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The Italians / by Hooper, John,1950-;
Includes bibliographical references and index.How can a nation that spawned the Renaissance have produced the Mafia? How could people concerned with bella figura (keeping up appearances) have elected Silvio Berlusconi as their leader, not once, but three times? Sublime and maddening, fascinating yet baffling, Italy is a country of seemingly unsolvable riddles. John Hooper's entertaining and perceptive new book is the ideal companion for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Digging deep into their history, culture, and religion, Hooper offers keys to understanding everything from their bewildering politics to their love of life and beauty. Looking at the facts that lie behind the stereotypes, he sheds new light on many aspects of Italian life-- football and Freemasonry, sex, symbolism, and the reason why Italian has twelve words for a coat hanger, yet none for a hangover. Even readers who think they know Italy well will be surprised, challenged, and delighted by The Italians.
Subjects: Italians;

Putin's people : how the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West / by Belton, Catherine,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.A chilling and revelatory expose of the KGB's renaissance, Putin's rise to power, and how Russian black cash is subverting the world. In Putin's People, former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and his entourage of KGB men seized power in Russia and built a new league of oligarchs. Through exclusive interviews with key inside players, Belton tells how Putin's people conducted their relentless seizure of private companies, took over the economy, siphoned billions, blurred the lines between organised crime and political powers, shut down opponents, and then used their riches and power to extend influence in the West. In a story that ranges from Moscow to London, Switzerland and Trump's America, Putin's People is a gripping and terrifying account of how hopes for the new Russia went astray, with stark consequences for its inhabitants and, increasingly, the world.
Subjects: Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952-; Soviet Union. Komitet gosudarstvennoĭ bezopasnosti.; Presidents;

The history of philosophy / by Grayling, A. C.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references (pages [599]-610) and index."The first authoritative and accessible single-volume history of philosophy to cover both Western and Eastern traditions, from one of the world's most eminent thinkers The story of philosophy is the story of who we are and why. An epic tale, spanning civilizations and continents, it explores some of the most creative minds in history. But not since the long-popular classic Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy, published in 1945, has there been a comprehensive and entertaining single-volume history of this great, intellectual, world-shaping journey. With characteristic clarity and elegance, A. C. Grayling takes the reader from the worldviews and moralities before the age of the Buddha, Confucius and Socrates through Christianity's capture of the European mind, from the Renaissance and Enlightenment on to Mill, Nietzsche, Sartre and, finally, philosophy today. Bringing together these many threads that all too often run parallel, he surveys in tandem the great philosophical traditions of India, China and the Persian-Arabic world"--
Subjects: Philosophy;

The library : a catalogue of wonders / by Kells, Stuart,author.;
From the Bodleian, the Folger and the Smithsonian to the fabled libraries of Middle Earth and other fictional libraries, Kells explores the bookish places that capture our imaginations. The result is a fascinating and engaging exploration of libraries as places of beauty and wonder, a celebration of books as objects and an account of the deeply personal nature of these hallowed spaces.
Subjects: Books and reading.; Libraries; Libraries;

There was a party for Langston / by Reynolds, Jason,author,narrator.; Pumphrey, Jerome,illustrator.; Pumphrey, Jarrett,illustrator.; Container of (expression):Reynolds, Jason.There was a party for Langston.Spoken word (Reynolds);
Read by Jason Reynolds."New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds's debut picture book is a snappy, joyous ode to Word King, literary genius, and glass-ceiling smasher Langston Hughes and the luminaries he inspired. Back in the day, there was a heckuva party, a jam, for a word-making man. The King of Letters. Langston Hughes. His ABCs became drums, bumping jumping thumping like a heart the size of the whole country. They sent some people yelling and others, his word-children, to write their own glory. Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, and more came be-bopping to recite poems at their hero's feet at that heckuva party at the Schomberg Library, dancing boom da boom, stepping and stomping, all in praise and love for Langston, world-mending word man. Oh, yeah, there was hoopla in Harlem, for its Renaissance man. A party for Langston.".Ages 4-8.P-3.
Subjects: Picture books.; Biographical fiction.; Children's audiobooks.; Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967; Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967; Book plus audio.; Dyslexia-friendly books.; Poets; African Americans; Parties; Libraries; JUVENILE FICTION / Imagination & Play; JUVENILE FICTION / Holidays & Celebrations / Other, Non-Religious; Poets; African Americans; Libraries; VOX books.;

Fearfully and wonderfully made : the astonishing new science of the senses / by Seaberg, Maureen Ann,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In 2016, scientists proved that humans could see light at the level of a single photon. We are living in historic times when humans may look at the very fabric of the universe in a laboratory setting. Around the world, other recent discoveries about the senses are just as astounding. It turns out we can hear amplitudes smaller than an atom, smell a trillion scents, have a set of taste buds that can discern molecules of fresh water, and can feel through the sense of touch the difference of a single molecule. Fearfully and Wonderfully Made takes readers through their own bodies, delving into the molecular and even the quantum, and tells the story of our magnificent sensorium and what it means for the next wave of human potential. From the laboratories to the ordinary homes where these breakthroughs are taking place, the book explores our current sensory Renaissance and shows readers how they, themselves, can heighten their own senses and experience the miraculous"--
Subjects: Perception.; Senses and sensation.;

Descartes : the life of René Descartes and its place in his times / by Grayling, A. C.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Scientist, mathematician, traveller, soldier--and spy--René Descartes has been called the 'father of modern philosophy'. Born in 1596 into an era still dominated by the medieval mindset, he was one of the chief actors in the riveting drama that ushered in the modern world. His life coincided with an extraordinarily significant time in history--the first half of the miraculous seventeenth century, replete with genius in the arts and sciences, and wracked by civil and international conflicts across Europe. Before his death in 1650 Descartes made immense contributions to an exceptionally wide range of fields and disciplines, and his assertion 'Cogito, ergo sum' ('I think, therefore I am') has become one of the most famous maxims in all philosophy. He was the very archetype of a 'Renaissance man', and yet surprisingly little is known about him. Drawing on new research and his own insights as one of our leading philosophers, A. C. Grayling presents a stunningly accessible and fascinating portrait of the man and the remarkable era in which he lived.
Subjects: Biographies.; Descartes, René, 1596-1650.; Philosophers;

The king's pleasure : a novel of Henry VIII / by Weir, Alison,1951-author.;
"Young Henry began his rule as a magnificent and chivalrous Renaissance prince who embodied every virtue. He had all the qualities to make a triumph of his kingship, yet we remember only the violence. Henry famously broke with the Pope, founding the Church of England and launching a religious revolution that divided his kingdom. He beheaded two of his wives and cast aside two others. He died a suspicious, obese, disease-riddled tyrant, old before his time. His reign is remembered as one of dangerous intrigue and bloodshed--and yet the truth is far more complex. The King's Pleasure brings to life the idealistic monarch who expanded Parliament, founded the Royal Navy, modernized medical training, composed music and poetry, and patronized the arts. A passionate man in search of true love, he was stymied by the imperative to produce a male heir, as much a victim of circumstance as his unhappy wives. Had fate been kinder to him, the history of England would have been very different. Here is the story of the private man. To his contemporaries, he was a great king, a legend in his own lifetime. And he left an extraordinary legacy--a modern Britain"--
Subjects: Biographical fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547;

Before we were trans : a new history of gender / by Heyam, Kit,1990-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Across the world today, people of all ages are doing fascinating, creative, messy things with gender. These people have a rich history-but one that is often left behind by narratives of trans lives that focus on people with stable, binary, uncomplicated gender identities. As a result, these stories tend to be recent, binary, stereotyped, medicalised and white. Before We Were Trans is a new and different story of gender, that seeks not to be comprehensive or definitive, but-by blending culture, feminism and politics-to widen the scope of what we think of as trans history by telling the stories of people across the globe whose experience of gender has been transgressive, or not characterised by stability or binary categories. Transporting us from Renaissance Venice to seventeenth-century Angola, from Edo Japan to North America, the stories this book tells leave questions and resist conclusions. They are fraught with ambiguity, and defy modern Western terminology and categories-not least the category of 'trans' itself. But telling them provides a history that reflects the richness of modern trans reality more closely than any previously written. Before We Were Trans is a history and celebration of gender in all its fluidity, ambiguity and complexity.
Subjects: Gender nonconformity; Sexual minorities; Transgender people;

How to build a fashion icon : notes on confidence from the world's only image architect / by Roach, Law,author.;
"Law Roach is the mastermind behind looks that have broken the Internet time and again - from Zendaya at the Met Gala to Anya Taylor-Joy at the Golden Globes, from Lewis Hamilton's iconic streetwear to Céline Dion's style renaissance. Nobody knows better than Law how to turn an outfit into a moment of fashion history. In a little over a decade, he's gone from industry outsider to the most buzzed-about name in style, having been honored, for the second year in a row, with the Hollywood Reporter's prestigious Stylist of the Year award. Now, for the first time ever, Law shares the secrets of his approach. With How to Build a Fashion Icon, he takes readers behind the scenes of his process and journey, revealing his tips, tricks, and most memorable styling moments to show readers how to live their most iconic and fashionable lives. Part self-help guide, part manifesto, this book will guide readers step-by-step through that process, and along the way, Law will weave in personal anecdotes - from his childhood in the Southside of Chicago to the first time he styled Zendaya - with practical exercises to help readers cultivate the most essential feature of iconic style: confidence"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Roach, Law.; Costume designers; Fashion designers; Fashion;

Results 51 to 60 of 83 | « previous |