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Charles Dickens: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Jenny HartleyCharles Dickens is credited with creating some of the world's best-known fictional characters, and is widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian age. Even before reading the works of Dickens many people have met him already in some form or another. His characters have such vitality that they have leapt from his pages to enjoy flourishing lives of their own: The Artful Dodger, Miss Havisham, Scrooge, Fagin, Mr Micawber, and many many more. His portrait has been in our pockets, on our ten-pound notes; he is a national icon, indeed himself a generator of what Englishness signifies. In this Very Short Introduction Jenny Hartley explores the key themes running through Dickens's corpus of works, and considers how they reflect his attitudes towards the harsh realities of nineteenth century society and its institutions, such as the workhouses and prisons. Running alonside this is Dickens's relish of the carnivalesque; if there is a prison in almost every novel, there is also a theatre. She considers Dickens's multiple lives and careers: as magazine editor for two thirds of his working life, as travel writer and journalist, and his work on behalf of social causes including ragged schools and fallen women. She also shows how his public readings enthralled the readers he wanted to reach but also helped to kill him. Finally, Hartley considers what we mean when we use the term 'Dickensian' today, and how Dickens's enduring legacy marks him out as as a novelist different in kind from others. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. · This book was previously published in hardback as Charles Dickens: An Introduction
Charles Dickens: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
by Jenny HartleyCharles Dickens is credited with creating some of the world's best-known fictional characters, and is widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian age. Even before reading the works of Dickens many people have met him already in some form or another. His characters have such vitality that they have leapt from his pages to enjoy flourishing lives of their own: The Artful Dodger, Miss Havisham, Scrooge, Fagin, Mr Micawber, and many many more. His portrait has been in our pockets, on our ten-pound notes; he is a national icon, indeed himself a generator of what Englishness signifies. In this Very Short Introduction Jenny Hartley explores the key themes running through Dickens's corpus of works, and considers how they reflect his attitudes towards the harsh realities of nineteenth century society and its institutions, such as the workhouses and prisons. Running alonside this is Dickens's relish of the carnivalesque; if there is a prison in almost every novel, there is also a theatre. She considers Dickens's multiple lives and careers: as magazine editor for two thirds of his working life, as travel writer and journalist, and his work on behalf of social causes including ragged schools and fallen women. She also shows how his public readings enthralled the readers he wanted to reach but also helped to kill him. Finally, Hartley considers what we mean when we use the term 'Dickensian' today, and how Dickens's enduring legacy marks him out as as a novelist different in kind from others. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. · This book was previously published in hardback as Charles Dickens: An Introduction
Charles I
by Christopher Durston Charles CarltonThis book considers the personality of Charles and the effect of his decisions as ruler. Beginning with Charles as a prince, Durston goes on to assess the monarch's role in the outbreak of war and the crisis of the 1640s. Centring on the degree of personal responsibility Charles should bear for the events of his reign, the author considers: * contemporary and modern portrayals of Charles' reign * the King's military leadership * the context and prelude to his execution * his status as a martyr king in the 1650s and beyond.
Charles I: An Abbreviated Life (Penguin Monarchs #4)
by Mark KishlanskyThe tragedy of Charles I dominates one of the most strange and painful periods in British history as the whole island tore itself apart over a deadly, entangled series of religious and political disputes. In Mark Kishlansky's brilliant account it is never in doubt that Charles created his own catastrophe, but he was nonetheless opposed by men with far fewer scruples and less consistency who for often quite contradictory reasons conspired to destroy him. This is a remarkable portrait of one of the most talented, thoughtful, loyal, moral, artistically alert and yet, somehow, disastrous of all this country's rulers.
Charles I (PDF)
by Christopher DurstonThis book considers the personality of Charles and the effect of his decisions as ruler. Beginning with Charles as a prince, Durston goes on to assess the monarch's role in the outbreak of war and the crisis of the 1640s. Centring on the degree of personal responsibility Charles should bear for the events of his reign, the author considers: * contemporary and modern portrayals of Charles' reign * the King's military leadership * the context and prelude to his execution * his status as a martyr king in the 1650s and beyond.
Charles II: The Star King (Penguin Monarchs #3)
by Clare JacksonCharles II has always been one of the most instantly recognisable British kings - both in his physical appearance, disseminated through endless portraits, prints and pub signs, and in his complicated mix of lasciviousness, cynicism and luxury. His father's execution and his own many years of exile made him a guarded, curious, unusually self-conscious ruler. He lived through some of the most striking events in the national history - from the Civil Wars to the Great Plague, from the Fire of London to the wars with the Dutch.Clare Jackson's marvellous book takes full advantage of its irrepressible subject.
Charles II and the Duke of Buckingham: The Merry Monarch & the Aristocratic Rogue
by David C HanrahanBuckingham was brought up in court with the two kings, James II and Charles II. David Hanrahan investigates why Charles remained true to his childhood friend despite Buckingham's ingratitude.
Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story.
by Robert Hardman'A superb, fascinating account of the new King, his court and the first year of his reign. Elegantly written by the most authoritative of royal historians writing today, it is deeply researched, impeccably sourced and filled with scoops and new details. This is the definitive book’ – Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The RomanovsBy acclaimed royal biographer and author of Queen of Our Times, Robert Hardman, Charles III is a brilliant account of a tumultuous period in British history, full of intriguing insider detail and the real stories behind the sadness, the dazzling pomp, the challenges and the triumphs as Charles III sets out to make his mark.How would – or could – he fill the shoes of the record-breaking Elizabeth II? With fresh debates about the monarchy, political upheavals and a steady flow of damning headlines unleashed by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Charles could not afford to put a foot wrong. Hardman draws on unrivalled access to the Royal Family, friends of the King and Queen, key officials and courtiers, plus unpublished royal papers, to chart the transition from those emotionally charged days following the death of the late Queen all through that make or break first year on the throne.This book also reveals how Charles III is determined to move ahead at speed, the vital role played by Queen Camilla, the King’s relationships with his sons and the rest of his family, his plans for reforming the monarchy and how he is taking his place on the world stage.Charles III is a fascinating portrait of a hard-working, modern monarch, determined to remain true to himself and to his Queen, to make a difference, to weather the storms – and, what’s more, to enjoy it.'Hardman is the unsurpassed grand master when it comes to the inside story of the modern monarchy. Full of surprises and glorious detail' – Andrew Roberts, author of George III: The Life and Reign of Britain's Most Misunderstood Monarch
Charles Kingsley, 1819-1875 (PDF)
by Margaret Farrand ThorpA biography of the distinguished novelist, poet, preacher and social reformer, who typifies the Victorian man as closely as the Good Queen herself typifies the Victorian woman.Originally published in 1937.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor
by Simon CallowThe creator of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Henry VIII and Captain Bligh, Charles Laughton's career spans 50 films and 40 stage roles. This entralling biography follows him from his parents' hotel in Scarborough to his climactic assumption of the role of King Lear in Statford at the end of his life. Along the way we meet a galaxy of Hollywood greats - from Korda, Hitchcock and Billy WIlder to Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. We also discover a hugely talented and complex man - a legend in his own lifetime who nonetheless counted himself a failure.
Charles Manson: The Man Who Murdered the Sixties
by David J. KrajicekCharles Manson was an unlikely messiah. Freshly paroled, he stumbled into San Francisco in 1967 just as thousands of impressionable young people were streaming into town for the Summer of Love. Posing as a musician-come-guru-come-Christ-figure, Manson built a commune cult of hippies, consisting mainly of troubled young women. But what made this group set out on the four-week killing spree that claimed seven lives? Former Journalism Professor, David J Krajicek, seeks to discover just that. This book includes: • Introduction into the counterculture of the sixties • In-depth profiles of Manson's followers • Breakdowns of each murder, including diary accounts, interviews and legal testimonies from the killers themselves • An account of the events in Manson's own words • Insight into Manson's manipulations and psychology Set against events of the time - the sexual revolution, the civil rights movement, race riots, space exploration, rock music -this is the story of Flower Power gone to seed.
Charles Manson: Coming Down Fast
by Simon WellsIn the summer of 1969, a set of grisly murders shocked the population of Los Angeles and the rest of the US. Seven people lay senselessly butchered, among them actress Sharon Tait, the beautiful young wife of Roman Polanski, just a month away from the birth of their first child. Thin strands of evidence pointed to a hippyish cult set up in an abandoned ranch on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and its delusional, Messianic leader, Charles Manson. Little was known about this would-be rock star and his peculiar ‘family’ of young female acolytes. It was only later, after the sensational court case that ended with four of the cult members being sentenced to death, that his full, horrifying story would emerge: one in which drugs, sex, murder, mind-control, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Mafia, and even the President of America all played their part. Collecting testimony from previous members of the Manson family alongside new evidence linking a cult member to a murder in London, COMING DOWN FAST charts Manson’s terrifying rise from petty-criminal drifter to one of the most recognisable icons in criminal history, and explores the long reach of his crimes that to this day, so vex and shock the public imagination.
Charles Munch
by D. Kern HolomanA mesmerizing figure in concert, Charles Munch was celebrated for his electrifying public performances. He was a pioneer in many arenas of classical music--establishing Berlioz in the canon, perfecting the orchestral work of Debussy and Ravel, and leading the world to Roussel, Honegger, and Dutilleux. A pivotal figure, his accomplishments put him on a par with Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein. In Charles Munch, D. Kern Holoman provides the first full biography of this giant of twentieth-century music, tracing his dramatic survival in occupied Paris, his triumphant arrival at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and his later years, when he was a leading cultural figure in the United States, a man known and admired by Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. He turned to conducting only in middle age, after two decades as a violinist and concertmaster, a background which gave him special insight into the relationship between conductor and orchestra. At the podium, his bond with his musicians unleashed something in them and in himself. "A certain magic took wing that amounts to the very essence of music in concert," the author writes, as if "public performance loosed the facets of character and artistry and poetry otherwise muffled by his timidity and simple disinclination to say much." In concert, Munch was arresting, even seductive, sweeping his baton in an enormous arch from above his head down to his knee. Yet as Holoman shows, he remained a lonely, even sad figure, a widower with no children, a man who fled admirers and avoided reporters. With groundbreaking research and sensitive, lyrical writing, Charles Munch penetrates the enigma to capture this elusive musical titan.
Charles Munch
by D. Kern HolomanA mesmerizing figure in concert, Charles Munch was celebrated for his electrifying public performances. He was a pioneer in many arenas of classical music--establishing Berlioz in the canon, perfecting the orchestral work of Debussy and Ravel, and leading the world to Roussel, Honegger, and Dutilleux. A pivotal figure, his accomplishments put him on a par with Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein. In Charles Munch, D. Kern Holoman provides the first full biography of this giant of twentieth-century music, tracing his dramatic survival in occupied Paris, his triumphant arrival at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and his later years, when he was a leading cultural figure in the United States, a man known and admired by Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. He turned to conducting only in middle age, after two decades as a violinist and concertmaster, a background which gave him special insight into the relationship between conductor and orchestra. At the podium, his bond with his musicians unleashed something in them and in himself. "A certain magic took wing that amounts to the very essence of music in concert," the author writes, as if "public performance loosed the facets of character and artistry and poetry otherwise muffled by his timidity and simple disinclination to say much." In concert, Munch was arresting, even seductive, sweeping his baton in an enormous arch from above his head down to his knee. Yet as Holoman shows, he remained a lonely, even sad figure, a widower with no children, a man who fled admirers and avoided reporters. With groundbreaking research and sensitive, lyrical writing, Charles Munch penetrates the enigma to capture this elusive musical titan.
Charles Stewart Parnell, A Biography: The Definitive Biography of the Uncrowned King of Ireland
by F.S.L. LyonsIn this masterly biography, F.S.L. Lyons tackles the life and times of one of the greatest Irish statesmen of modern times. One of modern Irish biography’s great triumphs, Charles Stewart Parnell has never been approached or surpassed.Charles Stewart Parnell, an enigmatic, icy aristocrat, was the unlikely and unchallenged leader of Irish nationalism from the mid-1870s, in its early heroic phase. Without him, Home Rule would not have become the formidable cause that it was.Daniel O’Connell first articulated modern Irish nationalism; Parnell first organised it. As leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1875 until his death in 1891, Parnell became a figurehead for Irish nationalist ambition and used his influence to further the cause of Irish independence in the British parliament. Parnell not only mobilised nationalist Ireland, exploiting discontent with the land system and a desire for political autonomy, he also subverted the usages of nineteenth-century British politics by supporting the introduction of the filibuster into the House of Commons. He divided Gladstone’s Liberal party between those who supported Home Rule and those who opposed it and generally forced the Irish question to the heart of British politics where it remained until 1922. Even today, the continuing uncertainty over the future of Northern Ireland is a remote legacy of Parnell. Parnell’s fall – the product of his doomed and passionate love affair with Katharine O’Shea – was the most traumatic moment in nationalist history before 1916. It divided a generation. The passions it gave rise to, brilliantly recalled in the Christmas dinner scene of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, are fully explored in this magnificent work of scholarship.Charles Stewart Parnell: Table of ContentsThe Meeting of the WatersApprenticeshipRising HighCrisisIn the Eye of the StormKilmainhamThe New CourseGathering PaceTowards the FulcrumThe Galway ‘Mutiny’The View from PisgahIn the ShadowsIreland in the StrandApotheosisThe CrashConfrontationBreaking-PointA Time of RendingLast ChanceLa Commedia è FinitaMyth and Reality
Charles (Text Only): Victim Or Villain?
by Penny JunorThis edition does not include illustrations. This explosive biography of the Prince of Wales set media headlines alight on hardback publication. Now available complete with an updated epilogue, it will change the way you think about Charles, his Princess and his mistress.
Charles Waddell Chesnutt: Pioneer of the Color Line
by Helen M. ChesnuttThe driving force in Chesnutt's life was the wish to help his race. Long before the days of the NAACP, which he later joined, and to the end of his life, he lectured, wrote,and corresponded on the everlasting problem." His letters reveal courage and good sense with which he faced racial discrimination."Originally published in 1952.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.
Charles Waterton 1782-1865: Traveller and Conservationist
by Julia BlackburnCharles Waterton was the first conservationist who fought to protect wild nature against the destruction and pollution of Victorian industrialisation. During his lifetime he was famous for his eccentricities, but also for his achievements and his opinions. A Yorkshire landowner, he turned his park into a sanctuary for animals and birds. As an explorer he learned to survive in the tropical rain forests of South America without a gun or the society of other white men. He was an authority on the poisons used by South American Indians and a taxidermist of note. The huge public that read his books included Dickens, Darwin and Roosevelt. Since his death the memory of Waterton's personal eccenticities has flourished, while the originality of his ideas and work has often suffered. Using his surviving papers, Julia Blackburn has redressed the balance in a biogr aphy that restores Waterton to his place as the first conservationist of the modern age.
Charlestown to Charlestown and Beyond
by Mike NolanMike Nolan grew up in the deprivation of post- war Britain. As a young man he had a dream that somehow became a reality; to live his life on the high seas to indulge his passion for all things nautical. Eclectic employment as a musician, a hod carier, butler and boatbuilder meant that Nolan’s life never confirmed to a nine to five existence. All the while the call of the sea, like a siren, was impossible to resist. His life as a sailor, fulfilled his wildest dreams but saw him hit by a series of catastrophes, including hurricanes and a violent shipwreck. On a more positive note, he did at least manage to save both his wife and her cat! This is a rags to riches story with a sharp sting in its tale.
Charlie Kaufman: Confessions of an Original Mind (Modern Filmmakers)
by Doreen Alexander ChildThis revealing study looks at the influences and creative impulses that shape one of today's most progressive, thoughtful filmmakers.Charlie Kaufman got his start in television, but it was his first film, the eccentric Being John Malkovich, that won notice for his unique storytelling style. With the aid of a plethora of contributions from those with whom the writer has worked, Charlie Kaufman: Confessions of an Original Mind presents the intriguing story of that movie and others as it examines one of the most innovative voices in modern film.This exhaustive study of Kaufman's life and work is organized chronologically to cover his early influences as well as his most-recent ventures. Highlights include explorations of Kaufman's collaboration with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze—who stood him up for their first meeting—and the writer's conflict with George Clooney (about whom Kaufman says, "I can tell you that George Clooney is my least favorite person"). There are analyses of Human Nature, Adaptation, and the hauntingly beautiful Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which led to an Academy Award. The book also studies Kaufman's sound plays for Theatre of the New Ear and his directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York.
Charlie Kaufman: Confessions of an Original Mind (Modern Filmmakers)
by Doreen Alexander ChildThis revealing study looks at the influences and creative impulses that shape one of today's most progressive, thoughtful filmmakers.Charlie Kaufman got his start in television, but it was his first film, the eccentric Being John Malkovich, that won notice for his unique storytelling style. With the aid of a plethora of contributions from those with whom the writer has worked, Charlie Kaufman: Confessions of an Original Mind presents the intriguing story of that movie and others as it examines one of the most innovative voices in modern film.This exhaustive study of Kaufman's life and work is organized chronologically to cover his early influences as well as his most-recent ventures. Highlights include explorations of Kaufman's collaboration with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze—who stood him up for their first meeting—and the writer's conflict with George Clooney (about whom Kaufman says, "I can tell you that George Clooney is my least favorite person"). There are analyses of Human Nature, Adaptation, and the hauntingly beautiful Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which led to an Academy Award. The book also studies Kaufman's sound plays for Theatre of the New Ear and his directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York.
Charlie's Good Tonight: The Authorised Biography Of Charlie Watts
by Paul SextonFeaturing forewords from bandmates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, this is the official and fully authorised biography of the world’s most revered and celebrated drummer.
Charlotte: A Novel
by David FoenkinosCharlotte Salomon is born into a family stricken by suicide and a country at war – but there is something exceptional about her. She has a gift, a talent for painting. And she has a great love, for a brilliant, eccentric musician. But just as she is coming in to her own as an artist, death is coming to control her country. The Nazis have come to power and, a Jew in Berlin, her life is narrowing – she is kept from her art, torn from her love and her family, chased from her country. And still she is not safe, not from the madness that has hunted her family, or the one gripping Europe . . . Charlotte is a heart-breaking true story – inspiring, unflinching, awful, hopeful – of a life filled with curiosity, animated by genius and cut short by hatred. A beautifully, lucidly told memorial, it has become an international sensation.
Charlotte Bronte: Charlotte Bronte And Her Family (Vintage Lives #3)
by Rebecca Fraser'If men could see us as we really are, they would be amazed', wrote Charlotte Brontë, the outwardly conventional parson's daughter who had rarely met any men beyond those of the church or classroom by the time Jane Eyre was published in 1847. From the landscape of the Yorkshire moors, an appalling childhood and a family decimated by consumption, Jane Eyre came as an instant literary sensation. It also brought Charlotte Brontë the notoriety that was to remain with her for the rest of her short and tragic life. Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte's first biographer, attempted to clear Charlotte of the charges of passionate immorality that were levelled at a woman author - and an unmarried one at that. Rebecca Fraser, 130 years later, placed Charlotte's life within the perceptual framework of contemporary attitudes to women. Her biography is an invaluable contribution to Brontë scholarship, which shares her admiration for a woman prepared to stand out against some of the cruelest Victorian ideas about her sex.
Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life (Andanzas Ser.)
by Lyndall GordonIn this groundbreaking and unconventional biography, Lyndall Gordon dismantles the insistent image of Charlotte Bronte as a modest Victorian lady, the slave to duty in the shadow of tombstones, revealing instead a strong and fiery woman who shaped her own life and transformed it into art. 'Sensitive, open-minded, vivid, full of psychological insight, [Gordon's] book is a brilliant reappraisal of Charlotte Bronte's life, work, and the flow between the two . . . It is also a deeply moving story' Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times