Author: Adrian Bliss
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0593977165
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 305
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Book Description
“All at once funny, touching, dazzlingly informative and fascinating, brilliantly imaginative and altogether wonderful. Capable of switching between divine silliness and genuinely tender sweetness, tragedy, and wonder.”—STEPHEN FRY History belongs to the heroes. But to get the full story, sometimes you have to ask the side characters. The lives of Leonardo da Vinci, Henry VIII, and Queen Victoria fill bookshelves and fascinate scholars all over the world. But little attention is given to the ferret who posed for the Renaissance master, the servant who oversaw the Tudor’s toilet time, or the famous horse who thrilled the miserable old monarch. These supporting cast members have been waiting in the wings for too long, and Adrian Bliss thinks it’s high time they join their glory-hogging contemporaries in the spotlight. Fortunately—thanks to some recently discovered ancient complaint letters, court transcripts, and memoirs in bottles—now they can. Equal parts fascinating and hilarious, The Greatest Nobodies of History is a surreal love letter to life’s forgotten heroes, featuring hitherto undocumented accounts from Ancient Greece to the front lines of the Great Emu War. All that follows really happened, and some of it could even be true.
Author: Andrew Lih
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 1401395856
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing." --Jimmy Wales With more than 2,000,000 individual articles on everything from Aa! (a Japanese pop group) to Zzyzx, California, written by an army of volunteer contributors, Wikipedia is the #8 site on the World Wide Web. Created (and corrected) by anyone with access to a computer, this impressive assemblage of knowledge is growing at an astonishing rate of more than 30,000,000 words a month. Now for the first time, a Wikipedia insider tells the story of how it all happened -- from the first glimmer of an idea to the global phenomenon it's become. Andrew Lih has been an administrator (a trusted user who is granted access to technical features) at Wikipedia for more than four years, as well as a regular host of the weekly Wikipedia podcast. In The Wikipedia Revolution, he details the site's inception in 2001, its evolution, and its remarkable growth, while also explaining its larger cultural repercussions. Wikipedia is not just a website; it's a global community of contributors who have banded together out of a shared passion for making knowledge free. Featuring a Foreword by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and an Afterword that is itself a Wikipedia creation.
Author: Peter Han
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9781591840862
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 270
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Book Description
Draws on the lessons learned by the author in his quest to discover how professionals find long-term meaning in their work, identifying fourteen key value systems as imparted by such figures as former senator Bill Bradley, actor John Lithgow, writer Tom Clancy, and others.
Author: Marc Lamont Hill
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501124943
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
An "analysis of deeper meaning behind the string of deaths of unarmed citizens like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray, providing ... [commentary] on the intersection of race and class in America today"--
Author: Nigel Cawthorne
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
ISBN: 1398821543
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
Great battles mark history's turning points where cultures and ideologies clash. Some battles are won by inspired leaders, some by superior weaponry, while others are won by a sheer dogged refusal to surrender in the face of overwhelming odds. This gripping account introduces 40 battles which changed the course of history, from the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC to the Vietnamese defeat of the French army at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. It includes the extraordinary generalships of Napoleon, Wellington and Marlborough, among others, as well as the victories of ordinary soldiers who, through their courage, determination and sacrifice, changed the course of history. Includes: • Siege of Jerusalem, 79 CE • The Battle of Hastings, 1066 • The Battle of Yorktown, 1781 • The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 • D-Day, 1944 Brought to life by photographs, maps and artwork of the battles, this book gives an expansive account of the most pivotal battles in the history of war and how they were lost or won.
Author: John Bowe
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812971841
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
Most Americans are shocked to discover that slavery still exists in the United States. Yet 145 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the CIA estimates that 14,500 to17,000 foreigners are “trafficked” annually into the United States, threatened with violence, and forced to work against their will. Modern people unanimously agree that slavery is abhorrent. How, then, can it be making a reappearance on American soil? Award-winning journalist John Bowe examines how outsourcing, subcontracting, immigration fraud, and the relentless pursuit of “everyday low prices” have created an opportunity for modern slavery to regain a toehold in the American economy. Bowe uses thorough and often dangerous research, exclusive interviews, eyewitness accounts, and rigorous economic analysis to examine three illegal workplaces where employees are literally or virtually enslaved. From rural Florida to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the U.S. commonwealth of Saipan in the Western Pacific, he documents coercive and forced labor situations that benefit us all, as consumers and stockholders, fattening the profits of dozens of American food and clothing chains, including Wal-Mart, Kroger, McDonald’s, Burger King, PepsiCo, Del Monte, Gap, Target, JCPenney, J. Crew, Polo Ralph Lauren, and others. In this eye-opening book, set against the everyday American landscape of shopping malls, outlet stores, and Happy Meals, Bowe reveals how humankind’s darker urges remain alive and well, lingering in the background of every transaction–and what we can do to overcome them. Praise for Nobodies: “Investigative, immersion reporting at its best . . . Bowe is a master storyteller whose work is finely tuned and fearless.” –USA Today “A brilliant and readable tour of the modern heart of darkness, Nobodies takes a long, hard look at what our democracy is becoming.” –Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter with Kansas? “Bowe dramatizes in gripping detail these stolen lives.” –O: The Oprah Magazine “The vividness of Bowe’s local stories might make you think twice before reaching for that cheap fruit or pair of discount socks.” –Condé Nast Portfolio NAMED ONE OF THE TWENTY BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE VILLAGE VOICE
Author: Liza Palmer
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 1250169852
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 221
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Book Description
“Liza Palmer's voice is fresh, exciting, and necessary. She's a must-read author.” —Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & the Six Charmingly candid, hilarious, and deeply moving, The Nobodies is a novel about failing but never losing the core of yourself, from a beloved writer at the top of her game. If there's one thing Joan Dixon knows about herself, it's that she is a damn good journalist. But when she is laid off from yet another soon-to-be-shuttered newspaper, and even the soulless, listicle-writing online jobs have dried up, she is left with few options. Closer to 40 than 30, single, living with her parents again, Joan decides she needs to reinvent herself. She goes to work as a junior copywriter at Bloom, a Los Angeles startup where her bosses are all a decade younger and snacks and cans of fizzy water flow freely. For once, Joan has a steady paycheck and a stable job. She befriends a group of misfit coworkers and even begins a real relationship, after years of false starts. But once a journalist, always a journalist, and as Joan starts to poke beneath Bloom’s bright surface, she realizes that she may have accidentally stumbled onto the scoop of her lifetime. Is it worth risking everything for the sake of the story?
Author: T.J. Winnifrith
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 1909930954
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
The Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, foreign invasion, communism and tribal conflict: these have been the realities of life in Northern Albania for centuries. In this rich and comprehensive history, Tom Winnifrith examines the many different elements that have shaped this independent and little-known region of the Balkans. He explores the fundamental division between the South of Albania and its mysterious, romantic North - more feudal, more tribal, more Catholic and more prone to Austrian and Italian influence. It is also a region less affected by Greece, both ancient and modern, and by medieval Byzantium or the Orthodox faith. Northern Albania, with a terrain and climate much harsher than the south of the country, has traditionally had little respect for law and authority while its inhabitants remain in thrall to an ancient honour code -- the kanun -- demanding blood feuds and terrible revenge. Nobody's Kingdom traces the history of this ruggedly beautiful region, frequently disturbed by both invaders and internal strife yet retaining a distinct national identity and character. From its origins in the ancient kingdom of Illyria and the Roman province of Illyricum, through Byzantine and Ottoman rule, the granting of Albanian independence in 1912, the rise and fall of communism to its current fragile democracy, Northern Albania can be seen as a cultural crossroads - especially remarkable given its mountainous and difficult landscape. This book, both scholarly and readable, is the first modern comprehensive history of Northern Albania and is a timely and accessible introduction to a remote and inaccessible region.
Author: Scott A. Sandage
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674015104
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 396
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Book Description
What makes somebody a Loser, a person doomed to unfulfilled dreams and humiliation? Nobody is born to lose, and yet failure embodies our worst fears. The Loser is our national bogeyman, and his history over the past two hundred years reveals the dark side of success, how economic striving reshaped the self and soul of America. From colonial days to the Columbine tragedy, Scott Sandage explores how failure evolved from a business loss into a personality deficit, from a career setback to a gauge of our self-worth. From hundreds of private diaries, family letters, business records, and even early credit reports, Sandage reconstructs the dramas of real-life Willy Lomans. He unearths their confessions and denials, foolish hopes and lost faith, sticking places and changing times. Dreamers, suckers, and nobodies come to life in the major scenes of American history, like the Civil War and the approach of big business, showing how the national quest for success remade the individual ordeal of failure. Born Losers is a pioneering work of American cultural history, which connects everyday attitudes and anxieties about failure to lofty ideals of individualism and salesmanship of self. Sandage's storytelling will resonate with all of us as it brings to life forgotten men and women who wrestled with The Loser--the label and the experience--in the days when American capitalism was building a nation of winners.
Author: Charles Edward Cutts Birch Appleton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literature
Languages : en
Pages : 660
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Book Description
