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Paradise of the damned : the true story of an obsessive quest for El Dorado, the legendary city of gold / by Thomson, Keith,1965-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The transporting account of an obsessive quest to find El Dorado, set against the backdrop of Elizabethan political intrigue and a competition with Spanish conquistadors for the legendary city's treasure. As early as 1530, reports of El Dorado, a city of gold in the South American interior, beckoned to European explorers. Whether there was any truth to the stories remained to be seen, but the allure of unimaginable riches was enough to ensnare dozens of would-be heroes and glory hounds in the desperate hunt. Among them was Sir Walter Raleigh: ambitious courtier, confidant to Queen Elizabeth, and, before long, El Dorado fanatic. Entering the Elizabethan court as an upstart from a family whose days of nobility were far behind them, Raleigh used his military acumen, good looks, and sheer audacity to scramble into the limelight. Yet that same swagger proved to be his undoing, as his secret marriage to a lady-in-waiting enraged Queen Elizabeth and landed him in the Tower of London. Between his ensuing grim prospects at court and his underlying lust for adventure, the legend of El Dorado became an unwavering siren song that hypnotized Raleigh. On securing his release, he journeyed across an ocean to find the fabled city, gambling his painstakingly acquired wealth, hard-won domestic bliss, and his very life. What awaited him in the so-called New World were endless miles of hot, dense jungle packed with deadly flora and fauna, warring Spanish conquistadors and Indigenous civilizations, and other unforeseen dangers. Meanwhile, back at home, his multitude of rivals plotted his demise. Paradise of the Damned, like Keith Thomson's critically acclaimed Born to Be Hanged, brings this story to life in lush and captivating detail. The book charts Raleigh's obsessive search for El Dorado -- as well as the many doomed expeditions that preceded and accompanied his -- providing not only an invaluable history but also a gripping narrative of traveling to the ends of the earth only to realize, too late, that what lies at home is the greatest treasure of all.
Subjects: Biographies.; Raleigh, Walter, Sir, 1552?-1618.; El Dorado.; Explorers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Witchcraft : a history in thirteen trials / by Gibson, Marion,1970-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Witchcraft is a ... journey through thirteen witch trials across history, some famous-like the Salem witch trials-and some lesser-known: on Vardø island, Norway, in the 1620s, where an indigenous Sami woman was accused of murder; in France in 1731, during the country's last witch trial, where a young woman was pitted against her confessor and cult leader; in Pennsylvania in 1929 where a magical healer was labelled a 'witch'; in Lesotho in 1948, where British colonial authorities executed local leaders. Exploring how witchcraft became feared, decriminalized, reimagined, and eventually reframed as gendered persecution, Witchcraft takes on the intersections between gender and power, indigenous spirituality and colonial rule, and political conspiracy and individual resistance. Offering a vivid, compelling, and dramatic story, unspooling through centuries, about the men and women who were accused-some of whom survived their trials, and some who did not-Witchcraft empowers the people who were and are victimized and marginalized, giving a voice to those who were silenced by history."--
Subjects: Marginality, Social.; Trials (Witchcraft); Witch hunting; Witchcraft;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The North-West is our mother : the story of Louis Riel's people, the Métis Nation / by Teillet, Jean,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.There is a missing chapter in the narrative of Canada's Indigenous peoples--the story of the Métis Nation, a new Indigenous people descended from both First Nations and Europeans. Their story begins in the last decade of the eighteenth century in the Canadian North-West. Within twenty years the Métis proclaimed themselves a nation and won their first battle. Within forty years they were famous throughout North America for their military skills, their nomadic life and their buffalo hunts. The Métis Nation didn't just drift slowly into the Canadian consciousness in the early 1800s; it burst onto the scene fully formed. The Métis were flamboyant, defiant, loud and definitely not noble savages. They were nomads with a very different way of being in the world-always on the move, very much in the moment, passionate and fierce. They were romantics and visionaries with big dreams. They battled continuously-for recognition, for their lands and for their rights and freedoms. In 1870 and 1885, led by the iconic Louis Riel, they fought back when Canada took their lands. These acts of resistance became defining moments in Canadian history, with implications that reverberate to this day: Western alienation, Indigenous rights and the French/English divide. After being defeated at the Battle of Batoche in 1885, the Métis lived in hiding for twenty years. But early in the twentieth century, they determined to hide no more and began a long, successful fight back into the Canadian consciousness. The Métis people are now recognized in Canada as a distinct Indigenous nation. Writte by the great-grandniece of Louis Riel, this popular and engaging history of "forgotten people" tells the story up to the present era of national reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
Subjects: Riel, Louis, 1844-1885.; Métis.; Métis; Métis; Indigenous peoples;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Sicily '43 : the first assault on fortress Europe / by Holland, James,1970-author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 555-571) and index."On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even than the Normandy invasion eleven months later: 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops came ashore or were parachuted onto Sicily, signaling the start of the campaign to defeat Nazi Germany on European soil. Operation HUSKY, as it was known, was enormously complex, involving dramatic battles on land, in the air, and at sea. Yet, despite its drama and its paramount importance to ultimate Allied victory, very little has been written about the 38-day battle for Sicily. Based on much new research, Sicily '43 offers vital new perspective on a major turning point in World War II. The characters involved-General George Patton and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery among many-were as colorful as the battles across the scorching plains and above the peaks of Sicily were brutal. Among Holland's great skills is incorporating the experience of on-the-ground participants on all sides--from American colonel Jim Gavin, British major Hedley Verity, and Canadian lieutenant Farley Mowat to brigade commander Wilhelm Schmalz, Luftwaffe fighter pilot Johannes "Macky" Steinhoff, and Italian combatants, civilians, and mafiosi alike--giving readers an intimate sense of what occurred in July and August 1943. Emphasizing the significance of Allied air superiority, Holland overturns conventional narratives that have criticized the Sicily campaign for the slowness of the Allied advance and that so many German and Italian soldiers escaped to the mainland; rather, he shows that clearing the island in 38 days against geographical challenges and fierce resistance was an impressive achievement. A powerful and dramatic account by a master military historian, Sicily '43 fills a major gap in the narrative history of World War II"--
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945; Operation Husky, 1943.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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War for eternity : inside Bannon's far-right circle of global power brokers / by Teitelbaum, Benjamin R.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."An explosive and unprecedented inside look at Steve Bannon's entourage of global powerbrokers and the hidden alliances shaping today's geopolitical upheaval. In 2015, Bloomberg News named Steve Bannon "the most dangerous political operative in America." Since then, he has grown exponentially more powerful-and not only in the United States. In this groundbreaking and urgent account, award-winning scholar of the radical right Benjamin Teitelbaum takes readers behind-the-scenes of Bannon's global campaign against modernity. Inspired by a radical twentieth-century ideology called Traditionalism, Bannon and a small group of right-wing powerbrokers are planning new political mobilizations on a global scale-discussed and debated in secret meetings organized by Bannon in hotel suites and private apartments in DC, Europe and South America. Their goal? To upend the world order and reorganize geopolitics on the basis of archaic values rather than modern ideals of democracy, freedom, social progress, and human rights. Their strenuous efforts are already producing results, from the fortification of borders throughout the world and the targeting of immigrants, to the undermining of the European Union and United States governments, and the expansion of Russian influence. Drawing from exclusive interviews with Bannon's hidden network of far-right thinkers, years of academic research into the radical right, and with unprecedented access to the esoteric salons where they meet, Teitelbaum exposes their considerable impact on the world and their radical vision for the future"--
Subjects: Bannon, Stephen K.; World politics; Right-wing extremists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Off with her head : three thousand years of demonizing women in power / by Herman, Eleanor,1960-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Imagine Donald Trump as a woman, called Donna. Would Donna Trump have been viewed as blunt, honest, and refreshing? Would she have won the election? Imagine Hillary Clinton as a man. Howard Clinton says and does the exact same things as Hillary. Would Howard Clinton have been portrayed in a thousand Pinterest images as a witch, stirring a cauldron or riding a broomstick? Would he have been called a bitch on countless T-shirts? Would his thoughtful, circumspect answers to media questions have been seen as inauthenticity, secretiveness, and untrustworthiness? There is a particular kind of rage?let?s call it unadulterated bloodlust?usually reserved for women, especially women in power or vying for it. From the ancient world, through the European Renaissance, up to the most recent U.S. elections, the Misogynist?s Handbook, as Eleanor Herman calls it, has been wielded to put uppity women in their place. In a story that is shocking, eye-opening, and a powerful force for change, Eleanor Herman?s signature wit and humor explores the patterns that have been operating for more than three thousand years?and are still operating today?against powerful women across the globe, including Cleopatra, Anne Boleyn, Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and more. Each chapter analyzes a tried-and-true misogynistic method to keep women down, including: Her Overweening Ambition, Why Doesn?t She Do Something About Her Hair?, The Dangers of Female Hormones, The Alarming Shrillness of Her Voice, The Mysterious Unlikability of Female Candidates, She?s a Bitch and Other Animals, She?s a Witch and Other Monsters, and Her Sexual Depravity. Herman ends the book by looking forward, examining ways to rip up the Misogynist?s Handbook once and for all."--Amazon.com.
Subjects: Misogyny;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The magnificent lives of Marjorie Post : a novel / by Pataki, Allison,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. Such is Marjorie Merriweather Post's average evening. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Covered in diamonds and deemed American royalty, Marjorie nevertheless remains the product of her hardscrabble Midwestern roots and an insatiable drive to live, love, and give. A woman who has crawled through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar's treasures, who has outrun the Nazis in London, and who has sat down to dinner with everyone from the homeless during the Great Depression to Kremlin leaders, from European royalty to Hollywood stars, Marjorie lived a grand life that defies imagination. Marjorie's was a journey that began on the Great Plains, where she glued cereal boxes in her father's barn as a young girl. None could have predicted that C. W. Post's homegrown Postum Cereal Company would fundamentally reshape the American way of life and grow into the vast General Foods empire, with Marjorie as its glittering heiress and leading lady. Not content to stay in her prescribed roles of coddled wife, mother, and hostess, Marjorie dared to demand more, making history as a leader in her family's business and a trailblazer in philanthropy and high society. Marjorie lived like an empress, worked like a titan of industry, and shaped a century. And yet Marjorie's story, though full of beauty and lived in her palatial homes like Mar-a-Lago, was equally marked by heartbreak. A wife four times over in vastly different, dramatic marriages, Marjorie sought her happily-ever-after with the blue-blooded playboy who could not outrun his demons, the charismatic financier whose charm could not conceal his betrayal, the diplomat with a dark side, and the bon vivant whose shocking secrets would shake their circles. Marjorie did everything on a grand scale, especially when it came to love"--
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Historical fiction.; Post, Marjorie Merriweather; Heiresses;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Kills Well with Others [electronic resource] : by Raybourn, Deanna.aut; CloudLibrary;
“Much like fine wine, battle-hardened assassins grow better with age.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner Four women assassins, senior in status—and in age—sharpen their knives for another bloody good adventure in this riotous follow-up to the New York Times bestselling sensation Killers of a Certain Age. After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their time off, but the lack of excitement is starting to chafe: a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions without itching to strangle someone...literally. When they receive a summons from the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready tackle the greatest challenge of their careers. Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European gangster with an iron fist, some serious criminal ambition, and a tendency to kill first and ask questions later. This new nemesis is murdering agents who got in the way of their power hungry plans and the aging quartet of killers is next. Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museum’s mole and hunting down the gangster who seems to know their next move before they make it. Their enemy is unlike any they’ve faced before, and it will take all their killer experience to get out of this mission alive.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Espionage; Contemporary Women; Suspense;
© 2025., Penguin Publishing Group,
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The war widow : a novel / by Moss, Tara,author.;
"The war may be officially over, but journalist Billie Walker's search for a missing young German immigrant plunges her right back into the danger and drama she thought she'd left behind in Europe. A thrilling tale of courage and secrets set in glamorous post-war Sydney. Sydney, Australia, 1946. Though war correspondent Billie Walker is happy to finally be home, the heady post-war days are tarnished by the death of her father and the disappearance in Europe of her husband, Jack. To make matters worse, now that the war is over, the newspapers are sidelining her reporting talents to prioritize jobs for returning soldiers. But Billie is a survivor and she's determined to take control of her own future. She reopens her late father's business, a private investigation agency, and slowly, the women of Sydney come knocking. At first, Billie's bread and butter is tailing cheating husbands. Then a young man, the son of European immigrants, goes missing, and Billie finds herself on a dangerous new trail that will lead to the highest levels of Sydney society as well as the city's underworld. What is the young man's connection to an exclusive dance club and a high-class auction house? When the people she questions start to turn up dead, Billie is thrown into the path of Detective Inspector Hank Cooper. Will he take her seriously or just get in her way? As the danger mounts and Billie realizes how much is at stake, it becomes clear that although the war was won, it is far from over."--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Historical fiction.; Women private investigators; Missing persons; Gangsters; Criminals; Criminal investigation;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Maze [videorecording] / by Burke, Stephen,film director,screenwriter.; Doolan, Jane,film producer.; McCann, Martin,1983-actor.; Vaughan-Lawlor, Tom,actor.; Ward, Barry,actor.; Lightyear Entertainment (Firm),film distributor.; Bord Scannán na hÉireann,production company.;
Director of photography, David Grennan ; production designer, Owen Power ; original music, Stephen Rennicks.Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Barry Ward, Martin Mccann, Eileen Walsh.Based on the incredible true story of the 1983 mass breakout of 38 IRA prisoners from a high-security prison, the film charts how inmate Larry Marley engineered the largest European prison escape since World War II. Up against the most state-of-the-art and secure prison in the whole of Europe (a prison within a prison), Larry must coordinate with inmates across several cellblocks. While scheming his way towards pulling off this feat, Larry forms a close bond with prison warden Gordon Close.Canadian Home Video Rating: 14A.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0.
Subjects: Action and adventure films.; Feature films.; Crime films.; Marley, Larry; Maze Prison (Lisburn, Northern Ireland); Provisional IRA; Escaped prisoners; Prisons;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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