The Way We Lived Then


Book Description

Adrienne Fox is a retired musician who began her literary career reviewing concerts. This is her fifth novel. The other novels are the following: The Retirement, Starstruck, Tit for Tat, and IQ. Adrienne Fox writes about life in Britain from 19411963, when old traditions came head-to-head with new ideas as wartime austerity gave way to the Swinging Sixties. She colorfully describes growing up in a constant conflict of the morals, views, and opinions at a time when material goods were in short supply, conversation took the place of electronic entertainment, and serious communication was restricted to letter writing. Through wry humor, she tells of her efforts to understand family conflicts and of her own ill-formed ambitions. Desperately wanting to please in order to keep the peace but frequently appearing to fall short, Cant do right for doing wrong aptly describes periods of her progress. Her story paints a tragic-comic picture of the incidents and attitudes within the time frame beginning in a northern industrial town, where the ration books vied with the hymn books in the family home, to college life in London and trying to find a job.




The Way We Lived Then


Book Description

This title was first published in 2000: The Way We Lived Then is a detailed study of a nineteenth-century community. It is based on the life histories of all the inhabitants of the parish of Colyton in Devon, covering the period from 1851 to 1891. The book gives a brief history of Colyton, which was mentioned in the Domesday book, and which suffered raids by soldiers, house searches, looting and even executions during the Civil War and the Monmouth rebellion, events which strengthened the townspeople's leaning towards Protestantism. The central section of the book is concerned with the lifestyle of the whole population from childhood to old age. Working childhoods, educational provision, pre-marital pregnancies, shifting populations and the care of the elderly are some of the issues dealt with. Finally the book covers community issues such as the relief of poverty, health care provision for the poor, and law and order. General readers will delight in an account of the whole community of a market town. Jean Robin's research and insight combine into a narrative which is authoritative yet accessible, replacing Victorian stereotypes with human beings, connecting real people and local events with each other and with the changing world outside. Jacket Copy: Historians will value this detailed study of a nineteenth-century community for its integration of many sources and techniques. It is based on the life histories of all the inhabitants of Colyton in Devon, covering the period from 1851 to the end of the century. Its depth and complexity are unique - multi-record linkage reconstitutes family histories; archival research illuminates civil administration, welfare and education; electoral and land registers are used to reveal social structure; and newspaper and other minor sources complete a unique portrait of a world we had thought had been lost to experience. Jean Robin’s research and insight combine into a narrative which is authoritative yet accessible, replacing Victorian stereotypes with human beings.




The Way We Lived Then


Book Description

Mesmerizing, revelatory text combines with more than two hundred photographs -- most of them taken by the author -- in a startling illustrated memoir that will both astonish and move you. When Dominick Dunne lived and worked in Hollywood, he had it all: a beautiful family, a glamorous career, and the friendship of the talented and powerful. He also had a camera and loved to take pictures. These photographs, which Dunne carefully preserved in more than a dozen leatherbound scrapbooks -- along with invitations, telegrams, personal notes, and other memorabilia -- record the parties, the glittering receptions, the society weddings, and scenes from the everyday lives of the Dunnes and those they knew, including Jane Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, Roddy McDowall, Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood, Brooke Hayward, Jennifer Jones, and David Selznick. You'll meet them all in this fascinating book -- captured in snapshots as these celebrities relax at poolside barbecues, gossip at cozy get-togethers and dance at the Dunnes' dazzling black-and-white ball. And you will meet Dominick Dunne's beautiful wife, Lenny, and his children, Griffin, Alex, and Dominique, as they celebrate Christmases, birthdays, and graduations. But, most of all, you will meet Dominick Dunne and learn about the peaks and valleys of his years in Hollywood, the disastrous turn his life took, and the long road back that led to his triumphant career as a writer. With its engaging photographs and candid text, The Way We Lived Then is a riveting and unvarnished account of a life among the stars and a life almost lost.










The Vital Question


Book Description

A game-changing book on the origins of life, called the most important scientific discovery 'since the Copernican revolution' in The Observer.




What's Mine Is Yours


Book Description

“Amidst a thousand tirades against the excesses and waste of consumer society, What’s Mine Is Yours offers us something genuinely new and invigorating: a way out.” —Steven Johnson, author of The Invention of Air and The Ghost Map A groundbreaking and original book, What’s Mine is Yours articulates for the first time the roots of "collaborative consumption," Rachel Botsman and Roo Roger's timely new coinage for the technology-based peer communities that are transforming the traditional landscape of business, consumerism, and the way we live. Readers captivated by Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail, Van Jones’ The Green Collar Economy or Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point will be wowed by this landmark contribution to the evolving ecology of commerce and sustainability.




A Season in Purgatory


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER They were the family with everything. Money. Influence. Glamour. Power. The power to halt a police investigation in its tracks. The power to spin a story, concoct a lie, and believe it was the truth. The power to murder without guilt, without shame, and without ever paying the price. They were the Bradleys, America's royalty. But an outsider refuses to play his part. And now, the day of reckoning has arrived. Praise for A Season in Purgatory “Highly entertaining.”—Entertainment Weekly “Stunning.”—Liz Smith “Compelling.”—New York Daily News “Mesmerizing.”—The New York Times “Potent characterization and deftly crafted plotting.”—Publishers Weekly




Daring Greatly


Book Description

Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision in Daring Greatly that encourages us to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly and courageously. 'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly' -Theodore Roosevelt Every time we are introduced to someone new, try to be creative, or start a difficult conversation, we take a risk. We feel uncertain and exposed. We feel vulnerable. Most of us try to fight those feelings - we strive to appear perfect. Challenging everything we think we know about vulnerability, Dr. Brené Brown dispels the widely accepted myth that it's a weakness. She argues that vulnerability is in fact a strength, and when we shut ourselves off from revealing our true selves we grow distanced from the things that bring purpose and meaning to our lives. Daring Greatly is the culmination of 12 years of groundbreaking social research, across the home, relationships, work, and parenting. It is an invitation to be courageous; to show up and let ourselves be seen, even when there are no guarantees. This is vulnerability. This is daring greatly. 'Brilliantly insightful. I can't stop thinking about this book' -Gretchen Rubin Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Her groundbreaking work was featured on Oprah Winfrey's Super Soul Sunday, NPR, and CNN. Her TED talk is one of the most watched TED talks of all time. Brené is also the author of The Gifts of Imperfection and I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't).




The Land We Live in


Book Description