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The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 23: 1 January-31 May 1792 (PDF) (Papers of Thomas Jefferson #23)
by Thomas Jefferson Charles T. CullenThis volume deals with an unusually active, dramatic period during Thomas Jefferson's tenure as Secretary of State.
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 24: 1 June-31 December 1792
by Thomas Jefferson John CatanzaritiThis volume finds Thomas Jefferson grappling with problems arising from the radicalization of the French Revolution in Europe and the polarization of domestic politics in the United States. The overthrow of the French monarchy leads the Secretary of State to suspend debt payments to that nation and to formulate a diplomatic recognition policy that will long guide American diplomacy. After an abortive effort to initiate negotiations with the British minister in Philadelphia on the execution of the Treaty of Paris, Jefferson deflects a British proposal to establish a neutral Indian barrier state in the Northwest Territory. As he awaits the start of negotiations on major diplomatic issues with Spain, he deals with a Spanish effort to incite hostilities between the Southern Indians and the United States. The conflict between Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton reaches a new stage when the Secretary of the Treasury brings the cabinet struggle into full public view with four series of pseudonymous newspaper attacks on Jefferson. In letters to President Washington, Jefferson insists that Hamiltonian policies pose a fundamental threat to American republicanism, and in other documents he sets forth remedies for the defects he sees in Hamilton's system. During this period he also finds time to investigate the ravages of the Hessian fly on American wheat and to make plans to remodel Monticello.
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 24: 1 June-31 December 1792 (PDF) (Papers of Thomas Jefferson #24)
by Thomas Jefferson John CatanzaritiThis volume finds Thomas Jefferson grappling with problems arising from the radicalization of the French Revolution in Europe and the polarization of domestic politics in the United States. The overthrow of the French monarchy leads the Secretary of State to suspend debt payments to that nation and to formulate a diplomatic recognition policy that will long guide American diplomacy. After an abortive effort to initiate negotiations with the British minister in Philadelphia on the execution of the Treaty of Paris, Jefferson deflects a British proposal to establish a neutral Indian barrier state in the Northwest Territory. As he awaits the start of negotiations on major diplomatic issues with Spain, he deals with a Spanish effort to incite hostilities between the Southern Indians and the United States. The conflict between Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton reaches a new stage when the Secretary of the Treasury brings the cabinet struggle into full public view with four series of pseudonymous newspaper attacks on Jefferson. In letters to President Washington, Jefferson insists that Hamiltonian policies pose a fundamental threat to American republicanism, and in other documents he sets forth remedies for the defects he sees in Hamilton's system. During this period he also finds time to investigate the ravages of the Hessian fly on American wheat and to make plans to remodel Monticello.
A Passionate Apprentice: The Early Journals 1897-1909
by Virginia WoolfA Passionate Apprentice comprises the first years of Virginia Woolf's Journal - from 1879 to 1909. Beginning in early January, when Woolf was almost fifteen, the pages open at a time when she was slowly recovering from a period of madness following her mother's death in May 1895. Between this January and the autumn of 1904, Woolf would suffer the deaths of her half-sister and of her father, and survive a summer of madness and suicidal depression. Behind the loss and confusion, however, and always near the surface of her writing is a constructive force at work - a powerful impulse towards health. It was an urge, through writing, to bring order and continuity out of chaos. Putting things into words and giving them deliberate expression had the effect of restoring reality to much that might otherwise have remained insubstantial. This early chronicle represents the beginning of the future Virginia Woolf's apprenticeship as a novelist. These pages show that rare instance when a writer of great importance leaves behind not only the actual documents of an apprenticeship, but also a biographical record of that momentous period as well. In Woolf's words, 'Here is a volume of fairly acute life (the first really lived year of my life).'
Quench the Lamp
by Alice TaylorA classic memoir from Ireland’s favourite storyteller. Here Taylor follows To School Through The Fields with these equally captivating recollections of family life in pastorial County Cork. Infused with wit and lyricism, the story centres on the 1950's when the author and her friends were teenagers. She describes the past vividly and without complaint as the years of hard labour for herself, parents and siblings, were also filled with fun in the close knit community.
Riding Through The Storm: My Fight Back to Fitness on the Tour de France
by Geoff ThomasGeoff Thomas's heroic battle to overcome leukaemia, and then take on the toughest sporting challenge: to ride the Tour de FranceWhen Geoff Thomas struggled to play a friendly game of tennis while on holiday in Mallorca in May 2003, he thought little of it. Recently retired as a footballer, he believed it was a sign of ageing and perhaps a pulled muscle. But when the pain wouldn't go away, his wife Julie persuaded him to go to a doctor. He was diagnosed as having leukaemia.RIDING THROUGH THE STORM focuses on his journey round the Tour de France in the summer of 2005, riding the 2,240-mile course in the 21 days it takes Lance Armstrong and all the top cyclists, despite never having cycled much before. Despite the odds against him achieving it, he rode the course and raised nearly £200,000 for charity. As he rides, he looks back on his successful career as a footballer, and the bone-marrow transplant that saved his life. This is a powerful, moving and inspirational story of extraordinary achievement.
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe: New Reflections
by Benjamin PogrundA collection of thought-provoking and moving essays on Robert Sobukwe, commissioned and edited by his biographer and friend Benjamin Pogrund. Sobukwe was a lecturer, lawyer, founding member and first president of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and Robben Island prisoner.
A Touch of Treason
by Ian Hamilton, QCThis is the swashbuckling life story of one of Scotland's greatest sons. Ian Hamilton, born the son of a Paisley tailor in 1925, who made himself world-famous on Xmas Eve, 1950, when he helped to remove the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey and return it to its spiritual home of Scotland.This symbolic act was to set Hamilton along a lonely path as a solitary Scottish patriot whose actions have always stemmed from his deep love of his native land. He has never taken the easy option and his remarkable biography recounts episodes which encompass his many abilities and talents.Although renowned as a Queen's Counsel, he has also been a publisher, printer, award-winning playwright, oyster farmer, pilot, museum curator and transatlantic yachtsman (failed). He was also the first man to canoe across Scotland. His legal responsibilities took him to countries as diverse as Canada and Zambia, from both of which he was expelled. First published in 1990 but now with a final chapter written in May 2014 and a foreword by socialist agitator and independence campaigner Tommy Sheridan, Ian's story is extremely pertinent in the run up to the independence referendum.This popular biography is a cry for Scottish identity at a turning point in the nation's history.
True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny
by Patrick Robinson Daniel TopolskiStrikingly reminiscent of Chariots of Fire, this classic bestseller tells the story of the sporting event which shook both Oxford University and its Boat Club to the very foundations during the harsh winter of 1986/7.A group of American students arrives at Oxford, hoping to put some steel into a Boat Race crew still reeling from their recent humiliating defeat at the hands of Cambridge. But disagreements over training methods soon bring to a head a bitter clash between the elected President of the Dark Blues and a fiery-tempered rower from California. Much more than the race is at stake in this clash between the amateur sporting tradition of the Boat Race and New World big-star sportsmanship. In the resulting battle, which made headline news worldwide, the rebels, having failed to remove the Boat Club President, pull out six weeks before the race. Can Oxford Coach Topolski, against all odds, mould an inexperienced and demoralized reserve crew of no-hopers into a winning team?
War and Turpentine: A Novel
by Stefan Hertmans David McKayWINNER OF THE VONDEL PRIZE 2017 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE Selected as a Book of the Year 2016 in The Times, Sunday Times and The Economist, and one of the 10 Best Books of 2016 in the New York TimesShortly before his death, Stefan Hertmans' grandfather Urbain Martien gave his grandson a set of notebooks containing the detailed memories of his life. He grew up in poverty around 1900, the son of a struggling church painter who died young, and went to work in an iron foundry at only 13. Afternoons spent with his father at work on a church fresco were Urbain’s heaven; the iron foundry an inferno.During the First World War, Urbain was on the front line confronting the invading Germans, and ever after he is haunted by events he can never forget. The war ends and he marries his great love, Maria Emelia, but she dies tragically in the 1919 flu epidemic. Urbain mourns her bitterly for the rest of his life but, like the obedient soldier he is, he marries her sister at her parents' bidding. The rest is not quite silence, but a marriage with a sad secret at its heart, and the consolations found in art and painting. War and Turpentine is the imaginative reconstruction of a damaged life across the tumultuous decades of the twentieth century; a deeply moving portrayal of family, grief, love and war.
Will: The Sunday Times Bestselling Autobiography
by Will Smith Mark MansonThe Instant Sunday Times BestsellerThe Instant #1 New York Times BestsellerPRAISE FOR WILL'The best memoir I ever read' Oprah Winfrey'If you read one book this year, make it this one' Jay Shetty'Incredible' Idris Elba'The book is awesome. So candid and considered...fascinating' Chris Evans'A triumph...really inspiring, so well written, vulnerable and deep. I highly recommend it' Mindy Kaling'It's fantastic...very moving' Zoe Ball'Incredibly honest...inspiring' Greg James'A wild ride' New York Times'Raw, comedic, inspirational' GQOne of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.Will Smith's transformation from a fearful child in a tense West Philadelphia home to one of the biggest rap stars of his era and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, with a string of box office successes that will likely never be broken, is an epic tale of inner transformation and outer triumph, and Will tells it astonishingly well. But it's only half the story. Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn't see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn't signed up for. It turned out Will Smith's education wasn't nearly over. This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Will is the story of how one exceptional man mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world's biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself.'Bracingly honest, vivid and compelling ... how an average talent became the biggest movie star in the world' The Times'The Hollywood star's autobiography is full of indiscretions, drug-fuelled escapades and terrible parenting. Who could ask for more?' Telegraph'It's not every day a Hollywood A-lister like Will Smith writes his life story - and there are certainly some eye-popping revelations' Sun'Candid ... digs into the life events which fine-tuned Smith's weapons-grade charisma and steely determination' Observer'I absolutely loved it...no holds barred...I felt as if Will Smith was talking to me. It's a testament to him and to his family' Lorraine Kelly
William Tryon and the Course of Empire: A Life in British Imperial Service
by Paul David NelsonWilliam Tryon's role in the affairs of British America during the last years of the empire, and his inability to stem the collapse of that empire, makes for a fascinating story. Royal governor of North Carolina from 1765 to 1771 and then of New York from 1771 to 1780, Tryon became a general in the British army attempting to quell the American rebellion. This biography covers his life in service to the Crown through the end of the American Revolution.Paul Nelson argues that Tryon was a talented colonial administrator and a successful, even popular, governor largely because he understood American thinking on such basic constitutional issues as taxation, finance, and trade policy. British home authorities failed to follow Tryon's sage counsel regarding the governance of the colonies, advice that might have forestalled the Revolution. In particular, Tryon, like Edmund Burke and others in Parliament, could not convince British ministers that Americans would never accept internal taxes imposed upon them by London.Once the war broke out and Tryon's role changed from governing to leading Loyalist American troops, he was an advocate of harsh, retributive warfare against his former charges. Nelson follows Tryon's military career, especially his debates with colleagues such as Sir Henry Clinton on the wisdom of hard-line versus conciliatory approach to the fighting. And after the war, Nelson shows, Tryon's connections with those unfortunate Americans who came out on the losing side of the great imperial struggle retained an important place in his life. An exciting drama in its own right, Tryon's story also serves to illuminate a number of issues important to historians of the Revolutionary War. Played out on two continents and in two important American colonies, amid the stirring events that resulted in the formation of the United States of America, Tryon's life is significant for understanding many aspects of politics and society in the Anglo-American world of the eighteenth century.Originally published in 1990.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
A Year in Provence (Popular Penguins Series)
by Peter MayleThe bestselling, much-loved classic account of an English couple enjoying the fruits of French rural living - an irresistible feast of humour and heart.Peter Mayle and his wife did what most of us only imagine doing when they made their long-cherished dream of a life abroad a reality: throwing caution to the wind, they bought a glorious two hundred year-old farmhouse in the Lubéron Valley and began a new life.In a year that begins with a marathon lunch and continues with a host of gastronomic delights, they also survive the unexpected and often hilarious curiosities of rural life. From mastering the local accent and enduring invasion by bumbling builders, to discovering the finer points of boules and goat-racing, all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life are conjured up in this enchanting portrait.'One of the most successful travel books of all time... Mayle created a new travel genre' GuardianDelightful' Washington Post'Engaging, funny and richly appreciative' New York Times Book Review'Stylish, witty, delightfully readable' Sunday Times'I really loved this book' Julia Child
You're Still A Doctor, Doctor!: "there You Are, Doctor!", "on Holiday Again, Doctor?", "you're Still A Doctor, Doctor!" (The Dr Clifford Chronicles #Vol. 2799)
by Dr Robert CliffordThe greatest joys of retiring, writes Dr Bob, are not having to get up early in the morning, not having to work at weekends and, above all, not being called out of bed at night. He should have added that it gives him more time to dip into his rich fund of lighthearted stories of wit, wisdom and the world at large.You're Still a Doctor, Doctor! gives us amusing insights into his medical career, and the writing and broadcasting career, and the writing and broadcasting career that took him under the spotlights and into some very embarrassing situations indeed . . .He also paints colourful pictures of patients and colleagues, records time spent messing about on boats, and the hilarious adventures of holidays abroad where he met, amongst countless others a man from Wolverhampton who married an eskimo . . .
You've Had Your Time: The Second Part Of The Confessions (Virago Modern Classics)
by Anthony BurgessAfter returning from a trip to Brunei, Anthony Burgess, initially believing he has only a year to live, begins to write - novels, film scripts, television series, articles. It is the life of a man desperate to earn a living through the written word. He finds at first that writing brings little success, and later that success, and the obligations it brings, interfere with his writing - especially of fiction. There were vast Hollywood projects destined never to be made, novels the critics snarled at, journalism that scandalised the morally scrupulous.There is the éclat of A Clockwork Orange (and the consequent calls for Burgess to comment on violent atrocities), the huge success - after a long barren period - of Earthly Powers. There is a terrifying first marriage, his description of which is both painful and funny. His second marriage - and the discovery that he has a four-year-old son - changes his life dramatically, and he and Liana escape to the Mediterranean, for an increasingly European life. With this marriage comes the triumphant rebirth of sex, creative energy and travel - to America, to Australia and all over Europe.
The Adoption Papers (PDF)
by Jackie KayJackie Kay tells the story of a black girl's adoption by a white Scottish couple, from three different viewpoints: the mother, the birth mother, and the daughter.
Aircrew: Dramatic, first-hand accounts from World War 2 bomber pilots and crew
by Bruce LewisA vivid, first-hand account of the tension and excitement of flying missions over Nazi GermanyThe British and American bomber crews of the Second World War often had to endure the most terrifying conditions. Not for them the glorious, all-or-nothing exhilaration of the Battle of Britain pilots - rather, the slow dwindling of courage as mission followed mission, the long, freezing, ear-shattering journey to the target, the bursting flak, the prowling night fighters. Then, if they were lucky, the long haul home, sometimes nursing a battered, barely flyable machine, often perilously short of fuel.Bruce Lewis flew in thirty-six such raids. In this book he records, in his own words and those of his fellow survivors, the events that made operational flying such a fearful experience.This is a blisteringly honest account of life for the Second World War bombers.
All the Living and the Dead: A Personal Investigation into the Death Trade
by Hayley Campbell'This is an absorbing and important book, seeking out stories so many shy away from and telling them with such respect, humanity, heart and, yes, wit. Without exaggeration, an awe-inspiring achievement' Nigella Lawson'A gentle book and, like death itself, sometimes an unexpectedly kind one' - Neil GaimanWe are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we're so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look? Fuelled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending 62 lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.Through Campbell's incisive and candid interviews with these people who see death every day, she asks: Why would someone choose this kind of life? Does it change you as a person? And are we missing something vital by letting death remain hidden?A dazzling work of cultural criticism, All the Living and the Dead weaves together reportage with memoir, history, and philosophy, to offer readers a fascinating look into the psychology of Western death.'Campbell is a gorgeous writer, capturing the exquisite pathos and gallows humour found in folks who spend their lives working with the dead' - Caitlin Doughty, New York Times bestselling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Angel of Darkness: The True Story of Randy Kraft and the Most Heinous Murder Spree
by Dennis McDougalRandy Kraft was highly intelligent, politically active, loyal to his friends, committed to his work--and the killer of 67 people--more than any other serial killer known. This book offers a glimpse into the dark mind of a living monster. "To open this book is to open a peephole into hell".--Associated Press. Photographs.
Aquinas: An Introduction to the Life and Work of the Great Medieval Thinker
by F. CoplestonAquinas (1224-74) lived at a time when the Christian West was opening up to a wealth of Greek and Islamic philosophical speculation. An embodiment of the thirteenth-century ideal of a unified interpretation of reality (in which philosophy and theology work together in harmony), Aquinas was remarkable for the way in which he used and developed this legacy of ancient thought—an achievement which led his contemporaries to regard him as an advanced thinker. Father Copleston's lucid and stimulating book examines this extraordinary man—whose influence is perhaps greater today than in his own lifetime—and his thought, relating his ideas wherever possible to problems as they are discussed today.
Autobiographical Voices: Race, Gender, Self-Portraiture (Reading Women Writing)
by Françoise LionnetAdopting a boldly innovative approach to women’s autobiographical writing, Françoise Lionnet here examines the rhetoric of self-portraiture in works by authors who are bilingual or multilingual or of mixed races or cultures. Autobiographical Voices offers incisive readings of texts by Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Marie Cardinal, Maryse Condé, Marie-Thérèse Humbert, Augustine, and Nietzsche.
Born Fighter
by Reg KrayReg Kray is one of Britain's most notorious criminals. Together with his brother Ron, he rose through the ranks of London's East End gangland to run an evil empire of vice and villainy. But, after half a lifetime behind bars, Reg wants to set the record straight. Here, in his own words, is the true story of his life as one half of a criminal double act with his brother Ron, the chilling career of two street-wise kids who became standard-bearers of violence - from fire-bombings to shootings and cold-blooded murder. But here too is the inner voice of a one-time mobster who learned compassion through his own struggle to come to terms with a life sentence.
Cardinal Newman
by Michael FfinchThe fascinating and insightful biography of one of the most intriguing, thoughtful and controversial figures of the 19th century.'Growth is the only evidence of life' - so said poet, academic and theologian John Henry, Cardinal Newman. Canonised in 2019 (despite having said 'I have nothing of the saint about me'), Newman was an important and controversial figure in the religious history of the 19th century.This highly lyrical and accomplished biography not only covers his religious life (he played a vital role in the Oxford Movement, and subsequently converted to Catholicism), but also places him in the context of 19th-century religious revival and changing attitudes. In addition to his sometimes controversial teachings, Cardinal Newman was also a poet who wrote the text of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius and was responsible for the foundation of the Oratorian Order in England.Michael Ffinch shows an unusual insight into Newman's character, finding an unexpected warmth and humour in a man often thought of as cold and austere. This fascinating biography also shows a deep understanding of a church emerging from dark centuries of persecution and misunderstanding into the light of what Newman himself chose to call 'The Second Spring'.
Conflicts Of Interest: Diaries 1977-80
by Tony BennIn this, the fourth volume of Tony Benn’s diaries, the Labour Government continues its fight for survival. Important developments are occurring both at home and internationally. In Britain, Benn as Secretary of State for Energy is directly involved with Windscale and decisions about nuclear power and oil policy. Abroad, the Government is concerned with Carter’s reappraisal of American foreign policy, the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and problems of EEC membership.In the Labour party itself, new forces of radicalism and reform are emerging, resulting in changes in Labour’s policies and the ultimate formation of the SDP.Labour’s unsuccessful economic policy and the widening rift with the labour movement lead to the Winter of Discontent and a near state of emergency. With Labour voters defecting, the scene is set for the Thatcher years.
The Duke: Portrait Of Prince Phillip
by Tim HealdTHE DUKE is the biography of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, a celebrity in his own right and yet an enigma still, even after 60 years in the public eye. What is he really like? Bombastic, autocratic, say his critics. Colourful, stimulating, say his admirers.Tim Heald was given a unique opportunity to find out for himself. Not for twenty years had a biographer been allowed such access to talk to Prince Philip and watch him at work - still very much a man in a hurry, still speaking and questioning on an astonishing variety of subjects and treading the most impossible tightrope between the breezy informality which he first introduced to the royal family and the parade-ground traditions which he has had to accept. And members of the royal family - among them the Queen Mother, Princes Margaret, Princess Anne and his only surviving sister, Princess Sophie - also share with Heald their thoughts on the man who started life as Philip of Greece, one of a royal family who were deposed and exiled while he was still an infant. Many other witnesses reveal for the first time the Prince Philip they know. His early days in exile, at schools in France, in England and in Germany - where he had first-hand experience of the 'unpleasant habits' of the Nazis, and then in Scotland at the newly founded Gordonstoun. His service with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War Two. His engagement in 1947 to Princess Elizabeth, twenty-one-year-old daughter of King George VI. As TIm Heald observes, Prince Philip swiftly emerged as very much his own man, winning over one or two doubters within the Court who might have preferred a home-grown aristocrat as husband to the future Queen. Written with the co-operation of Buckingham Palace, THE DUKE is a brilliantly informed portrait of a life that has been independent of, but fully supportive to the Queen.