Peter Firstbrook's Books

The Obamas

The Untold Story of an African Family

By: Peter Firstbrook

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The Obamas

The Untold Story of an African Family

By: Peter Firstbrook

Fascinating...adds many interesting details to what we know of the President’s heritage." --David Remnick, TheNewYorker.com On January 20, 2009, a few hundred men, women, and children gathered under trees in the twilight at K’obama, a village on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. Barack Obama’s rise to the American presidency had captivated people around the world, but members of this gathering took a special pride in the swearing in of America’s first black president, for they were all Obamas, all the president’s direct African family. In the first in-depth history of the Obama family, Peter Firstbrook recounts a journey that starts in a mud hut by the White Nile and ends seven centuries later in the White House. Interweaving oral history and tribal lore, interviews with Obama family members and other Kenyans, the writings of Kenyan historians, and original genealogical research, Firstbrook sets the fascinating story of the president’s family against the background of Kenya’s rich culture and complex history. He tells the story of farmers and fishermen, of healers and hunters, of families lost and found, establishing for the first time the early ancestry of the Obamas. From the tribe’s cradleland in southern Sudan, he follows the family generation by generation, tracing the paths of the famous Luo warriors—Obama’s direct ancestors—and vividly illuminating Luo politics, society, and traditions. Firstbrook also brings to life the impact of English colonization in Africa through the eyes of President Obama’s grandfather Onyango. An ambitious and disciplined man who fought in two world wars, witnessed the bloody Mau Mau insurrection, and saw his country gain independence from white rule, Onyango was also hot-tempered and autocratic: family lore has it that President Obama’s grandmother abandoned the family after Onyango attempted to murder her. And Firstbrook delves into the troubled life of Obama’s father, a promising young man whose aspirations were stymied by post-independence tribal politics and a rash tendency toward self-destruction—two factors that his family believes contributed to his death in 1982. They say it was no accident, as described in the president’s memoirs, but rather a politically motivated hit job. More than a tale of love and war, hardship and hard-won success, The Obamas reveals a family history—epic in scope yet intimate in feel—that is truly without precedent.

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Page Count

362

Publisher

Crown

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307591425

ISBN 13

9780307591425

A Man Most Driven

Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and the Founding of America

By: Peter Firstbrook

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A Man Most Driven

Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and the Founding of America

By: Peter Firstbrook

He fought and beheaded three Turkish adversaries in duels. He was sold into slavery, then murdered his master to escape. He sailed under a pirate flag, was shipwrecked and marched to the gallows to be hanged, only to be reprieved at the eleventh hour. And all this happened before he was thirty years old. This is Captain John Smith’s life. Everyone knows the story of Pocahontas, and how in 1607 she saved John Smith. And were it not for Smith’s leadership, the Jamestown colony would surely have failed. Yet Smith was a far more ambitious explorer and soldier of fortune than these tales suggest – and a far more ambitious self-promoter, too. Now, in this first new major biography of Smith in decades, award-winning BBC filmmaker and author Peter Firstbrook traces the adventurer’s astonishing exploits across three continents, testing Smith’s own writings against the historical and geographical reality on the ground. With A Man Most Driven, Firstbrook delivers a riveting, enlightening dissection of this myth-making man, England’s arrival on the world stage, and the creation of America.

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587

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1780741073

ISBN 13

9781780741079

Coastwise

Understanding Britain's Shoreline

By: Peter Firstbrook

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Coastwise

Understanding Britain's Shoreline

By: Peter Firstbrook

Coastwise examines the coastline of the British Isles as a dynamic environment and offers you an understandable explanation of how the coastline functions as a single entity. It is supported by hundreds of stunning photos and illustrations. It begins by exploring how the forces of nature combine to create its physical features (and continue to do so). This is a multifaceted story that involves ancient geology and powerful ocean forces. It then turns to the living nature of the coast, covering the unique plants, animals and other organisms whose interdependence keeps the coast alive and healthy. These amazing creatures are described and displayed in full colour. The third part of the book looks at how humans have interacted with the coast, using it for defence, commerce and leisure. It explores these aspects from the earliest times to the present day. The final section shows, for each coastal region, where the features discussed in the book can be observed and enjoyed, giving you a practical way of exploring the elements described in the book. All aspects of the coast are covered, making it essential reading – or a wonderful gift – for all those who spend time on Britain's coast. As Countryfile presenter, Tom Heap, says in his Foreword: "These pages are a practical love letter to Britain's waterfront and no seaside holiday home should be without them.

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Page Count

574

Publisher

Fernhurst Books Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1912621541

ISBN 13

9781912621545

Somme Success

The Royal Flying Corps and the Battle of The Somme 1916

By: Peter Hart

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Somme Success

The Royal Flying Corps and the Battle of The Somme 1916

By: Peter Hart

This history of the Royal Flying Corps during the Battle of Somme offers a comprehensive firsthand look at WWI military aviation. During the summer and fall of 1916, high above the blood-soaked trenches of the Somme, the Royal Flying Corps was engaging in one of the first great aerial battles of history. Even in those pioneering days of aerial warfare, primitive aircraft and the brave men who flew them were proving vital. Before the battle, photographic reconnaissance aircraft from both sides were desperately trying to map the opposition's deployment; artillery spotting aircraft were locating hidden targets; and bombing raids had become standard. Somme Success provides a detailed description of all facets of air operations of the period using the firsthand accounts of those who were there. It describes how the Royal Flying Corps answered the Fokker scourge in Airco DH.2 single-seater planes and, later, the ubiquitous F.E.2b two-seaters—the plane that shot down German 'Ace' Max Immelmann. Having conceded air supremacy to the Royal Flying Corps early in the Somme Offensive, the German Air Service launched an aerial counterattack during August and September. The Albatross single-seaters of the elite scout squadron proved superior to any allied aircraft. When German fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen—the Red Baron—took to the skies, a new period of German supremacy began.

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Page Count

492

Publisher

Casemate Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1781598029

ISBN 13

9781781598023

Wildest Dream

The Biography of George Mallory

By: Peter Gillman,Leni Gillman

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Wildest Dream

The Biography of George Mallory

By: Peter Gillman,Leni Gillman

* Chronicles all three of Mallory's Everest expeditions * Illuminates how Mallory reconciled his ambitions on Everest with his unquestioned love for his wife and family Since the discovery in 1999 of George Mallory's body on Everest, controversy has raged over whether Mallory and Andrew Irvine could have summitted the mountain. Every detail of the climb has been dissected and Mallory's skill as a mountaineer has been hotly debated. Observing the debate, Peter and Leni Gillman felt that the essence of who Mallory was as an individual had been lost. In The Wildest Dream they offer the most comprehensive biography ever written about one of the 20th century's most intriguing personalities. Exploring Mallory's early years, the Gillmans take the reader to Cambridge and Bloomsbury where Mallory consorted with some of the most colorful literary and artistic figures of Edwardian England: Rupert Brooke, James and Lytton Strachey, Maynard and Geoffrey Keynes, and Duncan Grant, among others. The Wildest Dream moves on to examine exactly what Mallory accomplished as a climber, evaluating the quality of his routes and skills within the context of climbing in the early 1900s. At the heart of this biography, and of Mallory's life, is his wife, Ruth. The letters they exchanged during the many separations caused by World War I and three Everest expeditions reveal the depth of their commitment to each other and the unwavering support and strength Ruth offered George. The Everest expeditions are also insightfully rendered, offering perspective on criticisms levied at Mallory after the 1921 and 1922 attempts. The authors examine how Mallory, a dedicated husband and father, arrived at his fateful decision to participate in the doomed 1924 expedition and why he continued to press for a summit attempt when the odds seemed stacked against him. As Mallory once declared, a climber was what he was, and this is what climbers did; this was how they fulfilled their wildest dreams.

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Page Count

316

Publisher

The Mountaineers Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1594854734

ISBN 13

9781594854736

Jim Grant

UNICEF Visionary

By: Peter Adamson

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Jim Grant

UNICEF Visionary

By: Peter Adamson

Jim Grant was Executive Director of UNICEF from 1980 to 1995, during which period he launched a worldwide child survival and development revolution. The practical result was that by 1995, 25 million children were alive who would otherwise have died, with millions more living with better health and nutrition. This volume contains eight articles by Jim Grant's close colleagues which draw out the lessons of Grant's vision and leadership, which have relevance in many other contexts

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Page Count

175

Publisher

UNICEF

Published Date

ISBN 10

9280637231

ISBN 13

9789280637236

Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts

Origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex

By: Peter C. Lightfoot

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Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts

Origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex

By: Peter C. Lightfoot

Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts: Origin of the Sudbury Igneous Complex presents a current state of understanding on the geology and ore deposits of the Sudbury Igneous Complex in Ontario, Canada. As the first complete reference on the subject, this book explores the linkage between the processes of meteorite impact, melt sheet formation, differentiation, sulfide immiscibility and metal collection, and the localization of ores by magmatic and post-magmatic processes. The discovery of new ore deposits requires industry and government scientists and academic scholars to have access to the latest understanding of ore formation process models that link to the mineralization of their host rocks. The ore deposits at Sudbury are one of the world's largest ore systems, representing a classic case study that brings together very diverse datasets and ways of thinking. This book is designed to emphasize concepts that can be applied across a broad range of ore deposit types beyond Sudbury and nickel deposit geology. It is an essential resource for exploration geologists, university researchers, and government scientists, and can be used in rock and mineral analysis, remote sensing, and geophysical applications. - Provides the only reference book to focus entirely on the Sudbury Igneous Complex - Brings together an understanding of ore deposit and impact melts as a basis for future exploration - Authored by a leading expert on the geology of the Sudbury Igneous Complex with 35 years of experience working on nickel sulfide ore deposits

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Page Count

696

Publisher

Elsevier

Published Date

ISBN 10

0128041056

ISBN 13

9780128041055

International Civil Litigation in United States Courts

By: Gary B. Born,Peter B. Rutledge

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International Civil Litigation in United States Courts

By: Gary B. Born,Peter B. Rutledge

International Civil Litigation in United States Courts, by Gary B. Born and Peter B. Rutledge, is the essential, comprehensive law school text for the current and future international litigator, whether based in the United States, Europe, or elsewhere. Examining every topic discussed in competing texts with extensive narrative, unparalleled notes, and detailed citations, this book covers the gamut of international dispute resolution, whether judicial jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, extraterritoriality, conflicts of law, parallel proceedings, discovery disputes, service, judgment enforcement, and international arbitration. This Seventh Edition includes excerpts and updated discussions of recent U.S. court decisions and legislation relating to a wide range of private and public international law topics. ,p>New to the Seventh Edition: Latest developments in litigation under the Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act Latest developments in sovereign immunity law following several landmark Supreme Court decisions Latest developments regarding the extraterritorial application of federal law following several landmark Supreme Court decisions Critical examination of the new Restatement (Fourth) of the Foreign Relations of the United States Up-to-date citation and review of the most current academic legal scholarship in the field Professors and students will benefit from: Detailed notes with easy-to-use questions for discussion and legal analysis Comprehensive discussion of international dispute resolution, including international arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution outside of litigation in national courts Comparative foreign treatment of selected issues of international civil procedure Extensive notes and up-to-date citations that ensure the book has enduring value long after a course has ended, and it becomes a resource for practitioners seeking to research the field Documentary Supplement

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Page Count

1498

Publisher

Aspen Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1543847439

ISBN 13

9781543847437

Breathing Room

By: Peter Davison

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Breathing Room

By: Peter Davison

“Peter Davison, for years, has pondered with clear insight the perspectives of affection, attachment, loss, and memory, his language spare and his tone classical and deceptively quiet. The poems of this new collection look at the same world with surprise and speak of it with a startled and startling freedom, feeling ‘entitled to the liberty of breathing easy’—a freedom that brings with it the old clarity and eloquence.” —W. S. Merwin The poems in Peter Davison’s exuberant new collection contemplate the paradox of growing old—of having a mind still “a juicy swamp of invention” in a body beginning to falter. Both intimate and generous, these poems celebrate the cycle of the seasons, of death and rebirth: snapping turtles lay their eggs and new ones hatch; a ruffed grouse drums his spring mating dance. Memory is central: a mother’s lost face; a father’s voice that “plumbed the marrow of poetry as tenderly / as if a darling had crept into his arms”; a wife’s “rueful eyes, cornflower blue.” And the poet pays tribute to the literary life—to reading, to the precise moment a word rises to consciousness, to getting over Robert Frost, to the mind of Sylvia Plath. These are poems that expand time for us and deepen place, whether Davison is taking us on a path along a limestone cliff under canopies of holly and ivy, or is revisiting the instant while recovering from surgery when it becomes clear he is going to heal. “To learn poetry,” Davison writes in his foreword, “we need to take poems into our breath and blood, and that requires us to hear them as we read them, to learn to read with all the senses, especially with the ear.” Breathing Room gives us a splendid array of poems that we want to read with all our senses.

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Knopf

Published Date

ISBN 10

0375709371

ISBN 13

9780375709371

The Kindling Effect

A Medical Thriller

By: Peter Hernon

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The Kindling Effect

A Medical Thriller

By: Peter Hernon

A Texas millionaire finances illegal experiments in electric shocks on convicts to see if they can be rehabilitated. The novel describes what happens when two of the convicts escape from the clinic.

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Page Count

390

Publisher

William Morrow

Published Date

ISBN 10

0688142982

ISBN 13

9780688142988

Coastwise

Understanding Britain's Shoreline

By: Peter Firstbrook

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Coastwise

Understanding Britain's Shoreline

By: Peter Firstbrook

Understand the British coast by exploring how the forces of nature created its physical features, discovering the unique plants, animals, and other organisms that keep the coast alive, and examining how humans have used the coast for defense, commerce, and leisure. The final part allows you to explore these elements where you happen to be.

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Page Count

256

Published Date

ISBN 10

1912621401

ISBN 13

9781912621408

A Man Most Driven

Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and the Founding of America

By: Peter Firstbrook

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A Man Most Driven

Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and the Founding of America

By: Peter Firstbrook

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Page Count

587

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1780741073

ISBN 13

9781780741079

Lost on Everest

The Search for Mallory & Irvine

By: P. L. Firstbrook

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Lost on Everest

The Search for Mallory & Irvine

By: P. L. Firstbrook

On 8 June 1924 George Mallory and Andrew Irvine left their tent high on the slopes of Mount Everest and climbed into history. They were seen at 12:50 p.m. just 240 metres from the summit and "going strong for the top." Within minutes, Mallory and Irvine had disappeared in a snowstorm and were never seen alive again. What happened to these two pioneering climbers is the most famous mystery in the history of mountaineering. For 75 years, there has been fierce debate over whether they were the first to reach the summit, 29 years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. In March 1999, an expedition primarily sponsored by the BBC climbed to the North Face of Everest. Their discoveries became front-page news around the world. This gripping story by film producer Peter Firstbrook fully explores the events leading up to Mallory and Irvine's historic attempt to reach the summit of the highest mountain in the world, giving a dramatic first-hand account of the 1999 search expedition. Firstbrook utilises his extensive historical research and the amazing evidence found in 1999 to piece together the final hours of the two brave heroes - George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. "Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory & Irvine is an extraordinary tale of high adventure by the author of "The Voyage of the Matthew.

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Page Count

224

Publisher

M&S

Published Date

ISBN 10

0771031297

ISBN 13

9780771031298

The Voyage of the Matthew

John Cabot and the Discovery of North America

By: P. L. Firstbrook

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The Voyage of the Matthew

John Cabot and the Discovery of North America

By: P. L. Firstbrook

On 24 June 1497, the Genoese adventurer John Cabot, bearing letters patent from King Henry VII, became the first European known to have set foot in North America. (Cabot’s contemporary, Christopher Columbus, never actually landed in North America. To his dying day he thought it was the Orient.) Cabot’s triumphant appropriation of the “New Founde Land” for England capped one of the great maritime adventures of the late fifteenth century. Five hundred years later, the Matthew, a painstakingly constructed replica of Cabot’s three-masted caravel, sailed from Bristol, England, to Bonavista, Newfoundland. Her arrival marked the culmination of a maritime adventure as daring in its way as the voyage it commemorates. This time, however, the trials of the captain and sailors on board were recorded on camera and in reporters' notebooks for armchair onlookers to enjoy. Peter Firstbrook has been intimately involved in the recreation of Cabot’s voyage, from the laying down of the modern-day Matthew’s keel in 1993 to its sea trials in 1996 and the voyage itself in 1997. In these pages he relates all that is known about the fifteenth-century adventurer and describes the many challenges that confronted the team that set out to replicate his voyage. The book concludes, like Cabot’s own life, with a mystery: there is no record of how the great seafarer ended his days. He may have simply retired. He may have been lost in a storm on his last attempted voyage to America. Or he may, in fact, have returned to the newly discovered continent only to be murdered by a notorious Spanish buccaneer. This is a finely wrought story of adventure and discovery that will delight and entertain readers on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Page Count

192

Publisher

McClelland & Stewart Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

0771031211

ISBN 13

9780771031212

Book's by Peter Firstbrook

The Obamas

The Obamas

A Man Most Driven

A Man Most Driven

Coastwise

Coastwise

Somme Success

Somme Success

Wildest Dream

Wildest Dream

Jim Grant

Jim Grant

Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts

Nickel Sulfide Ores and Impact Melts

International Civil Litigation in United States Courts

International Civil Litigation in United States Courts

Breathing Room

Breathing Room

The Kindling Effect

The Kindling Effect

Coastwise

Coastwise

A Man Most Driven

A Man Most Driven

Lost on Everest

Lost on Everest

The Voyage of the Matthew

The Voyage of the Matthew

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