone, the work was intended to be a manual, which would allow the patient to dispense with the services of a physician. Written at the request of the ruler, its potions, electuaries, syrups and enemas enjoyed a 'royal warrant of appointment' to arouse the lust for coitus and enhance sexual potency.
  This bilingual volume includes a critical edition of three manuscripts (Berlin, Cairo and Glasgow) and is accompanied by a translation, as well as an introduction to Arabic erotic literature, a biography of the author and extensive indexes.

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  Visual Friendlies Tally Target -...

  Ethan Brown

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  "Brown has taken an incredibly complex subject and made it accessible and readable, all while retaining the gravity of history and the sheer intensity of these battlefields. Airpower became a fundamental warfighting tool in the Global War on Terror, and its success depended on the community of JTACs whose experiences populate this important work. They are the unsung heroes of the post-9/11 wars America needs to meet." —David L. Goldfein, General (Ret.), USAF, 21st Chief of Staff 
   
   
   
  With a new century and a new enemy came a new kind of war: low intensity and civilian-dominated, blending austere rural and dense urban environments alike. Into this new kind of war, the American military launched two invasions against terrorist networks and military rivals, relying on airpower—close air support (CAS)—at a scale never before seen. 
   
   
   
  The Global War on Terror was the "CAS war." Forward Air Controllers were on the front lines, directing airstrikes against enemies in their safe havens, safeguarding friendly forces and civilians alike to their utmost, and achieving unprecedented success with limited resources. This volume captures the heroic accounts of the first Tactical Air Control Party (TACPs) in Afghanistan and Iraq, and how Close Air Support fundamentally reshaped the American war machine in the first five years of the War on Terror.

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  Wang Mingdao - Evangelical Hero

  Joel R. Beeke, Douglas Bond

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  What do George Whitefield, Elisabeth Elliot, and J. Gresham Machen have in common? They were all Evangelical Heroes. In the Evangelical Heroes series, Joel Beeke and Douglas Bond present thirty biographical sketches of faithful evangelical leaders from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. From George Whitfield to Charles Spurgeon to R.C. Sproul, these men and women held firm to the authority of Scripture and the reality of Christ's death and resurrection in the face of rising liberalism in the Church. These inspiring volumes introduce us to faithful Christians from the past and encourage us to stand firm today!

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  A Grand Slam for God - A Journey...

  Burke Masters

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  Burke Masters had the perfect game plan for his life: he was going to become a Major League Baseball player. As a star infielder for Mississippi State with a game-winning grand slam to help his team reach the College World Series, he was well on his way to the career of his dreams. But little did he know that his life-changing call would not be from a recruiter to join the Major Leagues—it would be from God to become a priest.   In this page-turning memoir, Fr. Burke takes readers on an intimate personal journey—from his childhood outside of Chicago, to his success in baseball, to his conversion to Catholicism, and finally, to his acceptance of his vocation. Amid severe doubt and personal loss, he learned to embrace his fundamental identity—not as an athlete, but as a beloved son of God and a spiritual father to God’s people. Fr. Burke’s story is a powerful reminder that God’s plan for us is so much greater than our own; that it fulfills our dreams in ways greater than we could have imagined; and that if we only have the courage to say yes, every moment is an opportunity for a grand slam for God. 

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