eBooks de Biografías, página 4 de 997

The death of John Smith on 12th May 1994 was one of those events which sticks in the memory. He was cut down at the moment that it looked as if he was set to become the next Prime Minister after a long political career and after successive electoral defeats for his party.This book, published to mark the thirtieth anniversary of his death, offers a comprehensive assessment of his leadership of the Labour Party, with chapters written by academic experts, on their chosen fields, and by those who knew him as advisers, MPs and journalists.There are two themes running through the book. The first seeks to examine the extent to which there was a John Smith effect in terms of politics and policy and assess whether he succeeded in establishing his own agenda or simply followed that of his predecessor. The second examines the extent to which Smith was a representative of Old Labour or New Labour.

For almost half a century, Bertram Mills Circus was a household name throughout Britain among both children and adults and its Director, Cyril Bertram Mills, was one of the best-known and most influential names in the countrys entertainment business.But for forty years, Cyril Mills had also enjoyed a top-secret and wide-ranging career in British intelligence: obtaining the best aerial intelligence on Nazi rearmament for MI6 before the Second World War; becoming the first case officer to monitor the best double agent (Garbo) of the war after joining MI5; and working part-time during the Cold War for MI5 or 6 or both without being paid a penny.Remarkably, no word of Millss secret career appeared in public until he was over eighty. Nobody suspected that the glamorous world of pre-war circus entertainment had been an extraordinarily fitting rehearsal for the lethal arena of deception and surveillance. In this remarkable true story, Christopher Andrew, best-selling official biographer of MI5, brings to life one of the most surprising and fascinating tales of espionage ever told.

The tempestuous years of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. An insiders account of the rivalries and battles that eventually brought down the Conservative government.The Best of Enemies is the political diaries of Norman Fowler, one of the most significant politicians of the late twentieth century. Covering the entire Thatcher/Major era from the formers election in 1979 to the latters defeat in 1997 during which time Fowler held prominent positions in the Cabinet. As Transport Secretary he was responsible for making seat belts compulsory and later, as Health Secretary, he worked to draw public attention to the dangers of Aids. He was Chairman of the party from 199294.His diaries observe both Prime Ministers, and their Cabinet colleagues, at close quarters and Fowler brings his training as a journalist to bear on them. The diaries are full of insights and anecdotes and they resonate powerfully with the situation facing the Conservative Party today, including industrial strife, waning authority and a Labour Party looking like a government in waiting.The entries raise other issues that remain unresolved. They range from the effect that a ministers private sexual conduct should have on their career to whether an entirely hands-off approach to industrial strategy is in the national interest.Fowlers diaries provide a ringside seat to the struggles of their time. These are not the diaries of an ex-minister seeking to justify their own record. They are the story of how two Prime Ministers rose and fell and caused their party to split apart, told by someone who was there.

"As well as being one of the leading political journalists of his generation, Andy McSmiths varied life has brought him into contact with a huge variety of people, high and low, whom he describes with an acute eye for character. His book Strange People I Have Known is a fast-paced and entertaining read that brings deep insight into British political life." Bill Browder"A fascinating memoir which gives a revelatory insiders account of the biggest political names from the past few decades, interwoven with evocative reflections on the many colourful characters who have peppered McSmiths own life." Pippa Crerar"An addictive memoir that fizzes with anecdotes. If you like top-level political gossip and insights written with panache, look no further." Gary Gibbon***Westminster and Whitehall are secret worlds, hidden to most. But working as a lobby journalist, former Labour Party staffer Andy McSmith has had exclusive access to our top politicians for decades. Here, he shares his personal encounters with the great and the good of the British political landscape, revealing what they are really like behind the scenes.With witty and perceptive flair, he describes encounters such as flying to Tokyo with Margaret Thatcher, the last Prime Minister who would walk fearlessly into a room full of journalists, unprotected by special advisers; dining with Sir Edward Heath, a man who knew how to hold a grudge, in his home in Salisbury; observing Gordon Brown and Tony Blair as new MPs, sharing a cramped office in Parliament and collaborating like brothers; and working with Boris Johnson back when he had an ambition to be something more than just a journalist.Filled with vivid portraits of those at the heart of British politics over the past forty years, Strange People I Have Known is a memoir of a life well lived and an insiders account of the inner workings of government.

In this book, Boris Grundl shows how he took his destiny into his own hands at the absolute lowest point in order to lead his life self-determined and freely. For the convinced optimist, the greatest happiness today lies in inspiring other people to develop their potential. A moving book about mental strength and personal development and the story of an incredible life. He is in his mid-twenties and a hopeful top athlete when it happens: an accident - and Boris Grundl is paraplegic. But he doesnt give up. He is the first wheelchair user to complete his studies in sports science. He becomes a wheelchair seller and rises to become marketing and sales director in a large corporation. Along the way, he becomes one of the best wheelchair rugby players in the world. Today he is a successful business coach and impresses with his authenticity.

"What we have been missing" Henry Kissinger***If the United States does not lead, there will be no leadership. If the US instead turns inward, there will be a price to be paid later. George H. W. BushMarking thirty years since the end of George H. W. Bushs presidency, Robin Renwick paints a warm, affectionate portrait of a President who sought to unify rather than divide his country, and whose staunch belief in diplomacy strengthened cooperation around the world.A True Statesman explores Bushs core belief in the United States as the indispensable nation in helping to deal with world crises, charting his efforts to end the Cold War, secure the reunification of Germany and drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.Extending beyond Bushs time in office, it also reflects on US foreign policy over the past three decades, examining the consequences of his successors differing approaches to Americas role on the world stage.Incisively written by a former British Ambassador to Washington, this insider account offers fresh insights into both the 41st President and Americas foreign policy from IranContra to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Of the twenty chapters that make up these Memoirs, seventeen appear here in print for the first time, unearthed by the editors from the Harvard Archive. They include intense depictions of Lowells mental illness and his efforts to recover, and conclude with reminiscences of other writers - T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, John Berryman, Anne Sexton, Hannah Arendt, and Sylvia Plath. Memoirs demonstrates Lowells expansive gifts as a prose stylist and provide further evidence of the range and brilliance of his achievement.

This latest volume of Campbells acclaimed diaries sees the author, and the country, at a profound crossroads. Brown is finally gone, and Cameron is in the ascendancy with a little help from the Liberal Democrats. Somehow Campbell must emerge from the ruins and grapple with his own future; just as Britain begins its own journey into austerity and, eventually, to Brexit. Volume 8 contains some of Campbells most poignant and thought-provoking writing so far and is a must-read for fans of this most accomplished of political diarists.

Alexander (Sandy) Goehr is a leading British composer and teacher. Born into a Jewish musical family in Berlin in 1932, he arrived in England in 1933 with his father, Walter, a composer, conductor, and pupil of Arnold Schoenberg; and his mother Laelia, a trained pianist from Kyiv. Raised in Amersham, he attended Richard Halls classes at the Royal Manchester College of Music. There he formed the Manchester School a group of young composers and performers including Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, and John Ogdon. He was introduced to Olivier Messiaen when his father conducted the first British performance of Turangalila-Symphonie in 1953, and he later studied with Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod in Paris.In the late 1950s and early 60s Goehr became known as a radical exponent of serial music. Since then, he has composed more than one hundred major works, including operas, orchestral and chamber pieces, and music for film, television, dance and theatre. He is Emeritus Professor of Music at Cambridge University and one of Europes most important music educators. He has written and lectured extensively and his music is performed all over the world.Jack Van Zandt (b. 1954), an American composer and Goehrs former pupil and assistant, has co-written this first comprehensive account of the life, creative foundations, and teachings of this great composer.

Rachel Meller was never close to her aunt Lisbeth, a cool, unemotional woman with a drawling Viennese-Californian accent, a cigarette in her hand. But when Lisbeth died, she left Rachel an intricately carved Chinese box with a sunflower clasp. Inside the box were photographs, letters and documents that led Rachel to uncover a story she had never known: that of a passionate Jewish teenager growing up in elegant Vienna, who was caught up by war, and forced to flee to Shanghai. Far from home, in a strange city, Lisbeth and her parents build a new life - a life of small joys and great hardship, surrounded by many others who, like them, have fled Hitler and the Nazis. 1930s Shanghai is a metropolis where the old rules do not apply - a city of fabulous wealth and crushing poverty, where disease is rife, and gangsters rub shoulders with rich emigres; where summer brings unspeakable heat, and winter is bitterly cold; and where European refugees build community and, maybe, a young woman can find love. Set against a backdrop of the war in the Far East, The Box with the Sunflower Clasp is a sweeping family memoir that tells the hidden history of the Jews of Shanghai. Rachel Meller writes with elegance and insight as she examines what it means to survive, and what the legacy of displacement and war might mean for the generation that comes afterwards.

In 1964 Faisal bin Abdul Aziz became king of a country holding a quarter of the worlds oil reserves, also home to Mecca and Medina. He was called the most powerful Arab ruler in centuries. Eleven years later, in front of television cameras, his nephew shot him at point-blank range. In this authoritative biography, Alexei Vassiliev tells the story of a pious, cautious and resolute leader who steered Saudi Arabia through a minefield of domestic problems, inter-Arab relations and the decline of Soviet influence in the Middle East. King Faisal maintained ties with both Egypt and the United States through two Arab - Israeli wars and the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which revolutionized the world energy market. Throughout, he staked high hopes on cooperation with the US, a relationship that is still vital to both countries interests. Exhaustively researched and including original documents and interviews in Arabic, Russian and English, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia: Personality, Faith and Times offers a unique perspective of this seminal figure and is key to understanding the Arab world today.

Finally, the Diary Book, where we find the authors everyday life, his particularities and reflections that colours the happenings of his daily life.What to say about this writing that many times seems to be unreal for the reader, but that in Joo Rosa de Castros experience appears to have much meaning?The reader is not up to decipher the enigmas nor understand them, but enjoy the words of the writers intimacy that lead us to seversal situations lived by him and that he wished to share. Like the writing in which he reveals to be the best hour, the best day, the best month and the best year of his life, or when he discusses the matter drugs based on the discussion held by Maria Rita Kehl in the Philosophical Cafe, or even the confession that he doesnt know how to console when the matter is death, when he knew of the death of the dog of his Januarios muse.At last, getting into this book means allowing to open oneself to the perceptions, reflections of its author and enjoy his words.

Eliza Lowe, with two of her sisters, ran a school for girls, aged between 13 and 18, first in Liverpool, then in Southgate Middlesex. The book covers her life in Whitchurch, Burton on Trent, Everton, Liverpool and finally in Middlesex. It describes her school and investigates the lives of some her pupils, one from the influential Rathbone family and one who became a suffragist. Life in the school is described thanks to extant unpublished letters from pupils. An appendix continues the story of her school after her death when her niece took over and later became Headmistress of one of the early Woodard girls schools in Bangor.

Jacques Tatis Monsieur Hulot, unverkennbar mit seiner Pfeife, seinem Regenschirm und seinen gestreiften Socken, war eine geniale Slapstick-Kreation, die das Publikum auf der ganzen Welt uber die Absurditat des Lebens lachen lie. David Bellos Biografie zeichnet Tatis Aufstieg und Fall nach, von seinen Anfangen als Variete-Mime wahrend der Depression uber den Erfolg von Jour de Fete und Mon Oncle bis hin zu Playtime, dem grandiosen Meisterwerk, das den gefeierten Regisseur und Oscar-Preistrager in den Bankrott trieb und ihn um finanzielle Unterstutzung fur die Fertigstellung seiner letzten Filme betteln lie.Bei der Analyse von Tatis einzigartiger Vision, eines Clowns, dessen filmische Innovation darin bestand, das alltagliche Leben in eine Kunstform zu verwandeln, enthullt Bellos die komplizierte Inszenierung seiner beruhmtesten Gags und stutzt sich auf bisher unzugangliche Archive, darunter Filmmaterial, Videos, aufgezeichnete Interviews und fruhe Entwurfe von Drehbuchern, sowie die Mithilfe von Tatis Tochter. Herausgekommen ist das Bild eines Mannes, der gleichzeitig engagiert, leidenschaftlich und schuchtern war, mehr Kunstler als Geschaftsmann. In der genau recherchierten Darstellung wird Tati sehr lebendig und bleibt, wie auf der Leinwand, seltsam liebenswert.

A un anno dallimprovvisa scomparsa del Professor Giuseppe Dalla Torre, non pochi hanno ripercorso i suoi prestigiosi incarichi nellUniversita, nella comunita accademica italiana e internazionale, nella Curia romana e nello Stato della Citta del Vaticano, e ne hanno ricordato le qualita intellettuali e umane nonche la sterminata produzione scientifica. Ce tuttavia un profilo della sua versatile personalita che forse e rimasto in ombra: quello legato alla sua attivita giornalistica, invero assai protratta e fertilissima.Probabilmente a causa del pregiudizio per il quale scrivere sui giornali o interfacciarsi con i mass media, per lapproccio piu semplice e divulgativo con cui le materie vengono affrontate, rientri in una sorta di dimessa arte minore cui i docenti si dedicano a tempo perso: quasi un leggero diversivo rispetto alla piu scrupolosa e severa stesura di testi rigorosamente scientifici. Per converso Giuseppe Dalla Torre, sin dalla giovinezza, mai ha disdegnato di applicarsi allelaborazione di articoli giornalistici, in particolare per il quotidiano Avvenire: scendendo dalla cattedra universitaria e rivolgendosi con immediatezza al lettore della testata di ispirazione cattolica, per illustrare, con linearita logica e chiarezza concettuale, lautentica sostanza dei problemi trattati in tutti i loro risvolti, specie giuridici, piu controversi. Attraverso la lettura di questi articoli su argomenti quanto mai eterogenei - sintetici e quasi lapidari, come postulato dal genere letterario - emerge lavvincente itinerario ultratrentennale della vivace militanza, nella compagine ecclesiale e nella societa civile, di un giurista cattolico che non ha mai, anche nelle condizioni di piu aspro scontro su differenti fronti, abdicato al suo munus - diremmo canonisticamente - genuinamente laicale di animazione cristiana delle realta temporali, secondo il magistero piu vivido del Vaticano II. Il volume, riproponendo molti di tali interventi e corredandoli di brevi analisi di suoi allievi, diretti e indiretti, auspica di dar conto di questo aspetto sinora poco indagato, e invece cosi pregnante, della sua opera.A cura di Geraldina Boni

Eliza Lowe, with two of her sisters, ran a school for girls, aged between 13 and 18, first in Liverpool, then in Southgate Middlesex. The book covers her life in Whitchurch, Burton on Trent, Everton, Liverpool and finally in Middlesex. It describes her school and investigates the lives of some her pupils, one from the influential Rathbone family and one who became a suffragist. Life in the school is described thanks to extant unpublished letters from pupils. An appendix continues the story of her school after her death when her niece took over and later became Headmistress of one of the early Woodard girls schools in Bangor.

El presente libro es el resultado de diez años de trabajo (2006-2016) en el archivo de la familia Vigotski. Los editores, dos de los más grandes especialistas mundiales en la obra de Vigotski, descifraron, estudiaron, clasificaron y comentaron una inmensa cantidad de notas personales del autor, que se publicaron por primera vez en Rusia tan solo en el año 2017.Las anotaciones aqui incluidas conciernen a todos los periodos de la biografia cientifica del autor y contienen nueva informacion sobre el; comienzan por la anotacion mas temprana de las halladas (La tragicomedia de las busquedas) y terminan con su ultima anotacion antes de morir (Pro domo sua).La edicion castellana ha sido realizada en estrecha colaboracion con ambos editores y, creemos, constituye un aporte fundamental en el estudio y difusion de la obra siempre abierta del genial psicologo bielorruso.

Hernán Cortés, el conquistador de México, es una figura polémica, modelo para muchos, villano para otros. Reconocidos especialistas ofrecen al lector un conocimiento más justo y objetivo de un hombre polifacetico como Hernan Cortes, que incidio de manera determinante en el rumbo de los acontecimientos tanto en Europa como en America en el siglo XVI. Miradas sobre Hernan Cortes reune un conjunto de estudios criticos que situan al protagonista en las circunstancias de su tiempo; resaltan sus habilidades como militar, estratega, politico y negociador, y señalan sus errores y tropiezos. Ademas, presentan diferentes interpretaciones sobre Cortes a lo largo de las ultimas cinco centurias.

From the hopeful beginnings of Britains entry into the European project to the bitterness of Brexit, Continental Drift is a vivid, personal account of a political life spent at the heart of the European Parliament.As Europes longest-serving MEP, Bill Newton-Dunn offers a front-row view of the shifting tides in Britains often uneasy relationship with its continental neighbours. Spanning the four decades from 1979 to 2020, this lively memoir chronicles the currents of Euroscepticism, internal wranglings of UK delegations and the complex dance between Westminster and Brussels.But Continental Drift is more than political history: it is also rich with behind-the-scenes stories, sharp observations and colourful pen portraits of the characters who shaped Europe, from British premiers and fiery backbenchers to European visionaries and bureaucratic bruisers, not to mention impassioned Communists and rumoured Mafiosi. With dry wit and unsparing honesty, Newton-Dunn brings to life the dramas, debates and diplomatic showdowns that marked a turbulent era.Candid, compelling and frequently funny, Continental Drift is a timely reflection on Britains place in Europe and what was lost when the flag came down.

A remarkable story of integrity, skill and survival in a world divided by war The most famous German fighter pilot of World War II, Adolf Galland was respected by both comrades and former enemies alike. A highly decorated ace with over 100 air-to-air victories in the West, he was a recipient of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds, which was awarded to only 27 men among the millions who served. After the war, he built friendships with the very Allied pilots he once fought and was admired as much for his integrity as for his prowess as a pilot and commander. In his final years, he worked closely with historian David Baker to produce this authorised biography, largely illustrated with photographs from his private albums. Offering a rare glimpse into both the air battles of World War II and the inner workings of the Luftwaffe, and now featuring new appendices that include the latest research into Gallands aerial kills, this book stands as an essential record of one of historys most remarkable fighter pilots.