The evolution of the battleship through centuries of war, told by a nautical expert and author of The Mighty Hood. During its reign from the sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth, the battleship was the most powerful weapon of war known to man. Strategically, it determined a war's outcome. Tactically, it dominated every sea battle. But at the Battle of Taranto in 1940 and the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, carrier-borne aircraft made a decisive display of superiority over the once-mighty battleship. Thus World War II heralded the end of the era of The Great Ship. In The Great Ship, noted naval historian Ernle Bradford traces the evolution of battleships through centuries of conflict and innovation. Selecting one or two ships from each period, Bradford illustrates their use in action and the significant roles they played in the course of history.
A ';spooky[,] spine-tingling' time travel adventure that takes a boy and his eccentric professor friend to the mysterious Byzantine Empire (Publishers Weekly)... [Description] Johnny Dixon is worried about Professor Childermass. The professor has always been an odd duck, but lately his behavior has been positively bizarre. He's been talking to himself and stalking down the street with his collar turned up and his hat over his eyes, and now he won't return Johnny's calls. Johnny's afraid that the professor's old age is starting to get to him, but he will soon find it's something far more amazingand far more dangerous. The professor has discovered a trolley that can carry them five hundred years back in time, to the last days of the Byzantine Empire. In the dark and winding streets of Constantinople, he and Johnny confront crusaders, mystics, and thieves as they attempt to save the ancient empire from destruction at the hands of the advancing Turkish armies. Created by the award-winning author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, Johnny Dixon is one of the most charming young heroes in literaturea spunky, bespectacled young man whose curiosity often gets him into troubleand his ';wonderfully warming friendship with cantankerous old Professor Childermass makes them an endearing detective team' (The New York Times).
A young hero and his professor friend set out to save a priest from a ghost, in this novel by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls Aside from the eccentric Professor Childermass, young sleuth Johnny Dixon's best friend may be Father Higgins, the kindly priest at the local church. When Higgins is transferred to the congregation in the tiny town of Rocks Village, Johnny and the professor are afraid they won't see their old friend ever again. But they'll be reuniting with Father Higgins sooner than they thinkand the thing that brings them together will be positively out of this world. No sooner has Father Higgins moved than he begins seeing a ghost lurking around the church. The apparition is a young girl who never speaks, but has a habit of leaving cryptic notes around Higgins's house. When Higgins disappears, Johnny and the professor follow his trail, embarking on a haunting quest that will lead them all the way to England. In The Secret of the Underground Room, this multimillion-selling, Edgar Awardwinning author offers a good old-fashioned ghost story packed with adventure and suspense.
A cardiac technician takes you to the front lines of emergency medicinefrom tragic car accidents to gunshot woundsin this ';fast-moving' memoir (Booklist). This book takes the reader to the front lines of medicine, from a serious automobile accident on a dark country road to a woman in cardiac arrest to a young man with near fatal gunshot wounds. For these patients and countless others, treatment cannot wait until they are wheeled into a distant emergency room. If lives are to be salvaged, care must begin with the life saving skills of Emergency Medical Technicians. ';I could never work on a rescue squad,' is a statement the author has heard over and over throughout her years of squad service and readily admits it once described her own feelings. ';If I can do it, so can you,' is her response to those whose fear and self doubt hold them back. ';Anything is possible.'EMT: Beyond the Lights and Sirensis more than a personal account of Pat Ivey's rescue squad experiences. It is a story of courage and hope and letting go of past losses. It is a book for anyone who has ever struggled to go beyond who they are. Step aboard the ambulance. Witness the tender moments amidst tragedy. Experience the joy and the anguish, and share the tears and laughter of volunteer rescue squad personnel who respond around the clock to the cries of others. In this heartwarming and compelling book, Pat Ivey takes the reader beyond the lights and sirens on a journey they will never forget.
Kati used the light of creation to win a war, and now, as empress, she must forge new alliances with former enemies. When her daughter, Yesui, is born with powers exceeding her own, Kati discovers that raising a super-being is no simple task. Yesui, a willful prankster, enjoys torturing her baby brother, Mengjai, who also turns out to be much more than he seems. But Yesui is the true Empress of Light and is later called upon to save a dying gaseous planet by adding mass to its core. There she falls in love with a gentle empath and must help in resisting a coup that endangers his family. Along the way, she discovers beings with powers even greater than her own, and learns that death is only a transformation to something new.
Edward Kennedy ';Duke' Ellington was one of jazz's greatest innovators. Join Bill Gutman as he explores the fascinating life of this legend from his birth at the turn of the century to his death at the age of seventy five. Interviewing Duke's friends, fans, and fellow musicians, Gutman documents the progress of a man who dedicated his life to crafting the ever changing sound of jazz. Gutman plunges into the history of jazz from its origin in the honky tonk sounds of the Ragtime Era to the forms that are widely enjoyed today. Jazz has evolved through the years to become one of the most popular forms of music, with Duke Ellington as chief composer, artist, and perfomer. Gutman's account of Ellington's life as it parallels the history of jazz provides a fascinating history for both jazz veterans and those new to the art form.
';Let me make clear from the outset, I detest adventure. It's tasteless, showy, vulgar, and uncalled for.' So begins this delicious thriller about a gay interior decorator who joins his super-wealthy clients for a Caribbean cruise, only to find himself shanghaied by pirates. Bound hand and foot and tossed unceremoniously into a quaint, Paul Gauguin sort of hut picturesquely thatched with banana leaves, Gregory fears he will be boiled la langouste and served without so much as a creative sauce. But one night, as he lies in the dark with his face in the dirt, he hears a digging, snooting sound coming from the ground outside . . . Enter the most endearing sidekick in fiction, the brave pig Savarin. High adventure is turned on its head in this affectionate satire of yuppie values. ';It is as if Oscar Wilde had been parachuted into the jungle,' says theNew York Times. ';You will find yourself picking out and stowing away your favorite lines. There are enough twists in the story to make a yogi sore. Under the spell of Gundy's droll and accomplished prose you will end up smiling through the whole thing.'
';Her mouth went dry. From one standpoint, the job wasn't much, but from another, it was like salvation. In her state of confusion and fatigue, the job seemed heaven sent, and Lou like an angel. He watched her carefully. ';Frankly,' he went on, ';if you want to sell your talent and your time, you must be aware I'm interested in more than your literary skills.' He had paused for a long moment and then added, ';Perhaps we can continue this interview at my apartment later.' Her face flushed. Not only because of the openness of his request, but because she felt a strange tingle of excitement.'Who is this man? Is he the face of the devil, or the taunt of temptation?
The Shanji Trilogy, which began withShanjiandEmpress of Light, comes to its stunning conclusion with this tale of three generations of Creators. Kati, the light-wielding genetic changeling who saved her planet and became its empress, is now threatened with assassination. Yesui, Kati's daughter who came to control mass as well as light, faces revolution and learns the uses of diplomacy. And Bao and Shaan, Yesui's twin daughters, take the lineage to its limit. Leaving their universe behind, they spin forth a radiant new creation.
Divorce therapist Mel Krantzler approaches the subject of divorce from a unique perspective and offers an optimistic outlook and hopeful opportunities for personal growth to those struggling to recognize and renew their individuality.Creative Divorcedraws parallels between the relationship and the life cycle, in order to help men and women cope during their period of mourning and find a new life after the death of their old one. Krantzler addresses the myriad emotions that the divorce crisis stirs up in both men and women such as guilt, rejection, loneliness, and anger, and teaches how to allow divorce to be the catalyst for positive transformations in your life. There is a website with material related to the book atnewcreativedivorce.com,where Mel Krantzler can be contacted for further consultation.
';They had their words and their deeds; and the relationship between the two functions of their being formed the pattern of the lives. They sought the eternal through the passage of time, and searched for love in the rubric of sex. They huddled beneath their private solutions to the vast problems of their age until they saw that history was a director that used them ruthlessly and without asking permission to include them in its its play.'I must not succumb . . . she thought.
In a thrilling adventure, a young sleuth and his professor friend are challenged to solve a riddle and win a fortune Professor Roderick Childermass may be the strangest person Johnny Dixon has ever met, but compared to his brother Peregrine, the professor is practically normal. Peregrine is a born trickster, and when he knows his death is near, he sends a letter promising the professor his entire $10,000,000 estateassuming he can solve one final riddle. The professor feels that his brother is mocking him from beyond the grave. If Peregrine were alive, he says, he'd kill him. To crack the puzzle and claim the fortune, Johnny and the professor head north to the wild countryside of far-off Maine. They'll find that the riddle is the least of their problems. To inherit the money, the professor must stay alive until the end of the summer, and since everyone in Maine seems to want Peregrine's heir dead, survival will be no easy task. From the author of the Lewis Barnavelt novels, including The House with a Clock in Its Walls, the Johnny Dixon series is full of fun, adventure, and supernatural chills, along with ';believable and likable characters' who are a delight to spend time with (The New York Times).
The thrilling true story of the daring double agents who thwarted Hitler's spy machine in Britain and turned the tide of World War II. After the fall of France in the mid-1940s, Adolf Hitler faced a British Empire that refused to negotiate for peace. With total war looming, he ordered the Abwehr, Germany's defense and intelligence organization, to carry out Operation Lenaa program to place information-gathering spies within Britain. Quickly, a network of secret agents spread within the United Kingdom and across the British Empire. A master of disguises, a professional safecracker, a scrubwoman, a diplomat's daughterthey all reported news of the Allied defenses and strategies back to their German spymasters. One Yugoslav playboy codenamed ';Tricycle' infiltrated the highest echelon of British society and is said to have been one of Ian Fleming's models for James Bond. The stunning truth, though, was that every last one of these German spies had been captured and turned by the British. As double agents, they sent a canny mix of truth and misinformation back to Hitler, all carefully controlled by the Allies. As one British report put it: ';By means of the double agent system, we actually ran and controlled the German espionage system in this country.' In The Spies Who Never Were, World War II veteran cryptographer Hervie Haufler reveals the real stories of these double agents and their deceptions. This ';fascinating account' lays out both the worldwide machinations and the personal clashes that went into the greatest deception in the history of warfare (Booklist).
In this ';psychological mind bender,' a Kafkaesque crisis of identity transports a famous actor from 1980s Hollywood to Nazi Germany (The Washington Post). At forty-five, Hollywood film star David Caspian should be basking in his success. Instead, his career is souring as he stresses over the next generation of actors eager to replace him. Losing himself in waking fantasies, David slips through a crack in time, awakening in the back alleys of Hitler's Berlin. He is no longer David Caspian. He has become Felix, a ruthless black marketeer. With the Gestapo closing in on him, David races against timeand spaceas he fights to take control of Felix before Felix takes control of him. Witty, macabre, and utterly thrilling, The Exile is a mesmerizing novel that will leave readers wondering where reality ends and fiction begins. People wrote that when William Kotzwinkle ';is the author, readers can be sure only that the book in question will be different from everything else.' But even among the award-winning author's work, this bracing satire stands out for the sweep of its vision, full of ';comedy, despair, horror and technical storytelling delight' (The New York Times Book Review). ';The book becomes glued to the reader's hands as the devastating climactic scenes pile one on another. ... Powerful writing.' The Washington Post Book World
From Mel Krantzler, a licensed marriage and family counselor, the nationally acclaimed, bestselling author ofCreative Divorce, and director of the Creative Divorce/Learning to Love Again Counseling Centers, comes another insightful, helpful, and energizing book that brings hope to those emotionally devastated by the loss of a love. What happens next? Just when you thought it would never happen again, love comes back into your life. You can survive the explosive realities that losing love brings, but how do you know when, and if, you are ready for love again? Are you having trouble finding the ';right' man or woman? Are you afraid of making another ';mistake'? Do you keep getting involved in short-term relationships? Are you beginning to think that finding love is a matter of luck? Mel Krantzler has led ongoing seminars on the subject of finding love, andLearning to Love Againprovides clear guidelines and challenging steps that lead from loneliness to love: The Remembered-Pain Stageabsorbing a blow from the past The Questing-Experimental Stagesurveying the possibilities The Selective-Distancing Stagea cautious step forward The Creative-Commitment Stagewhere enduring love begins Mel Krantzler draws on the real stories of real people who are learning to love again, to live together, to marry, to be step-parents, and to build satisfying new lives. He shares his experiences in applying the principles of creative commitment to his own remarriage.Learning to Love Againis the best guide for married, single, or divorced men and women. Here is how you can create a new beginning by learning to love again today!
An innocent long-distance correspondence leads to complications in this Regency romance by the New York Timesbestselling author of For My Lady's Heart. Married to an elderly man, Folie Hamilton finds her lonely days brightened by light-hearted letters from her husband's cousin, Lt. Robert Cambourne, stationed in Calcutta for the British East India Company. Robert calls her his princess, and she dubs him her knight errant. Unbidden love blossoms, yet upon the death of her husband, Robert's last letter shatters her heart with three words: I am married. Four years later, Robert summons Folie and her stepdaughter to his estate in England. The girl is his ward, so they must go. The man who greets them, however, is nothing like the charming lieutenant of his letters. This Robert is demented. Screaming at ghosts in demonic rage, he is paranoid and frightening. Yet her body longs to caress his perfect features, to hold his tall, angular body, to find the man who once captured her heart ... Someone is poisoning him, spinning his brain into madness, of that Robert is sure, but whoand why? Haunted by his dead wife, the one thing his tortured mind understands is that he must keep Folie safe. Folie, with her beautiful expressive eyes, the only warmth in his nightmare world ... Nominated for a RITA award, My Sweet Folly is another unforgettable love story filled with passion and suspense from the author of Flowers From the Storm, whose work has been praised by Julia Quinn as ';unfailingly brilliant and beautiful.'
A scoundrel is transformed by the love of an innocent princess in this historical romance by the New York Timesbestselling author of Flowers from the Storm. Summoned to rule the tiny nation of Oriens, Princess Olympia St. Leger appoints the most celebrated man in England to escort her: recently retired war hero Capt. Sheridan Drake. Easily frightened, she is vastly relieved to have Captain Drake's helpuntil she discovers he's a scoundrel without a drop of honor in his body. In fact, nothing would make her happier than to forget him. Except she cannot seem to get his deep, stirring gaze out of her head ... Sheridan has no patience for hero worshipers; war is a game of survival, not gallant deeds. But Olympia, who comes to him with plump cheeks and eyes full of expectation, has money, something of which he is in great need. And though Olympia is impossibly naive, for reasons he can't fathom, she touches him in some obscure, half-forgotten place, until the thought of losing her becomes even more impossible. Set in Georgian England, Seize the Fire is another exciting tale from the author of For My Lady's Heart, whose work has been praised by Julia Quinn as ';unfailingly brilliant and beautiful.'
A lady desiring vengeance seeks a highwayman's help in this tale by an author whose novels are ';the gold standard in historical romance' (Lisa Kleypas). Lady Leigh Strachan's father governed the town of Felchesteruntil a religious zealot murdered her family and turned the village into hell on Earth. Now, there is room in her heart for only one thing: revenge. Leigh plans to kill her father's murderer once she learns to aim a pistol, slash a sword, and ride a horse. She seeks out the Prince of Midnight, a legendary highwayman exiled to France, as her choice of tutors. But the man she finds in a crumbling French castle is no hero. Half deaf and suffering from vertigo, S. T. Maitland can scarcely walk, much less wield a sword atop a dancing stallion. Yet for reasons she can't explain, she remains with him, steeling her heart against the sight of his gold-streaked hair, green eyes, and brows adorned with a devilish curl at the arch ... Women mean nothing but trouble to the highwayman, so he wishes Leigh were less alluring. Alas, she is beautiful, with a piercing gaze and a determined spirit. Despite his broken balance, the loss of his horse, and the price on his head, he vows to return to England with her. He cannot resist the challengeor the chance to sacrifice everything for love ... The New York Timesbestselling author of Flowers from the Storm and Shadowheart, Laura Kinsale writes an ';unfailingly brilliant and beautiful' romance (Julia Quinn).
A duke's well-ordered world is turned upside down when a female inventor sends his heart soaring in this Regency romance by a New York Timesbestselling author. Merlin Lambourne has invented the ';speaking box'a sort of telephonewhich is so valuable that Napoleon has killed for it. Sent by the crown to bring both inventor and invention to safety, Ransom Falconer, Duke of Damerell, is shocked to learn Mr. Lambourne is a Miss. Perhaps more shocking, however, are his feelings for the eccentric genius. She is everything he doesn't like: incapable of following orders, unaware of conventional etiquette, preoccupied, disorganized, and unkempt. Yet she beguiles him. One of the most ingenious inventors in England, she is also one of the country's greatest hopes in the defense against the power mad Napoleon Bonaparte. Now, if he could just get her mind out of the clouds and convince her to marry him ... Merlin is not absentminded, it's just that she only seems to be able to pay attention to one thing at a time. And maybe she does take everything people say literally, but people ought to say what they mean. Now this Ransom Falconer wants her to forget her current interest in flying machines and focus on the speaking box she's lost interest in finishing. It's quite disconcerting. In fact, everything about him is disconcerting; in her isolated life Merlin has never met anyone who affects her quite like Ransom does. With her trademark blend of heartwarming characters and a hilarious conflict, Midsummer Moon is yet another winner from the author of Flowers from the Storm, praised by Lisa Kleypas as ';the gold standard in historical romance.'
A princess sparks devotion in a chivalrous knight in this medieval romance by a New York Timesbestselling author who ';creates magic' (Lisa Kleypas). With Princess Melanthe di Monteverde widowed, a political marriage would tip the balance of power to any kingdom that possessed her. Determined to return to England alive and unwed, she hides behind a mask of witchery. Protecting her is Ruck d'Angleterre, a chivalrous knight who never waversand the only man Melanthe wishes could lift the veil of her disguise. He once desired her, but now his gaze reveals distrust. As they flee her enemies, Melanthe's impossible love for the Green Knight grows. Ruck has remained chaste for thirteen miserable years, since his wife entered a nunnery, continuing to honor their marital vows. In that dark hour, when the church stripped him of his spouse and his possessions, the princess secretly came to his aid with two emeralds. Her safety is his duty, yet his heart is not pure. Each time he gazes upon Melanthe's sable hair and twilight eyes, he wants more Showcasing Laura Kinsale's gift for bringing unforgettable characters to life on the page, For My Lady's Heart is yet another winner from the author of Flowers from the Storm, chosen as one of the ';Greatest Love Stories of All Time' in a poll of Washington Post and Glamour magazine readers.
In the heat of the desert, a scorching love rises between a restless viscount and a beauty in disguise in this novel by a New York Timesbestselling author. Desperate to find safety in England, Zenia, the descendent of the Queen of the Desert, dresses herself as a Bedouin boy. For protection, she agrees to guide Arden, the Lord of Winter, through the wilds of her dangerous desert homeland as he searches for a legendary Arabian mare. Consigned by her mother to live disguised, Zenia hasn't the courage to admit her sex to Arden. Yet, as they cross a merciless desert, she comes to yearn for this fearless, untamable man to know the feminine heart beating beneath her Bedouin rags. Lord Winter's loneliness and adventurous spirit have always driven him to the empty, brutal places of the Earth. With Zenia at his side, his loneliness recedes. One night of terror will bind their souls together, but when the princess escapes her homeland for the comfort and safety of England, his yearning will lead him to invade her sanctuary ... The Dream Hunter is a suspenseful, adventure-filled tale that establishes Laura Kinsale as ';the gold standard in historical romance' (Lisa Kleypas).
These are the trying, true stories of the mobile emergency medical technicians who often are the only thing standing between any one of us and death. Author Pat Ivey uses her extensive firsthand experiences, as well as an unflinching eye for drama and detail, to bring us the unheard tales of heroism and courage of the EMT units. She takes us into a hidden world of children in need, women seeking shelter from the storm of abuse, and the realities of industrial accidents. A simple car crash turns into a Herculean effort, an epic struggle against the clock and against the odds.Tragic misfortunes that usually occur silently in everyday America and the men and women who try to heal these heart pounding predicaments are put reverently on stage in this heroic, honest, and compassionate compilation of true action adventures.
A memoir from the man behind one of the greatest literary hoaxes of the twentieth century: the forged autobiography of Howard Hughes. ';Fascinating!' (Time). The ultimate caper story, novelist Clifford Irvings no-holds-barred account of the literary hoax that stunned the publishing world, is the story of his faked ';autobiography' of Howard Hughes. The Hoax was first published in Great Britain in 1997, where it became a bestseller. But no American hardcover house would touch The Hoax until now. One major publisher offered a $500,000 advance when the book was nearing completion, drew up the contract . . . then abruptly bowed out. Why? The answer is implicit in this classic tale of daring, treachery, and corruption. As fast-paced and exciting as any spy novel, it involves the reader at every devilish twist and turn. Clifford Irving tells how the hoax developed, like a Chinese puzzle, from its madcap beginning to the final startling confessiona witty and nail-biting story of international intrigue and beautiful women, of powerful corporate executives and jet-set rogues, of cover-ups and headlines. Clifford Irving, his wife, Edith, and his collaborator, Richard Suskind, went to prison for their efforts. But, as the author himself writes: ';Beyond all the naivete and stupidity, beyond the vulgarity inherent in the amount of money involvedbeyond all this a certain grandeur had rooted itself in the scheme, and I could still spy a reckless and artistic splendor to the way we had carried it out.'
A novel set during the reign of Genghis Khan and his Mongol Empire from the acclaimed author of Ghost on the Steppe, ';a master storyteller' (Houston Chronicle). Cecelia Holland's historical fiction is well known for its immersion in exotic cultures, andUntil the Sun Falls, one of her most successful books, takes the reader into the heart of the Mongol horde during the conquest of Russia and eastern Europe in the thirteenth century. Genghis Khan had told his people they were destined to rule the world, and by his death they had made an impressive start. His four sons followed him to the leadership of the enormous new empire and continued the expansion. His eldest son, Batu, launched the conquest of the WestRussia and Europe. In a few years of devastating warfare, the Mongols reached as far as Vienna, mowing down every army that dared face them, like an irresistible force of nature. Until the Sun Fallsstars a Mongol general, Psin, whose battles against the enemies of the Kha Khan sometimes seem easier than his struggles with his wives and his son. Wise, brave, and bloody-minded, Psin embodies the passions and dreams of the greatest conquerors the world has ever seen, at the height of their power.
With a young king facing death, a warrior of the Knights Templar struggles to maintain Christian control of the Holy Land in this ';masterful ... great read' (Publishers Weekly). Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomine Tuo da gloriam. ';Not to us, O Lord, but to Your Name give glory.' This motto highlights the vows of chastity and humility taken by the Knights Templar. But, it also speaks to their role as ferocious warriors, passionately and bloodily seeking out glory for their God. Set in the Holy Land in 1187 A.D., Cecelia Holland's historical novel masterfully explores the conspiracies and political maneuvers leading up to the Third Crusade. Following a stunning victory at the Battle of Ramleh, Norman Templar Rannulf Fitzwilliam must negotiate a truce with the enemy and determine the order of succession to the throne of Baudouin, the young Christian king dying of leprosy. However, Rannulf's instincts are for battle, not diplomacy. Temptation and betrayal await him around every corner. The question is not whether he can survive on the battlefield, but whether he can survive the politics and protocol of the royal court. ';Hollands masterful layering of subplots, historical detail and multiple perspectives makes for a great read.' Publisher's Weekly ';She brings as much suspense to political intrigue as to the sprawling battle scenes at which she excels.' The New York Times Book Review
In the far future, an Earth-born woman must negotiate with a fearsome mutant race: ';On a par with Ursula LeGuin or Arthur C. Clarke' (Chicago Tribune). Two thousand years into the future, runaway pollution has made the earth uninhabitable except in giant biodomes. The society is an anarchy, with disputes mediated through the Machiavellian Committee for the Revolution. Mars, Venus, and the moon support flourishing colonies of various political stripes. On the fringes of the solar system, in the gas planets, a strange, new, violent kind of human has evolved. In this unstable system, the anarchist Paula Mendoza, an agent of the Committee, works to make peace and ultimately protect her people in a catastrophic clash of worlds that destroys the order she knows.
In the early twentieth century, few women in China were to prove so important to the rise of Chinese nationalism and liberation from tradition as the three extraordinary Soong Sisters: Eling, Chingling and Mayling. As told with wit and verve by Emily Hahn, a remarkable woman in her own right, the biography of the Soong Sisters tells the story of China through both world wars. It also chronicles the changes to Shanghai as they relate to a very eccentric family that had the courage to speak out against the ruling regime. Greatly influencing the history of modern China, they interacted with their government and military to protect the lives of those who could not be heard, and they appealed to the West to support China during the Japanese invasion.
A fascinating memoir by a free-spirited New Yorker writer, whose wanderlust led her from the Belgian Congo to Shanghai and beyond. Originally published in 1970, under the titleTimes and Places, this book is a collection of twenty-three of her articles from theNew Yorker, published between 1937 and 1970. Well reviewed upon first publication, the book was re-published under the current title in 2000 with a foreword by Sheila McGrath, a longtime colleague of hers at theNew Yorker, and an introduction by Ken Cuthbertson, author ofNobody Said Not to Go: The Life, Loves and Adventures of Emily Hahn. One of the pieces in the book starts with the line, ';Though I had always wanted to be an opium addict, I can't claim that as a reason why I went to China.' Hahn was seized by a wanderlust that led her to explore nearly every corner of the world. She traveled solo to the Belgian Congo at the age of twenty-five. She was the concubine of a Chinese poet in Shanghai in the 1930swhere she did indeed become an opium addict for two years. For many years, she spent part of every year in New York City and part of her time living with her husband, Charles Boxer, in England. Through the course of these twenty-three distinct pieces, Emily Hahn gives us a glimpse of the tremendous range of her interests, the many places in the world she visited, and her extraordinary perception of the things, large and small, that are important in a life.
A candid, rollicking literary travelogue from a pioneering New Yorker writer, an intrepid heroine who documented China in the years before World War II. Deemed scandalous at the time of its publication in 1944, Emily Hahn's now classic memoir of her years in China remains remarkable for her insights into a tumultuous period and her frankness about her personal exploits. A proud feminist and fearless traveler, she set out for China in 1935 and stayed through the early years of the Second Sino-Japanese War, wandering, carousing, living, lovingand writing. Many of the pieces in China to Me were first published as the work of a roving reporter in the New Yorker. All are shot through with riveting and humanizing detail. During her travels from Nanjing to Shanghai, Chongqing, and Hong Kong, where she lived until the Japanese invasion in 1941, Hahn embarks upon an affair with lauded Chinese poet Shao Xunmei; gets a pet gibbon and names him Mr. Mills; establishes a close bond with the women who would become the subjects of her bestselling book The Soong Sisters; battles an acquired addiction to opium; and has a child with Charles Boxer, a married British intelligence officer. In this unflinching glimpse of a vanished world, Hahn examines not so much the thorny complications of political blocs and party conflict, but the ordinaryor extraordinarypeople caught up in the swells of history. At heart, China to Me is a self-portrait of a fascinating woman ahead of her time.
The indispensable account of the Ottoman Empire's Siege of Malta from the author of Hannibal and Gibraltar. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was thought to be invincible. Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan, had expanded his empire from western Asia to southeastern Europe and North Africa. To secure control of the Mediterranean between these territories and launch an offensive into western Europe, Suleiman needed the small but strategically crucial island of Malta. But Suleiman's attempt to take the island from the Holy Roman Empire's Knights of St. John would emerge as one of the most famous and brutal military defeats in history. Forty-two years earlier, Suleiman had been victorious against the Knights of St. John when he drove them out of their island fortress at Rhodes. Believing he would repeat this victory, the sultan sent an armada to Malta. When they captured Fort St. Elmo, the Ottoman forces ruthlessly took no prisoners. The Roman grand master La Vallette responded by having his Ottoman captives beheaded. Then the battle for Malta began in earnest: no quarter asked, none given. Ernle Bradford's compelling and thoroughly researched account of the Great Siege of Malta recalls not just an epic battle, but a clash of civilizations unlike anything since the time of Alexander the Great. It is ';a superior, readable treatment of an important but little-discussed epic from the Renaissance past ... An astonishing tale' (Kirkus Reviews).
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