Stories about the Twentieth Century, written by people who lived those times. Witty, funny, heart felt stories that describe a time gone by in such a way you will feel like you are living those times. Whether for history, nostalgia or just entertainment these stories will transform you to each decade and give you fun facts and an historical insight.
“I have seen yesterday. I know tomorrow.” This inscription in Tutankhamun’s tomb summarizes The Fifth Beginning. Here, archaeologist Robert L. Kelly explains how the study of our cultural past can predict the future of humanity. In an eminently readable style, Kelly identifies four key pivot points in the six-million-year history of human development: the emergence of technology, culture, agriculture, and the state. In each example, the author examines the long-term processes that resulted in a definitive, no-turning-back change for the organization of society. Kelly then looks ahead, giving us evidence for what he calls a fifth beginning, one that started about AD 1500. Some might call it “globalization,” but the author places it in its larger context: a five-thousand-year arms race, capitalism’s global reach, and the cultural effects of a worldwide communication network. Kelly predicts that the emergent phenomena of this fifth beginning will include the end of war as a viable way to resolve disputes, the end of capitalism as we know it, the widespread shift toward world citizenship, and the rise of forms of cooperation that will end the near-sacred status of nation-states. It’s the end of life as we have known it. However, the author is cautiously optimistic: he dwells not on the coming chaos, but on humanity’s great potential.
Countess Maria Tarnowska was larger than life and unafraid to speak her mind. In spite of her many personal losses, she gave unstintingly of herself to her beloved Poland, becoming a symbol of strength for others. The author belonged to the Polish aristocracy and was the wife of a diplomat, a role that opened her world to rulers and prominent politicians. As she recounts poignant episodes in her life, the personal and the historic become intertwined. In her role as second-in-command of the Polish Red Cross, and as a member of the Resistance during WWII, the reader immediately understands that hers was not a life of idleness but one of extraordinary courage and sublime sacrifice. Maria harshly condemns the Russian treachery in restricting the promised assistance of the Red Army during the Warsaw Uprising. Life, as hellish as it was during Nazism, becomes ludicrously unbearable under the crude Communist regime. Coming from one who was twice imprisoned, Maria Tarnowska's memoir is a resounding tribute to the concept of freedom and democracy. A must-read ...
Knowing the future is the dream of most people. Astrologers, horse tipsters and actuaries all try to assess what will happen tomorrow and the day after. This book sets out 100 questions on subjects as diverse as romance, business, money and jobs. You choose a question, select a letter, consult the location chart...and hey presto - there is the answer that you have been longing to know! The best way to enjoy this trip into the future is with friends where everyone enjoys the pleasure (or discomfort!) of the revealing answers... The book is intended to bring a smile to your face - although feedback suggests that some of the answers have proved to be remarkably accurate!
Over the past century, our species has made unprecedented technological innovations with which we have sought to control nature. In A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life's overlords, but we are instead at its mercy. In the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the power of natural selection to create biodiversity, and even the surprising life of the London Underground, Dunn finds laws of life that no human activity can annul. When we create artificial islands of crops, dump toxic waste, or build communities, we provide new materials for old laws to shape. Life's future flourishing is not in question. Ours is. A Natural History of the Future sets a new standard for understanding the diversity and destiny of life itself.
The stories told in this book reflect the hard work and dedication of the Veterans Affairs nurses who provide care to our nation’s heroes. Four key messsages outlined in the book help explain the important role of VA nurses. Key Message 1: Nurses should practice to the full extent of their education and training; Key Message 2: Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression; Key Message 3: Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States; Key Message 4: Effective workforce planning and policy making require better data collection and an improved information structure. This book addresses the staffing issues in military healthcare with policy and workforce planning towards an improved information structure between the nurses, healthcare professionals, and physicians. Keywords: Department of Veterans Affairs nursing program; Veteran Affairs (VA) nursing; nurses; Veterans Affairs nursing education progrm; VA nursing education program; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; u.s. department of veterans affairs; va; VA; staffing issues in military healthcare.
The world of our dreams is something more than our reality. It is in a dream where we can find ourselves in any point of space and time, where we learn secrets of the part, essence of the present and possibilities of the future. It is only in dreams where we can meet those who are no more with us, study options for forthcoming events or make our choice…
"A gorgeous and thrilling paean to the ferocious power of women. The characters live, bleed, and roar. "―Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR Books • Barnes and Noble • BookPage In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in this powerful novel of magic, family, and the suffragette movement. In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters―James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna―join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote―and perhaps not even to live―the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. There's no such thing as witches. But there will be. An homage to the indomitable power and persistence of women, The Once and Future Witches reimagines stories of revolution, motherhood, and women's suffrage—the lost ways are calling. Praise for The Once and Future Witches: "A glorious escape into a world where witchcraft has dwindled to a memory of women's magic, and three wild, sundered sisters hold the key to bring it back...A tale that will sweep you away."―Yangsze Choo, New York Times bestselling author "This book is an amazing bit of spellcraft and resistance so needed in our times, and a reminder that secret words and ways can never be truly and properly lost, as long as there are tongues to speak them and ears to listen."―P. Djèlí Clark, author The Black God's Drum For more from Alix E. Harrow, check out The Ten Thousand Doors of January.
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR “The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I’ve ever read.” —Jonathan Lethem "If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future." —Ezra Klein (Vox) The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis. "One hopes that this book is read widely—that Robinson’s audience, already large, grows by an order of magnitude. Because the point of his books is to fire the imagination."―New York Review of Books "If there’s any book that hit me hard this year, it was Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future, a sweeping epic about climate change and humanity’s efforts to try and turn the tide before it’s too late." ―Polygon (Best of the Year) "Masterly." —New Yorker "[The Ministry for the Future] struck like a mallet hitting a gong, reverberating through the year ... it’s terrifying, unrelenting, but ultimately hopeful. Robinson is the SF writer of my lifetime, and this stands as some of his best work. It’s my book of the year." —Locus "Science-fiction visionary Kim Stanley Robinson makes the case for quantitative easing our way out of planetary doom." ―Bloomberg Green
