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A Nest Is Noisy
By Dianna Hutts Aston. 2015
From the award-winning creators of An Egg Is Quiet, A Seed Is Sleepy, A Butterfly Is Patient, and A Rock…
Is Lively comes this gorgeous and informative look at the fascinating world of nests. From tiny bee hummingbird nests to orangutan nests high in the rainforest canopy, an incredible variety of nests are showcased here in all their splendor. Poetic in voice and elegant in design, this carefully researched book introduces children to a captivating array of nest facts and will spark the imaginations of children whether in a classroom reading circle or on a parent's lap. Plus, this is a fixed-format version of the book, which looks nearly identical to the print version.Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt
By Kate Messner. 2015
In this exuberant and lyrical follow-up to the award-winning Over and Under the Snow, discover the wonders that lie hidden…
between stalks, under the shade of leaves . . . and down in the dirt. Explore the hidden world and many lives of a garden through the course of a year! Up in the garden, the world is full of green—leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt exists a busy world—earthworms dig, snakes hunt, skunks burrow—populated by all the animals that make a garden their home. Plus, this is the fixed format version, which will look almost identical to the print version. Additionally for devices that support audio, this ebook includes a read-along setting.Mining, Mobility, and Social Change in the Global South: Regional Perspectives (Routledge Studies of the Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development)
By Gerardo Castillo Guzmán, Matthew Himley, David Brereton. 2024
This volume focuses on how, why, under what conditions, and with what effects people move across space in relation to…
mining, asking how a focus on spatial mobility can aid scholars and policymakers in understanding the complex relation between mining and social change. This collection centers the concept of mobility to address the diversity of mining-related population movements as well as the agency of people engaged in these movements. This volume opens by introducing both the historical context and conceptual tools for analyzing the mining-mobility nexus, followed by case study chapters focusing on three regions with significant histories of mineral extraction and where mining currently plays an important role in socio-economic life: the Andes, Central and West Africa, and Melanesia. Written by authors with expertise in diverse fields, including anthropology, development studies, geography, and history, case study chapters address areas of both large- and smallscale mining. They explore the historical-geographical factors shaping mining-related mobilities, the meanings people attach to these movements, and the relations between people’s mobility practices and the flows of other things put in motion by mining, including capital, ideas, technologies, and toxic contamination. The result is an important volume that provides fresh insights into the social geographies and spatial politics of extraction. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of mining and the extractive industries, spatial politics and geography, mobility and migration, development, and the social and environmental dimensions of natural resources more generally.Always Faithful: A Story of the War in Afghanistan, the Fall of Kabul, and the Unshakable Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter
By Thomas Schueman, Zainullah Zaki. 2022
Band of Brothers meets Argo in this dramatic and heartfelt dual memoir of the war in Afghanistan told by two men from opposite…
worlds. Always Faithful entwines the stories of Marine Major Tom Schueman, and his friend and Afghan interpreter, Zainullah “Zak” Zaki, as they describe their parallel lives, converging paths, and unbreakable bond in the face of overwhelming danger, culminating in Zak and his family’s harrowing escape from Kabul. In August of 2021, just days shy of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, America ended its longest war. The speed of the Afghanistan’s fall was so stunning that thousands of Afghan citizens who had helped American forces over the course of two decades—and had been promised visas in return—were suddenly stranded, in extreme, imminent danger. As the world watched the shocking scenes of desperation at the Kabul airport in the final two weeks of August, Maj. Tom Schueman fought—both behind the scenes and through a social media campaign—to get his friend and former Afghan interpreter, Zak, out of Afghanistan before he and his family were discovered by the Taliban. When Zak and his family finally took off from the airport mere days before the US left the country, the years-long effort to get Zak to America culminated in two simple words on Instagram: “Wheels up.”Now in Always Faithful, Tom and Zak tell the full story of the divergent paths that led them to Afghanistan, the dangerous road they walked together in service to America, and how their commitment to each other ended up saving them both. Brilliantly told in Tom’s and Zak’s alternating first person voices, Always Faithful tracks the parallel lives of these two men who each spent their childhoods in fear, peril, and poverty, and turned to war in attempt to build a meaningful future. On an inevitable course towards each other, their lives dovetail in Afghanistan’s deadly Helmand Valley, where they formed a brotherhood that transcends even the most overwhelming of odds, eventually culminating in Zak’s harrowing, eleventh-hour rescue.The end result is an intensely personal and uniquely ground-level account of Tom and Zak’s experience, Always Faithful gives readers a 360-degree view of the war. At once provocative and heart pounding, their stories together form a microcosm of the complicated and lasting effects of America’s longest war. Through their eyes and their experiences, they challenge readers to explore the legacy of the war for American and Afghan citizens alike, as we all collectively seek to understand whether twenty years of war was worth the price.The Most Fun We Ever Had: Now a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
By Claire Lombardo. 2019
APRIL 2024 REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICKLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'A literary…
love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler . . . outstanding and highly enjoyable' Observer'The Most Fun We Ever Had is as good as books come' Telegraph'I loved this book' Bryony Gordon'The perfect, engrossing holiday read' RED'A gripping and poignant ode to a messy, loving family in all its glory' Madeline Miller'A moving, immersive, often very funny study of family and sisterhood' Sunday Times'Like Meg Wolitzer. A forensic dissection of family past and present, I loved it. If you like reading about relationships, this one is for you.' Pandora SykesMEET THE SORENSON FAMILY.MARILYN has somehow fallen into motherhood and spent four decades married toDAVID, who's pretty certain he loves her more than anyone has ever loved another person.WENDY, their eldest, a cause for concern, soothes herself with drink after being widowed young,while VIOLET, lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-mother, is disturbed by the reappearance of a son placed for adoption fifteen years earlier.LIZA, a professor, is pregnant with a baby she's not sure she wants by a man she's not sure she lovesand GRACE, their dawdling youngest daughter, lives a lie that no one in her family suspects.Black Snow: Curtis Lemay, The Firebombing Of Tokyo, And The Road To The Atomic Bomb
By James M. Scott. 2022
"Riveting.…This book is required reading for anyone with even a passing interest in World War II and the Pacific Theater."…
—Bob Carden, Boston Globe Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we’ll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.Modular Synthesis: Patching Machines and People
By Ezra J. Teboul, Andreas Kitzmann, Einar Engström. 2024
Modular Synthesis: Patching Machines and People brings together scholars, artists, composers, and musical instrument designers in an exploration of modular…
synthesis, an unusually multifaceted musical instrument that opens up many avenues for exploration and insight, particularly with respect to technological use, practice, and resistance.Through historical, technical, social, aesthetic, and other perspectives, this volume offers a collective reflection on the powerful connections between technology, creativity, culture, and personal agency. Ultimately, this collection is about creativity in a technoscientific world and speaks to issues fundamental to our everyday lives and experiences, by providing insights into the complex relationships between content creators, the technologies they use, and the individuals and communities who design and engage with them.With chapters covering VCV Rack, modular synthesis, instrument design, and the histories of synthesizer technology, as well as interviews with Dave Rossum, Corry Banks, Meng Qi, and Dani Dobkin, among others, Modular Synthesis is recommended reading for advanced undergraduates, researchers, and practitioners of electronic music and music technology. Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World
By H. R. McMaster. 2020
New York Times BestsellerNow with new text from McMaster addressing the January 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol and recommending how…
citizens across the free world can work together to restore confidence in democratic institutions and processesFrom Lt. General H.R. McMaster, U.S. Army, ret., the former National Security Advisor and author of the bestselling classic Dereliction of Duty, comes a bold and provocative re-examination of the most critical foreign policy and national security challenges that face the United States, and an urgent call to compete to preserve America’s standing and security.Across multiple administrations since the end of the Cold War, American foreign policy has been misconceived, inconsistent, and poorly implemented. As a result, America and the free world have fallen behind rivals in power and influence. Meanwhile threats to security, freedom, and prosperity, such as nuclear proliferation and jihadist terrorism have grown. In BATTLEGROUNDS, H.R. McMaster describes efforts to reassess and fundamentally shift policies while he was National Security Advisor. And he provides a clear pathway forward to improve strategic competence and prevail in complex competitions against our adversaries.Battlegrounds is a groundbreaking reassessment of America’s place in the world, drawing from McMaster’s long engagement with these issues, including 34 years of service in the U.S. Army with multiple tours of duty in battlegrounds overseas and his 13 months as National Security Advisor in the Trump White House. It is also a powerful call for Americans and citizens of the free world to transcend the vitriol of partisan political discourse, better educate themselves about the most significant challenges to national and international security and work together to secure peace and prosperity for future generations.Modern Warriors: Real Stories from Real Heroes
By Pete Hegseth. 2020
A New York Times bestseller.From FOX & Friends Weekend cohost Pete Hegseth comes a collection of inspiring stories from fifteen of America’s…
greatest heroes—highly decorated Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, marines, Purple Heart recipients, combat pilots, a Medal of Honor recipient, and more—based on FOX Nation’s hit show of the same name.After three Army deployments—earning two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge—Pete Hegseth knows what it takes to be a modern warrior. In Modern Warriors he presents candid, unfiltered conversations with fellow modern warriors and digs for real answers to key questions like: What inspired them to serve? What is their legacy? What does sacrifice really mean to them? How do they handle loss? And what can civilians learn from this latest generation of veterans?From the skies over Afghanistan to the seas of the Mediterranean to the treacherous streets of Iraq, these brave men and women take you inside the firefight, sharing the harrowing realities of war. Hegseth uses their experiences to facilitate conversations about the raw truths of combat, including the difficulties of transitioning back home, while also celebrating these soldiers’ contributions to preserving our nation’s most precious gift—freedom.In addition to the oral history, Modern Warriors presents dozens of personal, rarely shared photos from the battlefield and the home front. Together these stories and images provide an unvarnished representation of battlefield leadership, military morale, and the strain of war. This book is the perfect keepsake and gift for anyone who wants to know what it means, and what it truly takes, to be a patriot.On Bowie
By Rob Sheffield. 2016
From the New York Times bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape, a thoughtful and loving meditation on the…
life of the late David Bowie that explores his creative legacy and the enduring and mutual connection he enjoyed with his fans.Innovative. Pioneering. Brave. Until his death in January 2016, David Bowie created art that not only pushed boundaries, but helped fans understand themselves and view the world from fantastic new perspectives.When the shocking news of his death on January 10, 2016 broke, the outpouring of grief and adulation was immediate and ongoing. Fans around the world and across generations paid homage to this brilliant, innovate, ever evolving artist who both shaped and embodied our times.In this concise and penetrating book, featuring color photographs, highly regarded Rolling Stone critic, bestselling author, and lifelong Bowie fan Rob Sheffield shares his own feelings about the passing of this icon and explains why Bowie’s death has elicited such an unprecedented emotional outpouring from so many lives.All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor
By Donald Stratton, Ken Gire. 2016
The New York Times bestselling memoir of survival and heroism at Pearl Harbor“An unforgettable story of unfathomable courage.” —Reader’s DigestIn this, the…
first memoir by a USS Arizona sailor, Donald Stratton delivers an inspiring and unforgettable eyewitness account of the Pearl Harbor attack and his remarkable return to the fight. At 8:10 a.m. on December 7, 1941, Seaman First Class Donald Stratton was consumed by an inferno. A million pounds of explosives had detonated beneath his battle station aboard the USS Arizona, barely fifteen minutes into Japan’s surprise attack on American forces at Pearl Harbor. Near death and burned across two thirds of his body, Don, a nineteen-year-old Nebraskan who had been steeled by the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, summoned the will to haul himself hand over hand across a rope tethered to a neighboring vessel. Forty-five feet below, the harbor’s flaming, oil-slick water boiled with enemy bullets; all around him the world tore itself apart. In this extraordinary, never-before-told eyewitness account of the Pearl Harbor attack—the only memoir ever written by a survivor of the USS Arizona—ninety-four-year-old veteran Donald Stratton finally shares his unforgettable personal tale of bravery and survival on December 7, 1941, his harrowing recovery, and his inspiring determination to return to the fight. Don and four other sailors made it safely across the same line that morning, a small miracle on a day that claimed the lives of 1,177 of their Arizona shipmates—approximately half the American fatalaties at Pearl Harbor. Sent to military hospitals for a year, Don refused doctors’ advice to amputate his limbs and battled to relearn how to walk. The U.S. Navy gave him a medical discharge, believing he would never again be fit for service, but Don had unfinished business. In June 1944, he sailed back into the teeth of the Pacific War on a destroyer, destined for combat in the crucial battles of Leyte Gulf, Luzon, and Okinawa, thus earning the distinction of having been present for the opening shots and the final major battle of America’s Second World War.As the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack approaches, Don, a great-grandfather of five and one of six living survivors of the Arizona, offers an unprecedentedly intimate reflection on the tragedy that drew America into the greatest armed conflict in history. All the Gallant Men is a book for the ages, one of the most remarkable—and remarkably inspiring—memoirs of any kind to appear in recent years.*Library JournalWell, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Delivering belly laughs, hee-haws, and downright slackjaw amazement, this hilarious guide…
to the homeland of George W. and Willie Nelson is the essential how-to for surviving in the Lone Star State. From strange Texas laws and the history of Dr. Pepper to "Texas Talk" (in which a "turd floater" is a heavy downpour) and final-meal requests by death row inmates, Kinky Friedman, "the oldest living Jew in Texas who doesn't own any real estate," provides an insider's guide that will be loved by native Texans and the rest of us poor devils alike.Even if you don't know the difference between an Aggie and an armadillo -- or what's really in the back on Willie Nelson's tour bus -- you can pass for a Texan with the Kinkster's expert coaching. So grab your hairspray and the keys to the Cadillac and get reading!Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and Nelson's Battle of Trafalgar
By Adam Nicolson. 2005
“Strikingly original. . . . Nicolson brings to life superbly the horror, devastation, and gore of Trafalgar.” —The EconomistAdam Nicolson…
takes the great naval battle of Trafalgar, fought between the British and Franco-Spanish fleets, and uses it to examine our idea of heroism and the heroic. A story rich with modern resonance, Seize the Fire reveals the economic impact of the battle as a victorious Great Britain emerged as a global commercial empire.In October 1805 Lord Horatio Nelson, the most brilliant sea commander who ever lived, led the British Royal Navy to a devastating victory over the Franco-Spanish fleets at the great battle of Trafalgar. It was the foundation of Britain's nineteenth-century world-dominating empire. Seize the Fire is not only a close and revealing portrait of a legendary hero in his final action but also a vivid account of the brutal realities of battle; it asks the questions: Why did the winners win? What was it about the British, their commanders and their men, their beliefs and their ambitions, that took them to such overwhelming victory?His masterful history is a portrait of a moment, a close and passionately engaged depiction of a frame of mind at a turning point in world history.Kinky Friedman is back, and with 'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out he gets it on with all manner…
of egos. In this collection of twisted takes on life, the Kinkster gives us funny, irreverent, and insightful looks at outsized personalities from people he's known, like Bill Clinton, George W., Willie Nelson, and Bob Dylan -- not to mention Joseph Heller and Don Imus -- to people he's known in spirit, such as Moses, Jesus, Jack Ruby, and Hank Williams. With his meditations on subjects ranging from sleeping at the White House, marriage, his pets, fishing in Borneo, country music, and cigars to the tribulations of possessing talent, Kinky doesn't deny us the "flashes of brilliance and laugh-out-loud observations" (Rocky Mountain News) that are present in all his other work. Hilarious, irreverent, and passionately twisted, 'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out reads as if it were written by a slightly ill modern-day Mark Twain.No Mission Is Impossible: The Death-Defying Missions of the Israeli Special Forces
By Michael Bar-Zohar, Nissim Mishal. 2015
A riveting follow-up to Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal’s account of the most memorable missions of the Mossad, No Mission…
Is Impossible sheds light on some of the most harrowing, nail-biting operations of the Israeli Special Forces.In No Mission Is Impossible, Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal depict in electrifying detail major battles, raids in enemy territory, and the death- defying commando missions of the Israeli Special Forces. The stories are often of victories, but sometimes also of immense failures, and they run side by side with the accounts of the lives and accomplishments of some of Israel’s most prominent figures. Captivating and eye-opening, No Mission Is Impossible is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how these crucial missions shaped Israel, and the world at large.236 Pounds of Class Vice President: A Memoir of Teenage Insecurity, Obesity, and Virginity
By Jason Mulgrew. 2013
Jason Mulgrew, popular blogger and author of Everything Is Wrong with Me, continues his depreciating yet hilarious self-reflection with 236…
Pounds of Class Vice President. Set in Mulgrew’s high school years, this genuine and honest memoir revisits his teenage antics and escapades as he, while navigating the indignity of puberty, attempts to run for vice president of the student body, displays a penchant for long fur capes, and (naturally) wonders about sex. Mulgrew’s blog, Everything Is Wrong with me, has received more than 200 million hits since its inception in 2004. Complete with awkward, “what was he thinking?” photos—unmitigated proof of Mulgrew’s ungainly adolescence—236 Pounds of Class Vice President is an no-holds-barred yet tender look at the years some of us would rather forget.One Soldier's Story: A Memoir
By Sen. Bob Dole. 2005
“A poignant and inspiring memoir. . . . Dole’s odyssey of courage and determination can be a guideline to us…
all.”— Philadelphia InquirerIn his own words, Bob Dole tells his legendary World War II story—a personal odyssey of tremendous courage, sacrifice, and faithIn One Soldier’s Story, Dole recites the moving, inspirational story of his harrowing experience in World War II, and how he overcame life-threatening injuries long before rising to the top of the U.S. Senate. As a platoon leader in the famed 10th Mountain Division, 21-year-old Bob Dole was gravely wounded on a hill in the Italian Alps just two weeks before the end of the war. Trying to pull his radioman to safety during a fire-fight against a fortified German position, Dole was hit with shrapnel across his right shoulder and back. Over the next three years, not expected to survive, he lapsed in and out of a coma, lost a kidney, lost the use of his right arm and most of the feeling in his left arm. But he willed himself to live.Drawing on nearly 300 never-before-seen letters between him and his family during this period, Dole offers a powerful, vivid portrait of one man’s struggle to survive in the closing moments of the war. With insight and candor, Dole also focuses on the words, actions, and selfless deeds of countless American heroes with whom he served, including two fellow injured soldiers who later joined him in the Senate, capturing the singular qualities of his generation. He speaks here not as a politician, but as a wounded G.I. who went on to become one of our nation’s most respected statesmen. In doing so, he gives us a heartfelt story of uncommon bravery and personal faith-in himself, his fellow man, and a greater power.Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch (Badass Series)
By Ben Thompson. 2013
From the Ben Thompson, author of Badass: The Birth of a Legend, comes a collection of history’s most awe-inspiring duels…
and showdowns, brutal crusades and epic brawls, and profiles of the fascinating people who fought in them.From Caliphs to Green Berets, some of civilization’s toughest warriors are profiled in Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch, including Cyrus the Great, St. Moses the Black, and The Rani of Jhansi, as well as in-depth analyses of how they battled their way to victory.Featuring original artworks by top graphic artists and comic book illustrators, and Ben Thompson’s signature wry, side-splitting commentary, Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch is the history of badasses, the only way it should be written: covered in blood!Gender Equality in UN Peacekeeping: Fact or Fiction? (ISSN)
By Sally Anne Corcoran. 2024
This book investigates to what extent UNSCR 1325/WPS agenda has functioned in practice, to advance women’s equality and empowerment in…
the peacekeeping context and beyond.The book examines whether widespread implementation of UNSCR 1325 and the broader WPS agenda via gender mainstreaming in UN operations has translated into increased gender equality in peacekeeping operations, the broader UN institutional context and, by extension, the host countries in which missions are situated, via norm dissemination. The book investigates this via a review of the implementation of UNSCR1325 in the operations chosen as research sites over three snapshot years. The book undertakes a comparative analysis that scrutinizes if, how and under what conditions gender mainstreaming has succeeded as a strategy to advance gender equality by analyzing the factors/conditions that have led to successful gender mainstreaming across the operational context, and those that have impeded this outcome. The book concludes that, despite rhetorical commitments to women’s equality in peacekeeping since the passage of UNSCR 1325, progress on the ground has remained minimal, and that the operational environment continues to be discriminatory against women. Both quantitatively and qualitatively, women do not participate as equal partners in peacekeeping and continue to have less access to resources and decision-making power, overall. The book interrogates that by exploring the spaces available within law, policy and practice of the UN to pursue the human rights agenda of gender equality and considers whether UNSCR 1325 has enlarged those spaces. It also points to the irony of internal UN structures failing to adequately adapt to their own gender mainstreaming mandates, while those same structures have delivered some gender equality mandates successes externally, at local levels.This book will be of interest to students of peacekeeping, gender studies, and International Relations.City Symphonies: Sound and the Composition of Urban Modernity, 1913–1931
By Daniel P. Schwartz. 2024
Cinema scholars categorize city symphony films of the 1920s and early 1930s as a subgenre of the silent film. Defined…
in visual terms, the city symphony organizes the visible elements of urban experience according to musical principles such as rhythm and counterpoint.In City Symphonies Daniel Schwartz explores the unheard sonic dimensions of these ostensibly silent films. The book turns its ear to the city symphony as an audible phenomenon, one that encompasses a multitude of works beyond the cinema, such as musical compositions, mass spectacles, radio experiments, and even paintings. What these works have in common is their treatment of the city as a medium for sound. The city is neither background nor content; rather, it is the material through which avant-garde works express themselves. In resonating through the city, these multimedia pieces perform experiments that undermine the borders between sight and sound.Applying an interdisciplinary approach, City Symphonies expands our understanding of the genre, breaking out of the confines of the cinema and onto the street.