Service Alert
Delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials
You may experience a delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials. All requests for materials will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
You may experience a delay in delivery of Direct to Player materials. All requests for materials will be delivered as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
Showing 27841 - 27860 of 28094 items
By Valerie Lawson. 1999
THE ONLY TRUE STORY BEHIND THE CREATOR OF MARY POPPINSThe remarkable life of P.L. Travers, the creator of Mary Poppins—perfect…
for fans of the movie Mary Poppins Returns and the original Disney classic!&“An arresting life…Lawson is superb at excavating the details.&” —Library JournalThe spellbinding stories of Mary Poppins, the quintessentially English and utterly magical nanny, have been loved by generations. She flew into the lives of the unsuspecting Banks family in a children&’s book that was instantly hailed as a classic, then became a household name when Julie Andrews stepped into the title role in Walt Disney&’s hugely successful and equally classic film. But the Mary Poppins in the stories was not the cheery film character. She was tart and sharp, plain and vain. She was a remarkable character. The story of Mary Poppins&’ creator, as this definitive biography reveals, is equally remarkable. The fabulous English nanny was actually conceived by an Australian, Pamela Lyndon Travers, who came to London in 1924 from Queensland as a journalist. She became involved with Theosophy, traveled in the literary circles of W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot, and became a disciple of the famed spiritual guru, Gurdjieff. She famously clashed with Walt Disney over the adaptation of the Mary Poppins books into film. Travers, whom Disney accused of vanity for &“thinking you know more about Mary Poppins than I do,&” was as tart and opinionated as Julie Andrews&’s big-screen Mary Poppins was cheery. Yet it was a love of mysticism and magic that shaped Travers&’s life as well as the character of Mary Poppins. The clipped, strict, and ultimately mysterious nanny who emerged from her pen was the creation of someone who remained inscrutable and enigmatic to the end of her ninety-six years. Valerie Lawson&’s illuminating biography provides the first full look whose personal journey is as intriguing as her beloved characters.By Suzanne Beecher. 2010
"While it’s well known that food and stories make for a great combination, Muffins & Mayhem takes their relationship to…
a whole new level. Brimming over with the stuff of life, this is a book to curl up with and devour." —JOEL BEN IZZY, storyteller and author of The Beggar King and The Secret of HappinessSuzanne Beecher’s happy, loving voice has brought more than 350,000 people to her online book club at DearReader.com, where her daily column offers her candid, thought-provoking reflections on life, inspiring countless readers to look at their "ordinary" lives in a new way. By turns funny and poignant, Suzanne is the reassuring friend across the kitchen table with a refreshing, jaunty attitude about life, even in the face of whatever difficulties it may bring. Suzanne has had her own share of troubles to overcome. Left home alone at an early age, she struggled with difficult and distant parents, dealt with heartbreak, became a hard-working single mom, and overcame two substance addictions and a physical impairment. But along the way, she found comfort in baking and sharing food with her friends and family. She learned to take the good with the bad, and her life is now inspiring proof that faith and persistence are the keys to success. This beautifully written celebration of food, friends, and family will nourish Suzanne’s numerous fans and those who have yet to discover her simple, homespun magic.By Kate Mayfield. 2015
“The Undertaker’s Daughter is a wonderfully quirky, gem of a book beautifully written by Kate Mayfield.…Her compelling, complicated family and…
cast of characters stay with you long after you close the book” (Monica Holloway, author of Cowboy & Wills and Driving With Dead People).How does one live in a house of the dead? Kate Mayfield explores what it meant to be the daughter of a small-town undertaker in this fascinating memoir evocative of Six Feet Under and The Help, with a hint of Mary Roach’s Stiff.After Kate Mayfield was born, she was taken directly to a funeral home. Her father was an undertaker, and for thirteen years the family resided in a place nearly synonymous with death, where the living and the dead entered their house like a vapor. In a memoir that reads like a Harper Lee novel, Mayfield draws the reader into a world of haunting Southern mystique.In the turbulent 1960s, Kate’s father set up shop in sleepy Jubilee, Kentucky, a segregated, god-fearing community where no one kept secrets—except the ones they were buried with. By opening a funeral home, Frank Mayfield also opened the door to family feuds, fetishes, murder, suicide, and all manner of accidents. Kate saw it all—she also witnessed the quiet ruin of her father, who hid alcoholism and infidelity behind a cool and charismatic façade. As Kate grows from trusting child to rebellious teen, the enforced sobriety of the funeral home begins to chafe, and she longs for the day she can escape the confines of Jubilee and her place as the undertaker’s daughter.“Mayfield fashions a poignant send-off to Jubilee in this thoughtfully rendered work” (Publishers Weekly).By Kitty Holland. 2013
Seventeen weeks pregnant and facing a miscarriage, Savita Halappanavar and her husband Praveen walked into an Irish maternity ward in…
October 2012. Unwittingly, the couple also walked into that deeply controversial arena in which Ireland’s legislative position on abortion remained unresolved.A week later, Savita was dead from septicaemia. Reports of her death and of the refusal to allow Savita a termination of her pregnancy sent shockwaves across Ireland and around the world. Once again the subject of abortion was catapulted to the very top of the agenda in Ireland. With the pro-life and pro-choice camps claiming the moral high ground, both sides in the bitterly contested battle sought to appropriate Savita’s story and her image. In the midst of the ensuing rage and furore, the marches and protests, the threats and counter-threats that exploded across political and media platforms, Savita and the complete circumstances of her death were lost. In Savita: The Tragedy That Shook A Nation, Kitty Holland addresses this imbalance as she reveals the truth behind the headlines and explores many unanswered questions: Who was Savita? How significant was it that she was a non-Irish, non-Catholic woman in search of help on Irish soil? And how did her husband and her community’s reaction to her death shape the parameters of the debate which followed? Holland’s exposé also looks at how the tragic circumstances of Savita’s death played a part in compelling the Irish Government to finally legislate on abortion and how activists on each side succeeded or failed in shaping that legislation.By Sophia Loren. 2014
In her first memoir, the Academy Award–winning actress Sophia Loren tells her incredible life story from the struggles of her…
childhood in war-torn Naples to her life as a screen legend, icon of elegance, and devoted mother.In her acting career spanning more than six decades, Sophia Loren became known for her striking beauty and dramatic roles with famed costars Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, and Paul Newman. The luminous Italian movie star was the first artist to win an Oscar for a foreign language performance, after which she continued a vibrant and varied career that took her from Hollywood to Paris to Italy—and back to Hollywood. In Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, Loren shares vivid memories of work, love, and family with winning candor.Born in 1934 and growing up in World War II Italy, Loren’s life of glamour and success was preceded by years of poverty and hardship, when she lived in her grandparents’ house with her single mother and sister, and endured near starvation. She shares how she blossomed from a toothpick-thin girl into a beautiful woman seemingly overnight, getting her start by winning a beauty pageant; and how her first Hollywood film, The Pride and the Passion, ignited a high-profile romance with Cary Grant, who would vie with her mentor, friend, frequent producer, and lover Carlo Ponti to become her husband. Loren also reveals her long-held desire to become a mother, the disappointments she suffered, the ultimate joy of having two sons, and her happiness as a mother and grandmother.From trying times to triumphant ones, this scintillating autobiography paints a multi-dimensional portrait of the woman behind the celebrity, beginning each chapter with a letter, photograph, or object that prompts her memories. In Loren’s own words, this is a collection of “unpublished memories, curious anecdotes, tiny secrets told, all of which spring from a box found by chance, a precious treasure trove filled with emotions, experiences, adventures.” Her wise and candid voice speaks from the pages with riveting detail and sharp humor. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow is as elegant, entrancing, and memorable as Sophia Loren herself.“The first 150 years of one of the British Army's most renowned regiments Archibald Forbes was a notable author, journalist…
and special correspondent during the British colonial wars of the Victorian era, so he was well positioned by personal experience to pen this history of a famous Scottish Highland regiment. 'The Black Watch, ' 'The Forty-Twa, ' the '42nd Regiment of Foot, ' 'The Royal Highlanders'—First to come, Last to go. The titles of this legendary regiment are many and its fame well and hard earned on many a bloodily contested ground from its birth to the present day. Forbes wrote his own history from the perspective of his own time-—a decade before the close of the nineteenth century. We join the regiment in these pages during the Seven Years War in Europe and in its theatre of the New World—popularly known as the French and Indian War—where the regiment would pay dearly before Ticonderoga. The Black Watch had not done with Indians as it fought to secure the backwoods frontier, notably at Bloody Run and Bushy Run. The American War of Independence was followed by the war against Napoleonic France which would see the regiment in service in Egypt, in battles across the Peninsula, at Corunna with Moore and, as the epoch came to an end with the Emperor's fall, with great loss at Quatre Bras and Waterloo with Wellington. More hard soldiering came in the Crimea and this valiant force was the hand of retribution in the Indian Mutiny. The book closes with encounters with the Ashanti and the expedition to relieve Gordon in Khartoum.”-Print ed.By Dorothy Lawrence. 2024
The adventures of an intrepid young woman on the Western FrontIt would not be quite accurate to portray Dorothy Lawrence…
as a bona fide soldier of the British Army. Dorothy was in fact a young woman with great aspirations to embark upon a career in journalism and she knew it would be a coup to give a female perspective of the activities of men on the front line-as it were-from within their own ranks. So she devised a scheme to bring her objectives about and its success was marked by a 10 day stint in the line at Albert in 1915 with the Royal Engineers during the opening stages of the battle of Loos. Dorothy certainly saw action—the trench she occupied lay less than 400 yards from the German front line. She was eventually discovered and the entire story of how she pulled off her subterfuge, her time in the trenches and what befell her thereafter is told in this delightful account.-Print ed.“The first volume of a two volume anniversary history of the early Royal Marines.The Royal Marines can trace their origins…
back to the formation of 'The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot' in 1664…The Royal Marines as we know them today were formed in 1755 and since that time they have distinguished themselves in many conflicts fought by the British to the present day. Numerous books have been written about the exploits of the Royal Marines, particularly in the 20th century, but this special two volume edition concentrates on the earliest period of their history. The presence of red-coated marines was inseparable from the blue uniform of their naval comrades during the great age of sail and this book covers that period in detail including the American War of Independence. The great contest of the early 19th century was against Revolutionary, Consulate and Napoleon Bonaparte's First Empire of the French. The Royal Marines fought in every major naval engagement of that long war, all of which are detailed in these pages together with many minor engagements, the War of 1812 and the imperial campaigns including the Chinese Opium Wars.”-Print ed.By Demetrius Charles Boulger. 2024
“A great British soldierThis is the biography of one of the most famous soldiers of the Victorian age—Major-General Charles Gordon.…
Certainly he is now known as Gordon of Khartoum, but highly regarded in his own lifetime, he was to many also Chinese Gordon and Gordon Pasha. Commissioned as a Royal Engineer, Gordon first saw action during the Crimean War taking part in the siege of Sebastopol, the assault on the Redan and the expedition to Kinburn. In 1860 the Second Opium War broke out in China and it was here and during the Taiping Rebellion that Gordon earned his reputation and the recognition that set him towards high military rank. But it was Africa where he achieved his greatest fame. Gordon was engaged in much vital and interesting service before he found himself behind the walls of Khartoum in an unequal struggle against the religious fervour of the Mahdist forces. This is a thorough account of the man and his times which will be of great interest to those who wish to learn more about Gordon than just his martyrdom in the Sudan.”-Print ed.By Charles C Ryan, John Sandes. 2024
In "Under The Red Crescent, Plevna 1877," readers are transported to the heart of one of the most pivotal moments…
in European history. Set against the backdrop of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, this gripping narrative chronicles the epic struggle for the Bulgarian town of Plevna.As the Russian Empire seeks to expand its influence in the Balkans and challenge Ottoman dominance, the small garrison town of Plevna becomes the focal point of a fierce and relentless battle. Led by the indomitable Ottoman commander, Osman Pasha, the defenders of Plevna are faced with overwhelming odds as they confront the might of the Russian army.Against the backdrop of political intrigue, military strategy, and personal drama, the fate of Plevna hangs in the balance. Will Osman Pasha and his valiant defenders withstand the onslaught of the Russian forces, or will the town fall, signaling a turning point in the course of history?"Under The Red Crescent, Plevna 1877" is not just a tale of warfare, but a testament to the human spirit in the face of adversity. It is a story of courage, honor, and the enduring struggle for freedom and independence. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in military history, the Balkans, or the complex dynamics of 19th-century Europe.“The birth of 'New War' in ItalyIt is easy to consider the Renaissance as a time of enlightenment typified principally…
by the artistic and scientific genius of Leonardo da Vinci and his peers; but giant leaps forward are never confined to one aspect of society and the application of new ideas is always adapted to various purposes and the meeting of differing objectives. The creation of modern political science by Niccolo Machiavelli is a prime example of how new ways of thinking and doing impacted on the advancement and securing of power. These changes were inevitably accompanied by significant developments in making war more effectively, strategically and tactically-with corresponding advances in weaponry and other equipage. This excellent book considers these developments through the changes to traditional military strategy and the use of infantry, cavalry and artillery, in both open battle and fortification and siege-craft, at the turn of the sixteenth century.”-Print ed.By Arthur Corbett-Smith. 2024
Includes The First World War On The Western Front 1914-1915 Illustrations Pack with 101 maps, plans, and photos.“An outstanding first…
hand account and history of the first battles of the Great War The Great War had long been planned by Imperial Germany and its army stood ready to advance through Belgium and France with a force of overwhelming superiority. Both the Belgian and French nations rushed to arms, but were overwhelmed. The small British regular army in the form of the B. E. F was mobilised and thrown into the battle line in a matter of days. It met the advancing German masses at Mons and, much to the astonishment of the enemy, who allegedly referred to the B. E. F as that 'contemptible little army, ' gave a superb account of itself. However, no army of its size could hold against the numbers that opposed it and it was inevitable that it would be overrun. So began one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of the British Army, the dogged retreat from Mons. The man of the hour was undoubtedly Smith-Dorrien, commander of II Corps, who, when it was clear that retreat was no longer possible, saved the army from annihilation when he ordered his men to stand and fight around Le Cateau. The allies halted before Paris, turned and began a counter offensive across the Marne and Aisne that rolled the German invaders back to Ypres. Arthur Corbett-Smith was an officer of the Royal Horse Artillery and was present throughout the events described here. His first-hand experiences, anecdotes and history of the campaign are a highly readable narrative which delivers the facts of the events of Summer and Autumn, 1914.”-Print ed.By Vanessa Schneider. 2018
&“A beautiful eulogy and a much-needed corrective&” (The New York Times)—a love letter to Maria Schneider, the 1970s movie starlet…
who catapulted to fame in the controversial film Last Tango in Paris—only to live the rest of her life plagued by scandal, as told from the perspective of her adoring younger cousin.The late French actress Maria Schneider is perhaps best known for playing Jeanne in the provocative film Last Tango in Paris, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and released to international shock and acclaim in 1972. It was Maria&’s first major role, alongside film legend Marlon Brando, when she was barely eighteen years old. The experience would haunt her for the rest of her life, traumatizing her and sparking a tabloid firestorm that only ceased when she began to retreat from the public eye nearly two decades later. To Maria&’s much younger cousin, Vanessa Schneider, Maria was a towering figure of another kind—a beautiful and fearsome fixture in Vanessa&’s childhood, a rising star turned pariah whose career and struggles with addiction won the family shame and pride in equal measure. Here, Vanessa recounts the challenges of their overlapping youths and fraught adulthood and reveals both the tragedy and inevitability of Maria&’s path in a family plagued by mental illness and in a society rife with misogyny. Unsentimental and moving, My Cousin Maria Schneider is a love letter to a talented artist and the cousin who admired her, and a powerful story of exploitation and how its lingering effects can reverberate through a lifetime.By Geoffrey Sparrow, J N Macbean Ross. 2024
“The Blue Jackets who fought on landThe time of Nelson was not only notable because of the success in nautical…
warfare of the man himself, but also because it was the zenith of the 'age of sail' that left British sea power so dominant that Britannia really did 'rule the waves.' No navy could stand against the might of the Royal Navy, and so until Jutland during the Great War it would not fight another major battle at sea. Queen Victoria's ever expanding empire meant that British forces were perpetually set against often underdeveloped powers and the navy took its part, but most of the hard work of empire building would inevitably fall upon the British army. Of course, the Royal Navy had its own 'soldiers'—the Royal Marines. The particular talents and skills of sailors were often required, particularly whilst manning 'the guns, ' so the 19th century saw the 'blue jackets' in action in the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, the Zulu War, the Boer War and several other conflicts. The early years of the 20th century brought a period of instability that inexorably dragged the great powers of Europe towards the cataclysm of blood which was to be the Great War of 1914-18...The Royal Naval Division was formed around a cadre of Royal Marines and sailors and was expanded as a unit of the New Army by volunteers. The Division saw action in the defence of Antwerp in 1914, on Helles and Anzac during the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 and on the Western Front where it took part in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. This book was written by one of the their number and is an often light-hearted account of the wartime record of the division, full of incident and anecdote and scattered with occasionally humorous line drawings. There is little in print about the Royal Naval Division in the First World War so this will make a welcome addition to any naval library.”-Print ed.By George Stuart Gordon, Roger Ingpen. 2024
Includes The First World War On The Western Front 1914-1915 Illustrations Pack with 101 maps, plans, and photos.“Two views of…
the Great RetreatImperial Germany had long planned the conflict that was to become the First World War, but when the onslaught came there was little sign that the nations which would be embroiled were prepared for the storm. Germany advanced in the east and west where French and Belgian armies were forced to retire by overwhelming odds. The small British Army, the 'B. E. F', was rushed to the continent with most of its troops having less than a week between garrison life and the firing line. Under Sir John French, it was allocated the western end of the line, and at Mons it inflicted far more causalities on the enemy than its numbers would suggest. No army of its size, however, could stand against the German superiority in men (at least five to one) or artillery and machine guns. An envelopment was inevitable and so a stubbornly fought retreat was ordered. Near Le Cateau, the British turned at bay and Smith-Dorrien's determination to stand and fight undoubtedly saved the British Army from annihilation. Many people imagine the First World War as a stalemate of mud, wire and trenches, but in the first six months it was a great European war fought in much the same way that Napoleon, Wellington and Blucher had fought a century before.”-Print ed.By Samuel R Gardiner. 2024
“A concise history of a cataclysmic European conflict in the 17th centuryThe Thirty Years' War was fought between 1618-1648 and…
is widely recognised as being one of the most destructive wars ever fought. More people lost their lives in this conflict, as a percentage of the total population at the time, than in the conflicts of the twentieth century. Fought principally in central Europe—and mostly over terrain now in modern day Germany—the war involved more than fifteen nation states. Forces were divided broadly on religious grounds, between Protestants and their allies and the Catholics of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain but also with elements of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Self evidently this was a long, bloody conflict the causes of which were many and complex. Dynasties were born in its tumult, great men were brought to the fore and some, like Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, would perish before its conclusion. The campaigns and battles of the Thirty Years' War have inspired historians across the centuries to the present day to write about them and many highly regarded works concerning the war have been published. This concise book takes a different approach; it sets out to give an understanding of the events and personalities involved and is an ideal overview for both specialists and those new to the subject.” – Print ed.By Roger Ingpen. 2024
Includes The First World War On The Western Front 1914-1915 Illustrations Pack with 101 maps, plans, and photos.A fascinating view…
of the opening phases of the First World War.“Imperial Germany had long planned the conflict that was to become the First World War, but when the onslaught came there was little sign that the nations which would be embroiled were prepared for the storm. Germany advanced in the east and west where French and Belgian armies were forced to retire by overwhelming odds. The small British Army, the 'B. E. F', was rushed to the continent with most of its troops having less than a week between garrison life and the firing line. Under Sir John French, it was allocated the western end of the line, and at Mons it inflicted far more causalities on the enemy than its numbers would suggest. No army of its size, however, could stand against the German superiority in men (at least five to one) or artillery and machine guns. An envelopment was inevitable and so a stubbornly fought retreat was ordered. Near Le Cateau, the British turned at bay and Smith-Dorrien's determination to stand and fight undoubtedly saved the British Army from annihilation. Many people imagine the First World War as a stalemate of mud, wire and trenches, but in the first six months it was a great European war fought in much the same way that Napoleon, Wellington and Blucher had fought a century before.”-Print ed.On campaign under the tricolor“This is an essential book for all those interested in the French Foreign Legion because it…
is a brilliant first hand account written by an English 'gentleman volunteer' who experienced 'life in the legion' in the late 1880's and who had previously been a serving officer in one of the cavalry regiments of the British Army. Far from being a tale of hardship and abuse, the author had nothing but admiration for the Legion and—as an experienced soldier—obviously thoroughly enjoyed the five years he spent serving in its ranks. The writer quite simply could not have enough action and he volunteered to serve in Tonkin, Dahomey and against the Tuareg tribesmen of North Africa. In consequence this book is full of colourful and detailed campaign and battle action which is compellingly recounted by a fighting soldier more than capable of putting his engrossing story into words. Highly recommended.”-Print ed.By Ly Tran. 2021
New York City Book Awards Hornblower Award Winner One of Vogue and NPR&’s Best Books of the Year This beautifully…
written &“masterclass in memoir&” (Elle) recounts a young girl&’s journey from war-torn Vietnam to Queens, New York, &“showcas[ing] the tremendous power we have to alter the fates of others, step into their lives and shift the odds in favor of greater opportunity&” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis).Ly Tran is just a toddler in 1993 when she and her family immigrate from a small town along the Mekong river in Vietnam to a two-bedroom railroad apartment in Queens. Ly&’s father, a former lieutenant in the South Vietnamese army, spent nearly a decade as a POW, and their resettlement is made possible through a humanitarian program run by the US government. Soon after they arrive, Ly joins her parents and three older brothers sewing ties and cummerbunds piece-meal on their living room floor to make ends meet. As they navigate this new landscape, Ly finds herself torn between two worlds. She knows she must honor her parents&’ Buddhist faith and contribute to the family livelihood, working long hours at home and eventually as a manicurist alongside her mother at a nail salon in Brooklyn that her parents take over. But at school, Ly feels the mounting pressure to blend in. A growing inability to see the blackboard presents new challenges, especially when her father forbids her from getting glasses, calling her diagnosis of poor vision a government conspiracy. His frightening temper and paranoia leave a mark on Ly&’s sense of self. Who is she outside of everything her family expects of her? An &“unsentimental yet deeply moving examination of filial bond, displacement, war trauma, and poverty&” (NPR), House of Sticks is a timely and powerful portrait of one girl&’s coming-of-age and struggle to find her voice amid clashing cultural expectations.“An essential first hand account from a French soldier.Personal accounts by French soldiers have not proliferated in the English language…
and those that concern the Napoleonic Wars are much sought after by readers and invariably repay the effort to find them with an interesting tale, compellingly told. This account concerns another period some one hundred years or so before the time of the First Empire, but it too is a first rate personal account full of anecdote, drama, duelling, camp and campaign life, battles and sieges that will not disappoint. This highly regarded French soldier fought in the War of the Spanish Succession-among others-and so the reader will understand what warfare was like on the other side of the lines from the great Duke of Marlborough and his ally, Eugene of Savoy. Seconded to service by the Elector of Bavaria, the author was a committed and aggressive soldier who, together with his French contingent, invariably found himself in the thick of the action. This is an essential and riveting narrative from the time when central Europe was boiling with dispute and the Bourbon monarchy was at the pinnacle of its power and influence. Highly recommended.”-Print ed.