Описание: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the standoff by federal agents and members of the Branch Davidians *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "If you are a Branch Davidian, Christ lives on a threadbare piece of land 10 miles east of here called Mount Carmel. He has dimples, claims a ninth-grade education, married his legal wife when she was 14, enjoys a beer now and then, plays a mean guitar, reportedly packs a 9mm Glock and keeps an arsenal of military assault rifles, and willingly admits that he is a sinner without equal." - The opening passage of "The Sinful Messiah", published in the Waco Tribune-Herald on February 27, 1993 In February 1993, President Bill Clinton had only been in office for a few weeks when one of the most important events of his presidency began to take shape. Ironically, it would involve a group that the vast majority of Americans had never heard of and knew absolutely nothing about. The Branch Davidians were an obscure religious sect located in Texas, but members of the group led by David Koresh in Waco, Texas stockpiled enough weaponry to catch the attention of the federal government. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ultimately decided to serve arrest and search warrants at the compound for the possession of illegal weapons, even though they fully expected it would require a raid that could potentially turn fatal. The ATF hoped to use the element of surprise when it commenced the raid on February 28, but the Branch Davidians were ready for them, which led to an intense firefight between the two sides that resulted in the deaths of 4 ATF agents and a number of Branch Davidians. With that, the FBI got involved, and federal agents settled in for a standoff that would last about 50 days, trying everything from negotiating to using sleep deprivation tactics to coerce the Branch Davidians into ending the confrontation. Finally, on April 19, government agents breached the compound's walls and tried to use gas to flush the Branch Davidians out peacefully, but a series of fires broke out and quickly spread, killing the vast majority of the occupants inside, including many young children. Naturally, controversy spread over how the siege ended; for example, while most believe the Branch Davidians intentionally started the fires as part of a mass suicide, others insist it was the fault of the ATF. Debate also raged over whether the government could have and should have made different decisions to defuse the situation. No matter which side people came down on, the violent confrontation embarrassed government officials, and Dick Morris, an advisor of Clinton's, even claimed that Attorney General Janet Reno only kept her job after Waco by threatening to pin the blame on the president: " H]e went into a meeting with her, and he told me that she begged and pleaded, saying that . . . she didn't want to be fired because if she were fired it would look like he was firing her over Waco. And I knew that what that meant was that she would tell the truth about what happened in Waco. Now, to be fair, that's my supposition. I don't know what went on in Waco, but that was the cause. But I do know that she told him that if you fire me, I'm going to talk about Waco." In addition to influencing how the government approached potential future conflicts with other groups, Waco's most important legacy was that it enraged people who already had an anti-government bent. The most notable, of course, was Timothy McVeigh, who conducted what was at the time the deadliest terrorist attack in American history in Oklahoma City on the second anniversary of the final confrontation at Waco. The Waco Siege: The History of the Federal Government's Standoff with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians chronicles the controversial event and the influence it had.
Автор: Charles River Editors Название: Mahatma Gandhi: The Life and Legacy of the Father of India ISBN: 1983752835 ISBN-13(EAN): 9781983752834 Издательство: Неизвестно Цена: 1921.00 р. Наличие на складе: Есть у поставщика Поставка под заказ.
Автор: Charles River Editors Название: American Legends: The Life of Farrah Fawcett ISBN: 150103345X ISBN-13(EAN): 9781501033452 Издательство: Неизвестно Цена: 1248.00 р. Наличие на складе: Есть у поставщика Поставка под заказ.
Описание: *Includes pictures *Includes Fawcett's quotes about her life and career *Includes a bibliography for further reading
"I became famous almost before I had a craft." - Farrah Fawcett
"TV had much more impact back in the '70s than it does today. Charlie's Angels got huge numbers every week - nothing really dominates the television landscape like that today. Maybe American Idol comes close, but now there are so many channels and so many more shows it's hard for anything to get the audience, or amount of attention, that Charlie's Angels got. Farrah was a major TV star when the medium was clearly dominant." - Larry King
A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.
The sensation that Farrah Fawcett caused in the 1970s can be confirmed by the fact that TIME magazine designated her as the "epitome of '70s glamour." Indeed, there was no actress or supermodel that so comprehensively captured the attention of the American public during that decade (Sherrow 128). Her career accomplishments are remarkable, considering Fawcett did not emerge into the cultural spotlight until halfway through the decade. Whereas most famous celebrities earn a reputation for themselves by their mid-20s, Fawcett did not become a household name until 1977, when she was already 30 years of age. In other words, when Farrah became famous, she defied the odds, and her continued success in subsequent decades demonstrated that women could stay glamorous well into middle age.
To limit the accomplishments of Farrah Fawcett to her glamour is to diminish the cultural importance of her appearance, to ignore the significant role she played with regard to the representation of women in popular American media. After all, in order to do justice to what Farrah Fawcett meant to people, it is necessary to look beyond just how Farrah looked (while acknowledging the importance of how she looked) and acknowledge what Farrah did. It is significant to note that Farrah emerged in the cultural context of second-wave feminism and in the wake of the sexual revolution-a period in which women were breaking through the long-extant subordination of women at the hands of men, both in popular media and society more broadly. Farrah remains such an important figure because she had a tremendous impact on many entertainment platforms, from modeling (and posters) to television to cinema, particularly in her later years. It is fair to argue over whether Farrah Fawcett maintained the popularity she reached in the 1970s, but it cannot be doubted that she was able to successfully cross boundaries between cinema and television, print and electronic media. Through these ventures, she played an inexorable role in affecting not only how women were represented but also how women viewed their bodies; she pushed the boundaries of what women were capable of in American popular culture.
Farrah Fawcett also is such a culturally noteworthy figure because her work is so open to diverse interpretations. While Farrah is effusively regaled for being a feminist icon (however unwittingly), it also has been argued that she was objectified in a manner that was solely designed to satisfy the male gaze. In an effort to do justice to the intricacies of Fawcett's image, this biography explores Farrah's body of work, with attention paid to the distinct interpretations of her oeuvre and public image. Fawcett's personal background also is discussed, as is her bout with cancer that ultimately took her life at the premature age of 62.
Описание: *Includes pictures *Includes correspondence between the spy ring and explains the results of their activities *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents After the siege of Boston forced the British to evacuate that city in March 1776, Continental Army commander George Washington suspected that the British would move by sea to New York City, the next logical target in an attempt to end a colonial insurrection. He thus rushed his army south to defend the city.Washington guessed correctly, but it would be to no avail. Unlike Boston, New York City's terrain featured few defensible positions. The city lacked a high point from which to launch a siege, as the peninsula of Boston was fortunate to have. Moreover, Washington wasn't sure defending the city was necessary, hoping that an expedition launched toward Quebec like the one Benedict Arnold had led in late 1775 would keep the British away from New York anyway. However, Congress thought otherwise, and demanded that Washington defend New York.Washington thus did what he was told, and it nearly resulted in the army's demise. In the summer of 1776, the British conducted the largest amphibious expedition in North America's history at the time, landing over 20,000 troops on Long Island. British General William Howe, who had led the British at Bunker Hill and would later become commander in chief of the armies in North America, easily captured Staten Island, which Washington was incapable of defending without a proper navy. Washington's army attempted to fight, but Washington was badly outmaneuvered, and his army was nearly cut off from escape. The withdrawal across New York City was enormously disorderly, with many of Washington's troops so scared that they deserted. Others were sick as a result of the dysentery and smallpox plaguing the Continental Army in New York. In what was arguably the worst defeat of the Revolution, Washington was ashamed, and he also felt betrayed, by both his troops and Congress. However, unbeknownst to nearly everyone, Washington had some men remain active in New York City: the now famous Culper Ring, one of the Revolution's first major intelligence efforts. The ring consisted mostly of a group of civilians in and around New York City who spied on the British forces and Loyalist Americans and reported what they saw and overheard ultimately to Washington, who took a personal, hands-on approach to their management. After modern histories brought their story more fully to light, these spies have since become the subject (with the historical facts somewhat altered) of a recent hit television show, Turn: Washington's Spies. Without question, the relatively little-known clandestine actions of these patriotic men and women contributed to the eventual victory of the long struggle for American independence, and several good books cover part or all of the history of the Culper Ring. However, the main sources consist of the correspondence, much of which has somehow survived, between the members of the ring and their military handlers. Like other spy tales, theirs is a story of courage fraught with constant suspense at being found out and facing a caught spy's usual fate of imprisonment and execution. Indeed, around the time the ring was being organized, America's most famous spy, Nathan Hale, had been caught with maps of British positions on Long Island in his possession and had been summarily hanged. The Culper Ring: The History and Legacy of the Revolutionary War's Most Famous Spy Ring profiles the members of the ring and their activities. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Culper Ring like never before, in no time at all.
Описание: *Includes pictures *Includes Hawking's own quotes about his life and work *Includes footnotes, online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all." - Stephen Hawking "I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer." - Stephen Hawking In the pantheon of great theoretical physicists that includes the names of such historical luminaries as Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, it is, perhaps, supremely ironic that the successor to the leading scientific minds of their generations has produced such "groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology", while at the same time battling one of the world's most insidious and relentless diseases. Dr. Stephen William Hawking, British mathematician, theoretical physicist, and cosmologist, is the face of twenty-first century physics, and yet cannot speak directly to his audience. For verbal communication, he relies on the use of an electronically activated vocal synthesizer. The scientist who has most notably carried the ideas of Einstein and his colleagues forward from the early-to-mid 20th century, whether in terms of explanation, rejection, or confirmation of any given question, is no longer able to move his limbs due to the incapacitating effects of ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. The affliction is better known in the United States as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," named after the great American baseball player. Since 2009, in fact, Hawking can no longer operate his wheelchair. With a failing body but a world-leading mind that has remained active and keen through the years, Dr. Hawking continues to fight for any means of communication that he or his scientific environment can devise, presently placing much of his attention on systems with which to "translate his brain patterns into switch activations." This desperate struggle to stay connected comes at a time in which the amassing of Hawking's theories, developed over the past half-century, seems poised to discover and affirm new solutions to the mysteries of the universe. Occupying a unique place in the history of physics, Hawking, more than Newton or Einstein, lives in the perfect era from which to stand at the threshold of new possibilities for balancing and synchronizing the theories of General Relativity, put forth by his great predecessors, and the newer field of the quantum world, hinted at in the mid-twentieth century but only more recently brought forward by leading proponents. He has devoted the lion's share of his adult life to "probing the space-time described by general relativity and the singularities where it breaks down," and is, in advancing years, more driven than ever by the urge to uncover all he can about the nature of the larger universe. Stephen Hawking: The Life of the World's Most Famous Scientist examines the life and career of the English physicist. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Stephen Hawking like never before, in no time at all.
