Completely Mad PDF Download

Author: James R. Hansen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1639364188
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 458

View

Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of The First Man comes a sweeping saga involving two extraordinary—and extraordinarily different—adventurers who have only one thing in common: the ambition to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat . . . alone. In this bracing adventure tale, the stories of John Fairfax and Tom McLean are woven together for the first time. Fairfax would set off from the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa with his sights on Florida. McClean charted a course from Newfoundland to Ireland. The two men couldn’t have been more different. John Fairfax was a golden-haired playboy, gambler, whiskey, gun smuggler, and ex-pirate who blamed his boat often, and who brazenly took time off from his goal of reaching America to hop aboard large ships for a drink, a shower, and good food. He courted the press like a modern-day Richard Branson or Elon Musk. The egoless Tom McClean was an orphan with a tough, Dickensian childhood, who ran off to become a British paratrooper and later joined the SAS (his training rivaled the U.S. Navy Seals). Tom was a purist who loved his boat Silver and never once took time off from rowing to sun himself on a remote beach or jump aboard a cruise ship. After 70 days, he landed on the rocky coast of Ireland to no fanfare and headed straight to the nearest pub. Though the two men’s remarkable transoceanic journeys seem pulled from a different era, both embarked within days of the first landing on the Moon: July 20th, 1969. Filled with gale-force winds, backbreaking effort, menacing sharks, playful dolphins, awing natural beauty, great mishaps, failed equipment, hyperthermia, near-drowning, the fighting of mental and physical lethargy, creative problem-solving, phantom illusions on the water, and glorious moments of bliss, Completely Mad stands alongside other classics of ocean adventure. With gripping and insightful prose, James R. Hansen brings to life Fairfax and McLean's expeditions, from their battle with the elements to their own inner demons. Completely Mad is a nail-biting, epic tale of endurance, and readers will be gripped until the end to find out who won.

Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197602231
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 689

View

Book Description
A wide-ranging political biography of diplomat, Nobel prize winner, and civil rights leader Ralph Bunche. Ralph Bunche is one of the most prominent Black Americans of the twentieth century. He was not only a legendary diplomat, scholar, and civil rights leader, but also the first African American to obtain a political science Ph.D. from Harvard, and before the Second World War, he provided extensive research assistance to Gunnar Myrdal for his landmark work on race in America, An American Dilemma. He worked for the OSS--the precursor to the CIA--during the early years of the war as well as the State Department. Yet he is far better known for his diplomatic work at the United Nations, even though his many contributions and innovations have never received their full due. In The Absolutely Indispensable Man, Kal Raustiala tells the story of Bunche's dramatic life, from his early years in prewar Los Angeles to Harvard, Howard, the US State Department, and eventually the UN. As a high-ranking UN official, Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize for his ground-breaking mediation of the first Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948-49. In the years to follow, he was a key player in many of the most important developments in the international order and did pioneering work for the UN on conflict management and the development of UN peacekeeping. But as Raustiala argues, his most enduring achievement was his work to dismantle the European empire. As a scholar and civil rights activist, Bunche perceptively saw colonialism as a central issue of the 20th century, and decolonization as a project of global racial justice. His work for the UN during the decolonization era--which stretched from the end of World War II to the 1960s--was crucially important, and Raustiala places it at the center of his account. From marching with Martin Luther King to advising presidents and prime ministers, Bunche shaped our world in lasting ways. This definitive biography gives him his due. It also reminds us that decolonization and the end of empire not only fundamentally transformed world politics, but also powerfully intersected with America's own civil rights struggle.

Author: David E. Sanger
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0451497910
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

View

Book Description
NOW AN HBO® DOCUMENTARY FROM AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR JOHN MAGGIO • “An important—and deeply sobering—new book about cyberwarfare” (Nicholas Kristof, New York Times), now updated with a new chapter. The Perfect Weapon is the startling inside story of how the rise of cyberweapons transformed geopolitics like nothing since the invention of the atomic bomb. Cheap to acquire, easy to deny, and usable for a variety of malicious purposes, cyber is now the weapon of choice for democracies, dictators, and terrorists. Two presidents—Bush and Obama—drew first blood with Operation Olympic Games, which used malicious code to blow up Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, and yet America proved remarkably unprepared when its own weapons were stolen from its arsenal and, during President Trump’s first year, turned back on the United States and its allies. And if Obama would begin his presidency by helping to launch the new era of cyberwar, he would end it struggling unsuccessfully to defend the 2016 U.S. election from interference by Russia, with Vladimir Putin drawing on the same playbook he used to destabilize Ukraine. Moving from the White House Situation Room to the dens of Chinese government hackers to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley, New York Times national security correspondent David Sanger reveals a world coming face-to-face with the perils of technological revolution, where everyone is a target. “Timely and bracing . . . With the deep knowledge and bright clarity that have long characterized his work, Sanger recounts the cunning and dangerous development of cyberspace into the global battlefield of the twenty-first century.”—Washington Post

Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062866583
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 268

View

Book Description
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature! From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Shatter Me series comes a powerful, heartrending contemporary novel about fear, first love, and the devastating impact of prejudice. It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.

Author: David Pietrusza
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company
ISBN: 1402761147
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 572

View

Book Description
It was the election that would ultimately give America "Camelot" and its tragic aftermath, a momentous contest when three giants who each would have a chance to shape the nation battled to win the presidency. Award-winning author David Pietrusza does here for the 1960 presidential race what he did in his previous book, 1920: the Year of the Six Presidents--which Kirkus Reviews selected as one of their Best Books of 2007. Until now, the most authoritative study of the 1960 election was Theodore White''s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the President, 1960. But White, as a trusted insider, didn''t tell all. Here''s the rest of the story, what White could never have known, nor revealed. Finally, it''s all out--including JFK''s poignant comment on why LBJ''s nomination as vice president would be inconsequential: "I''m 43 years old. I''m not going to die in office." Combining an engaging narrative with exhaustive research, Pietrusza chronicles the pivotal election of 1960, in which issues of civil rights and religion (Kennedy was only the second major-party Roman Catholic candidate ever) converged. The volatile primary clash between Senate Majority leader LBJ and the young JFK culminated in an improbable fusion ticket. The historic, legendary Kennedy-Nixon debates followed in its wake. The first presidential televised debates, they forever altered American politics when an exhausted Nixon was unkempt and tentative in their first showdown. With 80 million viewers passing judgment, Nixon''s poll numbers dropped as the charismatic Kennedy''s star rose. Nixon learned his lesson--resting before subsequent debates, reluctantly wearing makeup, and challenging JFK with a more aggressive stance--but the damage was done. There''s no one better to convey the drama of that tumultuous year than Pietrusza. He has 1,000 secrets to spill; a fascinating cast of characters to introduce (including a rogue''s gallery of hangers-on and manipulators); and towering historical events to chronicle. And all of it is built on painstaking research and solid historical scholarship. Pietrusza tracks down every lead to create a winning, engaging, and very readable account. With the 2008 elections approaching, politics will be on everyone''s mind, and 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon will transform the way readers see modern American history. A sampling of what Theodore White couldn''t chronicle--and David Pietrusza does: · Richard Nixon''s tempestuous Iowa backseat blowup, and his bizarre Election Day road trip · The full story of a sympathetic call from JFK to Coretta Scott King · John Ehrlichman''s spy missions on the Nelson Rockefeller and Democratic camps · The warnings before Election Day that Chicago''s mayor Daley would try to fix the race''s outcome · JFK''s amphetamine-fueled debate performance

Author: Bob Howitt
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
ISBN: 1775490580
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 374

View

Book Description
He features in the International Rugby Board Hall of Fame, the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, and the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. He is Sir Wilson Whineray, one of New Zealand's favourite sons, a legendary achiever in both rugby and business. this is the man who had all of Cardiff Arms Park standing, singing 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow' at the conclusion of the epic All Black tour of 1963-1964. He was a gifted, natural leader who, following his celebrated rugby career, became an iconic business leader, chairing the board of Carter Holt Harvey for 10 years. His amazing story has never before been told.Reluctant to be seen to be blowing his own trumpet, over the years Sir Wilson has turned down countless offers to have his life story published, but was finally coaxed out of his reticence by Bob Howitt, one of the country's most highly respected rugby writers and biographers. Bob has extracted myriad enthralling stories from Sir Wilson's rugby and business colleagues and the people closest to him, to produce a work of magical quality without which no rugby library will be complete.

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062662821
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 345

View

Book Description
Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award! Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent. “Crackles with energy and snaps with authenticity and voice.” —Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation “An incredibly potent debut.” —Jason Reynolds, author of the National Book Award Finalist Ghost “Acevedo has amplified the voices of girls en el barrio who are equal parts goddess, saint, warrior, and hero.” —Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street This young adult novel, a selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List, is an excellent choice for accelerated tween readers in grades 6 to 8. Plus don't miss Elizabeth Acevedo's With the Fire on High and Clap When You Land!

Author: Djibril Tamsir Niane
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Legends
Languages : en
Pages : 120

View

Book Description
The son of Sogolon, the hunchback princess, and Maghan, known as "the handsome", Sundiata grew up to fulfill the prophesies of the soothsayers that he would unite the twelve kingdoms of Mali into one of the most powerful empires ever known in Africa, which at its peak stretched right across the savanna belt from the shores of the Atlantic to the dusty walls of Timbuktu. Retold by generations of griots, the guardians of African culture, this oral tradition has been handed down from the thirteenth century and captures all the mystery and majesty of medieval African kingship. It is an epic tale, part history and part legend.

Author: William Baker
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443849022
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 305

View

Book Description
With a writing career spanning over half a century and encompassing media as diverse as conferences, radio, journalism, fiction, theatre, film, and television, Tom Stoppard is probably the most prolific and significant living British dramatist. The critical essays in this volume celebrating Stoppard’s 75th birthday address many facets of Stoppard’s work, both the well-known, such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Shakespeare in Love, as well as the relatively critically neglected, including his novel Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon and his short stories, “The Story,” “Life, Times: Fragments,” and “Reunion.” The essays presented here analyze plays such as Arcadia, The Invention of Love, The Real Thing, and Jumpers, Stoppard’s film adaptation of J. G. Ballard’s Empire of the Sun, his television adaptation of Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End, and his stage adaptations of Chekhov’s plays Ivanov, The Seagull, and The Cherry Orchard, as well as his own theatrical trilogy on Russian history, The Coast of Utopia (Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage). Also included is an interview with Tom Stoppard on the 16 November 1982 debut of his play The Real Thing at Strand Theatre, London, and a detailed account of the Stoppard holdings in the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. From his fascination with Shakespeare and other historical figures (and time periods) to his exploration of the connection between poetic creativity and scholarship to his predilection for word play, verbal ambiguity and use of anachronism, Stoppard’s work is at once insightful and wry, thought-provoking and entertaining, earnest and facetious. The critical essays in this volume hope to do justice to the brilliant complexity that is Tom Stoppard’s body of work.

Author: Michael Tanner
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Ltd
ISBN: 1848899726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

View

Book Description
Ryan's Daughter, winner of two Oscars, was a very successful film that lured Michael Tanner to the Dingle Peninsula. He researched this story by focusing on identifying locations and interviewing local people involved in the film's shoot. The result is an unvarnished account of the troubled shooting of the film, both on and off camera, and how its stars - Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Trevor Howard, Christopher Jones and John Mills - coped with a year on Ireland's west coast in 1969. The story is largely told in the words of local people who were drivers, extras, prop men, landladies, actors or mere observers. Also included is a gazetteer to the locations used on the Dingle Peninsula and elsewhere in Kerry to enable fans to follow in Rosy Ryan's footsteps. With pictures and archive material, much never published before, this is the behind-the-scenes story of a film which changed the Dingle Peninsula overnight, saw more antics than usual by stars off and on set, and resulted in David Lean making no film for 14 years.