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Discover a fascinating look into the lives of six historic trailblazers in this World War II-era story of the American…
women who programmed the world's first modern computer. After the end of World War II, the race for technological supremacy sped on. Top-secret research into ballistics and computing, begun during the war to aid those on the front lines, continued across the United States as engineers and programmers rushed to complete their confidential assignments. Among them were six pioneering women, tasked with figuring out how to program the world's first general-purpose, programmable, all-electronic computer—better known as the ENIAC—even though there were no instruction codes or programming languages in existence. While most students of computer history are aware of this innovative machine, the great contributions of the women who programmed it were never told—until now. Over the course of a decade, Kathy Kleiman met with four of the original six ENIAC Programmers and recorded extensive interviews with the women about their work. Proving Ground restores these women to their rightful place as technological revolutionaries. As the tech world continues to struggle with gender imbalance and its far-reaching consequences, the story of the ENIAC Programmers' groundbreaking work is more urgently necessary than ever before, and Proving Ground is the celebration they deserve.Science journalist Sally Adee breaks open the field of bioelectricity—the electric currents that run through our bodies and every living…
thing—its misunderstood history, and why new discoveries will lead to new ways around antibiotic resistance, cleared arteries, and new ways to combat cancer. You may be familiar with the idea of our body's biome: the bacterial fauna that populate our gut and can so profoundly affect our health. In We Are Electric we cross into new scientific understanding: discovering your body's electrome. Every cell in our bodies—bones, skin, nerves, muscle—has a voltage, like a tiny battery. It is the reason our brain can send signals to the rest of our body, how we develop in the womb, and why our body knows to heal itself from injury. When bioelectricity goes awry, illness, deformity, and cancer can result. But if we can control or correct this bioelectricity, the implications for our health are remarkable: an undo switch for cancer that could flip malignant cells back into healthy ones; the ability to regenerate cells, organs, even limbs; to slow aging and so much more. The next scientific frontier might be decrypting the bioelectric code, much the way we did the genetic code. Yet the field is still emerging from two centuries of skepticism and entanglement with medical quackery, all stemming from an 18th-century scientific war about the nature of electricity between Luigi Galvani (father of bioelectricity, famous for shocking frogs) and Alessandro Volta (inventor of the battery). In We Are Electric, award-winning science writer Sally Adee takes readers through the thrilling history of bioelectricity and into the future: from the Victorian medical charlatans claiming to use electricity to cure everything from paralysis to diarrhea, to the advances helped along by the giant axons of squids, and finally to the brain implants and electric drugs that await us—and the moral implications therein. The bioelectric revolution starts here.50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant's Love Letter to the United States Through Pie
By Stacey Mei Fong. 2023
A "deliciously unique" love letter in pie crust to every state—a delicious portrait of the country with more than 50…
recipes for extraordinary pies that taste just like home. (Jessie Sheehan, author of Snackable Bakes) There's nothing quite so American as a slice of pie. That's what Stacey Mei Yan Fong learned growing up in Singapore and Hong Kong, watching movies set in the United States and dreaming about taking a road trip from coast to coast, stopping at diners along the way. After college in Savannah and a decade as a fashion designer, Stacey turned her passion for home baking into an ode to her chosen home: honoring the people, places, and flavors that made her love this country with a pie for each state. Each pie is an impressive, whimsical tribute that encapsulates a state's unique flavors and honors its culture. · For South Dakota, Stacey researched Indigenous ingredients with a Sioux nation chef to create her Wild Rice Pudding Pie. · For Illinois, she created a Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie. · For Nevada, she brought a Las Vegas all-you-can-eat-buffet into eight extraordinary savory and sweet slices. And there are plenty of crowd pleasers, such as: · Kentucky's Derby Pie with Blackberry Sauce · Mississippi Mud Pie · Idaho&’s Mashed Potato Pie with Hash Brown Crust and Scallop Potato Topping · Georgia's Sweet Tea Peach Pie with Pecan Crumble · North Dakota&’s Tater Tot Hot Dish Pie With bonus pies to honor Stacey&’s trajectory from Southeast Asia to her Brooklyn home, like: · A Pandan Custard Pie for her birthplace of Singapore · A Kope Jahe Pie in honor of her childhood in Indonesia · A Honey Peach Pie for her time at the Savannah College of Art and Design · And a Bagel Order Pie to celebrate her new forever New York City home Every pie is an opportunity to celebrate–or defend your home state's honor, presented in a beautifully packaged cookbook that is "everything we need more of right now" (Cheryl day, author of Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking). Bake your way through and you'll taste the full range of flavors that America has to offer. With recipes organized like the all-American roadtrip we've all wanted to complete, this book is a journey through the wonders of pie for bakers of all skill levels–and the story of one extraordinary woman who chose to make this place her home.La novena tumba (Fabian Risk #Volumen 2)
By Stefan Ahnhem. 2015
LA MUERTE NO ES MÁS QUE EL PRINCIPIO. «Más escalofriante que Jo NesbØ, más oscuro que Stieg Larsson y más…
sombrío que Henning Mankell.»Tony Parsons Un frío día de invierno, el ministro de Justicia de Suecia sale de su coche y desaparece en medio de una tormenta de nieve. Casi al mismo tiempo, la esposa de una famosa estrella de la televisión danesa es asesinada brutalmente en su lujosa casa al norte de Copenhague. El detective Fabian Risk y su homóloga danesa Dunja Hougaard enseguida unen las piezas de ambos asesinatos. Pero a medida que el tiempo pasa, sus investigaciones comienzan a desmoronarse, mientras se ven arrastrados a una conspiración mucho peor de lo que nadie podría imaginar. La crítica ha dicho... «Ya es hora de que la mayoría de novelistas nórdicos de novela criminal se hagan a un lado y que los lectores miren hacia arriba. Stefan Ahnhem ha llegado y es tremendamente convincente. La novena tumba es una novela que atrapa de una manera fascinante.»C.J. Box autor best seller de The New York Times«Una saga de crímenes atmosféricos y complejos que cruzan el estrecho entre Suecia y Dinamarca... grandes personajes policiales y algunos delincuentes imaginativamente espeluznantes.»Sunday Times«Una novela mordaz. Ahnhem expone la codicia y la corrupción en los niveles más altos de la sociedad y el gobierno. Los fanáticos del noir nórdico no querrán perderse este emocionante thriller.»Publishers Weekly (starred review) «Lahistoria de Ahnhem es tan sombría como las profundidades de un invierno nórdico y tan sangrienta como una casa mortuoria.»Belfast Telegraph «Un thriller absorbente, ágil y dinámico.»Negra y mortal «Adictivo, de principio a fin.»Pianobikes (Babelio)«Tremendamente adictivo. La ambientación es perfecta, el ritmo vertiginoso.»ApribooksSé lo que quieres
By Samantha Bailey. 2019
Una extraña en la plataforma del metro, susurra: «Coge a mi bebé» La extraña mujer te entrega a su bebé…
en tus brazos. Dice tu nombre. Y después, salta a las vías del tren. En una fracción de segundo, la vida de Morgan Kincaid cambia para siempre. Ella iba de regreso a casa cuando una madre le pide que detenga a su bebé, después se lo entrega en brazos. Antes de que Morgan pudiera detenerla, la perturbada mamá salta justo enfrente del tren que entraba a la estación. Morgan nunca antes había visto a la mujer, y es incapaz de comprender las causas por las que le entregó a su bebé y se quitó la vida. Tampoco puede entender cómo aquella mujer sabía su nombre. La policía detiene a Morgan para un interrogatorio. Pronto descubre que la mujer se llamaba Nicole Markham, la prominente directiva de Breathe, una reconocida marca de accesorios deportivos. Pronto descubre también que no existe ni un solo testigo capaz de corroborar su versión de lo ocurrido, lo que la convierte de inmediato en sospechosa de asesinato. Para probar su inocencia, Morgan tendrá que investigar los últimos días de la vida de Nicole. ¿Era Nicole una madre paranoica o se encontraba en peligro? Cuando cosas realmente extrañas comienzan a suceder en la vida de Morgan, ella se da cuenta de que su vida también puede estar en peligro. Un thriller trepidante en el que descubriremos lo lejos que una mujer está dispuesta a llegar para proteger a su bebé, aun cuando lo que tenga que sacrificar sea su propia vida. La crítica ha dicho...«Trepidante y repleto de giros brillantes.»Toronto Star «Un debut sobresaliente. La tensión se siente en cada página. Los fans del suspense psicológico devorarán esta novela.»Publisher's Weekly (Starred review) «Una maravillosa novela sobre la ansiedad de una madre, secretos matrimoniales, amistades femeninas, además del terror en el transporte público. Un thriller psicológico de primera categoría.»Toronto Life «Un debut explosivo y contundente.»MARY KUBICA «Un thriller sobresaliente.»Morning Live«Un thriller psicológico muy bien hilado, con una tensión constante en la narración y una resolución que no deja cabos sueltos.»La Copela, blog de crítica literariaLa Elegida (La Selección #Volumen 3)
By Kiera Cass. 2014
La situación en Palacio es cada vez más peligrosa. Los rebeldes atacan tanto por el norte como por el sur…
y America, las chicas que siguen en la selección y Maxon se encuentran en verdadero peligro. Tercera entrega de «La Selección», la serie bestseller mundial de Kiera Cass. Mientras la situación de peligro se vuelve cada vez más acuciante, la disyuntiva en la que se encuentra Americatampoco es mucho mejor: debe escoger entre su primer amor, Aspen, y el príncipe Maxon, quien poco a poco ha ido conquistándola. Eso sin tener en cuenta que el príncipe debe escogerla a ella también de entre las seis seleccionadas que podrían convertirse en su esposa y que aún permanecen en palacio. Luchas políticas, amor, violencia, dudas... America deberá tomar decisiones que cambiarán el curso no solo de su vida, sino de todo aquel que la rodea.El dosier del rey (Mikel Lejarza #Volumen 2)
By Fernando Rueda. 2016
¿Estados Unidos y la CIA impulsaron a Juan Carlos I para conseguir el trono? ¿Tuvo algo que ver en la…
Operación Compás montada para evitar que la nieta de Franco y su marido Alfonso de Borbón le usurparan la sucesión? España, año 1980. El pueblo vive intensamente un cambio político plagado de conflictos, que no le permite ver en toda su dimensión cómo los servicios secretos de EEUU y sus aliados -entre los que se encuentra España- combaten encarnizadamente contra sus enemigos de la URSS y el Pacto de Varsovia. Las calles son el escenario de la Guerra Fría, en la que el espionaje español, controlado por militares, actúa demasiado pendiente de los intereses de la CIA, un servicio del que dependen hasta niveles insospechados. ETA ha decidido no asesinar durante las elecciones al Parlamento vasco. Mikel Lezarja, El Lobo, tiene que cumplir una extraña misión para la CIA que le molesta y no entiende: descubrir la doble vida de una alemana sospechosa de traición, a la que todos consideran culpable. Pronto comprenderá que en el mundo de las alcantarillas y el espionaje entre servicios secretos nada ni nadie es lo que parece. La crítica ha dicho...«Un thriller intenso y palpitante.»Todoliteratura «Una trepidante historia de espionaje ambientada en la España de 1980.»La voz de GaliciaThe Silver Waterfall: How America Won the War in the Pacific at Midway
By Brendan Simms, Steven McGregor. 2022
Eighty years after the stunning and decisive battle, a revelatory new history of MidwayThe Battle of Midway was, on paper,…
an improbable victory for the smaller, less experienced American navy and air force, so much so that it was quickly described as &“a miracle.&” Yet fortune favored the Americans at Midway, and the conventional wisdom has it that the Americans&’ lucky streak continued as the war in the Pacific turned against the Japanese. This new history demonstrates that luck, let alone miracles, had little to do with it. In The Silver Waterfall, Brendan Simms and Steven McGregor show how the efforts of America&’s peacetime navy combined with creative innovations made by designers and industrialists were largely responsible for the victory. The Douglas Dauntless Dive Bomber, a uniquely conceived fighting weapon, delivered a brutally accurate attack the Japanese quickly came to dread. Told through a vivid narrative, Simms and McGregor show how the course of the war in the Pacific was dramatically altered, emphasizing the crucial combination of a culture of innovation, a brilliant contribution from immigrants, and a vital intelligence coup that allowed the navy to orchestrate the devastating attack on the Japanese and dominate the Pacific for good.As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age
By Matthew Cobb. 2022
The thrilling and terrifying history of genetic engineering In 2018, scientists manipulated the DNA of human babies for the first…
time. As biologist and historian Matthew Cobb shows in As Gods, this achievement was one many scientists have feared from the start of the genetic age. Four times in the last fifty years, geneticists, frightened by their own technology, have called a temporary halt to their experiments. They ought to be frightened: Now we have powers that can target the extinction of pests, change our own genes, or create dangerous new versions of diseases in an attempt to prevent future pandemics. Both awe-inspiring and chilling, As Gods traces the history of genetic engineering, showing that this revolutionary technology is far too important to be left to the scientists. They have the power to change life itself, but should we trust them to keep their ingenuity from producing a hellish reality?Namasté, amor mío
By Coco Duval. 2020
Una novela romántica con un toque espiritual. Emma, periodista de sucesos, es independiente, deslenguada y odia limpiar. Un encuentro «místico»…
y una nueva investigación le llevará directamente a él, a Marlo Símic, un atractivo asceta y empresario de éxito en busca de la iluminación. La aparición de una mano, un secuestro, el caso mediático que tiene en vilo a la nación, convertirán a Emma y a Marlo en protagonistas inesperados de una historia de amor trascendental de lo más complicada. Pero más allá de la espiritualidad existe la ley de la atracción.Credible: The Power of Expert Leaders
By Amanda Goodall. 2023
A leading business expert shows why expertise really matters, and how leaders who deeply understand the nuts and bolts of…
their industry and organization-- from businesses, to hospitals, to universities, to sports-- make all the difference for its success and the happiness of people who work there. Amanda Goodall has spent a decade researching what makes organizations tick, everywhere from the business world to hospitals and healthcare systems, football and basketball teams, and Formula 1 organizations. By debunking the cult of managerialism (the notion that smart people can run anything and the emphasis on leadership personality), Goodall reshapes our understanding of bosses and the traits necessary for organizational success. She identifies the key characteristics of expert leaders and provides a real and grossly underappreciated model for career success: "go deep into a business, work hard, pay attention, and know your stuff." Those who run hospitals and healthcare systems, for example, should be physicians with deep clinical expertise, not financiers or people parachuted in from other industries. Those who run school systems and universities need to understand from experience the stress of balancing teaching, research, and student welfareCredible demonstrates categorically that expertise matters more than ever and that we need our leaders to be experts with a deep, understanding of their organizations from many years spent learning the business and working their way up the ladder. The people who work for them are happier because they feel better understood and the organizations they lead are more successful.Queens of a Fallen World: The Lost Women of Augustine's Confessions
By Kate Cooper. 2023
FINALIST: THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2023The vibrant and surprising lives of the women in Augustine's Confessions While many know of…
Saint Augustine and his Confessions, few are aware of how his life and thought were influenced by women.Queens of a Fallen World tells a story of betrayal, love, and ambition in the ancient world as seen through a woman's eyes. Historian Kate Cooper introduces us to four women whose hopes and plans collided in Augustine's early adulthood: his mother, Monnica of Thagaste; his lover; his fiancée; and Justina, the troubled empress of ancient Rome. Drawing upon their depictions in the Confessions, Cooper skilfully reconstructs their lives against the backdrop of their fourth-century society. Though they came from different walks of life, each found her own way of prevailing in a world ruled by men. A refreshingly complex and compelling portrait of Augustine, Queens of a Fallen World is the riveting story of four remarkable women who set him on course to change history.Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians
By Tara Isabella Burton. 2023
An exploration into the curation of the self in Western civilization from Da Vinci to Kim Kardashian.In a technologically-saturated era…
where nearly everything can be effortlessly and digitally reproduced, we're all hungry to carve out our own unique personalities, our own bespoke personae, to stand out and be seen. As the forces of social media and capitalism collide, and individualism becomes more important than ever across a wide array of industries, "branding ourselves" or actively defining our selves for others has become the norm. Yet, this phenomenon is not new. In Self-Made, Tara Isabella Burton shows us how we arrived at this moment of fervent personal-branding.As attitudes towards religion, politics and society evolved, our sense of self did as well, moving from a collective to individual mindset. Through a series of chronological biographical essays on famous (and infamous) "self-creators" in the modern Western world, from the Renassiance to the Enlightenment to modern capitalism and finally to our present moment of mass media, Burton examines the theories and forces behind our never-ending need to curate ourselves. Through a vivid cast of characters and an engaging mix of cultural and historical commentary, we learn how the personal brand has come to be.Mostly Veggies: Easy Make-Ahead Meals for Healthy Living
By Brittany Mullins. 2023
Healthy doesn't have to be hard! Unlock the simplicity of veggie-forward cooking with bonus tips for planning and prepping your…
way to healthy, delicious eats for every meal. Plant-focused meal prep means a fridge stocked with healthy snacks ready to grab on your way out of the door; it means having an easy answer every time the question &“what&’s for dinner&” pops into your head; and it means saving time and money while you enjoy flavorful, nutritious meals that come together in minutes. Brittany Mullins has perfected the art of flavor-filled, holistic cooking for the whole family while tacking a busy to-do list and a hectic schedule: now, Mostly Veggies brings you the same tools and tricks Brittany herself uses every day. Mostly Veggies focuses on wholesome ingredients and prioritizes fruits and vegetables, whole grains and plant-based proteins as the foundation of healthy, filling recipes that everyone in your family will love. Here you&’ll find: * Customizable Overnight Oats and Chia Puddings for grab and go breakfasts * Red Velvet Cake Batter Protein Smoothie for busy mornings * Big batch Butternut Squash Enchiladas to freeze and reheat all week * A veggie-loaded Cobb Salad with Coconut Bacon * Easy snacks from Pizza Trail Mix to Pecan Cookie Butter * English Muffin Pizzas that even the kiddos will love * And so much more! With four weekly meal plans laid out for you based around maximizing fresh produce for each season, as well as the guidelines to create your own meal plans based off of the recipes found here, Mostly Veggies is your key to eating healthy all week long no matter how many things you have on your plate.They were a small group of conspirators who risked their lives by plotting relentlessly to obstruct and destroy the Third…
Reich from within. The Gestapo nicknamed this shadowy confederation of traitors the &“Black Orchestra.&” This is their tension-filled story. As the &“Final Solution&” unfolds, a loose network of German military officers, diplomats, politicians, and civilians are doing everything in their power to undermine the Third Reich from the inside: reporting troop movements to the Allies, feeding disinformation to the Nazi high command, plotting to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and more. The Gestapo nicknames this shadowy confederation of traitors the &“Black Orchestra.&” Its players include Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a dissident Lutheran pastor, and his brother-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi, a staff attorney at the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service. In this tension-filled narrative, Tom Dunkel traces the perilous movements of these &“white knights&” as they and their families face constant danger of being exposed and executed. Some act out of moral outrage and patriotism. Some want to atone for their own Nazi sins. When their treasonous activities are finally discovered, Hitler&’s SS and the Gestapo are hell-bent on taking bloody revenge as the end of the war rapidly approaches and lives hang in the balance. White Knights in the Black Orchestra is a tautly written, meticulously reported account of men and women heroically resisting Hitler&’s ruthless regime. It packs the punch of the best espionage thrillers, but the cat-and-mouse drama and plot twists are grounded firmly in fact. This is a stirring story of people willing to risk all by doing the right thing in a country gone mad, a story that may prompt readers to ask themselves &“What would I have done?&”We Are Not One: A History of America's Fight Over Israel
By Eric Alterman. 2022
A bestselling historian uncovers the surprising roots of America&’s long alliance with Israel and its troubling consequences Fights about the…
fate of the state of Israel, and the Zionist movement that gave birth to it, have long been a staple of both Jewish and American political culture. But despite these arguments&’ significance to American politics, American Jewish life, and to Israel itself, no one has ever systematically examined their history and explained why they matter. In We Are Not One, historian Eric Alterman traces this debate from its nineteenth-century origins. Following Israel&’s 1948–1949 War of Independence (called the &“nakba&” or &“catastrophe&” by Palestinians), few Americans, including few Jews, paid much attention to Israel or the challenges it faced. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, however, almost overnight support for Israel became the primary component of American Jews&’ collective identity. Over time, Jewish organizations joined forces with conservative Christians and neoconservative pundits and politicos to wage a tenacious fight to define Israel&’s image in the US media, popular culture, Congress, and college campuses. Deeply researched, We Are Not One reveals how our consensus on Israel and Palestine emerged and why, today, it is fracturing.Meganets: How Digital Forces Beyond Our Control Commandeer Our Daily Lives and Inner Realities
By David B. Auerbach. 2023
How the autonomous digital forces jolting our lives – as uncontrollable as the weather and plate tectonics – are transforming life, society,…
culture, and politics.David Auerbach&’s exploration of the phenomenon he has identified as the meganet begins with a simple, startling revelation: There is no hand on the tiller of some of the largest global digital forces that influence our daily lives: from corporate sites such as Facebook, Amazon, Google, YouTube, Instagram, and Reddit to the burgeoning metaverse encompassing cryptocurrencies and online gaming to government systems such as China&’s Social Credit System and India&’s Aadhaar.As we increasingly integrate our society, culture and politics within a hyper-networked fabric, Auerbach explains how the interactions of billions of people with unfathomably large online networks have produced a new sort of beast: ever-changing systems that operate beyond the control of the individuals, companies, and governments that created them.Meganets, Auerbach explains, have a life of their own, actively resisting attempts to control them as they accumulate data and produce spontaneous, unexpected social groups and uprisings that could not have even existed twenty years ago. And they constantly modify themselves in response to user behavior, resulting in collectively authored algorithms none of us intend or control. These enormous invisible organisms exerting great force on our lives are the new minds of the world, increasingly commandeering our daily lives and inner realities.Auerbach&’s analysis of these gargantuan opaque digital forces yield important insights such as:The conventional wisdom that the Googles and Facebook of this world are tightly run algorithmic entities is a myth. No one is really in control.The efforts at reform - to get lies and misinformation off meganets - run into a brick wall because the companies and executives who run them are trapped by the persistent, evolving, and opaque systems they have created.Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are uncontrollable and their embrace by elite financial institutions threatens the entire economyWe are asking the wrong questions in assuming that if only the Facebooks of this world could be better regulated or broken up that they would be better, more ethical citizens.Why questions such as making algorithms fair and bias-free and whether AI can be a tool for good or evil are wrong and misinformedAuerbach then comes full circle, showing that while we cannot ultimately control meganets we can tame them through the counterintuitive measures he describes in detail.Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records
By Jim Ruland. 2022
A no-holds-barred narrative history of the iconic label that brought the world Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, and more,…
by the co-author of Do What You Want and My Damage.Greg Ginn started SST Records in the sleepy beach town of Hermosa Beach, CA, to supply ham radio enthusiasts with tuners and transmitters. But when Ginn wanted to launch his band, Black Flag, no one was willing to take them on. Determined to bring his music to the masses, Ginn turned SST into a record label. On the back of Black Flag&’s relentless touring, guerilla marketing, and refusal to back down, SST became the sound of the underground.In Corporate Rock Sucks, music journalist Jim Ruland relays the unvarnished story of SST Records, from its remarkable rise in notoriety to its infamous downfall. With records by Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, and scores of obscure yet influential bands, SST was the most popular indie label by the mid-80s--until a tsunami of legal jeopardy, financial peril, and dysfunctional management brought the empire tumbling down. Throughout this investigative deep-dive, Ruland leads readers through SST&’s tumultuous history and epic catalog.Featuring never-before-seen interviews with the label's former employees, as well as musicians, managers, producers, photographers, video directors, and label heads, Corporate Rock Sucks presents a definitive narrative history of the &’80s punk and alternative rock scenes, and shows how the music industry was changed forever.Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine
By Anna Reid. 2023
&“A beautifully written evocation of Ukraine's brutal past and its shaky efforts to construct a better future.&”—Financial TimesBorderland tells the…
story of Ukraine. A thousand years ago it was the center of the first great Slav civilization, Kievan Rus. In 1240, the Mongols invaded from the east, and for the next seven centuries, Ukraine was split between warring neighbors: Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, Austrians, and Tatars. Again and again, borderland turned into battlefield: during the Cossack risings of the seventeenth century, Russia's wars with Sweden in the eighteenth, the Civil War of 1918-1920, and under Nazi occupation. Ukraine finally won independence in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bigger than France and a populous as Britain, it has the potential to become one of the most powerful states in Europe. In this finely written and penetrating book, Anna Reid combines research and her own experiences to chart Ukraine's tragic past. Talking to peasants and politicians, rabbis and racketeers, dissidents and paramilitaries, survivors of Stalin's famine and of Nazi labor camps, she reveals the layers of myth and propaganda that wrap this divided land. From the Polish churches of Lviv to the coal mines of the Russian-speaking Donbass, from the Galician shtetlech to the Tatar shantytowns of Crimea, the book explores Ukraine's struggle to build itself a national identity, and identity that faces up to a bloody past, and embraces all the peoples within its borders.The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison
By Hugh Ryan. 2022
This singular history of a prison, and the queer women and trans people held there, is a window into the…
policing of queerness and radical politics in the twentieth century. The Women&’s House of Detention, a landmark that ushered in the modern era of women&’s imprisonment, is now largely forgotten. But when it stood in New York City&’s Greenwich Village, from 1929 to 1974, it was a nexus for the tens of thousands of women, transgender men, and gender-nonconforming people who inhabited its crowded cells. Some of these inmates—Angela Davis, Andrea Dworkin, Afeni Shakur—were famous, but the vast majority were incarcerated for the crimes of being poor and improperly feminine. Today, approximately 40 percent of the people in women&’s prisons identify as queer; in earlier decades, that percentage was almost certainly higher. Historian Hugh Ryan explores the roots of this crisis and reconstructs the little-known lives of incarcerated New Yorkers, making a uniquely queer case for prison abolition—and demonstrating that by queering the Village, the House of D helped defined queerness for the rest of America. From the lesbian communities forged through the Women&’s House of Detention to the turbulent prison riots that presaged Stonewall, this is the story of one building and much more: the people it caged, the neighborhood it changed, and the resistance it inspired. Winner, 2023 Stonewall Book Award—Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Book AwardCrimeReads, Best True Crime Books of the Year