The Lightning-Rod Man

The Lightning-Rod Man PDF Author: Herman Melville
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 1443435074
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
When an unnamed narrator opens his door to a lightning-rod salesman, the two become involved in a philosophical discussion about faith and the will of God. The salesman claims that the copper rod will protect its owner from the very lightning that the narrator believes to be an act of God. As they argue, and the narrator laughs off the explanations, the salesman becomes increasingly and violently angry. The allegorical nature of Herman Melville’s tale explores the ideas of good and evil, and faith in God before faith in fear. This story was included as part of Melville’s collection The Piazza Tales. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

The Lightning-Rod Man

The Lightning-Rod Man PDF Author: Herman Melville
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 1443435074
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
When an unnamed narrator opens his door to a lightning-rod salesman, the two become involved in a philosophical discussion about faith and the will of God. The salesman claims that the copper rod will protect its owner from the very lightning that the narrator believes to be an act of God. As they argue, and the narrator laughs off the explanations, the salesman becomes increasingly and violently angry. The allegorical nature of Herman Melville’s tale explores the ideas of good and evil, and faith in God before faith in fear. This story was included as part of Melville’s collection The Piazza Tales. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

The Lightning-rod Man

The Lightning-rod Man PDF Author: Herman Melville
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lightning rods
Languages : en
Pages : 15

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Book Description


Lightning Rods

Lightning Rods PDF Author: Helen DeWitt
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 0811219526
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
The long-awaited second novel by the author of “arguably the most exciting debut novel of the decade: The Last Samurai.” (Sam Anderson, New York). “All I want is to be a success. That’s all I ask.” Joe fails to sell a single set of the Encyclopedia Britannica in six months. Then fails to sell a single Electrolux and must eat 126 pieces of homemade pie, served up by his would-be customers who feel sorry for him. Holed up in his trailer, Joe finds an outlet for his frustrations in a series of ingenious sexual fantasies, and at last strikes gold. His brainstorm, Lightning Rods, Inc., will take Joe to the very top — and to the very heart of corporate insanity — with an outrageous solution to the spectre of sexual harassment in the modern office. An uproarious, hard-boiled modern fable of corporate life, sex, and race in America, Helen DeWitt’s Lightning Rods brims with the satiric energy of Nathanael West and the philosophic import of an Aristophanic comedy of ideas. Her wild yarn is second cousin to the spirit of Mel Brooks and the hilarious reality-blurring of Being John Malkovich. Dewitt continues to take the novel into new realms of storytelling — as the timeliness of Lightning Rods crosses over into timelessness.

The Lightning Rod Man, the Original Classic Short Story

The Lightning Rod Man, the Original Classic Short Story PDF Author: Herman Melville
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781508983514
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description
What grand irregular thunder, thought I, standing on my hearth-stone among the Acroceraunian hills, as the scattered bolts boomed overhead, and crashed down among the valleys, every bolt followed by zigzag irradiations, and swift slants of sharp rain, which audibly rang, like a charge of spear-points, on my low shingled roof. I suppose, though, that the mountains hereabouts break and churn up the thunder, so that it is far more glorious here than on the plain. Hark!-someone at the door. Who is this that chooses a time of thunder for making calls? And why don't he, man-fashion, use the knocker, instead of making that doleful undertaker's clatter with his fist against the hollow panel? But let him in. Ah, here he comes. "Good day, sir: " an entire stranger. "Pray be seated." What is that strange-looking walking-stick he carries: "A fine thunder-storm, sir." "Fine?-Awful!"

Stealing God's Thunder

Stealing God's Thunder PDF Author: Philip Dray
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812968107
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
“Dray captures the genius and ingenuity of Franklin’s scientific thinking and then does something even more fascinating: He shows how science shaped his diplomacy, politics, and Enlightenment philosophy.” –Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Today we think of Benjamin Franklin as a founder of American independence who also dabbled in science. But in Franklin’s day, the era of Enlightenment, long before he was an eminent statesman, he was famous for his revolutionary scientific work. Pulitzer Prize finalist Philip Dray uses the evolution of Franklin’s scientific curiosity and empirical thinking as a metaphor for America’s struggle to establish its fundamental values. He recounts how Franklin unlocked one of the greatest natural mysteries of his day, the seemingly unknowable powers of lightning and electricity. Rich in historical detail and based on numerous primary sources, Stealing God’s Thunder is a fascinating original look at one of our most beloved and complex founding fathers.

The Piazza Tales (廣場故事)

The Piazza Tales (廣場故事) PDF Author: Herman Melville
Publisher: Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 1199

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Book Description
※ Google Play 圖書不支援多媒體播放 ※

Presidential Lightning Rods

Presidential Lightning Rods PDF Author: Richard J. Ellis
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700631496
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
H. R. Haldeman, President Nixon's former chief of staff, is said to have boasted: "Every president needs a son of a bitch, and I'm Nixon's. I'm his buffer and I'm his bastard. I get done what he wants done and I take the heat instead of him." Richard Ellis explores the widely discussed but poorly understood phenomenon of presidential "lightning rods"-cabinet officials who "take the heat" instead of their bosses. Whether by intent or circumstance, these officials divert criticism and blame away from their presidents. The phenomenon is so common that it's assumed to be an essential item in every president's managerial toolbox. But, Ellis argues, such assumptions can oversimplify our understanding of this tool. Ellis advises against indiscriminate use of the lightning rod metaphor. Such labeling can hide as much as it reveals about presidential administration and policymaking at the cabinet level. The metaphor often misleads by suggesting strategic intent on the president's part while obscuring the calculations and objectives of presidential adversaries and the lightning rods themselves. Ellis also illuminates the opportunities and difficulties that various presidential posts-especially secretaries of state, chiefs of staff, and vice presidents-have offered for deflecting blame from our presidents. His study offers numerous detailed and instructive examples from the administrations of Truman (Dean Acheson); Eisenhower (Richard Nixon, John Foster Dulles, Herbert Brownell, and Ezra Taft Benson); LBJ (Hubert Humphrey); Ford (Henry Kissinger); and Reagan (James Watt). These examples, Ellis suggests, should guide our understanding of the relationship between lightning rods and presidential leadership, policymaking, and ratings. Blame avoidance, he warns, does have its limitations and may even backfire at times. Nevertheless, President Clinton and his successors may need to rely on such tools. The presidency, Ellis points out, finds itself the object of increasingly intense partisan debate and microscopic scrutiny by a wary press. Lightning rods can deflect such heat and help the president test policies, gauge public opinion, and protect his political power and public image. Ellis's book is an essential primer for helping us understand this process.

The Last Book in the Universe (Scholastic Gold)

The Last Book in the Universe (Scholastic Gold) PDF Author: Rodman Philbrick
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545303877
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This fast-paced action novel is set in a future where the world has been almost destroyed. Like the award-winning novel Freak the Mighty, this is Philbrick at his very best.It's the story of an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz, who begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the planet. In a world where most people are plugged into brain-drain entertainment systems, Spaz is the rare human being who can see life as it really is. When he meets an old man called Ryter, he begins to learn about Earth and its past. With Ryter as his companion, Spaz sets off an unlikely quest to save his dying sister -- and in the process, perhaps the world.

I Would Prefer Not To

I Would Prefer Not To PDF Author: Herman Melville
Publisher: Pushkin Collection
ISBN: 1782277463
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
A new selection of Melville's darkest and most enthralling stories in a beautiful Pushkin Collection edition Includes "Bartleby, the Scrivener", "Benito Cereno" and "The Lightning-Rod Man" A lawyer hires a new copyist, only to be met with stubborn, confounding resistance. A nameless guide discovers hidden worlds of luxury and bleak exploitation. After boarding a beleaguered Spanish slave ship, an American trader's cheerful outlook is repeatedly shadowed by paralyzing unease. In these stories of the surreal mundanity of office life and obscure tensions at sea, Melville's darkly modern sensibility plunges us into a world of irony and mystery, where nothing is as it first appears.

How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning

How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning PDF Author: Rosalyn Schanzer
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0688169937
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Book Description
Ben Franklin was the most famous American in the entire world during colonial times. No wonder! After all, the man could do just about anything. Why, he was an author and an athlete and a patriot and a scientist and an inventor to boot. He even found a way to steal the lightning right out of the sky. Is such a thing possible? Is it. Take a look inside and find Ben busy at work on every spread. Then find out how he used his discovery about lightning to make people's lives safer. In an inventive way, Rosalyn Schanzer brings us a brilliant and ever-curious American original.