Take a look at the world of tea from a completely new perspective and join tea merchants Michelle and Rob Comins on a fascinating journey into the lives of those who plant, pluck, and process tea. Going beyond the standard story of leaf to cup, this book offers a unique first-hand insight into the culture, ceremony, opportunities, and threats surrounding the ancient art of preparing tea. Michelle and Rob Comins offer their perspectives on how Eastern tea rituals can find a place in our increasingly busy Western lives, exploring key ingredients and ethical sourcing, and showing you how to translate and recreate tea practices at home. Chapters include The Story of Tea, The Tea Plant, The Main Types of Tea, The International Tea Industry, Tea and Health, and Time for Tea. This book stands alone in addressing tea from multiple perspectives; more than 50 global experts contribute their stories and insights. They inspire us to think of, and buy, tea in much the same way we do coffee, making loose leaf tea a simple, everyday pleasure.
Included in this collection are 21 short stories by the award willing author of Silk. Caitlin R. Kiernan has added a new voice to the world of horror and supernatural writing. Her stories consistently make it into The Years Best Fantasy and Horror and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror. Her writing is unique, thought provoking, and leads you to places that you fear, yet find fascinating.
"The Cinnamon Stick" covers the history of cinnamon. Many events in the world were changed due to cinnamon and spices. The book is in four parts and also includes suggestions on foods and art activities used in each time period.
"I am a human being; I am a woman; I am a black woman; I am an African. Once I was free; then I was captured and became a slave; but inside me, here and here, I am still a free woman." During a period of four hundred years, European slave traders ferried some 12 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. In the Americas, teaching a slave to read and write was a criminal offense. When the last slaves gained their freedom in Brazil, barely a thousand of them were literate. Hardly any stories of the enslaved and transported Africans have survived. This novel is an attempt to recreate just one of those stories, one story of a possible 12 million or more.Lawrence Hill created another in The Book of Negroes (Someone Knows my Name in the U.S.) and, more recently, Yaa Gyasi has done the same in Homegoing. Ama occupies center stage throughout this novel. As the story opens, she is sixteen. Distant drums announce the death of her grandfather. Her family departs to attend the funeral, leaving her alone to tend her ailing baby brother. It is 1775. Asante has conquered its northern neighbor and exacted an annual tribute of 500 slaves. The ruler of Dagbon dispatches a raiding party into the lands of the neighboring Bekpokpam. They capture Ama. That night, her lover, Itsho, leads an attack on the raiders’ camp. The rescue bid fails. Sent to collect water from a stream, Ama comes across Itsho’s mangled corpse. For the rest of her life she will call upon his spirit in time of need. In Kumase, the Asante capital, Ama is given as a gift to the Queen-mother. When the adolescent monarch, Osei Kwame, conceives a passion for her, the regents dispatch her to the coast for sale to the Dutch at Elmina Castle. There the governor, Pieter de Bruyn, selects her as his concubine, dressing her in the elegant clothes of his late Dutch wife and instructing the obese chaplain to teach her to read and write English. De Bruyn plans to marry Ama and take her with him to Europe. He makes a last trip to the Dutch coastal outstations and returns infected with yellow fever. On his death, his successor rapes Ama and sends her back to the female dungeon. Traumatized, her mind goes blank. She comes to her senses in the canoe which takes her and other women out to the slave ship, The Love of Liberty. Before the ship leaves the coast of Africa, Ama instigates a slave rebellion. It fails and a brutal whipping leaves her blind in one eye. The ship is becalmed in mid-Atlantic. Then a fierce storm cripples it and drives it into the port of Salvador, capital of Brazil. Ama finds herself working in the fields and the mill on a sugar estate. She is absorbed into slave society and begins to adapt, learning Portuguese. Years pass. Ama is now totally blind. Clutching the cloth which is her only material link with Africa, she reminisces, dozes, falls asleep. A short epilogue brings the story up to date. The consequences of the slave trade and slavery are still with us. Brazilians of African descent remain entrenched in the lower reaches of society, enmeshed in poverty. “This is story telling on a grand scale,” writes Tony Simões da Silva. “In Ama, Herbstein creates a work of literature that celebrates the resilience of human beings while denouncing the inscrutable nature of their cruelty. By focusing on the brutalization of Ama's body, and on the psychological scars of her experiences, Herbstein dramatizes the collective trauma of slavery through the story of a single African woman. Ama echoes the views of writers, historians and philosophers of the African diaspora who have argued that the phenomenon of slavery is inextricable from the deepest foundations of contemporary western civilization.” Ama, a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Best First Book.
"Vikings: Conquests, Commerce, and Culture" takes readers on a captivating journey through the fascinating world of the Vikings, unravelling the myths and revealing the true history behind their legacy. This book delves into the conquests, commerce, and cultural aspects of the Norse people, exploring their impact on the world. From the birth of the Norsemen to their renowned raiding expeditions along European coastlines, the book explores the origins and motivations of the Vikings. It highlights their shipbuilding expertise, enabling their conquests and exploration of new lands. The Viking trading network and their entrepreneurial spirit come to life as readers delve into the intricate web of commerce that connected the Norse to distant lands, revealing the valuable commodities and cultural exchanges that shaped their world. The book provides insights into Viking society and governance, showcasing their unique social structure, legal systems, and the influential roles of women within their communities. It unveils the artistic craftsmanship of Viking artisans, their mastery of metalwork, and the significance of runic inscriptions. Readers will embark on voyages of exploration and colonization alongside the Vikings, discovering their journeys to the New World and interactions with civilizations in the East. The military prowess and strategic warfare tactics of Viking warriors are explored, while their enduring legacies in language, mythology, and the diaspora are examined. "Vikings: Conquests, Commerce, and Culture" concludes by reflecting on the lasting impact of the Vikings on global culture and the lessons we can learn from their history. The book celebrates their enduring legacies and invites readers to delve deeper into the captivating world of the Norse. With vivid storytelling, engaging narratives, and meticulous research, this book is an enthralling exploration of the Vikings' conquests, their influential commerce, and the rich cultural tapestry that defined their civilization. It is a must-read for history enthusiasts, adventure seekers, and anyone intrigued by the extraordinary saga of the Vikings.
The relationship between politics and storytelling is one with a well-established lineage, but public policy analysis has only recently begun to develop its own appreciation of the power of narrative to explain everything from political traditions to cyberspace. This unique collection of original essays helps further that project by surveying stories of and about all kinds of American politics--from welfare, race, and immigration; to workfare, jobs, and education; to gay rights, national security, and the American Dream in an age of economic globalization.
'The definitive account of a sensational trade' Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short Autumn 2008. The world's finances collapse but one man makes a killing. John Paulson, a softly spoken hedge-fund manager who still took the bus to work, seemed unlikely to stake his career on one big gamble. But he did - and The Greatest Trade Ever is the story of how he realised that the sub-prime housing bubble was going to burst, making $15 Billion for his fund and more than $4 Billion for himself in a single year. It's a tale of folly and wizardry, individual brilliance versus institutional stupidity. John Paulson made the biggest winning bet in history. And this is how he did it. 'Extraordinary, excellent' Observer 'A must-read for anyone fascinated by financial madness' Mail on Sunday 'A forensic, read-in-one-sitting book' Sunday Times 'Simply terrific. Easily the best of the post-crash financial books' Malcolm Gladwell 'A great page-turner and a great illuminator of the market's crash' John Helyar, author of Barbarians at the Gate
