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The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson and the Making of Modern Canada
By John Ibbitson. 2023
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLEROne of Canada’s foremost authors and journalists, offers a gripping account of the contest between John Diefenbaker and…
Lester Pearson, two prime ministers who fought each other relentlessly, but who between them created today’s Canada. John Diefenbaker has been unfairly treated by history. Although he wrestled with personal demons, his governments launched major reforms in public health care, law reform and immigration. On his watch, First Nations on reserve obtained the right to vote and the federal government began to open up the North. He established Canada as a leader in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and took the first steps in making Canada a leader in the fight against nuclear proliferation. And Diefenbaker’s Bill of Rights laid the groundwork for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He set in motion many of the achievements credited to his successor, Lester B. Pearson.Pearson, in turn, gave coherence to Diefenbaker’s piecemeal reforms. He also pushed Parliament to adopt a new, and now much-loved, Canadian flag against Diefenbaker’s fierce opposition. Pearson understood that if Canada were to be taken seriously as a nation, it must develop a stronger sense of self. Pearson was superbly prepared for the role of prime minister: decades of experience at External Affairs, respected by leaders from Washington to Delhi to Beijing, the only Canadian to win the Nobel Prize for Peace. Diefenbaker was the better politician, though. If Pearson walked with ease in the halls of power, Diefenbaker connected with the farmers and small-town merchants and others left outside the inner circles. Diefenbaker was one of the great orators of Canadian political life; Pearson spoke with a slight lisp. Diefenbaker was the first to get his name in the papers, as a crusading attorney: Diefenbaker for the Defence, champion of the little man. But he struggled as a politician, losing five elections before making it into the House of Commons, and becoming as estranged from the party elites as he was from the Liberals, until his ascension to the Progressive Conservative leadership in 1956 through a freakish political accident. As a young university professor, Pearson caught the attention of the powerful men who were shaping Canada’s first true department of foreign affairs, rising to prominence as the helpful fixer, the man both sides trusted, the embodiment of a new country that had earned its place through war in the counsels of the great powers: ambassador, undersecretary, minister, peacemaker. Everyone knew he was destined to be prime minister. But in 1957, destiny took a detour.Then they faced each other, Diefenbaker v Pearson, across the House of Commons, leaders of their parties, each determined to wrest and hold power, in a decade-long contest that would shake and shape the country. Here is a tale of two men, children of Victoria, who led Canada into the atomic age: each the product of his past, each more like the other than either would ever admit, fighting each other relentlessly while together forging the Canada we live in today. To understand our times, we must first understand theirs.First published in 1996, The William Makepeace Thackeray Library is a collection of works written by and about the novelist.…
This sixth volume contains the work of Lewis Melville, one of the most productive biographers and critics of Thackeray at the turn of the 20th century. Richard Pearson’s helpful introduction not only provides additional information on the biographer himself, but also analyses the text and tracks its development over time. This book will be of interest to those studying Thackeray and nineteenth-century literature.Inquilab: Bhagat Singh on Religion and Revolution
By Syed Irfan Habib. 2023
Extolled for his extraordinary courage and sacrifice, Bhagat Singh is one of our most venerated freedom fighters. He is valourised…
for his martyrdom, and rightly so, but in the ensuing enthusiasm, most of us forget, or consciously ignore, his contributions as an intellectual and a thinker. He not only sacrificed his life, like many others did before and after him, but he also had a vision of independent India. In the current political climate, when it has become routine to appropriate Bhagat Singh as a nationalist icon, not much is known or spoken about his nationalist vision. Inquilab provides a corrective to such a situation by bringing together some of Bhagat Singh's seminal writings on his pluralist and egalitarian vision. It compels the reader to see that while continuing to celebrate the memory of Bhagat Singh as a martyr and a nationalist, we must also learn about his intellectual legacy. This important book also makes a majority of these writings, hitherto only available in Hindi, accessible for the first time to the English-language readership.A Yorkshire Lass at the Court of Thatcher
By Elizabeth Peacock. 1979
Elizabeth Peacock served as MP for Batley and Spen for 14 years and was one of the most outspoken politicians…
during her time at Westminster.Famed for her 'no nonsense, just common sense' approach, Elizabeth won many admirers along with a reputation for being difficult. Not afraid to vote against her own party, the Conservatives, Elizabeth genuinely said and did what she thought was right for all Britain, but especially her local constituents.At the time she became an MP, she was one of very few women to do so but quickly made her mark in a very male dominated environment. She was the first woman MP to take part in the Lords v Commons charity motor race at Brands Hatch in which she more than held her own. Elizabeth was heavily involved in the Miners Strike of the 80's and was one of the few to vote against her own government as well as meeting regularly with Arthur Scargill, an unthinkable thing to do for a Conservative MP. She would go on to vote against the Major government too, never to be difficult, but just because she thought their actions weren't in the best interest of the nation. Her outspoken views on the IRA would lead to an unsuccessful but extremely frightening attack on her car whilst parked outside her home.In this candid, honest and often very funny autobiography, Elizabeth reveals what it was like to work at Westminster during those turbulent years. She offers frank assessments of the men and women she worked with including Margaret Thatcher, John Major and many others.A completely absorbing and insightful read.Mark and Livy: The Love Story of Mark Twain and the Woman Who Almost Tamed Him
By Resa Willis. 2004
Olivia Langdon Clemens was not only the love of Mark Twain's life and the mother of his children, she was…
also his editor, muse, critic and trusted advisor. She read his letters and speeches. He relied on her judgment on his writing, and readily admitted that she not only edited his work, but also edited his public persona.Until now, little has been known about Livy's crucial place in Twain's life. In Resa Willis's affecting and fascinating biography, we meet a dignified, optimistic women who married young, raised three sons and a daughter, endured myriad health problems and money woes and who faithfully traipsed all over the world with Twain--Africa, Europe, Asia--while battling his moodiness and her frailty.Twain adored her. A hard-drinking dreamer with an insatiable wanderlust, he needed someone to tame him. It was Livy who encouraged him to finish his autobiography even through the last stages of her illness. When she died in 1904, Twain's zest for life and writing was gone. He died six years later.A triumph of the biographer's art, Mark and Livy presents the fullest picture yet of one of the most influential women in American letters.On the Sultan's Service: Halid Ziya Usakligil's Memoir of the Ottoman Palace, 1909–1912
By Douglas Scott Brookes. 2020
The renowned Turkish author’s memoir of serving Sultan Mehmed V provides a rare look inside the palace politics of the…
late Ottoman Empire.Before he became one of Turkey’s most famous novelists, Halid Ziya Usakligil served as First Secretary to Sultan Mehmed V. His memoir of that time, between 1909 and 1912, provides first-hand insight into the personalities, intrigues, and inner workings of the Ottoman palace in its final decades.In post-Revolution Turkey, the palace no longer exercised political power. Instead, it negotiated the minefields between political factions, sought ways to unite the empire in the face of nationalist aspirations, and faced the opening salvos of the wars that would eventually overwhelm the country. Usakligil includes interviews with the Imperial family as well as descriptions of royal nuptials, the palaces and its visitors, and the crises that shook the court. He also delivers an insightful and moving portrait of Mehmed V, the man who reigned over the Ottoman Empire through both Balkan Wars and World War I.The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future
By Franklin Foer. 2023
The instant New York Times bestseller!Franklin Foer tells the definitive insider story of the first two years of the Biden…
presidency, with exclusive access to Biden&’s longtime team of advisers, and presents a gripping portrait of a president during this momentous time in our nation&’s history."You might love Biden or you might hate Biden, but either way, if you want to understand him, you will want to buy this book." —Politico&“A triumph of reporting.&” — Geoff Bennett, PBS NewsHour &“Deeply reported . . . a terrific read.&” —Chuck Todd, Meet the Press&“Fantastic . . . The first real insider account of the Biden White House and a fascinating read about Biden himself.&” —Jon Favreau, Pod Save AmericaOn January 20, 2021, standing where only two weeks earlier police officers had battled with right-wing paramilitaries, Joe Biden took his oath of office. The American people were still sick with COVID-19, his economists were already warning him of an imminent financial crisis, and his party, the Democrats, had the barest of majorities in the Senate. Yet, faced with an unprecedented set of crises, Joe Biden decided he would not play defense. Instead, he set out to transform the nation. He proposed the most ambitious domestic spending bills since the 1960s and vowed to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan, ending the nation&’s longest war and reorienting it toward a looming competition with China. With unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades, Franklin Foer dramatizes in forensic detail the first two years of the Biden presidency, concluding with the historic midterm elections. The result is a gripping and high-definition portrait of a major president at a time when democracy itself seems imperiled. With his back to the wall, Biden resorted to old-fashioned politics: deal-making and compromise. It was a gamble that seemed at first disastrously anachronistic, as he struggled to rally even the support of his own party. Yet, as the midterms drew near, via a series of bills with banal names, Biden somehow found a way to invest trillions of dollars in clean energy, the domestic semiconductor industry, and new infrastructure. Had he done the impossible―breaking decisively with the old Washington consensus to achieve progressive goals? The Last Politician is a landmark work of political reporting—which includes thrilling, blow-by-blow insider reports of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and the White House&’s swift response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine—that is destined to shape history&’s view of a president in the eye of the storm.The Fall: The End of the Murdoch Empire
By Michael Wolff. 2023
THE BOOK THAT BROUGHT DOWN RUPERT MURDOCH - AND A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERMeet the Murdochs and the disastrously dysfunctional…
family of Fox News. Until recently, they formed the most powerful media and political force in America. Now their empire is cracking up and crashing down. In his irresistible trilogy on the chaotic Trump presidency - Fire and Fury, Siege, and Landslide - the journalist Michael Wolff led readers deep into the twisted corridors of the White House. Drawing on years of unprecedented access to the Murdoch family and key players, he plunges us behind the scenes of another empire of influence, and the result is astonishing and unforgettable. Here is Rupert Murdoch, the ninety-two-year-old billionaire - concerned about his legacy, but more concerned about profits. Here are his contentious children, jockeying to take over when the old man is gone. Here is star anchor Tucker Carlson considering a run for the presidency while his bosses have other plans for him. Sean Hannity, the richest man in television, has his own plans: to put Trump back in office. While presenter Laura Ingraham is just trying to survive in a man's world. As the fallout from the 2020 election and the Dominion lawsuit pummels the reputation of the network, the battling Murdoch heirs position themselves for the final act in this riveting drama."Michael Wolff's books were my foundation and port of entry for working on Succession." Jeremy Strong ("Kendall Roy")Praise for Fire and Fury:#1 New York Times bestseller, a Book of the Year in the Guardian, Sunday Times, Observer, Financial Times'The pages of Wolff's book are littered with insults and intrigue, backstabbing and dysfunction' Washington Post'What makes the book significant is its sly, hilarious portrait of a hollow man, into the black hole of whose needy, greedy ego the whole world has virtually vanished' GuardianMy Own Two Feet: A Memoir
By Beverly Cleary. 1995
Told in her own words, My Own Two Feet is Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary’s second heartfelt and relatable memoir.The New…
Yorker called Beverly Cleary's first volume of memoirs, A Girl From Yamhill, "a warm, honest book, as interesting as any novel."Now the creator of the classic children's stories millions grew up with continues her own fascinating story. Here is Beverly Cleary, from college years to the publication of her first book. It is a fascinating look at her life and a writing career that spans three generations, continuing to capture the hearts and imaginations of children of all ages throughout the world.Beverly Cleary's books have sold more than 85 million copies and have been translated into twenty-nine different languages, which speaks to the worldwide reach and love of her stories. She was honored with a Newbery Honor for Ramona and Her Father and a second one for Ramona Quimby, Age 8. She received the John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, which was inspired by letters she’d received from children. Her autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet, are a wonderful way to get to know more about this most beloved children's book author.A Strange Life: Selected Essays of Louisa May Alcott
By Louisa May Alcott. 2023
Collected together for the very first time, witty and wide-ranging essays from the celebrated author of Little Women.Louisa May Alcott…
(1832–1888) is, of course, best known as the author of Little Women (1868). But she was also a noted essayist who wrote on a wide range of subjects, including her father&’s failed utopian commune, the benefits of an unmarried life, and her experience as a young woman sent to work in service to alleviate her family&’s poverty. Her first literary success was a contemporary close-up account of the American Civil War, brilliantly depicted in Hospital Sketches, which was drawn from her own experience of serving as an army nurse near the nation&’s capital. As with her famous novel, Alcott writes these essays with clear observation, unforgettable scenes, and one of the sharpest wits in American literature.Blending gentle satire with reportage and emotive autobiography, Alcott&’s exquisite essays are as exceptional as the novels she is known for. Published together for the first time, this delightful selection shows us another side to one of our most celebrated writers.Citizen Cohn: The Life and Times of Roy Cohn
By Nicholas Von Hoffman. 1978
No one so famous or controversial led so many secret lives. Loathed by some, and well respected by others, Roy…
Cohn was known as the toughest and most brilliant lawyer in America. From his role in the Rosenberg trial and as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy through his extraordinary friendship with J. Edgar Hoover and his vendetta against Robert Kennedy, Cohn's reputation grew larger than life. Presidents, celebrities, gangsters, judges, and endless politicians crossed Cohn&’s path, either as friend or foe, including J. Edgar Hoover, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Ronald Reagan, Robert Kennedy, Barbara Walters, Fat Tony Salerno, Louis Nizer, Si Newhouse, Rupert Murdoch, George Steinbrenner, Donald Trump, and many more. Cohn was the target of numerous indictments and haunted by professional misconduct charges which led to his disbarment shortly before his death. His private life, even more outrageous than his life known to the public, constantly had his name in gossip columns; there were his lovers, his denial of his homosexuality and AIDS diagnosis, and finally his death from AIDS-related cancer in 1986. Nicolas von Hoffman has created a remarkable and provocative biography of a complex life that was driven by power. Interviewing family members, colleagues, clients, friends, and lovers, he gives an extraordinary portrait of the man, his ideological passion, and the patterns of power and money that made him, in the end, one of the most influential men in our society. From hidden bank accounts, numerous incidents of political fixing, and surprising connections, Citizen Cohn reveals the real Roy Cohn.Up From Socialism: My 60-Year Search for a Healing New Radical Politics
By Mark Satin. 2023
An essential introduction to the visionary, beyond-left-and-right political activism of the last 60 years, and a deeply honest insider account…
of why those activists have—so far—fallen short.&“I appreciate that Satin is willing to be so candid. It helps us all learn. And he writes in a way that touches the soul.&” —Christa Slaton, First platform coordinator for the U.S. Green Party movement, and co-editor of the book Transformational Politics: Theory, Study, and Practice In a gripping first-person narrative that reads like a novel, using his own experiences as a lens, Mark Satin tells the story of three generations of thinkers and activists who tried—and are still trying—to create a post-socialist, post-conservative, visionary and healing new politics for the U.S. In this book, Satin shows that the increasingly militant movements of the Sixties drove many young people away—and into a search for a political system and world that could work for everyone. He looks at initiatives and organizations that over the next 30 years tried to further that search, such as the New World Alliance and the early U.S. Green Party movement. Then he illuminates the 21st century turn to &“radical centrist&” and &“transpartisan&” political initiatives. Each chapter begins with a brief, context-setting introduction. Throughout the book are intense, blow-by-blow accounts of organization- and movement-building, as well as brief glimpses at over 40 often underappreciated visionary books. And always there are deeply honest accounts of Satin&’s and other activists&’ often shaky relationships with colleagues, family, and lovers—because getting healing politics right cannot be divorced from getting personal and interpersonal behavior right. You will enjoy watching Satin&’s encounters with civil rights militant Hardy Frye, Weather Underground terrorist Mark Rudd, environmental activist Paul Hawken, &“beyond GNP&” economic thinker Hazel Henderson, futurists John Naisbitt and Alvin Toffler, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gene Sharp, Aquarian Conspiracy author Marilyn Ferguson, critical race theory co-creator Derrick Bell, radical centrist author John Avlon, and more. Nobody, least of all Satin, comes across as all-wise here, and long before this subtle and courageous book ends you will realize that a truly visionary and healing politics can only be built if we&’re willing to address all the behavioral, intellectual, organizational, and attitudinal issues this book raises.The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House
By Chris Whipple. 2023
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Gatekeepers comes a revelatory, news-making look at how President Joe Biden…
and his seasoned team have battled to achieve their agenda—based on the author&’s extraordinary access to the White House during two years of crises at home and abroad.In January of 2021, the Biden administration inherited the most daunting array of challenges since FDR&’s presidency: a lethal pandemic, a plummeting economy, an unresolved twenty-year war, and the aftermath of an attack on the Capitol that polarized the country. Waves of crises followed, including the fallout from a divisive Supreme Court, raging inflation, and Vladimir Putin&’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Now, in The Fight of His Life, prizewinning journalist Chris Whipple takes us inside the Oval Office as the critical decisions of Biden&’s presidency are being made. With remarkable access to both President Biden and his inner circle—including Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and CIA Director William Burns—Whipple pulls back the curtain on the internal power struggles and back-room compromises. Featuring shocking new details about how renegade Trump officials enabled the transfer of power, which key staffers really make the White House run (it&’s probably not who you think), why Joe Biden no longer speaks freely around his security detail, and what he really thinks of Vice President Kamala Harris, the press, and living in the White House, The Fight of His Life delivers a stunning portrait of politics on the edge.Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond
By William Stadiem, Essie Mae Washington-Williams. 2005
In this historically momentous memoir, the segregationist senator&’s mixed-race daughter speaks out about her life in the shadows. Breaking nearly…
eight decades of silence, Essie Mae Washington–Williams comes forward with the dramatic story of her life. Her father, the late Strom Thurmond, had been the nation&’s leading proponent of racial segregation. He famously undertook a twenty-four–hour filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, a desperate attempt to save the South from &“mongrelization&”. Her mother, however, was a black teenager named Carrie Butler who worked as a maid on the Thurmond family&’s South Carolina plantation. Set against the explosive civil rights era, this poignant memoir recalls how Essie Mae struggled with the discrepancy between the generous and even affectionate father she knew privately, and the Old Southern politician, railing against greater racial equality, who refused to acknowledge her publicly. From her richly told narrative, as well as the letters she and Thurmond wrote to each other over the years, emerges a fascinating portrait of a father who counseled and supported his daughter, yet would not break with the values of his Dixiecrat constituents.This Hill, This Valley: A Memoir
By Hal Borland. 1957
A memoir of a year immersed in nature on a New England farm, by the national bestselling author of The…
Dog Who Came to Stay. After a nearly fatal bout of appendicitis, Hal Borland decided to leave the city behind and move with his wife to a farmhouse in rural Connecticut. Their new home on one hundred acres inspired Borland to return to nature. In this masterpiece of American nature writing, he describes such wonders as the peace of a sky full of stars, the breathless beauty of blossoming plants, the way rain swishes as it hits a river, and the invigorating renewal brought by the changing seasons. The delights of nature as Borland observes them seem boundless, and his sense of awe is contagious.Mistral, una vida: Solo me halla quien me ama
By Elizabeth Horan. 2023
Horan revisa exhaustiva y críticamente los primeros treinta años de vida de una de las poetas esenciales de la lengua…
castellana. Mistral. Solo me halla quien me ama revisa exhaustiva y críticamente los primeros treinta años de vida de una de las poetas esenciales de la lengua castellana. Elizabeth Horan, reconocida especialista mundial en la poeta, reconstruye los pasos de la Premio Nobel en base a años de estudio y a la lúcida revisión del archivo mistraliano, donde una impresionante correspondencia le permite apreciar las errancias, dolores y pasiones de la poeta, pero sobre todo su carácter sinigual. Porque Mistral en estas páginas se revela ante todo como una férrea voluntad, como alguien que supo moverse con astucia y firmeza en un mundo adverso para llegar a ser quien se propuso. Su infancia en Elqui, sus afectos y alianzas clave, sus años como profesora en distintas ciudades de Chile, su relación íntima con Laura Rodig, su temprano contacto con Neruda y otros destacados escritores y políticos chilenos y sus vínculos con Argentina son expuestos con detalle en este libro -primera parte de un proyecto colosal pensado en tres tomos- hasta el momento en que la poeta abandona el país rumbo a México en 1922. Son los entrañables años de formación de una figura intelectual irreductible y siempre asombrosa.Escribir un silencio
By Claudia Piñeiro. 2023
Los textos de no ficción de Claudia Piñeiro reunidos por primera vez en libro. «Sospecho que lo que escribo nace…
del silencio. Porque así fue desde mi niñez, del silencio a la escritura. De la resistencia a hablar, al placer de construir un texto». Admirada por miles de lectores en todo el mundo, Claudia Piñeiro es, además de una prolífica y premiada escritora de ficciones (novelas, cuentos, guiones de series y de películas, obras de teatro), una delicada observadora de la realidad. Este libro reúne por primera vez los numerosos textos publicados a lo largo de los años en distintos medios: escritos personales y autobiográficos que hablan de la infancia, la familia, las amigas, los maestros, la maternidad, así como aquellas intervenciones más políticas, como el ya célebre discurso en la Cámara de Diputados a favor de la Ley de Interrupción Voluntaria del Embarazo o los textos de apertura de ferias del libro como las de Buenos Aires o Rosario, reflexiones sobre la propia escritura, sobre escritores y escritoras que la marcaron, la pandemia o los viajes a festivales literarios. Escribir un silencio nos permite un acercamiento distinto, íntimo, a una de las escritoras más queridas de nuestro país, una referente en temas como el feminismo, los derechos de los escritores y la desobediencia como postura ética y vital. Un libro generoso y único en la trayectoria de nuestra autora más emblemática. La crítica dijo: «La adoro. Claudia se ha convertido en la gran referente de los derechos de las mujeres, con un compromiso y una claridad y una valentía y dedicación maravillosas».Mercedes Morán «Una historia que captura debates y puntos ciegos en torno a los femicidios, la muerte y la maternidad y […] un libro que dialoga con los feminismos pero también problematiza sus zonas difusas».Julieta Grosso , Télam sobre El tiempo de las moscas «La novela negra del año [...] Lo tiene todo. Apuesta literaria, crítica social, grandes temas».Juan Carlos Galindo , Babelia - El País sobre Catedrales «Breve y elegante [...] una lacerante crónica sobre la relación madre e hija, la humillación de la burocracia, la responsabilidad en el cuidado de los otros y las imposiciones del dogma religioso en las mujeres».The New York Times sobre Elena sabe «Sus libros suelen proporcionarnos muy fecundos cruces entre niveles narrativos diferentes: en Las maldiciones está la ficción política pero también un nivel absolutamente íntimo que tiene que ver con la paternidad».Eduardo Sacheri «Las viudas de los jueves es una novela ágil y un análisis implacable de un microcosmos social en acelerado proceso de decadencia».José SaramagoDiary of an Invasion: The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine
By Andrey Kurkov. 2022
'Uplifting and utterly defiant' Matt Nixson, Daily Express 'Immediate and important ... This is an insider's account of how an…
ordinary life became extraordinary' Helen Davies, The TimesThis journal of the invasion, a collection of Andrey Kurkov's writings and broadcasts from Kyiv, is a remarkable record of a brilliant writer at the forefront of a 21st-century war. Andrey Kurkov has been a consistent satirical commentator on his adopted country of Ukraine. His most recent work, Grey Bees, is a dark foreshadowing of the devastation in the eastern part of Ukraine in which only two villagers remain in a village bombed to smithereens. The author has lived in Kyiv and in the remote countryside of Ukraine throughout the Russian invasion. He has also been able to fly to European capitals where he has been working to raise money for charities and to address crowded halls. Kurkov has been asked to write for every English newspaper, as also to be interviewed all over Europe. He has become an important voice for his people.Kurkov sees every video and every posted message, and he spends the sleepless nights of continuous bombardment of his city delivering the truth about this invasion to the world.The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens
By Helena Kelly. 1840
A radical reassessment of the famed Victorian author, revealing the true story behind the creator of some of literature's best-known…
novels.This dynamic new study of Charles Dickens will make readers re-examine his life and work in a completely different light. First, partly due to the massive digitalization of papers and letters in recent years, Helena Kelly has unearthed new material about Dickens that simply wasn't available to his earlier biographers. Second, in an astonishing piece of archival detective work, she has traced and then joined the dots on revelatory new details about his mental and physical health that, as the reader will discover, had a strong bearing on both his writing and his life and eventual death. Together these have allowed her to come up with a striking hypothesis that the version of his life that Dickens chose to share with his public—both during his lifetime and from beyond the grave in the authorized biography published shortly after his death—was an elaborate exercise in reputation management. Many of the supposed formative events in his life—such as the twelve-year-old Dickens going to work in a blacking factory—may not have been quite as honestly-related as we have been led to believe. And, in many respects, who can blame him? Dickens's celebrity was on a scale almost unimaginable to any author writing today, with the possible exception of J. K. Rowling, and, like many people who become suddenly famous, he soon realized what a mixed blessing it was.José Antonio Ocampo. Entre la academia y el servicio público
By Jose Antonio Ocampo, Isabel López Giraldo. 2023
Las memorias de uno de los economistas más importantes del país. José Antonio Ocampo es uno de los economistas más…
importantes y reconocidos de Colombia y América Latina. Su trayectoria es admirable y prolífica: ha sido ministro de Hacienda en dos ocasiones, ministro de Agricultura, director de Planeación Nacional y de Fedesarrollo, codirector del Banco de la República y, a nivel internacional, subsecretario general de la ONU para Asuntos Económicos y Sociales y secretario ejecutivo de la CEPAL. Adicionalmente, es un académico destacado que ha enseñado en varias universidades, tiene una extensa lista de publicaciones y ha participado en negociaciones económicas ante organismos como la ONU, el FMI, la Ronda Uruguay que creó la OMC y la Comunidad Andina, entre otros. En estas memorias, José Antonio Ocampo e Isabel López Giraldo conversan sobre todo eso y más. Hablan de cómo fue para Ocampo trabajar con Kofi Annan como secretario general de la ONU y de su encuentro con los presidentes Patricio Aylwin y Ricardo Lagos durante la transición democrática en Chile, y con Fidel Castro, entre muchos otros personajes mundiales. También abordan su período de cerca de diez años en Naciones Unidas y la labor que realizó allí en temas de cooperación financiera y tributaria internacional, género, migración y desarrollo sostenible. Ocampo se refiere, además, a su experiencia en los tres gobiernos de los que ha sido parte, los de César Gaviria, Ernesto Samper y Gustavo Petro. Su testimonio es, en esencia, una historia económica de Colombia y la región latinoamericana, y el retrato de un hombre entregado a su familia, a la academia y al servicio del país