The Distant Land of My Father

The Distant Land of My Father PDF Author: Bo Caldwell
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 0811875210
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Get Book Here

Book Description
An ambitious man and his adoring daughter are separated and estranged by an ocean and by the tides of history in this “marvelous” novel (Los Angeles Times). For Anna Schoene, growing up in the magical world of Shanghai in the 1930s creates a special bond between her and her father. He is the son of missionaries, a smuggler, and a millionaire who leads a charmed but secretive life. When the family flees to Los Angeles in the face of the Japanese occupation, he chooses to stay, believing his connections and luck will keep him safe. He’s wrong—but he survives, only to again choose Shanghai over his family during the Second World War. Anna and her father reconnect late in his life, when she finally has a family of her own, but it is only when she discovers his extensive journals that she is able to fully understand him and the reasons for his absences. The Distant Land of My Father is a “beautiful” novel “for everyone who has ever felt himself in exile from any beloved place, or a time that can never return” (The Washington Post Book World). “Seamlessly weaves together Anna’s own memories with those of her father, gleaned from the journals . . . An elegant, refined story of families, wartime, and the mystique of memory.” —Kirkus Reviews “Vivid with details of prewar Shanghai and Los Angeles.” —Publishers Weekly “Lush and epic.” —San Jose Mercury News “Remarkable . . . A moving tale of love and the possibility of forgiveness.” —Library Journal

The Distant Land of My Father

The Distant Land of My Father PDF Author: Bo Caldwell
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 0811875210
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Get Book Here

Book Description
An ambitious man and his adoring daughter are separated and estranged by an ocean and by the tides of history in this “marvelous” novel (Los Angeles Times). For Anna Schoene, growing up in the magical world of Shanghai in the 1930s creates a special bond between her and her father. He is the son of missionaries, a smuggler, and a millionaire who leads a charmed but secretive life. When the family flees to Los Angeles in the face of the Japanese occupation, he chooses to stay, believing his connections and luck will keep him safe. He’s wrong—but he survives, only to again choose Shanghai over his family during the Second World War. Anna and her father reconnect late in his life, when she finally has a family of her own, but it is only when she discovers his extensive journals that she is able to fully understand him and the reasons for his absences. The Distant Land of My Father is a “beautiful” novel “for everyone who has ever felt himself in exile from any beloved place, or a time that can never return” (The Washington Post Book World). “Seamlessly weaves together Anna’s own memories with those of her father, gleaned from the journals . . . An elegant, refined story of families, wartime, and the mystique of memory.” —Kirkus Reviews “Vivid with details of prewar Shanghai and Los Angeles.” —Publishers Weekly “Lush and epic.” —San Jose Mercury News “Remarkable . . . A moving tale of love and the possibility of forgiveness.” —Library Journal

The Distant Lands

The Distant Lands PDF Author: Julien Green
Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers
ISBN: 9780714530222
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 905

Get Book Here

Book Description
The second volume of Julian Green's autobiography. "A compelling drama of the 1850s South. . . A delicious immersion into time and place." -Booklist. "There lurks in the shade of each magnolia and is heard rustling in every crinoline the South's impendin

That Distant Land

That Distant Land PDF Author: Wendell Berry
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1582439303
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 464

Get Book Here

Book Description
Originally published in 2005, That Distant Land brings together twenty–three stories from the Port William Membership. Arranged in their fictional chronology, the book is not an anthology so much as it is a coherent temporal mapping of this landscape over time, revealing Berry’s mastery of decades of the life lived alongside this clutch of interrelated characters bound by affection and followed over generations. This volume combines the stories found in The Wild Birds (1985), Fidelity (1992), and Watch with Me (1994), together with a map and a charting of the complex and interlocking genealogies.

Exotic Postcards

Exotic Postcards PDF Author: Alan Beukers
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
Haunting postcard images of the non-Western world from a century ago. The antique postcards depicted here were acquired in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Western tourists, business people, traders, and colonialists. The circumstances in which the cards were sent, and the details of those who sent them, are largely lost. Yet the audience for collecting them has enjoyed a spectacular growth in recent years and includes not only those with the collecting instinct or the desire to travel but also artists, photographic historians, fashion and jewelry specialists, and designers everywhere. Once it was believed that by taking someone's portrait you stole that person's soul. Here, the human subjects have a powerful presence because they express a deep-seated connection with the land and customs that gave them their identities. Their stories are implicit in their eyes, their costumes, and their postures. Reproduced with complete fidelity, these postcards take us on a magical journey across the world in five travelogues, depicting Asia, the Arab Lands, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania. The book is introduced by one of the greatest and most successful travel writers of our time.

In Distant Lands

In Distant Lands PDF Author: Lars Brownworth
Publisher: Crux Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 190997949X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the late fall of 1095 Pope Urban II gave a speech in Clermont, France and set all of Europe into motion. As many as a hundred and fifty thousand people eventually responded to the call, leaving everything they knew behind to undertake what appeared to be a fool’s mission: marching several thousand miles into enemy territory to reconquer Jerusalem for Christendom. Against all odds they succeeded, creating a Christian outpost in the heart of the Islamic world that lasted for the better part of two centuries. Perhaps no other period in history is as misunderstood as the Crusades, and in this fast-paced account, bestselling author Lars Brownworth presents the entire story, from the first clash of Christendom and Islam in the dusty sands of Yarmouk, to the fall of the last crusader state. Along the way he introduces the reader to an exotic world peopled by mighty emperors, doomed Templars, grasping generals, and ambitious peasants. Some of the most famous names of the Middle Ages - Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the legendary Prester John - illuminate this era of splendor, adventure, and faith.

Distant Lands and Diverse Cultures

Distant Lands and Diverse Cultures PDF Author: Glenn J. Ames
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313071942
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
Utilizing contemporary accounts of India, China, Siam and the Levant, this study provides rich detail about these exotic lands and explores the priorities that shaped and motivated these bold envoys and chroniclers. Ames and Love offer a fascinating look at the symbiotic nature of cross-cultural interaction between France and the major trading regions of the Indian Ocean basin during the 17th century. During this period of intense French interest in the rich trade and cultures of the region, Louis XIV and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert in particular were concerned with encouraging French travelers, both clerical and lay, to explore and document these lands. Among the accounts included here are those of François Bernier, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, and François Pyrard. Because these accounts reflect as much about the structures and priorities of France as they do about the cultures they describe, Ames and Love hope their analysis bridges the gap between studies on early modern France and those on the major Asiatic countries of the same period. Their findings challenge the current thinking in the study of early modern France by demonstrating that overseas expansion to Asia was of considerable importance and interest to all segments of French society. Specialists in traditional internal French history will find much in this study of European expansion to complement and supplement their research.

Drawn Swords in a Distant Land

Drawn Swords in a Distant Land PDF Author: George J. Veith
Publisher: Encounter Books
ISBN: 1641771739
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 594

Get Book Here

Book Description
Drawn Swords in a Distant Land showcases the fascinating, untold story of the rise and fall of the Republic of Vietnam. Putting aside outdated ideological debates, it offers the first in-depth review of the South Vietnamese successes and failures in building and defending their state. Drawn Swords highlights the career of President Nguyen Van Thieu, who in many ways embodied the hopes, dreams, and innumerable tragedies of the South Vietnamese people. It details the extent to which the Vietnamese Nationalists under his leadership built a viable state after the 1968 Tet Offensive; weaves together the policy decisions made in Washington, Hanoi, and Saigon that significantly determined the course of the war; and explains why South Vietnam was defeated in April 1975. Equally important, it provides stunning new details about how the coup against Ngo Dinh Diem was almost halted, describes the backroom maneuvering that chose Thieu for the presidency over Nguyen Cao Ky, and demonstrates that Richard Nixon was not the instigator of a conspiracy with Thieu known as the “Chennault Affair” to win the 1968 election. Even more explosive, Drawn Swords reveals the last, great secret of the Vietnam War: a plot by France during the last days, in conjunction with one of Hanoi’s allies, to prevent North Vietnam from conquering Saigon. This previously unknown scheme, along with many other intriguing new insights, sheds fresh light on the tumultuous struggle called the Vietnam War. Drawn Swords is the definitive and much overdue account of Thieu and the Second Republic.

The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia (Encyclopedia)

The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia (Encyclopedia) PDF Author: Martin Olson
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1613126506
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book Here

Book Description
What time is it? Adventure Time™! Explore the magical world of Ooo with Jake the Dog and Finn the Human, along with the Ice King, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline the Vampire Queen, and all your favorite Adventure Time characters, in this New York Times bestselling companion book to Cartoon Network’s hit animated series. Written and compiled by the Lord of Evil himself, The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia matches the playful, subversive tone of the television series, detailing everything anyone will ever need to know about the postapocalyptic land of Ooo and its inhabitants—secret lore and spells, fun places you should visit and places where you will probably die, whom to marry and whom not to marry, how to make friends and destroy your enemies—plus hand-written marginalia by Finn, Jake, and Marceline. An indispensable guide to the show fans love to watch, this side-splittingly funny love letter to Adventure Time is sure to appeal to readers of all ages. Heck yeah! From the Back Cover: Written by the Lord of Evil Himself, Hunson Abadeer (a.k.a. Marceline the Vampire Queen's dad), to instruct and confound the demonic citizenry of the Nightosphere, The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia is perhaps the most dangerous book in history. Although seemingly a guidebook to the Land of Ooo and its postapocalyptic inhabitants, it is in fact an amusing nightmare of literary pitfalls, bombastic brain-boggles, and ancient texts designed to drive the reader mad. Complete with secret lore and wizard spells, fun places you should visit and places where you will probably die, advice on whom to marry and whom not to marry, and how to make friends and destroy your enemies, this volume includes hand-written marginalia by Finn, Jake, and Marceline. Arguably the greatest encyclopaedia ever written since the beginning of the cosmos, it is also an indispensable companion to humans and demons who know what time it is: Adventure Time! Praise for The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia: “Even if you’re an adult Adventure Time fan, the book will make you feel like you’re 10 again.” —USA Today’s Daily Candy blog “The brand-new Adventure Time Encyclopaedia will tell viewers everything they need to know about the post-apocalyptic magical land and its inhabitants.” —Entertainment Weekly’s Family Room blog “The . . . Encyclopaedia will appeal to Adventure Time fans who want to delve deeper into the show’s mysterious back story and bizarre details.” —The Los Angeles Times’Hero Complex blog

Rome and the Distant East

Rome and the Distant East PDF Author: Raoul McLaughlin
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847252354
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Get Book Here

Book Description
Studies the complex system of trade exchanges and commerce that profoundly changed Roman society.

Minimum of Two

Minimum of Two PDF Author: Tim Winton
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
ISBN: 1742537359
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 147

Get Book Here

Book Description
Tim Winton's characters are ordinary people who battle to maintain loyalty against all odds; women, children, men whose relationships strain under pressure and leave them bewildered, hoping, sometimes fleeing, but often finding strength in forgotten parts of themselves. 'Like Hemingway, Winton writes prose in which you can hear the thumping of the heart of the long-distance swimmer, or the rasping heaving breath of the asthmatic.' Times on Sunday 'A poignant collection of spare, understated tales about ordinary people battling to preserve the relationships they treasure in the face of many troubles.' Cleo 'Shows more clearly than anybody ever has how catastrophe, suffering and love can survive together in one little room.' Los Angeles Times