Böcker av Liam Fitzgerald

Jack Cleary, once indifferent to corruption, is thrust into its heart upon joining the Sydney police and being assigned to the infamous Park Lane Police Station. Lurking in the shadows are the Black Knights, a covert group seeking to ensnare Jack in their web of deceit. When he's caught between a Chinese gang war and the enigmatic brothel owner, Madam Liu, who desires to wield him for her empire's gain, the stakes are sky-high. As Sydney is rocked by gunfights and power plays for control of its underworld, can Jack resist the allure of corruption and treachery? Adding another layer of complexity is the ambitious rookie TV reporter, Jodi Myers. She's not above using her allure to get close to Jack, hoping for exclusive stories to propel her career. But when she takes on the formidable Black Knights, her life hangs in the balance. Torn between loyalty to the force and saving Jodi, Jack faces an agonizing choice. Where does true loyalty lie, and at what cost? From the very first page, this riveting crime thriller plunges you into the dark underbelly of corruption, making you question everything you thought you knew.

This is the story of Liam FitzGerald, who as a young man in the late-1960's, more or less stumbled into the exciting and often hazardous life of an avalanche worker. His attraction to this line of work led him to Little Cottonwood Canyon, in Utah's Wasatch Mountains, the birthplace of Avalanche Control and Forecasting in North America.There he landed a job as a Ski Patroller at the soon to open super-resort of Snowbird, a new generation ski area that would soon become synonymous with deep snow and steep terrain, just as the ski industry in the U.S. was really about to take off.Following a rough start to the resort's inaugural season, Liam was abruptly elevated to the position of Snow Safety Director, the person responsible for the avalanche program at the fledging ski area, after the first few weeks of operation. He found himself in an environment notorious for large and deadly avalanches that threatened not only the skiers flocking to the resort's snow covered slopes, but also to motorists traveling along the canyon highway, guests staying at the hotels and lodges, and local residents who called the canyon home. As he would quickly come to understand, in Little Cottonwood Canyon, avalanches can often be the most important thing in everyone's life.Ready or not, he was thrown into the fray, and quickly realized he had a lot to learn in a short period of time.For nearly fifty years Liam negotiated a capricious landscape of snow and avalanches, aware of his considerable responsibility, learning as he went; in an era that not only witnessed explosive growth in the ski industry, but also in the number of people willingly putting themselves at risk with their voracious attraction to deep snow and steep terrain. But it was also an era of tremendous advancement in the field of avalanche research, avalanche forecasting and avalanche control, when the level of knowledge and understanding of snow and avalanches increased exponentially. This was an exciting time to be an "avalanche-guy" and Little Cottonwood Canyon was arguably one of the best places in the world to follow that pursuit.This is a story about learning from one's mistakes, about friendship and camaraderie, about exciting times, interspaced with moments of fear, and on occasion- sorrow. But above all, it's a story of a rather regular person who was lucky enough to have a unique job in a very special place.

Essays showing how the stuff of Norman Sicily, its mosaics, frescoes, art and architecture, was used to construct its history.Material culture played a crucial role in developing the cultural narrative of Norman Sicily. The essays in this book consider how images, designs, artifacts, structures and objects were used to help create the story of the medieval kingdom, and what they reveal about the complex political and social dynamics that underpinned the so-called "e;multicultural"e; state. Arguing that a visual language developed in medieval Sicily and southern Italy in this period,the contributions journey through both familiar and unexplored aspects of Siculo-Norman art, in particular those areas which have only been made possible with recent advances in technology and international academic collaboration.Topics addressed include manuscripts and mosaics, textile diplomacy, the drama of coins and trade, new readings of old buildings, and the insights of archaeological excavations into everyday life. All of the ideas presented in this volume converge on the central theme of how material culture helped to develop story and society in the medieval kingdom of Sicily. EMILY A. WINKLER is a Fellow of St Edmund Hall and member of the History Faculty atthe University Oxford; LIAM FITZGERALD is a PhD student at King's College London; ANDREW SMALL is a DPhil student at Exeter College, University of Oxford. Contributors: Martin Carver, Emma Edwards, Liam Fitzgerald, Katherine Jacka, Alessandra Molinari, Lisa Reilly, Fabio Scirea, Margherita Tabanelli, William Tronzo, Sarah Whitten, Emily A. Winkler.