Kent Anderson's stunning debut novel is a modern classic, a harrowing, authentic picture of one American soldier's experience of the Vietnam War--"unlike anything else in war literature" (Los Angeles Review of Books). Hanson joins the Green Berets fresh out of college. Carrying a volume of Yeats's poems in his uniform pocket, he has no idea of what he's about to face in Vietnam--from the enemy, from his fellow soldiers, or within himself. In vivid, nightmarish, and finely etched prose, Kent Anderson takes us through Hanson's two tours of duty and a bitter, ill-fated return to civilian life in-between, capturing the day-to-day process of war like no writer before or since.
It's been eight months since the events of Blackmoore, and now Trevor Blackmoore, Braxton Volaverunt, Cheri Hannifin, and Braxton's best friend J.T. Oliver are embarking on a new chapter of their lives in the great northwest metropolis of Seattle. Trevor and Cheri are beginning their freshman year at the University of Washington, and Braxton and J.T.'s band are heading into the studio to complete their first album with Arcadia Records. Kathryn Blackmoore, Trevor's mother, and the seductive stone fox of the family and president of Blackmoore World Corp. is finding uneasy freedom as a woman in her late forties finally free of the curse of the Blackmoores and rediscovering what it means to be a woman finally without obligation to anyone but herself. Now fully aware of their shared lineage and the growing threat of the Dark God of the Wood-whose name has been lost to time-and the faithful human and supernatural disciples who are poised to attack, the two young men find that their love-which is bound in blood and prophecy-is the only thing they have to rely on to keep them safe. As Trevor and Braxton exit Bellingham, leaving the ruins of the Volaverunt home in their wake, two other Blackmoores fill their place. Francesca Blackmoore, the beautiful and exotic cousin from Italy, who stayed behind after the chaos and terror of Christmas Eve, and Mary-Margaret Blackmoore from Ireland, an accomplished and world renowned solo violinist who has come to Bellingham to teach Music Theory at Fairhaven University and who reluctantly takes up residence with her cousin and Trevor's great aunt Mabel Blackmoore-also known as Queen Mab-who resides in her great Victorian mansion with the youthful and mysterious violin playing spirit Michael Donovan. A tapestry of deceit, family loyalties, tragic love, and lives lost too soon begins to unfold as two newcomers enter Trevor and Mary-Margaret's lives. When the tight-knit clan of witches is struck with a terrible and inexplicable tragedy, Mary-Margaret is pulled deeper and deeper into the hypnotic world of the sullen but loyal ghost Michael Donovan-revealing the key to the very plot that may destroy them all. Spanning more than a hundred years, Symphony for the Devil goes from present to past and back again, revealing new truths and pulling back the earth to expose the great roots of the Blackmoores and their world, and we learn that it's not just one tree, but a great forest-a forest that has only just begun to reveal all that's hidden within its shadows.
The Devil is known by many names: Serpent, Tempter, Beast, Adversary, Wanderer, Dragon, Rebel. His traps and machinations are the stuff of legends. His faces are legion. No matter what face the devil wears, Sympathy for the Devil.
The art of negotiation—from one of the country’s most eminent practitioners and the Chair of the Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. One of the country’s most eminent practitioners of the art and science of negotiation offers practical advice for the most challenging conflicts—when you are facing an adversary you don’t trust, who may harm you, or who you may even feel is evil. This lively, informative, emotionally compelling book identifies the tools one needs to make wise decisions about life’s most challenging conflicts.
Unravels the never-ending fascination exercised by the film and provides a clear guide to the film's contexts, cinematography, and possible interpretations, covering the political and social contexts.
In the days before his fortieth birthday, London-based journalist Jasper Rees trades his pen for a French horn that has been gathering dust in the attic for more than twenty-two years, and, on a lark, plays it at the annual festival of the British Horn Society. Despite an embarrassingly poor performance, the experience inspires Rees to embark on a daunting, bizarre, and ultimately winning journey: to return to the festival in one year's time and play a Mozart concerto—solo—to a large paying audience. A Devil to Play is the true story of an unlikely midlife crisis spent conquering sixteen feet of wrapped brass tubing widely regarded as the most difficult instrument to master, as well as the most treacherous to play in public. It is the history of man's first musical instrument, a compelling journey that moves from the walls of Jericho to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, from the hunting fields of France to the heart of Hollywood. And it is the account of one man's mounting musical obsession, told with pitch-perfect wit and an undeniable charm—an endearing, inspiring tale of perseverance and achievement, relayed masterfully, one side-splittingly off-key note at a time.
Who knew that Paul McCartney originally referred to Yesterday as 'Scrambled Eggs' because he couldn't think of any lyrics for his heart-breaking tune? Or that Patti LaBelle didn't know what 'Voulez-vous couches avec moi ce soir?' actually meant? These and countless other fascinating back stories of some of our best-known and best-loved songs fill this book, a collection of the highly successful weekly The Life of a Song columns that appear in the FT Weekend every Saturday. Each 600-word piece gives a mini-biography of a single song, from its earliest form (often a spiritual, or a jazz number), through the various covers and changes, often morphing from one genre to another, always focusing on the 'biography' of the song itself while including the many famous artists who have performed or recorded it. The selection covers a wide spectrum of the songs we all know and love - rock, pop, folk, jazz and more. Each piece is pithy, sparkily written, knowledgeable, entertaining, full of anecdotes and surprises. They combine deep musical knowledge with the vivid background of the performers and musicians, and of course the often intriguing social and political background against which the songs were created.
