Dr. Neruda is a man of success, talent, and a harrowing past. The son of a charismatic Spanish journalist and the fragile, black sheep of a Jewish American family, his personal history is one of incest, violence, lust, manipulation, and betrayal. But as a grown man, Dr. Neruda has learned to channel the agonies of his youth into the discipline of Freudian psychotherapy, brilliantly rescuing the wounded from the throes of their tormented psyches. Now one of his cases - one of his greatest successes - has violently unraveled. And Dr. Neruda is obsessed with finding out why. Interviewing the people who affected his patient's life and death, Dr. Neruda finds a den of darkly entwined and opposing psyches in a corporate American setting. Bosses and employees are fathers and sons; co-workers become lovers, sisters, and brothers; and evil, in the guise of society's most well-paid and seemingly happy people, is running rampant. Dr. Neruda, calm, rational master of his discipline, is going to cure this evil. He will do it by crossing the line between therapist and inquisitor, between confidant and lover. He will do it by playing out an erotic fantasy game with a beautiful, narcissistic woman and by humiliating her sadistic father. He will do it by venturing dangerously close to his own demons: the ghosts of his living father, his dying friend, and his dead mother. Obsessed with his cure for evil, will the man of reason see its cost?

The world is filled with spectacular secrets that were made to be shared. The greatest of these is just how great you are. This illustrated picture book teaches children how much they are loved, how special they are, and how they can share that beauty and knowledge with others. It has a message for the child in all of us: We are made of atoms. That's what stars are made of, too. Thus, you are made of starstuff. Keep shining!

These two novellas— The Disinformer , a darkly humorous story of international intrigue, and A Nose by Any Other Name , an ironic tale the equal of the best of O. Henry—mark Peter Ustinov’s return to fiction.In The Disinformer , a British spy, just retired and far from content with his new status, decides to play a little game with his former colleagues, just for fun and to keep them on their toes. His “game” involves stirring up some Arab terrorists, both real and concocted, but before long the game has escalated out of his control, and he is caught up in his own too-clever machinations. A Nose by Any Other Name is the story of a girl who loves her parents but resents them for their most striking bequest—her enormous nose. An operation “normalizes” her nose, but ultimately she finds that running away from her heritage is not so easily done. In each of these novellas we see the hand of a master beyond the humor and brilliant language there is always a layer of darkness that shows a remarkable insight into the human psyche.Peter Ustinov’s graceful style and urbane wit often conceal a sharp stiletto ready to strike. He has been called “entertaining,” “sparkling,” “energetic,” “powerful,” “sophisticated,” “witty,” and “worldly-wise”—and he is doubtless all that and more, as these two immensely readable works of fiction amply demonstrate.

I have always been interested in the wild and nature. Ever since I was a small boy, play in the fields and woodlands near my home in England. I was attracted by the immense diversity of life, and awed by each plant, tree, insect, animal and bird. I saw back then a wonderful world, here we were blessed by the four seasons. How things change though, over the years; the climate, urbanisation, and fields make way for new projects to benefit us. So in this series of poems, I have tried to capture what things in nature I have seen and loved. I hope they are enjoyed by all who read them.

Complex Proofs of Real Theorems is an extended meditation on Hadamard's famous dictum, ``The shortest and best way between two truths of the real domain often passes through the imaginary one.'' Directed at an audience acquainted with analysis at the first year graduate level, it aims at illustrating how complex variables can be used to provide quick and efficient proofs of a wide variety of important results in such areas of analysis as approximation theory, operator theory, harmonic analysis, and complex dynamics. Topics discussed include weighted approximation on the line, Muntz's theorem, Toeplitz operators, Beurling's theorem on the invariant spaces of the shift operator, prediction theory, the Riesz convexity theorem, the Paley-Wiener theorem, the Titchmarsh convolution theorem, the Gleason-Kahane-Zelazko theorem, and the Fatou-Julia-Baker theorem. The discussion begins with the world's shortest proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra and concludes with Newman's almost effortless proof of the prime number theorem. Four brief appendices provide all necessary background in complex analysis beyond the standard first year graduate course. Lovers of analysis and beautiful proofs will read and reread this slim volume with pleasure and profit.

A visionary who took no prisoners and a billionaire at least twice over, Izzy Asper ran his empire out of his briefcase. He was constantly in flight and flux, each of his improbable ventures feeding on the next. What made him so special was his ability to create warm, electric moments with his friends and loyalists, while inspiring loathing among his critics and enemies. Asper was always ahead of the pack, creating the country’s largest communications empire while remaining a certified outsider, more feared than loved for besting his peers at their power games. Peter C. Newman deconstructs the passionate life and turbulent times of the man who once confessed that he didn’t get ulcers, he gave them. Newman dissects Izzy’s feuds and friendships with some of Canada’s most powerful big-league players, including Conrad Black, with whom he frequently and violently jousted. But even as his political and business ventures swirled around him, Izzy would relax by playing jazz piano in lounges, whenever he could get a gig. In Izzy, Newman paints a portrait of a Canadian business tycoon the likes of which this country will never see again.

In 1889 two Russian immigrants, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, met in a coffee shop on the Lower East Side. Over the next fifty years Emma and Sasha would be fast friends, fleeting lovers, and loyal comrades. This dual biography offers an unprecedented glimpse into their intertwined lives, the lasting influence of the anarchist movement they shaped, and their unyielding commitment to equality and justice. Berkman shocked the country in 1892 with "the first terrorist act in America," the failed assassination of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick for his crimes against workers. Passionate and pitiless, gloomy yet gentle, Berkman remained Goldman's closest confidant though the two were often separated-by his fourteen-year imprisonment and by Emma's growing fame as the champion of a multitude of causes, from sexual liberation to freedom of speech. The blazing sun to Sasha's morose moon, Emma became known as "the most dangerous woman in America." Through an attempted prison breakout, multiple bombing plots, and a dramatic deportation from America, these two unrelenting activists insisted on the improbable ideal of a socially just, self-governing utopia, a vision that has shaped movements across the past century, most recently Occupy Wall Street. Sasha and Emma is the culminating work of acclaimed historian of anarchism Paul Avrich. Before his death, Avrich asked his daughter to complete his magnum opus. The resulting collaboration, epic in scope, intimate in detail, examines the possibilities and perils of political faith and protest, through a pair who both terrified and dazzled the world.

"A nobleman and his wife, an apothecary nun, an astronomer-mathematician, an inquisitor, a poet who is both lover and villain, a portraitist, a queen and loyal servants deftly act out a beautiful drama of tantalizing relationships. They take up their roles in castle and convent, some surrounded by ornate interiors, garbed in velvets and silks, garlanded with precious jewels; while others abide in simple space devoid of art or representation, and dressed in plain linens and dull calicos. THE APOTHECARY'S DAUGHTER is a wondrous tale, rendered in erotic prose and poetry, stitched through with rich imagery, humour and tenderness. It is also a story of trade and exotic travel, both across the surface of the earth and among the stars."

"Celebrated stage actress Mona Zahid wakes up on Thanksgiving morning to the clamor of guests packed into her Manhattan apartment and to a wave of dread: her in-laws are lurking on the other side of the bedroom door; she's still fighting with her husband; and in just a few weeks she will begin rehearsals as Shakespeare's Cleopatra, the hardest role in theater. In an impulsive burst, Mona bounds out the door with the family dog in tow ("I forgot the parsley!" is her lame excuse) to find her estranged mentor, Milton Katz, who was recently forced out of the legendary theater company he founded amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Mona's escape turns into an overnight adventure that brings her face-to-face with her past, with her creative power and its limitations, and ultimately, with all the people she has ever loved. Beguilingly approachable and intricately constructed, at once funny and sad and wise, Mona Acts Out is a novel about acting and telling the truth, about how we play roles to get through our days, and how the great roles teach us how to live."--Amazon

"This is a beautiful book, full of ideas that could help restore America’s genius for freedom and promise.” — Thomas Moore, New York Times bestselling author of Care of the Soul A lifelong Emerson lover, teacher, and spiritual seeker reveals how American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson’s twelve essential teachings hold the answer to living an authentic and fulfilling life, one that is in har[Bokinfo]

Photographer Mark Arbeit’s career spans three decades. His striking images have appeared in top fashion and beauty magazines all over the world including Vogue, Marie Claire, and Vanity Fair. Originally drawn to Photography from his travels to exotic places with his family, the real spark came when he met Helmut Newton who would become his mentor and friend. This first exquisite Monograph of Mark Arbeit’s photographs is a collection of his personal artistic projects. Each chapter is separated by a Out-of-Focus, Artist Atelier, Hawaiian, and Polajunk Series. A prolific and sensitive photographer. Arbeit makes images that are timeless in their originality and beauty. Arbeit’s photographs of Paris are some of the last greatest images taken in the 20th Century in that amazing place. Whoever owns this book owns a key to a treasure. An inspiration for all lovers of photography, lovers of Paris, lovers of women. 208 pages, 167 Tri-tone Plates. Printed in a limited edition of 1000 copies

Lisa Richter's Closer to Where We Began is a diverse collection of poetry that follows the speaker on a path of self-discovery. The collection navigates the tension between memory and imagination, between the personal and the political, and the primacy of sensual, sensory, lived experience. These dream-like poems not only concern themselves with the speaker, but with urban and natural environments, friends, family, and lovers, past and present. The poet explores overlapping/intersecting identities that shape and inform us, celebrating the importance of telling our stories as a means of bringing us closer to our authentic selves.

All the spells you'll ever need for any occasion. There is always an occasion, a reason, or an event that calls for magic. Easy Enchantments will give you the tools and the power to make things go your way. Whether you're looking for a spell to guarantee your lover's fidelity, banish negativity, make a job interview go well, find an apartment, or pick lucky lotto numbers, Lexa Roséan tells you what you need to do. Each spell calls for common items easily found in a supermarket, and has simple instructions as well as intriguing lore about the spell's origin. Simple, easy, and effective, Easy Enchantments can help you get what you want, meet who you want, and make any occasion magical.

Leonard Merrick (1864 - 1939) was an English novelist. Although largely forgotten today, he was widely admired by his peers, J. M. Barrie called Merrick the "novelist's novelist." * * * * From the beginning of the Introduction by George Barr McCutcheon. The joy that Leonard Merrick puts into his stories finds instant response in the soul of his reader. He writes with the clear, sparkling vision of one who for the time being is an active participant in the little comedies and tragedies (for sometimes they are tragedies notwithstanding the deft twist he exercises in transforming them into something else) through which he leads his characters to an almost unctuous "curtain." It is not difficult to imagine the author Merrick translating himself into Merrick the actor, playing many parts in all of these sprightly romances; nor is it hard to picture him as existing in the environment to which his whilom people confine themselves. More than this, he has the power to transport his readers, as upon the fabled carpet, to the very heart of the scenes he describes - a few swift prods of the pen and we are jauntily driven into every corner of Paris, there to find amiable companions, who do not bother themselves about our virtues any more than we trouble ourselves about their morals.... ...Follow him through these pages, go arm and arm with him while Paris laughs, and the world will be brighter and gayer for you in consequence. Stroll along with him until you come up with that pair of despondent though exalted lovers who would have leaped into the Seine had it not been for the joyous intervention of the last franc and the philosophy of an equally moribund poet. Attend his earnest but melancholy aspirations in connection with his cousin Henriette, wherein a profitable marriage was to be his sacrifice upon the altar of necessity, and the notable journey which ended in pleasant disaster to his easily accommodated state of mind. Join him and his inconsequential companions as a guest at the memorable banquet arranged by the valiant, adorable Kiki, whose desires and fancies far-outstripped her means but whose art (such as it was) naively triumphed over the cupidity of a most honorable and substantial landlord. Toil also with him far into the night while he writes the engaging memoirs of the actress, Toine; stand beside him when the task is completed and the light of his life goes out with the discovery that he has loved and labored in vain-but glory with him when he springs up from the ruins and cheerfully goes back to his garret and its privations, by no means wiser or better than he was before but as undaunted as ever. Gallant soul, Tricotrin! To the peak and to the pit with the same unfailing jauntiness of spirit. Who else but he could have fallen from so high and landed so composedly, so happily uninjured, back in the dingy old room with Nicolas, impoverished, disillusioned, hungry but still rejoicing after his flight into Romance with Simon? And who else could have led him to these heights and dropped him so gently as the man who created him? I should like, above all things, to have been able to tell the sprightly tale of Tricotrin and his friends as Leonard Merrick has told it. -George Barr McCurcheon

Landscape architect, urban planner, teacher, and social visionary: over the course of a sixty-year career, Lawrence Halprin (1916-2009) reshaped the spaces we inhabit and our ways of moving through them. The New York Times called him "the tribal elder of American landscape architecture" and the critic Ada Louise Huxtable credited him with creating what "may be one of the most important urban spaces since the Renaissance." His bold use of abstract imagery could evoke the landscape of the American West in a sequence of city squares and fountains, while his plan for repurposing an abandoned factory near San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf showed how adaptive use of a historic structure could turn commercial development into urban theater. A man who deeply loved cities, he left as one of his most important legacies the five thousand acres of coastline, hedgerows, and meadows that became Sonoma County's environmentally sensitive and enormously influential Sea Ranch. Featuring more than ninety black-and-white and one hundred color reproductions of photographs, plans, and sketchbooks, A Life Spent Changing Places is Halprin's own account of how a young boy who listened to the fireside chats of FDR on the radio became the man who designed the memorial to that president in the nation's capital. It is a book about the invention and reinvention of an extraordinary man over the span of decades and how he helped to reframe the world around him.

Kurt Tucholsky was a brilliant satirist, poet, storyteller, lyricist, pacifist, and Democrat; a fighter, lady's man, reporter, and early warner against the Nazis who hated and loathed him and drove him out of Germany after his books were burned in 1933. His contemporary Erich Kaestner called him a "small, fat Berliner," who "wanted to stop a catastrophe with his typewriter." The New York Times hailed him as "one of the most brilliant writers of republican Germany. He was a poet as well as a critic and was so versatile that he used five or six pen names. As Peter Panter he was an outstanding essayist who at one time wrote topical sketches in the Vossische Zeitung, which ceased to appear under the Nazi regime; as Theobald Tiger he wrote satirical poems that were frequently interpreted by popular actors in vaudeville and cabartes, and as Ignatz Wrobel he contributed regularly to the Weltbühne, an independent weekly that was one of the first publications prohibited by the Hitler government." Tucholsky, who occupied the center stage in the tumultuous political and cultural world of 1920s Berlin, still emerges as an astonishingly contemporary figure. As an angry truth-teller, he pierced the hypocrisy and corruption around him with acute honesty. Imagine a writer with the acid voice of Christopher Hitchens and the satirical whimsy of Jon Stewart, combined with the iconoclasm of Bill Maher. That's Tucholsky in a nutshell. Like Hitchens, Tucholsky wrote a mixture of literary essays, social observations, and political commentary. His irony made the line between his "serious writing" and his "entertainments" almost invisible. The fashionable outsider watched the political "center" disappear, and, in the end, he found himself catapulted out of society altogether. His career was sandwiched between the two most deadly events of his century: the bloodbath of World War I and the scourge of Nazism. Just as the first war launched Hemingway's lifelong career as a wounded tough guy with a soft spot for guns and broads, Tucholsky discovered the reflexes of an escape artist. He was equally elusive as a writer. In today's world, a journalist isn't supposed to write plays, and a playwright isn't welcomed as a novelist. But in 1920s Berlin, Tucholsky was dealing with postwar realities that required shouting from the rooftops, and any rooftop would do. Kurt Tucholsky is one of Weimar Germany's most celebrated literary figures, loved by his many readers and hated by the Nazis. The poet, journalist, and satirist who was at the center of the tumultuous political and cultural world of 1920s Berlin still emerges as an astonishingly contemporary figure. But he was more than just an angry truth-teller; he was also one of the funniest satirical writers of his era, depicting everyday lives during the rise of modernity.The iconic translation of Harry Zohn, a literary figure from Vienna himself, presented Tucholsky to an American audience for the first time. Long out of print, Zohn's book is now being republished in a new edition.

Professor Dudley Potter breaks out of his quiet life and searches desperately for his lover, Annabel Lee, who has mysteriously disappeared.

A master historian offers an eloquent and personal auto-history of his life and his ideas Twenty years ago, John Lukacs paused to set down the history of his own thoughts and beliefs in Confessions of an Original Sinner, an adroit blend of autobiography and personal philosophy. Now, in Last Rites, he continues and expands his reflections, this time integrating his conception of history and human knowledge with private memories of his wives and loves, and enhancing the book with footnotes from his idiosyncratic diaries. The resulting volume is fascinating and delightful--an auto-history by a passionate, authentic, brilliant, and witty man. Lukacs begins with a concise rendering of a historical understanding of our world (essential reading for any historian), then follows with trenchant observations on his life in the United States, commentary on his native Hungary and the new meanings it took for him after 1989, and deeply personal portraits of his three wives, about whom he has not written before. He includes also a chapter on his formative memories of May and June 1940 and of Winston Churchill, a subject in some of Lukacs's later studies. Last Rites is a richly layered summation combined with a set of extraordinary observations--an original book only John Lukacs could have written. Praise for Confessions of an Original Sinner: "[Lukacs] is an often witty and always fascinating--even entertaining--writer."--Washington Post

This is a sequel to Der Fall Maurizius, in which Etzel is the son of the public prosecutor. In spite of the title, Etzel appears only in the second part of this later novel. Its principal figure is Joseph Kerkhoven. Engaged as physician to a wealthy man, Johann Irlen, who is suffering from an incurable disease, Kerkhoven undergoes a marked change of personality, which alienates him from his wife Marie. Years pass and Etzel Andergast, now a student, enters the couple's life and becomes Marie's lover. Kerkhoven, wishing to be reunited with his wife, discovers Etzel and turns him out. Etzel returns home to recover his mental equilibrium, and Kerkhoven's story is continued in Joseph Kerkhovens dritte Existenz.

After being released from the Elmira reformatory Mitch (the central character of Cry Tough ) has two ways to go. He could return to his family who loved him dearly, find a job and marry the girl who loved him. His other choice is the flashy, dangerous life as a hood with big risks and big rewards- cars, women, rich food and fancy apartments. Would he settle for the security of a job and family or would he take the road from which there was no turning back? In a classic story, Irving Shulman presents the struggle of one man. The allure of his life in the underworld, the sobering reality of his home life, what he really loves, what he really wants and how each element in his fragmented reality draws on him.