This mockumentary in book form, by comedy writers Tom leopold and bob Sand, tells the story of how Milt Wagonman and his writing partner, Marty The X is Silent Sloyxne, finagled and stalked their way into the lives of america's greatest comics--from Milton berle to christopher guest. Milt & Marty, now in their 90s, have stopped at nothing on their quest for success. In the 1950s, they were so hard up for attention that they tried--unsuccessfully-- to get blacklisted as Communists. These days, they can be found sneaking onto movie sets to pitch their latest scripts and score free baklava. Most recently, Milt nailed Marty to one of the L's in the Hollywood sign in order to catch the eye (successfully) of Harry Shearer. A hybrid of truth and fiction, this story charts Milt & Marty's journey as seen through the eyes of real-life comedy writers Tom Leopold and Bob Sand, whose credits include Seinfeld and Cheers. Leopold & Sand tell the story of fictional Milt & Marty in a style similar to mockumentaries, like the film This Is Spinal Tap, even stepping into the tale themselves as characters. During lunch hour on their first day in show business, baby writers Leopold & Sand are spirited away from Paramount Studios by Milt & Marty--in the upholstery- less back seat of Marty's apple red Ford Falcon--to Milton Berle's home for an unforgettable initiation rite. But once Leopold & Sand start to make it themselves, the tables are turned and Milt & Marty begin to stalk them, going so far as to park in Sand's driveway until the younger pair takes pity and gives them work. The line between truth and fiction becomes even more hilariously blurred as some of the authors' real-life friends--such asHarry Shearer, Paul Shaffer, Martin Mull, Martin Short, and Catherine O'Hara--reveal why, despite having no great works to their names, Milt & Marty may well deserve their own stars on Hollywood Boulevard.
A father (Tom) hears his son Richard say, “School is OK except I don’t like learning numbers or arithmetic.” After dinner, Tom sits with Richard and tells him a story of a kingdom long ago where the use of numbers is forbidden by King Kcaj and of the chaos that ensues because of it. As Tom’s story unfolds, he hopes to instill in Richard a sense of the importance of learning numbers, counting, and arithmetic along with other life lessons.
The fascinating story of the most powerful source of energy the earth can yield Uranium is a common element in the earth's crust and the only naturally occurring mineral with the power to end all life on the planet. After World War II, it reshaped the global order-whoever could master uranium could master the world. Marie Curie gave us hope that uranium would be a miracle panacea, but the Manhattan Project gave us reason to believe that civilization would end with apocalypse. Slave labor camps in Africa and Eastern Europe were built around mine shafts and America would knowingly send more than six hundred uranium miners to their graves in the name of national security. Fortunes have been made from this yellow dirt; massive energy grids have been run from it. Fear of it panicked the American people into supporting a questionable war with Iraq and its specter threatens to create another conflict in Iran. Now, some are hoping it can help avoid a global warming catastrophe. In Uranium, Tom Zoellner takes readers around the globe in this intriguing look at the mineral that can sustain life or destroy it.
Spine-chilling tales of the ultimate evil deeds for all true crime fans! Murders have long made headlines, but only those with the most heartless betrayals, twisted lies, and gruesome crime scenes have earned a place in infamy. The Killer Book of Infamous Murders takes you behind the crime scene tape and into the heart of notorious and remorseless massacres. Uncover fascinating facts about killers' dark pasts, pent-up rage, and what finally caused them to snap—leading them to commit some of the world's most shocking crimes, including: Leopold and Loeb's "perfect crime": the kidnapping and slaying of fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks The bloody shootings of Alan and Diane Johnson, killed by their sixteen-year-old daughter The cold-blooded murder of the Clutter family The puzzling and controversial murder of Marilyn Sheppard And much more... Beyond a mere collection of cases, this book serves as a vital resource for true crime enthusiasts, providing a deeper understanding of the sociological, psychological, and legal aspects of these infamous crimes. Venture into the darker side of human history with The Killer Book of Infamous Murders. Key Features: Intricate Details: Explores the shocking motives, intricate investigations, and legal complexities of each case. Extensive Research: Presents meticulously researched facts, trivia, and stories. Deep Insights: Offers deep insights into the dark side of human nature and the complexities of criminal justice.
Africa’s Deadliest Conflict deals with the complex intersection of the legacy of post-colonial history—a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions—and changing norms of international intervention associated with the idea of human security and the responsibility to protect (R2P). It attempts to explain why, despite a softening of norms related to the sanctity of state sovereignty, the international community dealt so ineffectively with a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which between 1997 and 2011 claimed an estimated 5.5 million. In particular, the book focuses on the role of mass media in creating a will to intervene, a role considered by many to be the key to prodding a reluctant international community to action. Included in the book are a primer on Congolese history, a review of United Nations peacekeeping missions in the Congo, and a detailed examination of both US television news and New York Times coverage of the Congo from 1997 through 2008. Separate conclusions are offered with respect to peacekeeping in the Age of R2P and on the role of mass media in both promoting and inhibiting robust international responses to large-scale humanitarian crises.
Mark Twain once claimed that he could read human character as well as he could read the Mississippi River, and he studied his fellow humans with the same devoted attention. In both his fiction and his nonfiction, he was disposed to dramatize how the human creature acts in a given environment—and to understand why. Now one of America’s preeminent Twain scholars takes a closer look at this icon’s abiding interest in his fellow creatures. In seeking to account for how Twain might have reasonably believed the things he said he believed, Tom Quirk has interwoven the author’s inner life with his writings to produce a meditation on how Twain’s understanding of human nature evolved and deepened, and to show that this was one of the central preoccupations of his life. Quirk charts the ways in which this humorist and occasional philosopher contemplated the subject of human nature from early adulthood until the end of his life, revealing how his outlook changed over the years. His travels, his readings in history and science, his political and social commitments, and his own pragmatic testing of human nature in his writing contributed to Twain’s mature view of his kind. Quirk establishes the social and scientific contexts that clarify Twain’s thinking, and he considers not only Twain’s stated intentions about his purposes in his published works but also his ad hoc remarks about the human condition. Viewing both major and minor works through the lens of Twain’s shifting attitude, Quirk provides refreshing new perspectives on the master’s oeuvre. He offers a detailed look at the travel writings, including The Innocents Abroad and Following the Equator, and the novels, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Pudd’nhead Wilson, as well as an important review of works from Twain’s last decade, including fantasies centering on man’s insignificance in Creation, works preoccupied with isolation—notably No. 44,The Mysterious Stranger and “Eve’s Diary”—and polemical writings such as What Is Man? Comprising the well-seasoned reflections of a mature scholar, this persuasive and eminently readable study comes to terms with the life-shaping ideas and attitudes of one of America’s best-loved writers. Mark Twain and Human Nature offers readers a better understanding of Twain’s intellect as it enriches our understanding of his craft and his ineluctable humor.
A riveting, on-the-edge-of-your-seat tale about the notorious 1978 kidnapping of Baron Édouard-Jean “Wado” Empain, intertwined with the story of his famous grandfather, the first baron and builder of the Paris Métro. A multigenerational saga told against the backdrops of both Belle Époque and 1970s high-fashion Paris. What does it take to create a dynasty? What does it take to keep one going? And what does it take to save the life of the dazzling but flawed man who inherited it all? Launched in the 1880s by the first baron, the Empain industrial empire spread from Belgium and France to span more than a dozen countries. When Wado took over, he further expanded the company, became a key player in France’s nuclear sector, and, by the mid-1970s, was one of the country’s most powerful business leaders—a self-described “master of the universe.” But these were also the “years of lead,” marked by a rash of high-profile kidnappings around the globe, including the headline-grabbing seizure of American heiress Patty Hearst. Wado’s vertiginous rise caught the eye of Alain Cailloll, a small-time gangster who had grown up in a wealthy family before embracing a life of crime. On January 23, 1978, Caillol and his confederates snatched the baron off the Paris streets, sure that they’d get the 80 million francs they demanded in ransom. To show they meant business, they chopped off Wado’s little finger and warned that more body parts would follow. But nothing unfolded as the kidnappers, or Wado himself, expected. Would Empain’s company pay? Could his family afford this astronomical sum? How much was the life of a leader, a father, and a husband worth? Most important, could a determined police chief and his crack investigators outsmart the kidnappers? The answers to those questions unspooled over two months in a tangle of events leading to a bloody showdown whose consequences would prove fatal to the Empain dynasty.
A Classic Father-Daughter Love Story by Colonel Tom Kelly. Selected Childhood chapters from; Dealer’s Choice, Better on A Rising Tide, A Year Outside, The Boat, & A Few Loose Chapters. “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale, her infinite variety.” -William Shakespeare
“A lovely, fascinating book, which brings science to life.” —Alan Lightman Combining science, history, and adventure, Tom Shachtman “holds the reader’s attention with the skill of a novelist” as he chronicles the story of humans’ four-centuries-long quest to master the secrets of cold (Scientific American). “A disarming portrait of an exquisite, ferocious, world-ending extreme,” Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold demonstrates how temperature science produced astonishing scientific insights and applications that have revolutionized civilization (Kirkus Reviews). It also illustrates how scientific advancement, fueled by fortuitous discoveries and the efforts of determined individuals, has allowed people to adapt to—and change—the environments in which they live and work, shaping man’s very understanding of, and relationship, with the world. This “truly wonderful book” was adapted into an acclaimed documentary underwritten by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, directed by British Emmy Award winner David Dugan, and aired on the BBC and PBS’s Nova in 2008 (Library Journal). “An absorbing account to chill out with.” —Booklist
Vast, diverse, dynamic, and turbulent, the true nature of Africa is often obscured by its poverty-stricken image. In this controversial and gripping guide, Tom Young cuts through the emotional hype to critically analyse the continent's political history and the factors behind its dismal economic performance. Maintaining that colonial influences are often overplayed, Young argues that much blame must lie with African governments themselves and that Western aid can often cause as much harm as good.
Until deep into the 20th century, empire remained a source of pride for European states and their politicians. The 21st century, however, has seen the unexpected emergence of certain European states apologising to their former colonies. Analysing apologies from Germany, Belgium, Britain and Italy, this book explores the shifting ways in which these countries represent their colonial pasts and investigates what this reveals about contemporary international politics, particularly relations between (former) coloniser and colonised. It is argued that, far from renouncing colonialism in its entirety, the apologies are replete with discourses that are reminiscent of the core legitimising tenets of empire. Specifically, the book traces how the apologies both illuminate and recycle many of the inequalities, mind-sets and ambivalences that circulated at the height of empire. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of peace and post-conflict resolution studies, memory studies, colonial studies and postcolonial theory. More broadly, it will be of interest to those studying political science, International Relations, sociology and development.
Book connoisseur Tom Nissley has combed literary history to capture the stories that make writers' lives perennially fascinating: their epiphanies, embarrassments and achievements. Each handsome page in A Reader's Book of Days is devoted to a day of the year, featuring original accounts of events in the lives of great writers, and fictional events that took place within beloved books.
Uproarious . . . [Phillips and Elledge] pair the abundant good humour of this book with a warning about the corrosive effects of conspiracy theories' The Times From the Satanic Panic to the anti-vaxx movement, the moon landing to Pizzagate, it's always been human nature to believe we're being lied to by the powers that be (and sometimes, to be fair, we absolutely are). But while it can be fun to indulge in a bit of Deep State banter on the group chat, recent times have shown us that some of these theories have taken on a life of their own - and in our dogged quest for the truth, it appears we might actually be doing it some damage. In Conspiracy, Tom Phillips and Jonn Elledge take us on a fascinating, insightful and often hilarious journey through conspiracy theories old and new, to try and answer a vital question for our times: how can we learn to log off the QAnon message boards, and start trusting hard evidence again? Praise for the Brief History series: 'Witty, entertaining and slightly distressing... You should probably read it' Sarah Knight, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck 'Brilliant. Utterly, utterly brilliant' Jeremy Clarkson 'Very funny' Mark Watson 'Both readable and entertaining' Telegraph
THE STORY: An actor (in this case the author himself) faces an audience and, with unfailing wit and humor, tells all about what it is like to pursue an acting career in the challenging and often discouraging environs of New York and Hollywood. From
Learn about fifty amazing kids who changed the world in this beautifully illustrated collection of inspiring short biographies sure to empower and motivate in equal measure. You don't have to be an adult to make a difference! This volume is the perfect introduction to just some of the incredible young people from all over the world who have influenced a cultural, political, or social change throughout history. From Louis Braille to Greta Thunberg, Pelé to Malala Yousafzai, these activists, inventors, artists, and athletes broke new ground with their passion, courage, and creativity. Each lavishly illustrated spread features inspiring words from all of these young people and the true stories behind how their actions and achievements that shook up the world.
Heirs of Flesh and Paper" tells the story of early modern dynastic politics through subjects’ practical responses to royal illness, failing princely reproduction, and heirs’ premature deaths. It treats connected dynastic crises between 1699 and 1716 as illustrative for early modern European political regimes in which the rulers’ corporeality defined politics. This political order grappled with the endemic uncertainties induced by dynastic bodies. By following the day-to-day practices of knowledge making in response to the unpredictability of royal health, the book shows how the ruling family’s mortal coils regularly threatened to destabilize the institutionalized legal fiction of kingship. Dynastic politics was not only as a transitory stage of state formation, part of elite cooperation, or a cultural construct. It needs to be approached through everyday practices that put ailing dynastic bodies front and center. In a period of intensifying political planning, it constituted one of the most important sites for changing the political itself.
In this collection of essays, Tom Farer examines critically the stand taken by U.S. foreign policy makers on such issues as right and left-wing dictatorships, revolution, human rights and national autonomy. In this fascinating manner, focusing sharp observations at times with polemical intent, Farer scrutinizes the key assumptions, including the "Soviet or revolutionary threat," which have guided American foreign policy for Latin America since the end of World War II. One central conviction is that changes in regimes rarely have objective significance for U.S. strategic interests properly conceived. Farer describes the grand strategy of the United States in Latin America (he sees very much the same strategic assumptions guiding U.S. policy throughout the Third World) as unrealistic and misguided in terms both of U.S. interests and ideals. He argues that America has over the years maneuvered itself into political, legal and moral dilemmas by disregarding or misunderstanding the internal dynamics of Latin American countries and their implications for U.S. interests and by seeing dangerous and irremedial hostility in all revolutionary movements. Against this tradition in U.S. policy, Farer advocates tactics and strategies he deems more consonant with the proper goals of U.S. policy and with Latin American needs and aspirations. His essays combine a sophisticated analysis of Latin American society with assessment of U.S. policy from legal, moral and strategic perspectives.
Dachau to the Dolomites is the dramatic but little-known story of a group of prominent Nazi SS hostages transported from various concentration camps to a remote Alpine valley in the final days of the Third Reich. Five Irishmen were among the 160 prisoners whom Himmler and other SS leaders attempted to use as barter to save the regime or, as a final resort, themselves. As well as eminent international statesmen, aristocrats and clergy, the group contained opposition German generals and civilian relatives of those who had plotted against Hitler, including the family of Claus von Stauffenberg, who placed the bomb in Hitler's Wolf's Lair. Among the hostages were a number of British officers, survivors of the famous 'Great Escape', and also Colonel John McGrath from Roscommon, a World War I veteran who had left his job as manager of Dublin's Theatre Royal to rejoin the British Army in 1939. They had been held with Russian, Italian and Polish special prisoners as 'Nacht und Nebel' - Night and Fog - prisoners, whose existence was a state secret. They lived in constant danger of execution, a fate some did not escape, including Stalin's son, who died following a fracas with Irish prisoners. It is an astonishing and epic tale encompassing heroic endurance, escape, betrayal, tragedy and love.
How do mobilization for war and the actual war effort affect the environment? How do ecological conditions encourage war? What are possible, non-violent solutions to the ecological- conflict dynamic? Ecology of War & Peace attempts to answer these questions in readable prose with an unapologetic bias toward non-violence.
The notorious Nazi leader’s attempt to take war prisoners hostage at the end of WWII is revealed in this lively and expertly researched history. During the final weeks of the Second World War, Heinrich Himmler assembled the most famous and noteworthy SS prisoners be taken hostage. Himmler’s plan was to use these individuals as bargaining chips to save the Reich—or, failing that, himself. Known as the Prominenten, this group included European politicians and former heads of state, five British survivors of the ‘Great Escape,’ two MI5 agents, and Irish born POWs. This meticulously researched study sheds new light on how the British prisoners came to be integrated with a multinational group of VIPs in Dachau concentration camp, including German family groups of men, women and children; relatives of those implicated in plot to kill Hitler. The lively narrative describes kidnapping, escape attempts, interpersonal conflict, betrayal and comradeship. It also reveals intrigues and love affairs among the prisoners, culminating in their dramatic attempt to free themselves from the SS.
Learn how to take photos like the greats! Transform an interest in photography into an exciting hobby or possible professional endeavor with this fantastic photography book The pages of this photography guide book take you on a journey through the development of photography. Explore its history, how it became an art form and how to apply its techniques to your own photos to create stunning photographic works! Photography: History. Art. Technique. is the perfect photographic coffee table book for budding photographers who are fascinated by the history of photography and want to learn how to improve their skills. You’ll discover: • All the basics of photography and tips for using a smartphone to create stunning photos. • An in-depth introduction to the history of photography. • A new, larger format that makes the content clearer and more accessible. The development of photography is possibly one of the most extraordinary feats of modern technology. Photography: History. Art. Technique. captures the most awe-inspiring photos and people that have pushed the boundaries of this medium, and the genres they’ve experimented with like landscapes, portraits, wildlife and art photography. The second half of this photography book delves into using the technical aspects of your camera like aperture, contrast, light, accessories and digital editing. Author Tom Ang further includes masterclasses that cover the key features of each photographic style, the photographers that influence them and how to apply these techniques in your own photography!
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