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Louis Armstrong An Extravagant Life

Laurence Bergreen
Louis Armstrong was the founding father of jazz and one of this century's towering cultural figures, yet the full story of his extravagant life has never been told. Born in 1901 to the sixteen-year-old daughter of a slave, he came of age among the prostitutes, pimps, and rag-and-bone merchants of New Orleans. He married four times and enjoyed countless romantic involvements in and around his marriages. A believer in marijuana for the head and laxatives for the bowels, he was also a prolific diarist and correspondent, a devoted friend to celebrities from Bing Crosby to Ella Fitzgerald, a perceptive social observer, and, in his later years, an international goodwill ambassador. And, of course, he was a dazzling musician. From the bordellos and honky-tonks of Storyville--New Orleans's red light district--to the upscale nightclubs in Chicago, New York, and Hollywood, Armstrong's stunning playing, gravelly voice, and irrepressible personality captivated audiences and critics alike. Recognized and beloved wherever he went, he nonetheless managed to remain vigorously himself. Now Laurence Bergreen's remarkable book brings to life the passionate, courageous, and charismatic figure who forever changed the face of American music.
Crown 1998-06-01 576 pages

Sexual revolution: modern fascism and the feminist fightback

Penny, Laurie
'Captivating, emphatic and deeply inspiring, Sexual Revolution lifted me greatly by envisioning the possibilities of our moment' V (formerly Eve Ensler) 'Brilliant; vital; revolutionary' Kate Manne _________________ This is a story about how modern masculinity is killing the world, and how feminism can save it. It's a story about sex and power and trauma and resistance and persistence. Sex and gender are changing, and the world is changing with them. In this time of crisis, we are also witnessing a productive transformation: a revolutionary change in how we define gender, sex, consent and whose bodies matter.This sexual revolution is a threat to the social and economic order. It undermines the existing power structures and weakens the authority of institutions from the waged workplace to the nuclear family. No wonder the far right is fighting back so hard.Told with Laurie Penny's trademark urgency and candour, Sexual Revolution is a hand-grenade of a book: both a manifesto for social change and a story of how feminism can save us.
Bloomsbury Publishing 2022 297 pages

Ukraine and the art of strategy

Freedman, Lawrence
"In Ukraine and the Art of Strategy, Sir Lawrence Freedman provides an account of the origins and course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict through the lens of the theory and practice of strategy. That is, he explores Putin's near, medium, and long-term strategies when he decided to initiate the conflict. How successful has he been? In contrast to many who see Putin as a master operator who has resuscitated a supine Russia against all odds, Freedman is less impressed with his strategic acumen in terms of the long-term fallout. By exploring concepts such as coercive diplomacy, limited war, escalation and information operations, Freedman brings the story up to the present, where a low-level conflict between Ukrainian and breakaway rebel forces in the east grinds on, and illuminates the external challenges faced by the governments' involved"--
Oxford University Press 2019 233 pages

Einstein's Unfinished Revolution The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum

Lee Smolin
From Canada's leading mind on contemporary physics, a daring new vision of the universe, and the scandals controversies, and questions that will illuminate our future. Quantum physics is the golden child of modern science. It is the basis of our understanding of our world--atoms, radiation, elementary particles, basic forces and the behavior of materials. But for a century it has also been the problem child of science, plagued by intense disagreements between its inventors, strange paradoxes, and implications that seem like the stuff of fantasy. In Einstein's Unfinished Revolution , theoretical physicist Lee Smolin takes us on a journey through the basics of quantum physics, introducing the stories of the experiments and figures that have transformed our understanding of the universe, before wrestling with the puzzles and conundrums that the quantum world presents. Along the way, he illuminates the existing theories that might solve these problems, guiding us towards a vision of the quantum that embraces common sense realism. Vibrant and accessible, Einstein's Unfinished Revolution brings us a step closer to resolving one of the greatest scientific controversies of our age.
Knopf Canada 2020-04-07 352 pages

Liberalism ancient and modern

Strauss, Leo
Revered and reviled, Leo Strauss has left a rich legacy of work that continues to spark discussion and controversy. This volume of essays ranges over critical themes that define Strauss's thought: the tension between reason and revelation in the Western tradition, the philsophical roots of liberal democracy, and especially the conflicting yet complementary relationship between ancient and modern liberalism. For those seeking to become acquainted with this provocative thinker, one need look no further.
University of Chicago Press 1995-12 276 pages

How free is free? the long death of Jim Crow

Litwack, Leon F.
In 1985, a black veteran of the civil rights movement offered a bleak vision of a long and troubled struggle. For more than a century, black southerners learned to live with betrayed expectations, diminishing prospects, and devastated aspirations. Their odyssey includes some of the most appalling examples of terrorism, violence, and dehumanization in the history of this nation. But, as Leon Litwack graphically demonstrates, it is at the same time an odyssey of resilience and resistance defined by day-to-day acts of protest: the fight for justice poignantly recorded in the stories, songs, images, and movements of a people trying to be heard. For black men and women, the question is: how free is free? Despite two major efforts to reconstruct race relations, injustices remain. From the height of Jim Crow to the early twenty-first century, struggles over racism persist despite court decisions and legislation. Few indignities were more pronounced than the World War II denial of basic rights and privileges to those responding to the call to make the world safe for democratic values—values that they themselves did not enjoy. And even the civil rights movement promise to redeem America was frustrated by change that was often more symbolic than real. Although a painful history to confront, Litwack’s book inspires as it probes the enduring story of racial inequality and the ongoing fight for freedom in black America with power and grace.
Harvard University Press 2009-02-27 187 pages

Turner Classic Movies presents Leonard Maltin's Classic movie guide: from the silent era through 1965

Maltin, Leonard
"Thanks to Netflix and cable television, classic films are more accessible than ever. Now co-branded with Turner Classic Movies, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide covers films from Hollywood and around the world, from the silent era through 1965, and from The Maltese Falcon to Singin' in the Rain and Godzilla, King of the Monsters! Thoroughly revised and updated, and featuring expanded indexes, a list of Maltin's personal recommendations, and more than two hundred new entries - including many offbeat and obscure films - this new edition is a must-have companion for every movie lover."--Pengin Books website.
Plume 2015-09-29 848 pages

Feynman's rainbow: a search for beauty in physics and in life

Mlodinow, Leonard
In the early 1980's, Leonard Mlodinow came to the California Institute of Technology to begin a postdoctoral fellowship. Mlodinow had written a groundbreaking Ph.D. thesis, but he was afraid he was simply not smart enough to be at Caltech. In danger of losing himself watching hours of Rockford Files reruns while waiting for one good idea, Mlodinow took his doubts and insecurities to Caltech's intimidating resident genius and iconoclast, Richard Feynman. So began a pivotal year in a young man's life and a year of awakening. In the funny, inspiring, and revelatory book, Leonard Mlodinow looks back at the time he shared with Feynman: the ideas they explored, the views of life and physics they exchanged, and what Mlodinow learned from a mentor who had not only helped shape the landscape of physics, but whose mind was drawn to all aspects of human experience. In a series of fascinating, sprawling exchanges, Feynman delved into the nature of science, creativity, love, mathematics, happiness, God, art, pleasures and ambition. And as the relationship between the older scientist and Mlodinow deepened - at one point the two crashed a wedding buffet together - their conversations took on a sense of urgency. For while Mlodinow was floundering, Feynman was battling cancer - and confronting his own mortality.
Warner Books 2003 171 pages

The black hole war: my battle with Stephen Hawking to make the world safe for quantum mechanics

Susskind, Leonard
A mind-bending book about modern physics, quantum mechanics, the fate of stars and the deep mysteries of black holes. What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decades ago, a young physicist named Stephen Hawking claimed it did--and in doing so put at risk everything we know about physics and the fundamental laws of the universe. Most scientists didn't recognize the import of Hawking's claims, but Leonard Susskind and Gerard t'Hooft realized the threat, and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics. This is the story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking's revolutionary theories with their own sense of reality--effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong, paying up, and Susskind and t'Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space.--From publisher description.
Little, Brown 2008-07-07 470 pages

For What It's Worth: Business Wisdom from a Pawnbroker

Gold, Les
Businesses these days talk a lot about figuring out what the customer wants. Well, here’s your first lesson: the customer doesn’t know what he wants. This book is going to show you how to convince him he wants the thing you’re selling. Les Gold has been in business since age twelve, when he started selling used golf clubs from his dad’s basement. Now he owns Detroit’s biggest pawnshop, American Jewelry and Loan, and is the star of the hit reality TV show Hardcore Pawn. As a third-generation pawnbroker, Gold grew up in the business, dealing with customers who could be unruly and violent as often as they were friendly. He became good at selling just about anything and at buying items for what they were worth. Although he started at his family’s small pawnshop, he has now expanded into a fifty-thousand-square-foot former bowling alley, making a thousand deals a day. On any given day, he could be taking a vintage car in to pawn or chasing down a thief who’s just stolen a gold chain from the store. No business school in the world can teach you as much about buying, selling, negotiating, managing employees, dealing with customers, advertising, tracking trends, and predicting the economy’s ups and downs. In this entertaining, honest book, Gold takes you inside some of his weirdest, wackiest deals and steals. From the monkey his dad once took in to pawn to the deal Gold made for a stripper pole, he has no boundaries for what he considers to be part of his business?and neither should you. You will learn: How to tell an emotional story when you’re selling?and take emotion out of the transaction when you’re buying Why judging your customers before you know them can kill a potential deal How to deal with risk, both mental and physical How to communicate with employees (even if they’re your own kids) Why investing in relationships with your community is time well spent Why your business should never be limited by what others tell you it should be No place in the world prepares you better for the working world than a pawnshop, and Les Gold takes you inside his shop to share what he’s learned from fifty-five years in the most interesting job in the world.
Portfolio 2014-04-29 224 pages

Mary A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother

Lesley Hazleton
Starting with a dark-skinned girl barely out of adolescence when she gives birth, Lesley Hazleton weaves together the many facets of Mary's existence: peasant villager, wise woman and healer, activist, mother, teacher, and yes, virgin, though in a sense we have long forgotten. She follows her through the worst any mother can experience-the excruciating death of her child-and then looks at how she transforms grief into wisdom, disaster into renewal. Strong and courageous, the Mary we see here does not merely assent to her role in history, but chooses it and lives it to the fullest.
Bloomsbury Publishing USA 2005-03-01 288 pages

Gittel's journey: an Ellis Island story

Newman, Lesléa
"Brings to life a not too distant history of immigration to Ellis Island. When it's time for nine-year-old Gittel and her mother to leave their homeland behind and go to America for the promise of a new life, a health inspection stops any chance of Gittel's mother joining her daughter on the voyage. Knowing she may never see her mother again, Gittel must find the courage within herself to leave her family behind"--
Abrams Books for Young Readers 2019-02-05 48 pages

The Boy who Cried Fabulous

Lesléa Newman
The only thing Roger likes better than exploring the world around him is describing it. And Roger describes most things as fabulous! But his parents have a different view. They want Roger to see things the way they do, so they ban "fabulous" from his vocabulary. Fabulously illustrated by Peter Ferguson, this cheerful tale will have children rejoicing along with Roger at all the fabulous--no, marvelous! no, dazzling!--things that await him when he steps outside.
Tricycle Press 2007 32 pages