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The professor and the parson : a story of desire, deceit, and defrocking / by Sisman, Adam,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."One day in November 1958, the celebrated historian Hugh Trevor-Roper received a curious letter. It was an appeal for help, written on behalf of a student at Magdalen College, with the unlikely claim that he was being persecuted by the Bishop of Oxford. Curiosity piqued, Trevor-Roper agreed to a meeting. It was to be his first encounter with Robert Parkin Peters: plagiarist, bigamist, fraudulent priest, and imposter extraordinaire. The Professor and the Parson traces the strange career of one of Britain's most eccentric criminals. Motivated not by money but by a desire for prestige, Peters lied, stole, and cheated his way to academic positions and religious posts from Cambridge to New York, Singapore, and South Africa. Frequently deported, and even more frequently discovered, his trail of destruction included seven marriages (three of which were bigamous), an investigation by the FBI, and a disastrous appearance on Mastermind. Based on Trevor-Roper's own detailed "file on Peters," The Professor and the Parson is a witty and charming account of eccentricity, extraordinary narcissism, and a life as wild and unlikely as any in fiction"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: True crime stories.; Biographies.; Peters, Robert Parkins.; Fraud.; Swindlers and swindling.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A curious beginning / by Raybourn, Deanna,author.;
"London, 1887. As the city prepares to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, Veronica Speedwell is marking a milestone of her own. After burying her spinster aunt, the orphaned Veronica is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry--and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as she is fending off admirers, Veronica wields her butterfly net and a sharpened hatpin with equal aplomb, and with her last connection to England now gone, she intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime. But fate has other plans, as Veronica discovers when she thwarts her own abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron with ties to her mysterious past. Promising to reveal in time what he knows of the plot against her, the baron offers her temporary sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker--a reclusive natural historian as intriguing as he is bad-tempered. But before the baron can deliver on his tantalizing vow to reveal the secrets he has concealed for decades, he is found murdered. Suddenly Veronica and Stoker are forced to go on the run from an elusive assailant, wary partners in search of the villainous truth" --
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Historical fiction.; Orphans; Young women; Kidnapping; Rescues; Murder;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A national crime : the Canadian government and the residential school system, 1879 to 1986 / by Milloy, John Sheridan,author.; McCallum, Mary Jane,1974-writer of foreword.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."For over 100 years, thousands of Aboriginal children passed through the Canadian residential school system. Begun in the 1870s, it was intended, in the words of government officials, to bring these children into the "circle of civilization," the results, however, were far different. More often, the schools provided an inferior education in an atmosphere of neglect, disease, and often abuse. Using previously unreleased government documents, historian John S. Milloy provides a full picture of the history and reality of the residential school system. He begins by tracing the ideological roots of the system, and follows the paper trail of internal memoranda, reports from field inspectors, and letters of complaint. In the early decades, the system grew without planning or restraint. Despite numerous critical commissions and reports, it persisted into the 1970s, when it transformed itself into a social welfare system without improving conditions for its thousands of wards. A National Crime shows that the residential system was chronically underfunded and often mismanaged, and documents in detail and how this affected the health, education, and well-being of entire generations of Aboriginal children."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: First Nations; Indigenous peoples; Indigenous peoples; First Nations; Indigenous peoples; First Nations; Indigenous peoples; First Nations, Treatment of;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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Funny because it's true : how The Onion created modern American news satire / by Wenc, Christine,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."The real truth behind the original fake news with this in-depth history of beloved humor publication, The Onion. In 1988, a band of University of Wisconsin-Madison undergrads and dropouts began publishing a free weekly newspaper with no editorial stance other than "You Are Dumb." Just wanting to make a few bucks, they wound up becoming the bedrock of modern satire over the course of twenty years, changing the way we consume both our comedy and our news. The Onion served as a hilarious and brutally perceptive satire of the absurdity and horrors of late twentieth-century American life and grew into a global phenomenon. Now, for the first time, the full history of the publication is told by one of its original staffers, author and historian Christine Wenc. Through dozens of interviews, Wenc charts The Onion's rise, its position as one of the first online humor sites, and the way it influenced television programs like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Funny Because It's True peels back the layers to reveal how a group of young misfits from flyover country unintentionally created a cultural phenomenon"--
Subjects: Onion (Madison, Wis.); Journalism; News Web sites; Popular culture; American wit and humor;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Katheryn Howard, the scandalous queen : a novel / by Weir, Alison,1951-author.;
"Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir tells the tragic story of Henry VIII's fifth wife, a nineteen-year-old beauty with a hidden past, in this fifth novel in the sweeping Six Tudor Queens series. In the spring of 1540, Henry VIII, desperate to be rid of his queen, Anna of Kleve, first sets eyes on the enchanting Katheryn Howard. Although the king is now an ailing forty-nine-year-old measuring fifty-four inches around his waist, his amorous gaze lights upon the pretty teenager. Seated near him intentionally by her ambitious Catholic family, Katheryn readily succumbs to the courtship. Henry is besotted with his bride. He tells the world she is a rose without a thorn, and extols her beauty and her virtue. Katherine delights in the pleasures of being queen and the power she has to do good to others. She comes to love the ailing, obese king and tolerate his nightly attentions. If she can bear him a son, her triumph will be complete. But Katheryn has a past of which Henry knows nothing, and which comes back increasingly to haunt her--even as she courts danger yet again"--
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Historical fiction.; Catherine Howard, Queen, consort of Henry VIII, King of England, -1542; Queens;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A murderous relation / by Raybourn, Deanna,author.;
"Veronica Speedwell navigates a dark world of scandal and murder in this new adventure from New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award nominated author Deanna Raybourn. Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian colleague Stoker are asked by Lady Wellingtonia Beauclerk to help with a potential scandal so explosive it threatens to rock the monarchy. Prince Albert Victor is a regular visitor to the most exclusive private club in London, known as the Club de l'Etoile, and the proprietess, Madame Aurore, has received an expensive gift that can be traced back to the prince. Lady Wellie would like Veronica and Stoker to retrieve the jewel from the club before scandal can break. Worse yet, London is gripped by hysteria in the autumn of 1888, terrorized by what would become the most notorious and elusive serial killer in history, Jack the Ripper--and Lady Wellie suspects the prince may be responsible. Veronica and Stoker reluctantly agree to go undercover at Madame Aurore's high class brothel, where another body soon turns up. Many secrets are swirling around Veronica and the royal family--and it's up to Veronica and Stoker to find the truth, before it's too late for all of them"--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Women private investigators; Aristocracy (Social class); Murder;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Sir John A. Macdonald & the apocalyptic year 1885 / by Dutil, Patrice A.,1960-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Sir John A. Macdonald had been in politics for four decades and prime minister of Canada for three terms, but he'd never seen anything like the apocalyptic year of 1885. The issues cascaded relentlessly: threats to the sovereignty of Canada from London and Washington; armed resistance in the North-West; the spectre of starvation among Indigenous peoples; financial crises that endangered the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR); protests over Chinese immigration to British Columbia; nationalist dissent in Quebec; a smallpox epidemic that would claim over 5,000 victims in Montreal; and fierce opposition to Macdonald's drive to expand the right to vote. It was a year like no other in Canadian history. In this fascinating and authoritative study of a skilled politician at the peak of his powers, political historian Patrice Dutil shows how Macdonald navigated persistent threats to public order, anchored the stability of his government, and ensured the future of his still fragile nation. What emerges is a compelling portrait of a man who, notwithstanding his personal failings and the sins of his times, was the most enlightened and constructive public figure of early Canadian history."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Macdonald, John A. (John Alexander), 1815-1891.; Prime ministers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Crosses in the sky : Jean de Brébeuf and the destruction of Huronia / by Bourrie, Mark,1957-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."This is the story of the collision of two worlds. In the early 1600s, the Jesuits -- the Catholic Church's most ferocious warriors for Christ -- tried to create their own nation on the Great Lakes and turn the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy into a model Jesuit state. At the centre of their campaign was missionary Jean de Brébeuf, a mystic who sought to die a martyr's death. He lived among a proud people who valued kindness and rights for all, especially women. In the end, Huronia was destroyed. Brébeuf became a Catholic saint, and the Jesuit's "martyrdom" became one of the founding myths of Canada. In this first secular biography of Brébeuf, historian Mark Bourrie recounts the missionary's fascinating life and tells the tragic story of the remarkable people he lived among. Drawing on the letters and documents of the time -- including Brébeuf's accounts of his bizarre spirituality -- and modern studies of the Jesuits, Bourrie shows how Huron leaders tried to navigate this new world and the people struggled to cope as their nation came apart. Riveting, clearly told, and deeply researched, Crosses in the Sky is an essential addition to -- and expansion of -- Canadian history."--Front cover flap.
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Brébeuf, Jean de, Saint, 1593-1649.; Jesuits; Missionaries; Huron-Wendat; Huron-Wendat;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Nazi mind : twelve warnings from history / by Rees, Laurence,1957-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."How could the SS have committed the crimes they did? How were the killers who shot Jews at close quarters able to perpetrate this horror? Why did commandants of concentration and death camps willingly-often enthusiastically-oversee mass murder? How could ordinary Germans have tolerated the removal of the Jews? In The Nazi Mind, bestselling historian Laurence Rees seeks answers to some of the most perplexing questions surrounding the second World War and the Holocaust. Ultimately, he delves into the darkness to explain how and why these people were capable of committing the worst crime in the history of the world. From the fringe politics of the 1920s, to the electoral triumph and mass mobilization of the 1930s, through to the Holocaust and the regime's eventual demise, Rees charts the rise and fall of Nazi mentalities-including the conditions that allowed such a violent ideology to flourish and the sophisticated propaganda effort that sustained it. Using previously unpublished testimony from former Nazis and those who grew up in the Nazi system and in-depth insights based on the latest research of psychologists, The Nazi Mind brings fresh understanding to one of the most appalling regimes in history"--
Subjects: National socialism; National socialism; Nazis;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Nature's mutiny : how the little Ice Age of the long seventeenth century transformed the West and shaped the present / by Blom, Philipp,1970-author,translator.; translation of:Blom, Philipp,1970-Welt aus den Angeln.English.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."An illuminating work of environmental history that chronicles the great climate crisis of the 1600s, which transformed the social and political fabric of Europe. Although hints of a crisis appeared as early as the 1570s, the temperature by the end of the sixteenth century plummeted so drastically that Mediterranean harbors were covered with ice, birds literally dropped out of the sky, and "frost fairs" were erected on a frozen Thames--with kiosks, taverns, and even brothels that become a semi-permanent part of the city. Recounting the deep legacy and far-ranging consequences of this "Little Ice Age," acclaimed historian Philipp Blom reveals how the European landscape had suddenly, but ineradicably, changed by the mid-seventeenth century. While apocalyptic weather patterns destroyed entire harvests and incited mass migrations, they gave rise to the growth of European cities, the emergence of early capitalism, and the vigorous stirrings of the Enlightenment. A timely examination of how a society responds to profound and unexpected change, Nature's Mutiny will transform the way we think about climate change in the twenty-first century and beyond."--
Subjects: Climatic changes; Climatic changes; Glacial climates.; Climatic changes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 141 to 150 of 234 | « previous |