A Curious Man

A Curious Man PDF Author: Neal Thompson
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448184371
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
One of the most successful entertainment figures of his time, Robert Ripley’s life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Bucktoothed and hampered by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of being an outsider into an appreciation of the weird and wonderful. He sold his first cartoon to LIFE magazine at eighteen, but it was his wildly popular ‘Believe It or Not!’ radio shows that won him international fame, and spurred him on to search the globe’s farthest corners for bizarre facts, human curiosities and shocking phenomena. Ripley delighted in making preposterous declarations that somehow turned out to be true – such as that Charles Lindburgh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ was not the USA’s national anthem. And he demanded respect for those who were labelled ‘eccentrics’ or ‘freaks’ – whether it be E. L. Blystone, who wrote 2,871 alphabet letters on a grain of rice, or the man who could swallow his own nose. By the 1930s, Ripley possessed a wide fortune, a private yacht and a huge mansion stocked with such oddities as shrunken heads and medieval torture devices. His pioneering firsts in print, radio and television tapped into something deep in the American consciousness – a taste for the titillating and exotic, and a fascination with the fastest, biggest, wackiest and weirdest – and ensured a worldwide legacy that continues today. This compelling biography portrays a man who was dedicated to exalting the strange and unusual – but who may have been the most amazing oddity of all.

A Curious Man

A Curious Man PDF Author: Neal Thompson
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448184371
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 411

Get Book Here

Book Description
One of the most successful entertainment figures of his time, Robert Ripley’s life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Bucktoothed and hampered by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of being an outsider into an appreciation of the weird and wonderful. He sold his first cartoon to LIFE magazine at eighteen, but it was his wildly popular ‘Believe It or Not!’ radio shows that won him international fame, and spurred him on to search the globe’s farthest corners for bizarre facts, human curiosities and shocking phenomena. Ripley delighted in making preposterous declarations that somehow turned out to be true – such as that Charles Lindburgh was only the sixty-seventh man to fly across the Atlantic or that ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ was not the USA’s national anthem. And he demanded respect for those who were labelled ‘eccentrics’ or ‘freaks’ – whether it be E. L. Blystone, who wrote 2,871 alphabet letters on a grain of rice, or the man who could swallow his own nose. By the 1930s, Ripley possessed a wide fortune, a private yacht and a huge mansion stocked with such oddities as shrunken heads and medieval torture devices. His pioneering firsts in print, radio and television tapped into something deep in the American consciousness – a taste for the titillating and exotic, and a fascination with the fastest, biggest, wackiest and weirdest – and ensured a worldwide legacy that continues today. This compelling biography portrays a man who was dedicated to exalting the strange and unusual – but who may have been the most amazing oddity of all.

Natural History of Intellect

Natural History of Intellect PDF Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American essays
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description


Good Wives

Good Wives PDF Author: Louisa May Alcott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Complete and unabridged edition.

Gregg Shorthand

Gregg Shorthand PDF Author: John Robert Gregg
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Shorthand
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description


Passages from the American Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne

Passages from the American Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne PDF Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Authors, American
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description


Two Captains

Two Captains PDF Author: Veniamin Kaverin
Publisher: Fredonia Books (NL)
ISBN: 9781410103284
Category : Soviet Union
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Two Captains is the most renowned novel of the Russian writer Veniamin Kaverin. The plot spans from 1912 to 1944. For more than half a century the book has been loved by children and adults alike. The novel has undergone more than 100 printings, including translations into other languages. Based on its story, plays have been staged and an opera has been written. The plot of the book also became the basis of two movies of the same title in 1955 and 1976. In 1995 in Pskov, the home town of the author, a monument was erected to the characters of the book and a "Two Captains" museum was opened. The real prototype for Captain Tatarinov was Lieutenant Georgii Brusilov, who in 1912 organized a privately funded expedition seeking a west-to-east Northern sea route. The steamship "St. Anna," specially built for the expedition, left Petersburg on 28 July 1912. Near the shores of Yamal peninsula it was seized by ice and carried in the ice drift to the north of the Kara Sea. The expedition survived two hard winters. Of the 14 people who left the stranded steamship in 1914, only two made it to one of the islands of Frants-Joseph Land and were spotted and taken aboard "St. Foka", the ship of the expedition of G. Y. Sedov. The ship log they had kept with them contained the most important of the scientific data, after the study of which Sedov's expedition found the previously unknown island in the Kara Sea, Vize Island. The ultimate fate of "St.Anna" and its remaining crew is still unknown. Veniamin Kaverin (1902-1989) wrote novels, short stories, fairy tales, memoirs, and biographies. In the early 1920s, Veniamin Kaverin was a member of experimental literary group "Serapionovi bratya". In 1946 his novel Two Captains became the winner of the USSR State Literature Award.

The Journal of a Disappointed Man

The Journal of a Disappointed Man PDF Author: W. N. P. Barbellion
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
ISBN: 1473345375
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
This book contains Bruce Frederick Cummings' (pseudonym: W. N. P. Barbellion) 1919 work, "The Journal of a Disappointed Man". Hailed by Ronald Blythe as "among the most moving diaries ever created", it is full of astute and frank observations, interesting personal philosophy, and profound introspection. The first edition contains a preface by H. G. Wells, which caused many people think it a work of fiction; however, Well's dispelled this rumour even though the true identity of its author was unknown until his death. A fascinating and unique volume, "The Journal of a Disappointed Man" constitutes a must-read for all lovers of non-fiction and would make for a worthy addition to any collection. Bruce Frederick Cummings (1889 - 919) was an English diarist most famous for this work. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

Our Word is Our Weapon

Our Word is Our Weapon PDF Author: Subcomandante Marcos
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
ISBN: 9781583224724
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 518

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Book Description
In this landmark book, Seven Stories Press presents a powerful collection of literary, philosophical, and political writings of the masked Zapatista spokesperson, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. Introduced by Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, and illustrated with beautiful black and white photographs, Our Word Is Our Weapon crystallizes "the passion of a rebel, the poetry of a movement, and the literary genius of indigenous Mexico." Marcos first captured world attention on January 1, 1994, when he and an indigenous guerrilla group calling themselves "Zapatistas" revolted against the Mexican government and seized key towns in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas. In the six years that have passed since their uprising, Marcos has altered the course of Mexican politics and emerged an international symbol of grassroots movement-building, rebellion, and democracy. The prolific stream of poetic political writings, tales, and traditional myths that Marcos has penned since January 1, 1994 fill more than four volumes. Our Word Is Our Weapon presents the best of these writings, many of which have never been published before in English. Throughout this remarkable book we hear the uncompromising voice of indigenous communities living in resistance, expressing through manifestos and myths the universal human urge for dignity, democracy, and liberation. It is the voice of a people refusing to be forgotten the voice of Mexico in transition, the voice of a people struggling for democracy by using their word as their only weapon.

The Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland

The Autobiography of Christopher Kirkland PDF Author: Elizabeth Lynn Linton
Publisher: Victorian Secrets
ISBN: 1906469229
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Critical edition of Eliza Lynn Linton's semi-autobiographical novel in which she adopts a male persona in order to recount her relationships with other women. The edition includes an introduction, explanatory footnotes and extracts from other relevant works.

Paddy's Lament, Ireland 1846-1847

Paddy's Lament, Ireland 1846-1847 PDF Author: Thomas Gallagher
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780156707008
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
Ireland in the mid-1800s was primarily a population of peasants, forced to live on a single, moderately nutritious crop: potatoes. Suddenly, in 1846, an unknown and uncontrollable disease turned the potato crop to inedible slime, and all Ireland was threatened. Index.