A modern day gay Lolita, The Pelican Fables is a poetic and provocatively written coming-of-age story that confronts the burgeoning sexuality of a young man in his last year of prep school. Adam Proffit is torn apart by his longstanding, highly concealed crush on his roommate of two years, Kellum Thurman, and the newly arrived faculty member, Carter Moran, whom Adam believes may share his attraction. But within the conservatively charged atmosphere of the Melbourne School, acting upon any of his sexual impulses presents a dangerous proposition that could jeopardize Adam's existence at Melbourne and destroy the future for which he has worked so long and hard. But keeping his feelings hidden poses perhaps an even graver and more devastating challenge. Adam must either come to terms with his sexuality or find the emerging self within him destroyed. Uplifting and surprising, The Pelican Fables will keep you wondering until the very last page.
Concise and comprehensive, A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict presents balanced, impartial, and well-illustrated coverage of the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The authors identify and examine the issues and themes that have characterized and defined the conflict over the past century tying in a twenty-first century perspective. The seventh edition exposes readers to recent events in the Middle East. Altering relations between Israel and neighboring states, political and religious uncertainty as a result of the Arab Spring and the increased scrutiny of Iran's nuclear program are explored in this updated edition.
WHAT MAKES A CULT WRITER? Whether pioneering in their craft, fiercely and undeniably unique or critically divisive, cult writers come in all shapes and guises. Some gain instant fame, others instant notoriety, and more still remain anonymous until a chance change in fashion sees their work propelled into the limelight. Cult Writers introduces 50 novelists deserving of a cult status. The literary genres and subjects explored within these writers’ pages are rich and diverse – acting as mirrors of their genius minds. FromIrvine Welsh’s gritty Edinburgh streets, to Ken Kesey’s drug-fuelled madness; from feminist trailblazer Sylvia Plath to the magical realism of Angela Carter – discover little knowns with small, devout followings and superstars gracing the covers of magazines. Each writer is special in their individuality and their ability to inspire, antagonise and delight. Cult Writers is an essential addition to any book lover's library, as well as an entertaining introduction to our weird and wonderful world of literature. Also in the series: Cult Artists, Cult Filmmakers + Cult Musicians The writers: Kathy Acker, James Baldwin, J.G. Ballard, Mikhail Bulgakov, Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Octavia E. Butler, Italo Calvino, Albert Camus, Angela Carter, Colette, Maryse Conde, Julio Cortazar, Philip K. Dick, Douglas Coupland, Marguerite Duras, Ralph Ellison, Elena Ferrante, Janet Frame, Jean Genet, Joseph Heller, Michel Houellebecq, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Ken Kesey, Chris Kraus, Milan Kundera, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing, Cormac McCarthy, Carson McCullers, Yukio Mishima, Haruki Murakami, Anais Nin, Sylvia Plath, Thomas Pynchon, Raymond Queneau, Ayn Rand, Pauline Reage, Jean Rhys, Juan Rulfo, Francoise Sagan, J.D. Salinger, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Donna Tartt, Jim Thompson, J.R.R. Tolkien, Kurt Vonnegut, Virginia Woolf, Irvine Welsh.
The nature and function of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are uncertain now that the alliance has accomplished its primary objective of defending Western Europe from the perceived Soviet threat. Despite uncertainty about NATO's role in the post-Cold War world, its political and military leaders agree that it can continue to play a vital part in enhancing European security and maintaining international stability. This superb analysis explores the evolving functions and future directions of this unique organization, paying particular attention to the political cultures and goals of its member states. The Promise of Alliance is important reading for students and scholars of international relations, foreign affairs, and political theory.
Chav: The Play is the second Theatrical Adaptation of the Shadow World spoof Horror Setting.Join the Westgate Massive as they take on a mission impossible to keep their powers of Chavthulu secret from the world at large!
Here is the epic story of ancient Egypt and the pharaohs who made it great. Historian Ian MacAlister uses the pyramids and their mute, enigmatic sentinel, the Sphinx as the focal point for a sweeping yet human view of 3,000 years of Egyptian history.
Malcolm Fox returns in the stunning second novel in Ian Rankin's series... 'Criminally good' WOMAN & HOME From the No.1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES. 'Excitingly gripping storytelling' THE TIMES Malcolm Fox and his team are back, investigating whether fellow cops covered up for Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct, but what should be a simple job is soon complicated by a brutal murder and a weapon that should not even exist. A trail of revelations leads Fox back to 1985, a year of desperate unrest when letter-bombs and poisonous spores were sent to government offices, and kidnappings and murders were plotted. But while the body count rises the clock starts ticking, and a dramatic turn of events sees Fox in mortal danger.
What Makes a Leader? “Leadership is the thing that wins battles. I have it but I’ll be damned if I can define it.” –General George S. Patton Leadership is often daunting. Because every situation is different, there is no foolproof, one-size-fits-all approach to learning the ropes. Instead there are a dizzying number of competing ideas and theories which you may find contradictory. The Leader’s Mentor offers a guide through the maze … and also offers pointers as you undertake the leadership learning process. –FROM THE INTRODUCTION Leadership skills can be learned and the best teachers are the leaders themselves. Drawing on the experiences of leaders in all fields of human endeavor and also the scholarship of leadership experts, The Leader’s Mentor offers inspiration and advice for anyone taking on a leadership role. INSPIRATION FROM MORE THAN 200 LEADERS AND VISIONARIES, INCLUDING: Rosa Parks Jack Welch Oprah Winfrey The men of Omaha Beach Eleanor Roosevelt Winston Churchill Mahatma Gandhi Martin Luther King, Jr. Vince Lombardi Estée Lauder Rudolph Giuliani Donald Trump Ian Jackman (www.ianjackman.com) is a writer, ghostwriter, editor, and former managing director of the Modern Library. He is the author of The Writer’s Mentor and The Artist’s Mentor.
Sheikh Abu Hasif died on the third floor of the Wellington Clinic in London on Monday 12th April, 1976. His assassin emptied a whole clip from an M38 submachine gun into the man. It took off most of his head and right shoulder and left the bed headboard and part of the floor and walls reworked in technicolour. Detective Inspector Jack Regan of the Flying Squad begins his investigation with a search for a group of mysterious murderers among the rich of Belgravia and the richer inhabitants of the high life of the French Riviera At first sight it appears that leading Arab oil sheikhs and entrepreneurs have been murdered to warn others of their kind to pay over multi-million dollar blackmail sums in order to stay alive. But with Jack Regan digging deeper, the truth turns out to be something else again... This is the third of three Sweeney novels published at the time of the original series. Ian Kennedy Martin is the creator of Thames Television's enormously popular TV series.
In the latest installment of the Ava Lee novels, Ava becomes embroiled in a violent war between feuding gangs vying for control of the Wanchai territory in Hong Kong. Ava is in Shanghai visiting her ailing friend, the Mountain Master Xu, when a triad war breaks out in Hong Kong. Sammy Wing, an old enemy of Ava’s who has twice tried to kill her, has enlisted the aid of his nephew Carter — the new Mountain Master of Sha Tin — to reclaim control of his old territory, Wanchai, from Xu’s men. There is nothing subtle about the Wings’ methods. Xu’s most trusted enforcer, Lop, has been shot, and six of his street soldiers kidnapped. The Wings threaten to execute them unless Xu’s men vacate Wanchai immediately. Ava steps in to broker a settlement, and the Wings respond by sending her a box containing six fingers — and a twelve-hour deadline. As the violence and tension mount, Ava is driven to the edge, and she is forced to devise a plan that will bring her face-to-face with Sammy and Carter Wing. The only question is who will pull the trigger first?
Ian Frazier’s magnum opus: a love song to New York City’s most heterogeneous and alive borough. For the past fifteen years, Ian Frazier has been walking the Bronx. Paradise Bronx reveals the amazingly rich and tumultuous history of this amazingly various piece of our greatest city. From Jonas Bronck, who bought land from the local Native Americans, to the formerly gang-wracked South Bronx that gave birth to hip-hop, Frazier’s loving exploration is a moving tour de force about the polyglot culture that is America today. During the Revolution, when the Bronx was unclaimed territory known as the Neutral Ground, some of the war’s decisive battles were fought here by George Washington’s troops. Gouverneur Morris, one of the most colorful Founding Fathers, owned a huge swath of the Bronx, where he lived when he was not in Paris during the French Revolution or helping write the US Constitution. Frazier shows us how the coming of the railroads and the subways drove the settling of the Bronx by various waves of immigration— Irish, Italian, Jewish (think the Grand Concourse), African American, Caribbean, Puerto Rican (J.Lo is one of the borough’s most famous citizens). The romance of the Yankees, the disaster of the Cross Bronx Expressway, the invention of rap and hip-hop, the resurgence of community as the borough’s communities learn mutual aid—all are investigated, recounted, and celebrated in Frazier’s inimitable voice. This is a book like no other about a quintessential American city and the resilience and beauty of its citizens.
By the middle of the 1970s, Bob Dylan’s position as the pre-eminent artist of his generation was assured. The 1975 album Blood on the Tracks seemed to prove, finally, that an uncertain age had found its poet.Then Dylan faltered. His instincts, formerly unerring, deserted him. in the 1980s, what had once appeared unthinkable came to pass: the “voice of a generation” began to sound irrelevant, a tale told to grandchildren.Yet in the autumn of 1997, something remarkable happened. Having failed to release a single new song in seven long years, Dylan put out the equivalent of two albums in a single package. in the concluding volume of his ground- breaking study, ian Bell explores the unparalleled second act in a quintessentially american career. it is a tale of redemption, of an act of creative will against the odds, and of a writer who refused to fade away.Time Out of Mind is the story of the latest, perhaps the last, of the many Bob Dylans.
The Beach Ball Classic began in 1981 as a modest avenue for coach Dan D'Antoni to attract the attention of college scouts. It blossomed into one of the premier prep basketball tournaments in the nation. From Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter to Roy Williams, some of the game's biggest stars and most colorful coaches have taken part. They also brought attention to an area generally overlooked in terms of high school sports. With calculated moves, a few risky decisions and nationwide sporting trends, the tournament continued to expand its influence. Author Ian Guerin recounts the famous faces, upcoming stars and business acumen that have made the Classic an iconic event for thirty-five years.
“Stimulating and highly readable. . . . The Churchill Complex is a rich and rewarding book.” —Wall Street Journal From one of its keenest observers, a brilliant, witty journey through the "Special Relationship" between Britain and America that has done so much to shape the world, from World War II to Brexit. It is impossible to understand the last seventy-five years of American history, through to Trump and Brexit, without understanding the Anglo-American relationship, particularly the bonds between presidents and prime ministers. FDR of course had Winston Churchill; JFK had Harold Macmillan, his consigliere during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ronald Reagan found his ideological soul mate in Margaret Thatcher; and George W. Bush found his fellow believer, in religion and in war, in Tony Blair. Today, the bond between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson illuminates the populist uprisings in both countries, as well as a new kind of Special Relationship that goes against everything it once stood for. Remembering the past, even its most glorious moments, can be as misleading as forgetting it. Over and over, in the name of freedom and democracy, British and especially American leaders have evoked Winston Churchill as a model for brave leadership (and Nevillle Chamberlain to represent craven weakness). As Ian Buruma shows, in his dazzling, short tour de force of storytelling and analysis, the myths of World War II too often resulted in bad policies and foolish wars. But The Churchill Complex is much more than a reflection on the weight of Churchill's legacy and its misuses. At its heart are shrewd and absorbing character studies of the president-prime minster dyads, which in Ian Buruma's gifted hands serve as a master class in politics, diplomacy, and the personal quirks of our leaders. It has never been a relationship of equals: from Churchill's desperate cajoling and conniving to keep FDR on his side in World War II, British prime ministers have put much more stock in the relationship than their US counterparts. After the loss of its once-great empire, Britain clung to the world's greatest superpower as a path to continued relevance and leverage. As Buruma shows, this was almost always fool's gold, and now, the alliance has floundered on the rocks of isolationism. The Churchill Complex may not have a happy ending, but as with Ian Buruma's other works, piercing lucidity is its own lasting comfort.
A powerful dissection of a core American myth. The idea that the United States is unlike every other country in world history is a surprisingly resilient one. Throughout his distinguished career, Ian Tyrrell has been one of the most influential historians of the idea of American exceptionalism, but he has never written a book focused solely on it until now. The notion that American identity might be exceptional emerged, Tyrrell shows, from the belief that the nascent early republic was not simply a postcolonial state but a genuinely new experiment in an imperialist world dominated by Britain. Prior to the Civil War, American exceptionalism fostered declarations of cultural, economic, and spatial independence. As the country grew in population and size, becoming a major player in the global order, its exceptionalist beliefs came more and more into focus—and into question. Over time, a political divide emerged: those who believed that America’s exceptionalism was the basis of its virtue and those who saw America as either a long way from perfect or actually fully unexceptional, and thus subject to universal demands for justice. Tyrrell masterfully articulates the many forces that made American exceptionalism such a divisive and definitional concept. Today, he notes, the demands that people acknowledge America’s exceptionalism have grown ever more strident, even as the material and moral evidence for that exceptionalism—to the extent that there ever was any—has withered away.
American lawyer Katie Talbot is on the trail of the treasures that were looted from her ancestral home on the island of Rgen by two brothers, who were agents of the secret police in the days of the former East Germany. Detlef Weber is also on the trail of the brothers, as they murdered his father. The paths of Katie and Detlef criss-cross as they each pursue their quest, but both get caught up in the rise of a new far-right political party in Germany that is threatening the stability of Europe. It all comes to a climax in Weimar, the center of so much culture and political history. Author Ian Laurence has done a masterful job here, weaving well-developed characters into an imaginative plot that builds interest chapter after chapter. He successfully connects his fiction to history, adding enough factual details to make the story believable without overwhelming it. In addition, Laurence knows when to drop in critical foreshadowing to keep readers guessing. It is sure to please fans of suspense novels who appreciate thought-provoking history skilfully cross-connected with a credible and vivid story line. - Blueink Review Laurence keeps readers guessing about the outcome until the very end. A whirlwind trip around the globe, a little glamour, and a lot of intrigue. - ForeWord Reviews (Clarion Review) Winding Back The Clock is fast moving and energetic, full of plots and counter-plots. The author has obviously done his research, and the historical information is clearly presented, although sometimes too didactically. The interplay of the different characters, with their different motivations, is well drawn, and the villains are downright chilling. - IndieReader
Is planning for America anathema to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness? Is it true, as ideologues like Friedrich Von Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ayn Rand have claimed, that planning leads to dictatorship, that the state is wholly destructive, and that prosperity is owed entirely to the workings of a free market? To answer these questions Ian Wray’s book goes in search of an America shaped by government, plans and bureaucrats, not by businesses, bankers and shareholders. He demonstrates that government plans did not damage American wealth. On the contrary, they built it, and in the most profound ways. In three parts, the book is an intellectual roller coaster. Part I takes the reader downhill, examining the rise and fall of rational planning, and looks at the converging bands of planning critics, led on the right by the Chicago School of Economics, on the left by the rise of conservation and the ‘counterculture’, and two brilliantly iconoclastic writers – Jane Jacobs and Rachel Carson. In Part II, eight case studies take us from the trans-continental railroads through the national parks, the Federal dams and hydropower schemes, the wartime arsenal of democracy, to the postwar interstate highways, planning for New York, the moon shot and the creation of the internet. These are stories of immense government achievement. Part III looks at what might lie ahead, reflecting on a huge irony: the ideology which underpins the economic and political rise of Asia (by which America now feels so threatened) echoes the pragmatic plans and actions which once secured America’s rise to globalism.
In 1976 the British band Throbbing Gristle emerged from the radical arts collective COUM Transmissions through core members Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, joined by Hipgnosis photographer Peter Christopherson and electronics specialist Chris Carter. Though having performed previously in more low-key arts environments, their major launch coincided with the COUM retrospective exhibition Prostitution at London’s ICA gallery, showcasing and contextualising an array of challenging objects from COUM’s various actions in performance art and pornography. In a deliberately curated strategy inviting press, civic and arts dignitaries, extravagant followers of the nascent punk scene and music journalists, the band created an instant controversy and media panic that tapped into the restrictive climate and encroaching conservatism of late 1970s Britain. Any opportunities that were being explored by a formative punk ethos and movement around sex, censorship and transgression were amplified and exposed by Throbbing Gristle and Prostitution. An outraged Member of Parliament Nicholas Fairbairn took the bait and called the ensemble the ‘wreckers of civilisation’, providing the suitable newspaper headline that would be followed a month later by ‘the filth and the fury’ as the Sex Pistols uttered strong profanities on live television. The switch from COUM to Throbbing Gristle encompassed a primary mode of expression in making music as opposed to art, to further coincide with the energy of the nascent punk scene. The band quickly developed a radically deviant and challenging reputation through pushing the punk format past its strictures in terms of lyrical themes, amateurism, and considerations of what constitutes music. Through a handful or record releases on their own label Industrial Records, and a sporadic string of live performances, the band nurtured a strong and devoted following including key journalists and fanzine editors of the punk and post-punk scenes such as Jon Savage and Sandy Robertson. The band’s style of exploring harsh pre-recorded sounds, samples of disconcerting narrative and conversation, and feeding all sounds through messy electronic processing devices gave rise to the title industrial music. This was further buttressed by performing a strictly timed set of one hour, and adopting a non-rockstar mode by appearing disinterested and preoccupied with electronic devices. Having given a name and impetus to the industrial music scene, many of their followers and fans formed bands in later years. Drawing on works such as Andy Bennett’s When the Lights Went Out, this book looks at late 1970s Britain, before, during and immediately after the Winter of Discontent, to situate the activism of Throbbing Gristle in this time. It explores how the band worked in and against the time, and how they worked in and against punk as punk worked in and against the time and place. Punk acts as a mediating factor and nuisance value, as Throbbing Gristle emerged with punk in late 1976, seemingly grappled with it through 1977, and then went on to create and eventually criticise a number of post-punk scenes that had flourished around 1979. Trowell narrates the story through a series of live performances, as this is a point where Throbbing Gristle interact with the various city-scenes around England during their original period of operation (1975-1981). The band reflected (and incorporated into their live music) key tropes form the time, both ‘mainstream’ and fringe (subcultural, avant-garde art, counter-culture, taboo subjects, extremes) such that Throbbing Gristle events had an impact and affect, and Trowell traces these as a series of impressions and reverberations amongst fans who went on to do their own music and projects.
This book examines the evolution of international nuclear non-proliferation trade controls over time. The book argues that the international nuclear export controls have developed in a sub-optimal way as a result of a non-proliferation collective action problem. This has resulted in competition among suppliers, owing to the absence of an overarching effective system of control. While efforts have been undertaken to address this collective action problem and strengthen controls over time, these measures have been inherently limited, it is argued here, because of the same structural factors and vested interests that led to the creation of the problem in the first place. This study examines international controls from the beginning of the nuclear age and early efforts to control the atom, up to more recent times and the challenge posed by Iranian and North Korean nuclear ambitions. Drawing on a rich body of original archival research and interviews, the book demonstrates that the collective action problem has restrained cooperation in preventing nuclear proliferation and that gaps persist in the international nuclear trade control regime. This book will be of much interest to students of nuclear proliferation and arms control, security studies, and International Relations.
This monograph analyses the use of caricature as one of the key strategies in narrative fiction since the war. Close analysis of some of the best known postwar novelists including Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, Angela Carter and Will Self, reveals how they use caricature to express postmodern conceptions of the self. In the process of moving away from the modernist focus on subjectivity, postmodern characterisation has often drawn on a much older satirical tradition which includes Hogarth and Gillray in the visual arts, and Dryden, Pope, Swift and Dickens in literature. Its key images depict the human as reduced to the status of an object, an animal or a machine, or the human body as dismembered to represent the fragmentation of the human spirit. Gregson argues that this return to caricature is symptomatic of a satirical attitude to the self which is particularly characteristic of contemporary culture.
This comprehensive resource provides up-to-date political coverage of every country and political entity in the world today. It incorporates all the major global and regional changes following the decolonization of Hong Kong in 1997, recent leadership changes in China and Russia, the results of the Dayton Peace Accord, the rise of the New Labor Party in the UK, the 1999 elections in Israel and South Africa, and the continued search for peace in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. The economic crisis in Asia and the widespread growth of world nuclear powers are also covered.
In today's aggressive marketplace, listed companies can no longer rely on their numbers to do the talking. If companies can't communicate their achievements and strategy, mounting research evidence suggests, they will be overlooked, their cost of capital will increase and stock price will suffer. In Strategic Financial and Investor Communication: the stock price story Ian Westbrook, principal of Australia's leading independent financial communications firm, argues just this: stock price is more a story than a number. Moreover, the book will teach you how to tell your own story by guiding you through the fast-paced world of financial corporate communication with a professional's pragmatism as well as academic rigour. Whether you're a student or a professional of PR, investor relations or corporate communications, this much-needed guide will teach you how to tell a compelling story about your company that the stockbroker, fund manager and corporate media cannot ignore.
The revelations on Mars -- a half-million year-old legacy of the vanished star-traveling Builders -- have fed the flames of catastrophic war. A beleaguered United States and its Russian and Japanese allies struggle to hold their own against the indomitable forces of the enemy United Nations. The bloody conflict that has swept over the home planet now rages across the blackness of space -- with the U.S. Marine Corps in the vanguard, leading the charge as always. But Mars is not the sole repository of alien wonders. The Earth's moon hides unsettling mysteries of its own-and dangerous secrets pointing toward an unstoppable threat advancing from somewhere beyond the solar system. And as scientists on both sides ract to utilize technology they have only barely begun to comprehend, the UN makes the opening move in a gambit that could end the hostilities quickly and decisively by bringing about the death of millions...without the aid of alien-inspired weaponry. A bad situation worsens by the nanosecond. And that means it's time to call in the Marines -- to make a life or death stand on the gray shores of Luna.
The definitive, New York Times–bestselling biography of the NFL’s most enigmatic, controversial, and yet successful coach. “With deep reporting and a profound understanding of the football life, Ian O'Connor comes as close as humanly possible to solving the mystery of the great football sphinx . . . and his unmatched coaching career.” —David Maraniss, bestselling author of When Pride Still Mattered, A Life of Vince Lombardi Bill Belichick is perhaps the most fascinating figure in the NFL—the infamously dour face of one of the winningest franchises in sports. As head coach of the New England Patriots, he’s led the team to six Super Bowl championship trophies. In this revelatory and robust biography, readers will come to understand and see Belichick’s full life in football, from watching college games as a kid with his father, a Naval Academy scout, to orchestrating two Super Bowl–winning game plans as defensive coordinator for the Giants, to his dramatic leap to New England, where he has made history. Award-winning columnist and New York Times–bestselling author Ian O’Connor delves into the mind of the man who has earned a place among coaching legends like Lombardi, Halas, and Paul Brown, presenting sides of Belichick that have been previously unexplored. O’Connor discovers how this legendary coach shaped the people he met and worked with in ways perhaps even Belichick himself doesn’t know. Those who follow and love pro football know Bill Belichick only as the hooded genius of the Patriots. But there is so much more—from the hidden tensions and deep layers to his relationship with Tom Brady to his sometimes-frosty dealings with owner Robert Kraft to his ability to earn the unmitigated respect of his players—if not their affection. This is a man who has many facets and, ultimately, has created a notorious football dynasty. Based on exhaustive research and countless interviews, this book circles Belichick to tell his full story for the first time and presents an incisive portrait of a mastermind at work. “A fascinating look inside the team so many of us love to hate.” —Washington Post “This is the kind of gold-standard reporting that all journalists aspire to, and few actually achieve.” —Mike Vaccaro, award-winning columnist, New York Post
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