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Irving Babbitt: An Intellectual Study
by Thomas R. NevinFew men in America's intellectual history have sought as much as Irving Babbitt to be a crucible for the cultural values that America, expecially in its "progressive" epoch, had no inclination to receive. Over sixty years after his death, Babbitt remains a figure of controversy. He retains his reputation as a reactionary defender of genteel morality and taste, yet, as Thomas Nevin reminds us, he continues to be a scholar of importance and an erudite, forceful teacher who influenced -- among others -- T. S. Eliot, Van Wyck Brooks, Walter Lippmann, Austin Warren, and David Riesman.Nevin argues that the tradition Babbit represented did not so much uphold class mores as it urged that literature embody and inculcate discipline. In this book-length study of Babbitt's humanism, Nevin examines the controversial critic's attacks on collegiate educational reform, his literary and aesthetic criticism, his political philosophy of an "aristocratic democracy" and his fusion of humanism with Buddhism. Included in each chapter are substantial portions of Babbitt's unpublished correspondence with Paul Elmer More, letters that eloquently reveal points of agreement and difference between Babbitt's humanism and the theism that More came to espouse.Although this study reflects the variety of Babbitt's concerns, it concentrates on his major ideas: the need to maintain the dualism that is the legacy of the Western philosophical tradition, the imperative that critically sound standards of judgment be maintained in the individual and in society, and the affirmation of the human will against the reductive forces of materialistic ideologies. Humanism, as Babbitt defines it, opposes the ascendance of utilitarian science because the sciences, however legitimate in the area of phenomenal inquiry, as a secular faith supplant the traditional strength and appeal of cultural and religious standards. Literature itself under the influence of naturalism either reflects a mechanized, demoralized society or merely escapes aesthetically from its ugliness.With the reprinting of some of Babbitt's writings, scholars may now reassess his thought. Irving Babbitt should renew interest in a major American thinker and vindicate many of his arguments that apply to the problems of our own day.Originally published in 1984.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.
Irving Berlin: Songs from the Melting Pot: The Formative Years, 1907-1914
by Charles HammIrving Berlin remains a central figure in American music, a lyricist/composer whose songs are loved all over the world. His first piece, "Marie from Sunny Italy," was written in 1907, and his "Alexander's Ragtime Band" attracted more public and media attention than any other song of its decade. In later years Berlin wrote such classics as "God Bless America," "Blue Skies," "Always," "Cheek to Cheek," and the holiday favorites "White Christmas" and "Easter Parade." Jerome Kern, his fellow songwriter, commented that "Irving Berlin is American music." In Irving Berlin: The Formative Years, Charles Hamm traces the early years of this most famous and distinctive American songwriter. Beginning with Berlin's immigrant roots--he came to New York in 1893 from Russia--Hamm shows how the young Berlin quickly revealed the talent for music and lyrics that was to mark his entire career. Berlin first wrote for the vaudeville stage, turning out songs that drew on the various ethnic cultures of the city. These pieces, with their Jewish, Italian, German, Irish, and Black protagonists singing in appropriate dialects, reflected the urban mix of New York's melting pot. Berlin drew on various musical styles, especially ragtime, for such songs as "Alexander's Ragtime Band," and Hamm devotes an entire chapter to the song and its success. The book also details Berlin's early efforts to write for the Broadway musical stage, culminating in 1914 with his first musical comedy, Watch Your Step, featuring the popular dance team, Vernon and Irene Castle. A great hit on Broadway and in London, the show was a key piece in the Americanization of the musical comedy. Blessed with prodigious ambition and energy, Berlin wrote at least 4 or 5 new songs a week, many of which were discarded. He nevertheless published 190 songs between 1907 and 1914, an astonishing number considering that when Berlin arrived in America, he knew not a single word of English. As one writer reported, "there is scarcely a waking moment when Berlin is not engaged either in teaching his songs to a vaudeville player, or composing new ones." Early in his career, Irving Berlin brilliantly exploited the musical trends and influences of the day. Hamm shows how Berlin emerged from the vital and complex social and cultural scene of New York to begin his rise as America's foremost songwriter.
Irving Berlin: New York Genius (Jewish Lives)
by James KaplanFrom the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a fast†‘moving, musically astute portrait of arguably the greatest composer of American popular music Irving Berlin (1888–1989) has been called—by George Gershwin, among others—the greatest songwriter of the golden age of the American popular song. “Berlin has no place in American music,” legendary composer Jerome Kern wrote; “he is American music.” In a career that spanned an astonishing nine decades, Berlin wrote some fifteen hundred tunes, including “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “God Bless America,” and “White Christmas.” From ragtime to the rock era, Berlin’s work has endured in the very fiber of American national identity. Exploring the interplay of Berlin’s life with the life of New York City, noted biographer James Kaplan offers a visceral narrative of Berlin as self†‘made man and witty, wily, tough Jewish immigrant. This fast†‘paced, musically opinionated biography uncovers Berlin’s unique brilliance as a composer of music and lyrics. Masterfully written and psychologically penetrating, Kaplan’s book underscores Berlin’s continued relevance in American popular culture.About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award.More praise for Jewish Lives: “Excellent.” – New York times “Exemplary.” – Wall St. Journal “Distinguished.” – New Yorker “Superb.” – The Guardian
Is Anything Happening?: My Life as a Newsman
by Robin LustigIn the days before mobile phones, the internet and 24-hour news channels, the easiest way for a British foreign correspondent to find out what was going on in the world was to phone the local office of Reuters news agency and ask: 'Is anything happening?'That's how the award-winning BBC reporter and presenter Robin Lustig started out in journalism, working for Reuters as an agency man. During a distinguished career spanning more than forty years, he watched the world of news change beyond recognition, as he reported on terror attacks, wars and political coups.In this witty and illuminating memoir, Lustig looks back on his life as a newsman, from coming under fire in Pakistan to reporting on the fall of the Berlin Wall; from meeting Nelson Mandela to covering Princess Diana's sudden death.Back in the studio, Lustig lets us in through the BBC's back door for a candid, behind-the-scenes look at some of his triumphs and disasters working for the nation's favourite broadcaster. He writes of his childhood as the son of refugees from Nazi Germany and, drawing on thirty years of reporting about the Middle East, he comes to a startling conclusion about the establishment of the state of Israel.Astute, incisive and frequently hilarious, Is Anything Happening? is both an irresistible personal memoir and an insightful reflection on world events over the past forty-five years.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?: (And other concerns)
by Mindy Kaling‘Where have you been all our lives, Mindy?’ GlamourMindy Kaling has lived many lives: comedienne, actress, obedient child of immigrant professionals and, now, writer. With a blend of witty confessions and unscientific observations, Mindy writes about everything from being a timid young chubster afraid of her own bike to living the Hollywood life, dating, friendships and planning her own funeral – all executed with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls.‘Hilarious’ Elle
Is It Just Me?: The hilarious Sunday Times Bestseller
by Miranda HartA Sunday Times Number One Bestseller Miranda Hart will carry you along with the sheer force of her charm, bumbling cheer and charisma. - Sunday ExpressWell hello to you dear browser. Now I have your attention it would be rude if I didn't tell you a little about my literary feast. So, here is the thing: is it just me or does anyone else find that adulthood offers no refuge from the unexpected horrors, peculiar lack of physical coordination and sometimes unexplained nudity, that accompanied childhood and adolescence? Does everybody struggle with the hazards that accompany, say, sitting elegantly on a bar stool; using chopsticks; pretending to understand the bank crisis; pedicures - surely it's plain wrong for a stranger to fondle your feet? Or is it just me? I am proud to say I have a wealth of awkward experiences - from school days to life as an office temp - and here I offer my 18-year-old self (and I hope you too dear reader) some much needed caution and guidance on how to navigate life's rocky path. Because frankly where is the manual? The much needed manual to life. Well, fret not, for this is my attempt at one and let's call it, because it's fun, a Miran-ual. I thank you.
Is It Nation Time?: Contemporary Essays on Black Power and Black Nationalism
by Eddie S. GlaudeDuring the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Black Power movement provided the dominant ideological framework through which many young, poor, and middle-class blacks made sense of their lives and articulated a political vision for their futures. The legacy of the movement is still very much with us today in the various strands of black nationalism that originated from it; we witnessed its power in the 1995 Million Man March, and we see its more ambiguous effects in the persistent antagonisms among former participants in the civil rights coalition. Yet despite the importance of the Black Power movement, very few in-depth, balanced treatments of it exist. Is It Nation Time? gathers new and classic essays on the Black Power movement and its legacy by renowned thinkers who deal rigorously and unsentimentally with such issues as the commodification of blackness, the piety of cultural recovery, and class tensions within the movement. For anyone who wants to understand the roots of the complex political and cultural desires of contemporary black America, this will be an essential collection. Contributors: Eddie S. Glaude Jr. Farah Jasmine Griffin Phillip Brian Harper Gerald Horne Robin D. G. Kelley Wahneema Lubiano Adolph Reed Jr. Jeffrey Stout Will Walker S. Craig Watkins Cornel West E. Francis White
Is That Really True, Sir?: A Life of Colour and Improbable Events
by Michael AubreyIn ‘Is That Really True, Sir?’, the artist, barrister, schoolmaster, musician, journalist and explorer Michael Aubrey negotiates a succession of improbable events and narrow escapes. Starting with a vivid account of his wartime childhood, Aubrey shares the joys, hazards, surprises and often hilarious disasters of his colourful experiences in many countries, encountering a range of unusual people along the way. With a comic lightness of touch, he revels in life’s absurdities at the same time as celebrating the beauty and harmony of the various worlds which he has inhabited.The memoir is lavishly illustrated, including over eighty of the author’s vibrant watercolours. His acute eye for the ridiculous, keen observation of character, lyrical accounts of unfamiliar places and illuminating insights make this a joyous book, one to lift the spirits even on the dullest of days.
Is the Vicar in, Pet?: From the Pit to the Pulpit – My Childhood in a Geordie Vicarage
by Barbara FoxIn the heart of Ashington - a bustling Geordie mining town - a handsome red-brick vicarage, surrounded by rambling gardens, stands proudly among the rows of terraced houses. It is the perfect place for playing games, keeping secrets and chasing the ghosts of previous occupants, and it will be nine-year-old Barbara's new home now that her father is to be vicar in this strange new place. In this charming memoir, Barbara Fox recalls a childhood where parishioners knocked on the door at all hours of the day and night, and where no one batted an eye at the collection of waifs and strays who regularly joined the family at the kitchen table. This is a warm-hearted, classic tale of family, community and the unforgettable thrill of childhood adventure.
Is there a Pigeon in the Room?: My Life in Schools
by Cameron WylieIs There a Pigeon in the Room? is a deeply personal book about Cameron Wyllie’s remarkable four-decade career in teaching. It’s a tapestry of anecdotes and reflections on topics like drugs, parenting and sex education, laced with stories about memorable individuals.What did he say to the Third Year after drinking too much gin with the Head? Who was Adolf? What happened to the horrible bus driver? While the intention is to make the reader laugh plenty, Cameron also deals with discipline, refugees, tragic events, his own status as a gay man and tells us the story of Tes, an Eritrean boy who inspired hundreds of young people with his love of education.Cameron taught over 8,000 students in his career. Having been once described as ‘the place where Jean Brodie meets Kenneth Williams’ the book also charts the surprising trajectory of a career which culminated in his appointment as Principal of George Heriot’s, one of Edinburgh’s most prestigious schools.
Is There God after Prince?: Dispatches from an Age of Last Things
by Peter CovielloEssays considering what it means to love art, culture, and people in an age of accelerating disaster. This is a book about loving things—books, songs, people—in the shadow of a felt, looming disaster. Through lyrical, funny, heart-wrenching essays, Peter Coviello considers pieces of culture across a fantastic range, setting them inside the vivid scenes of friendship, dispute, romance, talk, and loss, where they enter our lives. Alongside him, we reencounter movies like The Shining, shows like The Sopranos; videos; poems; novels by Sam Lipsyte, Sally Rooney, and Paula Fox; as well as songs by Joni Mitchell, Gladys Knight, Steely Dan, Pavement, and the much-mourned saint of Minneapolis, Prince. Navigating an overwhelming feeling that Coviello calls “endstrickenness,” he asks what it means to love things in calamitous times, when so much seems to be shambling toward collapse. Balancing comedy and anger, exhilaration and sorrow, Coviello illuminates the strange ways the things we cherish help us to hold on to life and to its turbulent joys. Is There God after Prince? shows us what twenty-first-century criticism can be, and how it might speak to us, in a time of ruin, in an age of “Last Things.”
Is There God after Prince?: Dispatches from an Age of Last Things
by Peter CovielloEssays considering what it means to love art, culture, and people in an age of accelerating disaster. This is a book about loving things—books, songs, people—in the shadow of a felt, looming disaster. Through lyrical, funny, heart-wrenching essays, Peter Coviello considers pieces of culture across a fantastic range, setting them inside the vivid scenes of friendship, dispute, romance, talk, and loss, where they enter our lives. Alongside him, we reencounter movies like The Shining, shows like The Sopranos; videos; poems; novels by Sam Lipsyte, Sally Rooney, and Paula Fox; as well as songs by Joni Mitchell, Gladys Knight, Steely Dan, Pavement, and the much-mourned saint of Minneapolis, Prince. Navigating an overwhelming feeling that Coviello calls “endstrickenness,” he asks what it means to love things in calamitous times, when so much seems to be shambling toward collapse. Balancing comedy and anger, exhilaration and sorrow, Coviello illuminates the strange ways the things we cherish help us to hold on to life and to its turbulent joys. Is There God after Prince? shows us what twenty-first-century criticism can be, and how it might speak to us, in a time of ruin, in an age of “Last Things.”
Is There Still Sex in the City?
by Candace BushnellCandace Bushnell gets personal in her new memoir - an investigation into what happens when a woman of a certain age (ok, let's call it 'middle') finds herself not-so-young, free and single in the city.MILFs, cougars, love, sex, divorce - Candace's brilliantly funny and honest first-person account lays bare the truth behind middle-aged romance. Among other revelations we read her Modern Day Cougar Compendium, including guidance on such important matters as the Unexpected Cub Pounce (sometimes the cub does the pouncing); what to do when your age-appropriate date asks you to pay for his kitchen renovation, and the Pluses and Minuses of Being Older and Wiser.
Is There Still Sex in the City?
by Candace BushnellTwenty years after her sharp, seminal first book Sex and the City reshaped the landscape of pop culture and dating with its fly-on-the-wall look at the mating rituals of the Manhattan elite, the trailblazing Candace Bushnell delivers a new book on the highs and lows of sex and dating after fifty.Set between the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a country enclave known as The Village, Is There Still Sex in the City? gathers Bushnell’s signature short, sharp, satirical commentaries on the love and dating habits of middle-aged men and women as they continue to navigate the ever-modernizing world of relationships. Throughout, Bushnell documents twenty-first century dating phenomena, such as the “Unintended Cub Situation” in which a sensible older woman suddenly becomes the love interest of a much younger man, the “Mona Lisa” Treatment — a vaginal restorative surgery often recommended to middle-aged women — and what it’s really like to go on Tinder dates as a fifty-something divorcée. Bushnell also updates one of her most celebrated stories from Sex and the City, about “Bicycle Boys,” a breed of New York man who is always trying to bring his bike up to women’s apartments. Once an anomaly, Bushnell charts their new ubiquitousness, in addition to where, and how, to do your own man stalking via bicycle (and whether or not it’s worth it).
Is This OK?: One Woman's Search For Connection Online
by Harriet Gibsone'Persistently funny, ill-advisedly honest and deadly accurate' – Caitlin Moran'This book is a delight - very real and very entertaining' – Bob MortimerMusic journalist and self-professed creep, Harriet Gibsone, lives in fear of her internet searches being leaked. Is This OK? is an outrageously funny and painfully honest account of trying to find connection in the age of the internet – from bad MSN boyfriends, to the tyranny of Instagram mumfluencers.Harriet spent much of her young life feeding neuroses and insecurities with obsessive internet searching (including compulsive googling of exes, prospective partners, and their exes), and indulging in whirlwind ‘parasocial relationships’ (translation: one-sided affairs with celebrities she has never met).Suddenly, with a diagnosis of early menopause in her late twenties, her relationship with the internet takes a darker turn, as her online addictions are thrown into sharp relief by the realities of illness and motherhood.'Very funny and deeply moving' – Sara Pascoe'Hilarious and brutal! I could not put it down' – Lou Sanders
Is This the Real Life?: The Untold Story of Queen
by Mark BlakeThe definitive biography of Queen and Freddie Mercury, by the author of Comfortably Numb and Bring It On HomeDespite the death of their exuberant front man Freddie Mercury in 1991, Queen remains one of the most popular bands on the planet, with 300 million global album sales and the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, a "foot-stomping celebration of Queen," hitting theaters. Yet the full story of their extraordinary success and the truths behind the enigmatic Mercury has never fully been told, until now.Journalist Mark Blake, author of the bestselling Pink Floyd biography Comfortably Numb, has drawn on his own earlier interviews with the band and conducted nearly 100 exclusive interviews with record producers, ex-band members, personal assistants, and school friends, including many of Freddie Mercury's earliest associates, to produce a complete, fascinating account of the band's rise from suburbia to worldwide super-stardom. Is This the Real Life? tells, for the first time, how this groundbreaking band became champions of the world.
Is You Okay?
by GloZell Green'Is you okay? Is you good? Cuz I want to know!' Eager to entertain, dedicated to making people laugh, comedian and video superstar GloZell Green is game for any challenge, no matter how silly, gross, or absurd. As one of the earliest vloggers, her hilarious videos have propelled her from anonymity in Florida to stardom as one of our most beloved internet stars. Is You Okay? speaks the truth about the elements of life we wrestle with every day – from love and relationships to empowerment and body image – as GloZell uses examples from own life and her unforgettable video challenges to explore each issue. Sharing formative stories and insights from her own life, she encourages young women to love their bodies, break free of their shells, and carve out their own identities. Most importantly, in this candid and hilarious memoir, GloZell shows that we’re all in this together. 'Everything isn’t just gonna be okay. It doesn’t just have to be good,' she reminds us. 'It can be great (even with a spoonful of pepper in your mouth).'
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca: Jewish Leadership in the New World
by Moises OrfaliFrom 1642 to 1654 Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was the hakham (Torah scholar) and spiritual leader of the oldest Jewish community in the New World. As a Hebrew grammarian, a poet, and a mystic, as well as an excellent and very popular preacher, Aboab da Fonseca (born 1605) was not only one of the most interesting Jewish personalities of the seventeenth century, but his writings are an invaluable historical resource with regard to many aspects of Jewish life in Dutch Colonial Brazil, the local attitudes towards Jews, and corroboration of events outlined in contemporary literary sources. His forebears were so-called New Christians, having undergone compulsory conversion to Catholicism in Portugal. In order to be able to live freely as professing Jews, the family moved in about 1612 to Amsterdam. There, Hakham Isaac Uziel of Fez became his Talmud teacher; among his colleagues was Menasseh Ben Israel. In 1638 he was confirmed as one of the four hakhamim of the new congregation Talmud Torah of Amsterdam. In 1641/42 he accepted the nomination for hakham of the growing Jewish community in Recife, Brazil, where he was in charge of all rabbinical functions and gave lectures in Talmud and Hebrew. In the interim he wrote the Hebrew grammar Melekhet ha-Dikduk, published here in translation for the first time. Aboab da Fonseca enjoyed a few prosperous years until the Portuguese rebellion caused the economic ruin of the Jews of Dutch Brazil. His salary much reduced, he nevertheless remained to lead and help his people until the occupation of Recife by Brazilian-Portuguese troops on January 26, 1654. Upon returning to Amsterdam, his inclination toward mysticism made him one of the leading believers in the false messiah Shabbetai Zvi. But his writing and scholarship remained undiminished: In 1646 he wrote Zekher asiti leniflaot El, in which he described events in Dutch Brazil after the outbreak of the war; he also published a Hebrew translation of the Spanish cabbalistic works of Abraham Cohen Herrera, Casa de Dios y Puerta del Cielo, under the title Shaar ha-Shamayim (The Gate of Heaven). This first scholarly monograph on Isaac Aboab da Fonseca and his intellectual and spiritual contributions, includes discussion of his commentary on the Pentateuch entitled Parafrasis Comentada sobre el Pentateuco, as well as a consideration of Aboab's involvement in the ban of Spinoza.
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca: Jewish Leadership in the New World
by Moises OrfaliFrom 1642 to 1654 Isaac Aboab da Fonseca was the hakham (Torah scholar) and spiritual leader of the oldest Jewish community in the New World. As a Hebrew grammarian, a poet, and a mystic, as well as an excellent and very popular preacher, Aboab da Fonseca (born 1605) was not only one of the most interesting Jewish personalities of the seventeenth century, but his writings are an invaluable historical resource with regard to many aspects of Jewish life in Dutch Colonial Brazil, the local attitudes towards Jews, and corroboration of events outlined in contemporary literary sources. His forebears were so-called New Christians, having undergone compulsory conversion to Catholicism in Portugal. In order to be able to live freely as professing Jews, the family moved in about 1612 to Amsterdam. There, Hakham Isaac Uziel of Fez became his Talmud teacher; among his colleagues was Menasseh Ben Israel. In 1638 he was confirmed as one of the four hakhamim of the new congregation Talmud Torah of Amsterdam. In 1641/42 he accepted the nomination for hakham of the growing Jewish community in Recife, Brazil, where he was in charge of all rabbinical functions and gave lectures in Talmud and Hebrew. In the interim he wrote the Hebrew grammar Melekhet ha-Dikduk, published here in translation for the first time. Aboab da Fonseca enjoyed a few prosperous years until the Portuguese rebellion caused the economic ruin of the Jews of Dutch Brazil. His salary much reduced, he nevertheless remained to lead and help his people until the occupation of Recife by Brazilian-Portuguese troops on January 26, 1654. Upon returning to Amsterdam, his inclination toward mysticism made him one of the leading believers in the false messiah Shabbetai Zvi. But his writing and scholarship remained undiminished: In 1646 he wrote Zekher asiti leniflaot El, in which he described events in Dutch Brazil after the outbreak of the war; he also published a Hebrew translation of the Spanish cabbalistic works of Abraham Cohen Herrera, Casa de Dios y Puerta del Cielo, under the title Shaar ha-Shamayim (The Gate of Heaven). This first scholarly monograph on Isaac Aboab da Fonseca and his intellectual and spiritual contributions, includes discussion of his commentary on the Pentateuch entitled Parafrasis Comentada sobre el Pentateuco, as well as a consideration of Aboab's involvement in the ban of Spinoza.
Isaac and Isaiah: The Covert Punishment of a Cold War Heretic
by David CauteRancorous and highly public disagreements between Isaiah Berlin and Isaac Deutscher escalated to the point of cruel betrayal in the mid-1960s, yet surprisingly the details of the episode have escaped historians’ scrutiny. In this gripping account of the ideological clash between two of the most influential scholars of Cold War politics, David Caute uncovers a hidden story of passionate beliefs, unresolved antagonism, and the high cost of reprisal to both victim and perpetrator.Though Deutscher (1907–1967) and Berlin (1909–1997) had much in common—each arrived in England in flight from totalitarian violence, quickly mastered English, and found entry into the Anglo-American intellectual world of the 1950s—Berlin became one of the presiding voices of Anglo-American liberalism, while Deutscher remained faithful to his Leninist heritage, resolutely defending Soviet conduct despite his rejection of Stalin’s tyranny. Caute combines vivid biographical detail with an acute analysis of the issues that divided these two icons of Cold War politics, and brings to light for the first time the full severity of Berlin’s action against Deutscher.
Isaac Murphy: The Rise and Fall of a Black Jockey (Black Lives)
by Katherine C. MooneyThe rise and fall of one of America’s first Black sports celebrities Isaac Murphy, born enslaved in 1861, still reigns as one of the greatest jockeys in American history. Black jockeys like Murphy were at the top of the most popular sport in America at the end of the nineteenth century. They were internationally famous, the first African American superstar athletes—and with wins in three Kentucky Derbies and countless other prestigious races, Murphy was the greatest of them all. At the same time, he lived through the seismic events of Emancipation and Reconstruction and formative conflicts over freedom and equality in the United States. And inevitably he was drawn into those conflicts, with devastating consequences. Katherine C. Mooney uncovers the history of Murphy’s troubled life, his death in 1896 at age thirty-five, and his afterlife. In recounting Murphy’s personal story, she also tells two of the great stories of change in nineteenth-century America: the debates over what a multiracial democracy might look like and the battles over who was to hold power in an economy that increasingly resembled the corporate, wealth-polarized world we know today.
Isaac Newton (Lives and Legacies Series)
by Gale E. ChristiansonQuarrelsome and quirky, a disheveled recluse who ate little, slept less, and yet had an iron constitution, Isaac Newton rose from a virtually illiterate family to become one of the towering intellects of science. Now, in this fast-paced, colorful biography, Gale E. Christianson paints an engaging portrait of Newton and the times in which he lived. We follow Newton from his childhood in rural England to his student days at Cambridge, where he devoured the works of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, and taught himself mathematics. There ensued two miraculous years at home in Woolsthorpe Manor, where he fled when plague threatened Cambridge, a remarkably fertile period when Newton formulated his theory of gravity, a new theory of light, and calculus--all by his twenty-fourth birthday. Christianson describes Newton's creation of the first working model of the reflecting telescope, which brought him to the attention of the Royal Society, and he illuminates the eighteen months of intense labor that resulted in his Principia, arguably the most important scientific work ever published. The book sheds light on Newton's later life as master of the mint in London, where he managed to convict and hang the arch criminal William Chaloner (a remarkable turn for a once reclusive scholar), and his presidency of the Royal Society, which he turned from a dilettante's club into an eminent scientific organization. Christianson also explores Newton's less savory side, including his long, bitter feud with Robert Hooke and the underhanded way that Newton established his priority in the invention of calculus and tarnished Liebniz's reputation. Newton was an authentic genius with all too human faults. This book captures both sides of this truly extraordinary man.
Isaac Newton: Lives And Legacies (Lives and Legacies Series)
by Gale E. ChristiansonQuarrelsome and quirky, a disheveled recluse who ate little, slept less, and yet had an iron constitution, Isaac Newton rose from a virtually illiterate family to become one of the towering intellects of science. Now, in this fast-paced, colorful biography, Gale E. Christianson paints an engaging portrait of Newton and the times in which he lived. We follow Newton from his childhood in rural England to his student days at Cambridge, where he devoured the works of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, and taught himself mathematics. There ensued two miraculous years at home in Woolsthorpe Manor, where he fled when plague threatened Cambridge, a remarkably fertile period when Newton formulated his theory of gravity, a new theory of light, and calculus--all by his twenty-fourth birthday. Christianson describes Newton's creation of the first working model of the reflecting telescope, which brought him to the attention of the Royal Society, and he illuminates the eighteen months of intense labor that resulted in his Principia, arguably the most important scientific work ever published. The book sheds light on Newton's later life as master of the mint in London, where he managed to convict and hang the arch criminal William Chaloner (a remarkable turn for a once reclusive scholar), and his presidency of the Royal Society, which he turned from a dilettante's club into an eminent scientific organization. Christianson also explores Newton's less savory side, including his long, bitter feud with Robert Hooke and the underhanded way that Newton established his priority in the invention of calculus and tarnished Liebniz's reputation. Newton was an authentic genius with all too human faults. This book captures both sides of this truly extraordinary man.
Isaac Newton: And the Scientific Revolution (Oxford Portraits in Science)
by Gale E. ChristiansonIn 1665, when an epidemic of the plague forced Cambridge University to close, Isaac Newton, then a young, undistinguished scholar, returned to his childhood home in rural England. Away from his colleagues and professors, Newton embarked on one of the greatest intellectual odysseys in the history of science: he began to formulate the law of universal gravitation, developed the calculus, and made revolutionary discoveries about the nature of light. After his return to Cambridge, Newton's genius was quickly recognized and his reputation forever established. This biography also allows us to see the personal side of Newton, whose life away from science was equally fascinating. Quarrelsome, quirky, and not above using his position to silence critics and further his own career, he was an authentic genius with all too human faults.
Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer
by Michael WhiteFirst time in ebook format, this biography of Isaac Newton reveals the extraordinary influence that the study of alchemy had on the greatest Early Modern scientific discoveries. In this ‘ground breaking biography’ Michael White destroys the myths of the life of Isaac Newton and reveals a portrait of the scientist as the last sorcerer.