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On Bohemia
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Grana, Cesar / Graaa, Ca(c)Sar / Graaa, Marigay, PUBLISHER: Transaction Publishers, Bohemia has been variously defined as a mythical country, a state of mind, a tavern by the wayside on the road of life. The editors of this volume prefer a leaner definition: an attitude of dissent from the prevailing values of middle-class society, one dependent on the existence of caf life. But whatever definition is preferred, this rich and long overdue collective portrait of Bohemian life in a large variety of settings is certain to engage and even entrance readers of all types: from the student of culture to social researchers and literary figures n search of their ancestral roots. The work is international in scope and social scientific in conception. But because of the special nature of the Bohemian fascination, the volume is also graced by an unusually larger number of exquisite literary essays. Hence, one will find in this anthology writings by Malcolm Cowely, Norman Podhoretz, Norman Mailer, Theophile Gautier, Honore de Balzac, Mary Austin, Stefan Zweig, Nadine Gordimer, and Ernest Hemingway. Social scientists are well represented by Cesar Grana, Ephraim Mizruchi, W.I. Thomas, Florian Znaniecki, Harvey Zorbaugh, John R. Howard, and G. William Domhoff, among others. The volume is sectioned into major themes in the history of Bohemia: social and literary origins, testimony by the participants, analysis by critics of and crusaders for the bohemian life, the ideological characteristics of the bohemians, and the long term prospect as well as retrospect for bohemenianism as a system, culture and ideology. The editors have provided a framework for examining some fundamental themes in social structure and social deviance: What are the levels of toleration within a society? Do artists deserve and receive special treatment by the powers that be? And what are the connections between bohemian life-styles and political protest movements? This is an anthology and not a treatise, so the reader is free to pick and choose not only what to read, but what sort of general patterns are essential and which are transitional. This collection, initiated by the late Cesar Grana, has been completed and brought to fruition by his wife Marigay Grana. Cesar Grana was, prior to his death, professor of sociology at the University of California in San Diego. Among his major books is "Meaning and Authenticity," also available from Transaction. Marigay Grana was formerly an urban planner and designer in San Diego. She now is a free-lance editor living in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
A Line in the Sand
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Roberts, Randy W. / Olson, James S. / Olson, James N., PUBLISHER: Free Press, In late February and early March of , the Mexican Army under the command of General Antonio Lipez de Santa Anna besieged a small force of Anglo and Tejano rebels at a mission known as the Alamo. The defenders of the Alamo were in an impossible situation. They knew very little of the events taking place outside the mission walls. They did not have much of an understanding of Santa Anna or of his government in Mexico City. They sent out contradictory messages, they received contradictory communications, they moved blindly and planned in the dark. And in the dark early morning of March 6, they died. In that brief, confusing, and deadly encounter, one of America's most potent symbols was born. The story of the last stand at the Alamo grew from a Texas rallying cry, to a national slogan, to a phenomenon of popular culture and presidential politics. Yet it has been a hotly contested symbol from the first. Questions remain about what really happened: Did William Travis really draw a line in the sand? Did Davy Crockett die fighting, surrounded by the bodies of two dozen of the enemy? And what of the participants' motives and purposes? Were the Texans justified in their rebellion? Were they sincere patriots making a last stand for freedom and liberty, or were they a ragtag collection of greedy men-on-the-make, washed-up politicians, and backwoods bullies, Americans bent on extending American slavery into a foreign land? The full story of the Alamo -- from the weeks and months that led up to the fateful encounter to the movies and speeches that continue to remember it today -- is a quintessential story of America's past and a fascinating window into our collective memory. In "ALine in the Sand," acclaimed historians Randy Roberts and James Olson use a wealth of archival sources, including the diary of Jose Enrique de la Pena, along with important and little-used Mexican documents, to retell the story of the Alamo for a new generation of Americans. They explain what happened from the perspective of all parties, not just Anglo and Mexican soldiers, but also Tejano allies and bystanders. They delve anew into the mysteries of Crockett's final hours and Travis's famous rhetoric. Finally, they show how preservationists, television and movie producers, historians, and politicians have become the Alamo's major interpreters. Walt Disney, John Wayne, and scores of journalists and cultural critics have used the Alamo to contest the very meaning of America, and thereby helped us all to "remember the Alamo." Acquista Ora
The Winters in Bloom
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Tucker, Lisa, PUBLISHER: Atria Books, Kyra and David have been married for almost a decade and consider themselves happy - their home is comfortable, their jobs are stable, and their five year-old son, Michael, is simply perfect. Yet for reasons they've never fully shared with each other, the Winters have always been afraid that something will happen to the life they've created, and more importantly, to their little boy. David is a historian - he knows the past is inescapable, and yet he has spent fifteen years trying to escape the tragedy that ended his first marriage; trying to convince himself that if only he works hard enough, his new family will be safe. Kyra writes questions for a math textbook company; she loves puzzles and worships logic, yet she lives in fear of karma punishing her for the way she betrayed her sister, Amy, in college. After all, Amy was more than a sister - she was Kyra's only real family since their mother abandoned them as young children - and their estrangement weighs heavily on her conscience. So when Michael mysteriously disappears from his backyard one ordinary summer day, Kyra and David feel like the mistakes of their past have finally caught up to them. Each is convinced they know who has their son, but to find him, the Winters must embark upon an odyssey through time and memory. Their journey will involve David's mother, Sandra, who offers both her son and her daughter-in-law a path to understanding, and David's ex-wife Courtney, who lives just across town but in a universe away, where she struggles with the demons that caused her to lose everything she loved that fateful night fifteen years ago. It's only when a mysterious stranger enters their lives that they will discover it's not too late to become the kind of family they've always wanted to be--if only they can find a way to forgive themselves, and believe in the gift of a second chance. Lisa Tucker's most optimistic work since "Once Upon a Day, The Winters in Bloom "is a wise, life-affirming tale that is both poignant and surprisingly funny. Though the fast-paced, captivating story will keep readers turning pages, the novel's true power lies in its profound engagement with what it means to be alive: the mistakes we make, the price we pay, the fragility of human happiness but also the stubborn strength of the human heart.
Natural Elements
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Mason, Richard, PUBLISHER: Knopf Publishing Group, In his much celebrated debut novel, "The Drowning People," Richard Mason ("An Oxonian literary sensation" --"The" "New York" "Times Book Review") wrote with wisdom and mastery well beyond his twenty-one years--about love, betrayal, and revenge, and about the particular ritualized world of the English upper class. Now in his dazzling new novel Mason writes about mothers and daughters; aging and death; memory and longing; history and narrative; and about the high-stakes, full-tilt embrace of life. The setting is London. The time is the present. Mother and daughter are choosing an assisted-living facility and have come to The Albany, a late-nineteenth-century Victorian mansion, the flagship property of the TranquilAge(TM) chain of nursing homes. The mother, Joan--eighty years old, a gifted amateur pianist denied the pleasures of performance by arthritic hands--has recently been experiencing a rich inner world that she hides from her daughter, a world gained access through the (seemingly magic) pedals of her piano: a portal to adventure. She dreads the prospect of leaving her apartment, but her daughter has decided that she can no longer live on her own. The daughter, Eloise--forty-eight, a hedge fund manager, two decades in commodities--long ago rejected the possibilities of motherhood and has lived enviably free of responsibility. At her pressure-cooker job, Eloise has bought up $130 million (a quarter of the hedge fund's money) of osmium reserves--a transition metal--based on a casual remark by her former lover, a French metallurgist, a genius of sorts, with whom she lived and whom she almost married in Paris in the s. He's been working for years on the development of the compound, which will be tougher than diamonds for industrial use and is only months away from trials. If successful, it could more than double the value of the fund Eloise manages. While mother and daughter are on the trip-of-a-lifetime to the South African capital of the old Orange Free State, the city of Joan's girlhood, Eloise gets a frantic phone call. The price of osmium is in free fall; the fund is off-loading... Fighting panic with a coherent strategy, Eloise puts in motion a bold gamble that risks all--her future, the fund, her mother's well-being. As the stories of mother and daughter intersect, each in a race against time--Joan struggling to live in the present (she cannot believe her days will end in an institution); her daughter racing at breakneck speed toward the precipice of disaster--the novel rushes to its stunning conclusion.
One Amazing Thing
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee, PUBLISHER: Hyperion Books, "Divakaruni is a brilliant storyteller; she illuminates the world with her artistry; and shakes the reader with her love." --Junot Diaz Late afternoon sun sneaks through the windows of a passport and visa office in an unnamed American city. Most customers and even most office workers have come and gone, but nine people remain. A punky teenager with an unexpected gift. An upper-class Caucasian couple whose relationship is disintegrating. A young Muslim-American man struggling with the fallout of 9/11. A graduate student haunted by a question about love. An African-American ex-soldier searching for redemption. A Chinese grandmother with a secret past. And two visa office workers on the verge of an adulterous affair. When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull, trapping these nine characters together, their focus first jolts to their collective struggle to survive. There's little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, "one amazing thing" from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. And as their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself. From Chitra Divakaruni, author of such finely wrought, bestselling novels as Sister of My Heart, The Palace of Illusions, and The Mistress of Spices, comes her most compelling and transporting story to date. One Amazing Thing is a passionate creation about survival--and about the reasons to survive. Praise for One Amazing Thing "The plot of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's new novel could be ripped from the horrifying headlines about Haiti in a strange case of art imitating life....One Amazing Thing, which was written well before the Haiti earthquake, is receiving high praise." --USA Today "The appeal of these life stories, like that of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, is that they throw the spotlight onto varied lives, each with its own joys and miseries. Together, the stories show how easy it is to divert young lives into unforeseen and restrictive channels, and how hard it is for people to realize their early dreams. Their shared experiences and fears form the frame that holds together this compendium of short stories into an absorbing novel....At the end of her novel, her readers are fully engaged in what will happen to those nine people." --Washington Post "Hauntingly beautiful....One Amazing Thing is a page-turner with high drama, elegant writing, and lots of helpful tips for teamwork in a crisis." --Houston Chronicle "Her fiction is so intimate that it often seems as if cultural context is irrelevant. Her character's dreams and disappointment
Reluctant Witness: Memoirs from the Last Year of the
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Mahoney, Brian H. / Mahoney, James J., PUBLISHER: Trafford Publishing, The late James Mahoney went overseas in the spring of as the leader of one of the four bomb squadrons in a B-24 bomb group (the original 492nd) which endured extraordinary losses for 89 days of operation before being disbanded. The enduring mystery of why such an exceptionally well qualified and prepared group suffered so singularly is one of many significant themes he addresses in his 52 vignettes. Mahoney was reassigned to a bomb group with much better luck (the 467th), and finished the war as their Deputy Commander. As both a 'man among men' and a recognized natural leader, he was positioned to note character and ability, and took it as his charge to develop both of these in the course of administering to the technical and demanding business of a combat organization comprising souls. Later in life, wanting to make sense of what he experienced and to record the terrific sacrifice of his peers, he distilled and organized his memories. Overcoming his natural reticence to show his hand emotionally, and fearful that grisly accounts might register as sensational horror instead of sobering lesson, he labored carefully to build for his readers a rich context for his 'war stories'. These memoirs take the reader through the methodology and equipment of aviation and strategic bombing in the era before stand-off weaponry, when hundreds of planes at a time, each with ten-man crews, flew in unpressurized planes through flak and fighter filled skies for hours at a time at 40 degrees below zero, to bomb targets in Hitler-occupied Europe. He introduces the reader to his acquaintances and friends, commanders and charges - a range of memorable rascals, unforgettableheroes, and ordinary mortals showing their true mettle and courage under dire circumstances. Jim Mahoney's account of his 13 months in combat is an engaging mix of timeless morals and enduring humor. The big themes are laid out with common sense, while the practical joke, the stroke of genius, or personal quirk are offered as clear windows to the host of characters and their relationships. These certainly capture the fact and flavor of the daylight bombing campaign over northern Europe and make a contribution to the historical record, but they also transcend that specific time and place, drawing the readers in any era into human drama, played out in all of its variety in the pressure-cooker of wartime. The son's contribution has been to document some of the more unusual aspects of his father's account, so that these can be received as more than just precious memoir - as contributions to the historical record.This has entailed many interviews, travel to remnants of his father's Rackheath and North Pickenham bases in East Anglia, and contemplation of the horrible effectiveness of aerial bombardment on several of the Mighty Eighth Air Force's 'ground zeros' in Germany. Additionally, the son supplies the reader with a variety of material designed to make the dated techn
The Charlemagne Pursuit
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Berry, Steve, PUBLISHER: Hodder & Stoughton General Division, ONE Garmisch, Germany Tuesday, December 11, The Present 1:40 pm Cotton Malone hated enclosed spaces. His current unease was amplified by a packed cable car. Most of the passengers were on vacation, dressed in colorful garb, shouldering poles and skis. He sensed a variety of nationalities. Some Italians, a few Swiss, a handful of French, but mainly Germans. He'd been one of the first to climb aboard and, to relieve his discomfort, he'd made his way close to one of the frosty windows. Ten thousand feet above and closing, the Zugspitze stood silhouetted against a steel- blue sky, the imposing gray summit draped in a late- autumn snow. Not smart, agreeing to this location. The car continued its giddy ascent, passing one of several steel tres-tles that rose from the rocky crags. He was unnerved, and not simply from the crowded surroundings. Ghosts awaited him atop Germany's highest peak. He'd avoided this rendezvous for nearly four decades. People like him, who buried their past so determinedly, should not help it from the grave so easily. Yet here he was, doing exactly that. Vibrations slowed as the car entered, then stopped at the summit station. Skiers flooded off toward another lift that would take them down to a high- altitude corrie, where a chalet and slopes waited. He didn't ski, never had, never wanted to. He made his way through the visitor center, identified by a yellow placard as MYncher Haus. A restaurant dominated one half of the building, the rest housed a theater, a snack bar, an observatory, souvenir shops, and a weather station. He pushed through thick glass doors and stepped out onto a railed terrace. Bracing Alpine air stung his lips. According to Stephanie Nelle his contact should be waiting on the observation deck. One thing was obvious. Ten thousand feet in the high Alps certainly added a height-ened measure of privacy to their meeting. The Zugspitze lay on the border. A succession of snowy crags rose south toward Austria. To the north spanned a soup- bowl valley ringed by rock- ribbed peaks. A gauze of frosty mist shielded the German vil-lage of Garmisch and its companion, Partenkirchen. Both were sports meccas, and the region catered not only to skiing but also bobsledding, skating, and curling. More sports he'd avoided. The observation deck was deserted save for an elderly couple and a few skiers who'd apparently paused to enjoy the view. He'd come to solve a mystery, one that had preyed on his mind ever since that day when the men in uniforms came to tell his mother that her husband was dead. ""Contact was lost with the submarine forty- eight hours ago. We dispatched search and rescue ships to the North Atlantic, which have combed the last known position. Wreckage was found six hours ago. We waited to tell the families until we were sure there was no chance of survivors." " His mother had never cried. Not her way. But that didn't mean she wasn't devas
Tacuinum sanitatis in medicina
Tacuinum sanitatis in medicina con Commentario in perfette condizioni. Un vol. di fac-simile di 34,7 x 24,7 cm., 216 pp. con 205 tav. miniate a tutta pagina, rileg. in pieno cuoio. Salerno Editrice Roma - The Tacuinum sanitatis in medicina (â€Overview of medicine in tabular formâ€) is among the most beautifully and richly decorated manuscripts in the Austrian National Library. This lavishly pictured handbook of medicine was conceived for a lay public, in particular for a lady of the upper aristocracy or of a rich patrician family who was able to afford, and read, such a costly â€reference work†on household management as well as on topics of health and cure. This type of book goes back to an Arab source written by the physician Ibn Botlan under the title of taqwim es-sihha. The Arab art and practice of healing decisively influenced occidental curing methods and enjoyed a great reputation. The Latin translation, which made the codex accessible to the educated of the medieval western world, was widely known from the large number of surviving manuscripts. Although at first the famous work was only comprised of synoptic tables without any illustration, it was later richly furnished with pictures, starting from the 14th century, and the text was resumed in captions inserted below each individual image. The Tacuinum presented here is among the oldest and undoubtedly the finest examples of its kind, displaying in 206 coloured full-page miniatures all that the 11th century â€" when the original was written â€" considered important with regard to human health and well-being. A testimony to famous oriental curing Tacuinum is an Arab word which remained untranslated but was given a Latin ending. As the work was translated from Arabic into Latin and had spread throughout Italy, the term tacuinum was integrated into the Italian language. In Italian, the term tacuino today still means notebook. The then highly celebrated physician Elbochasim de baldach (Ibn Botlan) wrote the Tacuinum in the 11th century, among several other medical works, and acquired great fame. In the 13th century, this work consisting of synoptic tables without illustrations was probably translated into Latin at the court of Manfred of Sicily, which made it a long-lasting influence to western medicine. A sumptuous monument to book illumination The codex is not only important for physicians and pharmacists interested in history but also because of its illustration with over 200 miniatures, and as an object of extensive study for the bibliophile public and researchers alike. In addition, its illustrations display an evocative image of old Italian culture as well as many aspects of daily life, thus constituting a rich source for experts in cultural history. The Tacuinum must have been commissioned and made in Verona towards the end of the 14th century, judging from the coat of arms of the Cerruti family on fol. 3v. It is the common work of two painters in a surprisingly naturalistic style. They chose very strong colours which lend the miniatures enchanting freshness and vivacity. A medical picture book The 206 full-page miniatures show numerous plants and animals, drugs and food, as well as winds, seasons and other environmental phenomena. The book describes their effect on the human organism according to classical medicine tuition. A text below each picture describes both the benefits and shortfalls of the object depicted. The Tacuinum thus constitutes a medical picture book derived from the classical herbals tradition. The combination of pictures and relatively extensive explanatory text gives rise to a new type of book, which in terms of contents is closely related to Arab manuscripts, while its formal concept betrays the old western tradition. The particularity of the illustrations resides in the fact that the individual objects are not represented alone, but, as in the text, are centred on the human being. Man is shown dealing with certain plants, animals and other things. Based on the love of detail from everyday life, the naturalistic genre scenes with their rich stock of utensils demonstrate the life style and the living conditions of citizens in a late medieval Italian city. In addition to its great importance for the history of civilisation, the Tacuinum is fascinating contemporary readers as it provides an opportunity to compare modern natural cures and healthy living practices with those used nearly 600 years ago.