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| book review the secret history: The Secret History Donna Tartt, 2013-05-02 A 'haunting, compelling, and brilliant'(The Times) novel about a group of students who, under the influence of their professor find their lives changed forever, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch Truly deserving of the accolade 'modern classic', Donna Tartt's novel is a remarkable achievement - compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful. Under the influence of their charismatic Classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality, their lives are changed profoundly and for ever as they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill. 'A haunting, compelling, and brilliant piece of fiction ... Packed with literary allusion and told with a sophistication and texture that owes much more to the nineteenth century than to the twentieth' -The Times |
| book review the secret history: The Little Friend Donna Tartt, 2011-10-19 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch comes an utterly riveting novel set in Mississippi of childhood, innocence, and evil. • “Destined to become a special kind of classic.” —The New York Times Book Review The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother’s Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents’ yard. Twelve years later Robin’s murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated. So it is that Robin’s sister Harriet—unnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson--sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her town’s rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her family’s history of loss. Filled with hairpin turns of plot and “a bustling, ridiculous humanity worthy of Dickens” (The New York Times Book Review), The Little Friend is a work of myriad enchantments by a writer of prodigious talent. |
| book review the secret history: A Secret History of Witches Louisa Morgan, 2017-09-05 A sweeping historical saga that traces five generations of fiercely powerful mothers and daughters -- witches whose magical inheritance is both a dangerous threat and an extraordinary gift. Brittany, 1821. After Grand-Mere Ursule gives her life to save her family, their magic seems to die with her. Even so, the Orchires fight to keep the old ways alive, practicing half-remembered spells and arcane rites in hopes of a revival. And when their youngest daughter comes of age, magic flows anew. The lineage continues, though new generations struggle not only to master their power, but also to keep it hidden. But when World War II looms on the horizon, magic is needed more urgently than ever -- not for simple potions or visions, but to change the entire course of history. Praise for A Secret History of Witches: I loved it. A beautiful generational tale, reminiscent of Practical Magic. . .. Grounded and real, painful and hopeful at the same time. —Laure Eve, author of The Graces Historical fiction at its absolute finest....Deliciously absorbing. —Boston Globe At once sprawling and intimate, A Secret History of Witches deftly captures the greatest magic of all: the love between mothers and daughters. —Jordanna Max Brodsky, author of The Wolf in the Whale For more from Louisa Morgan, check out: The Witch's Kind The Age of Witches |
| book review the secret history: My Secret History Paul Theroux, 2011-04-20 Theroux's best novel in years. CHICAGO TRIBUNE MY SECRET HISTORY is Paul Theroux's tour de force. It is the story of Andre Parent, a writer, a world traveler, a lover of every kind of woman he chances to meet in a life as varied as a man can lead. From his days as an altar boy, to his job as a teenaged lifeguard, and then as a youth caught between the attentions of a beautiful young student and an amorous older woman. And as the boy becomes a man he turns his attention to writing, which brings him fame, and a wife, who may finally bring him to know himself. But not before he sets up his most dangerous secret life, one that any man might envy, but that could cost Andre Parent the delicate balance that makes him who he is.... |
| book review the secret history: Ash Mary Gentle, 2013-09-24 For the beautiful young woman Ash, life has always been arquebuses and artillery, swords and armour and the true horrors of hand-to-hand combat. War is her job. She has fought her way to the command of a mercenary company, and on her unlikely shoulders lies the destiny of a Europe threatened by the depredations of an Infidel army more terrible than any nightmare. Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 2000 |
| book review the secret history: Donna Tartt's The Secret History Tracy Hargreaves, 2001-09-01 This series gives readers accessible and informative introductions to 30 of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential contemporary novels. Each title includes a biography of the novelist and a full-length study of the novel. |
| book review the secret history: If We Were Villains M. L. Rio, 2017-04-11 “Much like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, M. L. Rio’s sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare...Readable, smart.” —New York Times Book Review On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it. A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras. But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent. If We Were Villains was named one of Bustle's Best Thriller Novels of the Year, and Mystery Scene says, A well-written and gripping ode to the stage...A fascinating, unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth. |
| book review the secret history: You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here Frances Macken, 2020-03-26 'This atmospheric debut looks like a rural Irish coming-of-age novel, but it’s cleverer, darker, more unreliable.' Daily Mail AN IRISH INDEPENDENT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR AN IRISH INDEPENDENT CRITICS CHOICE FOR CHRISTMAS WINNER OF THE BERYL BAINBRIDGE BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD, 2020/2021 AN IRISH TIMES, IRISH INDEPENDENT and SUNDAY INDEPENDENT 'TITLE TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2020' Katie, Maeve and Evelyn have been friends forever. Outspoken, unpredictable and intoxicating, Evelyn is the undisputed leader of the trio. But Katie’s dream of escaping their tiny rural town for a new life in Dublin confronts her with a choice: to hold onto a friendship that has made her who she is, or risk leaving her best friend behind. Told from Katie’s witty, quirky perspective and filled with unforgettable characters, this moving, immersive and very funny study of sisterhood takes a keen-eyed look at the delights and complexities of female friendship, the corrosive power of jealousy and guilt, and the people and places that shape us. Compellingly readable and effortlessly sharp, fizzing with the voices of rural Ireland, this is an unmissable novel from a dazzling new talent. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of Las Vegas Chris Abani, 2014-01-07 A gritty, riveting, and wholly original murder mystery from PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author and 2015 Edgar Awards winner Chris Abani Before he can retire, Las Vegas detective Salazar is determined to solve a recent spate of murders. When he encounters a pair of conjoined twins with a container of blood near their car, he’s sure he has apprehended the killers, and enlists the help of Dr. Sunil Singh, a South African transplant who specializes in the study of psychopaths. As Sunil tries to crack the twins, the implications of his research grow darker. Haunted by his betrayal of loved ones back home during apartheid, he seeks solace in the love of Asia, a prostitute with hopes of escaping that life. But Sunil’s own troubled past is fast on his heels in the form of a would-be assassin. Suspenseful through the last page, The Secret History of Las Vegas is Chris Abani’s most accomplished work to date, with his trademark visionary prose and a striking compassion for the inner lives of outsiders. |
| book review the secret history: Spring Ali Smith, 2019-04-30 From the Man Booker Prize Finalist comes the third novel in her Seasonal Quartet—a New York Times Notable Book and longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2020 What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times? Spring. The great connective. With an eye to the migrancy of story over time and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare's most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tell the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown, Smith opens the door. The time we're living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story? Hope springs eternal. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of America Manly P. Hall, 2019-05-07 A compilation of rare works on the untold history and destiny of America by acclaimed occult writer Manly P. Hall. Writer and scholar Manly P. Hall (1901-1990) is one of the most significant names in the study of the esoteric, symbolic, and occult. His legendary book The Secret Teachings of All Ages has been an underground classic since its publication in 1928. The Secret History of America expands on that legacy, offering a collection of Hall’s works—from books and journals to transcriptions of his lectures—all relating to the hidden past and unfolding future of our nation. Hall believed that America was gifted with a unique purpose to explore and share principles of personal freedom, self-governance, and independent thought. PEN Award-winning historian, Mitch Horowitz has curated a powerful collection of Hall’s most influential and insightful works that capture and explore these ideas. Never before collected in one volume, the material in The Secret History of America explores the rich destiny, unseen history, and hidden meaning of America. |
| book review the secret history: Tangier Richard Hamilton, 2019-06-27 In this first guide to Tangier's extraordinary cultural history , former BBC North Africa correspondent Richard Hamilton explores the city to find out what has inspired so many international writers, artists and musicians. In Tangier, the Moroccan novelist Mohamed Choukri wrote, 'everything is surreal and everything is possible.' In this intimate portrait, Hamilton explores hotels, cafés, alleyways and the city's darkest secrets. Delving down through complex historical layers, he finds a frontier town that is comic, confounding and haunted by the ghosts of its past. Samuel Pepys thought God should destroy Tangier and St Francis of Assisi called it a city of 'madness and delusions.' Yet, throughout the centuries, it has also been a crucible of creativity. It was a turning point in Henri Matisse's artistic journey and had a profound impact on the founder of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones. Tangier also produced two of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century: The Sheltering Sky and Naked Lunch. Besides Paul Bowles and William Burroughs, the book also looks at lesser known characters such as the flawed genius, Brion Gysin, as well as Ibn Battuta, who travelled three times further than Marco Polo. Featuring a thrilling cast of pirates, sultans, artists, musicians, writers, princes and playboys, this is an essential read about Tangier. |
| book review the secret history: A Secret History of the Ollie Craig B. Snyder, 2015-02-28 Every culture has a creation myth, and skateboarding is no different. The Ollie forged a new identity for skateboarding after its invention in the 1970s, and it lies at the root of nearly every significant move in street skating today. This groundbreaking no-handed aerial has also affected the evolution of surfing and snowboarding, and has left a permanent impression upon popular culture and language. This, then, is the story of the Ollie, the history and technology that set the stage for its creation, the pioneers who made it happen, and the skaters who used it to start a revolution. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of Twin Peaks Mark Frost, 2016-10-18 The Secret History of Twin Peaks enlarges the world of the original series, placing the unexplained phenomena that unfolded there into a vastly layered, wide-ranging history, beginning with the journals of Lewis and Clark and ending with the shocking events that closed the finale. The perfect way to get in the mood for the upcoming Showtime series. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of Us Jessi Kirby, 2017-08-01 “Jessi Kirby’s books just keep getting better and better, and The Secret History of Us is her best yet. It beautifully touches on all the most important things in life—love, family, friendship, memory, and bacon. I loved it.”—Morgan Matson, New York Times bestselling author of The Unexpected Everything In this gorgeously written, emotional novel that fans of Sarah Dessen will enjoy, a teenage girl must piece together the parts of her life she doesn’t remember after a severe collision leaves her with no memory of the past four years. When Olivia awakes in a hospital bed following a near-fatal car accident, she can’t remember how she got there. She figures it’s because she was in a coma for a week, but as time goes on, she realizes she’s lost more than just the last week of her life—she’s lost all memory of events that happened years ago. Gone is any recollection of starting or graduating high school; the prom; or her steady boyfriend Matt. Trying to figure out who she is feels impossible when everyone keeps telling her who she was. As Liv tries to sort out her family and friends’ perceptions of her, the one person she hasn’t heard enough from is Walker, the guy who saved her the night her car was knocked off that bridge into the bay below. Walker is the hardened boy who’s been keeping his distance and the one person that has made Liv feel like her old self…whoever that is. With feelings growing for Walker, tensions rising with Matt, and secrets she can’t help but feel are being kept from her, Olivia must find her place in a life she doesn’t remember living. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of Wonder Woman Jill Lepore, 2014-10-28 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Within the origin of one of the world’s most iconic superheroes hides a fascinating family story—and a crucial history of feminism in the twentieth-century. “Everything you might want in a page-turner…skeletons in the closet, a believe-it-or-not weirdness in its biographical details, and something else that secretly powers even the most “serious” feminist history—fun.” —Entertainment Weekly The Secret History of Wonder Woman is a tour de force of intellectual and cultural history. Wonder Woman, Jill Lepore argues, is the missing link in the history of the struggle for women’s rights—a chain of events that begins with the women’s suffrage campaigns of the early 1900s and ends with the troubled place of feminism a century later. Lepore, a Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer, has uncovered an astonishing trove of documents, including the never-before-seen private papers of Wonder Woman’s creator, William Moulton Marston. The Marston family story is a tale of drama, intrigue, and irony. In the 1920s, Marston and his wife brought into their home Olive Byrne, the niece of Margaret Sanger, one of the most influential feminists of the twentieth century. Even while celebrating conventional family life in a regular column that Marston and Byrne wrote for Family Circle, they themselves pursued lives of extraordinary nonconformity. Marston, internationally known as an expert on truth—he invented the lie detector test—lived a life of secrets, only to spill them on the pages of Wonder Woman. Includes a new afterword with fresh revelations based on never before seen letters and photographs from the Marston family’s papers, and 161 illustrations and 16 pages in full color. |
| book review the secret history: The House of Government Yuri Slezkine, 2017-08-07 On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the epic story of an enormous apartment building where Communist true believers lived before their destruction The House of Government is unlike any other book about the Russian Revolution and the Soviet experiment. Written in the tradition of Tolstoy's War and Peace, Grossman’s Life and Fate, and Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago, Yuri Slezkine’s gripping narrative tells the true story of the residents of an enormous Moscow apartment building where top Communist officials and their families lived before they were destroyed in Stalin’s purges. A vivid account of the personal and public lives of Bolshevik true believers, the book begins with their conversion to Communism and ends with their children’s loss of faith and the fall of the Soviet Union. Completed in 1931, the House of Government, later known as the House on the Embankment, was located across the Moscow River from the Kremlin. The largest residential building in Europe, it combined 505 furnished apartments with public spaces that included everything from a movie theater and a library to a tennis court and a shooting range. Slezkine tells the chilling story of how the building’s residents lived in their apartments and ruled the Soviet state until some eight hundred of them were evicted from the House and led, one by one, to prison or their deaths. Drawing on letters, diaries, and interviews, and featuring hundreds of rare photographs, The House of Government weaves together biography, literary criticism, architectural history, and fascinating new theories of revolutions, millennial prophecies, and reigns of terror. The result is an unforgettable human saga of a building that, like the Soviet Union itself, became a haunted house, forever disturbed by the ghosts of the disappeared. |
| book review the secret history: Most Dangerous Steve Sheinkin, 2015-09-22 Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War is New York Times bestselling author Steve Sheinkin's award-winning nonfiction account of an ordinary man who wielded the most dangerous weapon: the truth. “Easily the best study of the Vietnam War available for teen readers.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award winner A National Book Award finalist A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon book A Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature finalist Selected for the Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People List In 1964, Daniel Ellsberg was a U.S. government analyst, helping to plan a war in Vietnam. It was the height of the Cold War, and the government would do anything to stop the spread of communism—with or without the consent of the American people. As the fighting in Vietnam escalated, Ellsberg turned against the war. He had access a top-secret government report known as the Pentagon Papers, and he knew it could blow the lid off of years of government lies. But did he have the right to expose decades of presidential secrets? And what would happen to him if he did it? A lively book that interrogates the meanings of patriotism, freedom, and integrity, the National Book Award finalist Most Dangerous further establishes Steve Sheinkin—author of Newbery Honor book Bomb as a leader in children's nonfiction. This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum. “Gripping.”—New York Times Book Review “A master of fast-paced histories...[this] is Sheinkin’s most compelling one yet. ”—Washington Post Also by Steve Sheinkin: Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights Which Way to the Wild West?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About Westward Expansion King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution Two Miserable Presidents: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War Born to Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation Lauren Willig, 2011-01-24 Eloise Kelly longs for the romance of years gone by; for a dashing hero like The Scarlet Pimpernel to come and sweep her off her Jimmy Choo-clad feet.but instead she's sloshing around London in the rain and finally realising that romantic heroes are a thing of the past. To distract herself from such thoughts, Eloise concentrates on her History dissertation, and it's while rummaging through a pile of old letters and diaries that she discovers something amazing, something that historians have missed: the secret history of the most elusive spy of all time, The Pink Carnation. But why is the very modern Colin Selwick so determined to interfere with Eloise's research? And why does he have to be quite so charming.? |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live Danielle Dreilinger, 2021-05-04 The surprising, often fiercely feminist, always fascinating, yet barely known, history of home economics. The term “home economics” may conjure traumatic memories of lopsided hand-sewn pillows or sunken muffins. But common conception obscures the story of the revolutionary science of better living. The field exploded opportunities for women in the twentieth century by reducing domestic work and providing jobs as professors, engineers, chemists, and businesspeople. And it has something to teach us today. In the surprising, often fiercely feminist and always fascinating The Secret History of Home Economics, Danielle Dreilinger traces the field’s history from Black colleges to Eleanor Roosevelt to Okinawa, from a Betty Crocker brigade to DIY techies. These women—and they were mostly women—became chemists and marketers, studied nutrition, health, and exercise, tested parachutes, created astronaut food, and took bold steps in childhood development and education. Home economics followed the currents of American culture even as it shaped them. Dreilinger brings forward the racism within the movement along with the strides taken by women of color who were influential leaders and innovators. She also looks at the personal lives of home economics’ women, as they chose to be single, share lives with other women, or try for egalitarian marriages. This groundbreaking and engaging history restores a denigrated subject to its rightful importance, as it reminds us that everyone should learn how to cook a meal, balance their account, and fight for a better world. |
| book review the secret history: Animal Person Alexander MacLeod, 2022-04-05 Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, CBC Books, and the Globe and Mail. From Giller Prize finalist Alexander MacLeod comes a magnificent collection about the needs, temptations, and tensions that exist just beneath the surface of our lives. Named a Canadian Fiction title to watch by the CBC, Quill & Quire, and 49th Shelf, and a must-read book by Maclean's. Featuring stories published in The New Yorker, Granta, and the O. Henry Prize Stories. Startling, suspenseful, deeply humane yet alert to the undertow of our darker instincts, the eight stories in Animal Person illuminate what it means to exist in the perilous space between desire and action, and to have your faith in what you hold true buckle and give way. A petty argument between two sisters is interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Adjoining motel rooms connect a family on the brink of a new life with a criminal whose legacy will haunt them for years to come. A connoisseur of other people’s secrets is undone by what he finds in a piece of lost luggage. In the wake of a tragic accident, a young man must contend with what is owed to the living and to the dead. And in the O. Henry Award-winning story “Lagomorph,” a man’s relationship with his family’s long-lived pet rabbit opens up to become a profound exploration of how a marriage fractures. Muscular and tender, beautifully crafted, and alive with an elemental power, these stories explore the struggle for meaning and connection in an age when many of us feel cut off from so much, not least ourselves. This is a collection that beats with raw emotion and shimmers with the complexity of our shared human experience, and it confirms Alexander MacLeod’s reputation as a modern master of the short story. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of Dreaming Robert Moss, 2010 Dreaming is vital to the human story. It is essential to our survival and evolution, to creative endeavors in every field, and, quite simply, to getting us through our daily lives. All of us dream. Now Robert Moss shows us how dreams have shaped world events and why deepening our conscious engagement with dreaming is crucial for our future. He traces the strands of dreams through archival records and well-known writings, weaving remarkable yet true accounts of historical figures who were influenced by their dreams. In this wide-ranging, visionary book, Moss creates a new way to explore history and consciousness, combining the storytelling skills of a bestselling novelist with the research acumen of a scholar of ancient history and the personal experience of an active dreamer. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of the Gnostics Andrew Phillip Smith, 2015-11-24 Learn more about the myths, practices, history, and recent resurgence of Gnosticism as a Gnostic scholar seeks to answer why this Christian mystical movement has inspired the likes of Dan Brown and Philip Pullman The Secret History of the Gnostics offers long-awaited illumination on the mystical movement that teaches ‘gnosis’—knowledge of God as opposed to unquestioning faith. Acclaimed author Andrew Phillip Smith delves into the myths and practices of this ancient movement, exploring its popularity during 2nd century AD, its subsequent decline under the weight of orthodoxy in the Church, and its present-day resurgence. Gnosticism has travelled a fascinating path—from the Manichaeans in Modern Persia between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD, to the triumphs and tragedies of the Cathars in Southern Europe between the 12th and 14th centuries, to, finally, today’s Mandaeans in Iraq. However, as the author points out, the revival of Gnosticism extends further than these narrow sects, offering inspiration to a legion of literary figures, including Dan Brown and Philip Pullman. Gnosticism’s emphasis on personal over organized religion—in keeping with the doctrine of the early Christian era during which it thrived—has found particular resonance with today’s multicultural world. In addition to discussing the Gnostic gospels and the sect’s practical beliefs and customers, The Secret History of the Gnostics is also, in effect, a manifesto, an appeal to those inspired by or drawn to the Gnostic faith not to forget its origins. |
| book review the secret history: Little Sister Death William Gay, 2015-10-13 Little Sister Death is the stunning 'lost' horror novel of the late William Gay. Inspired by the famous 19th Century Bell Witch haunting of Tennessee, it follows the unravelling life of David Binder, a writer who moves his young family to a haunted farmstead to try and find inspiration for his faltering work... Beautifully written and structured, Little Sister Death is a loving and faithful addition to the field of classic horror writing, eschewing any notions of irony or post-modern tricks as it aims, instead, straight for your soul. |
| book review the secret history: Born Round Frank Bruni, 2010 Bruni, restaurant critic for The New York Times, tells his heartbreaking and hilarious account of his lifelong, often painful struggle with food. |
| book review the secret history: Urbanities Brooke Clark, 2020 Sensuous, scandalous, satirical, tender, Brooke Clark’s unique debut poetry collection is cynical and entertaining, replete with rich rhythms and playful rhymes.-- |
| book review the secret history: Turn the Beat Around Peter Shapiro, 2015-06-23 A long-overdue paean to the predominant musical form of the 70s and a thoughtful exploration of the culture that spawned it Disco may be the most universally derided musical form to come about in the past forty years. Yet, like its pop cultural peers punk and hip hop, it was born of a period of profound social and economic upheaval. In Turn the Beat Around, critic and journalist Peter Shapiro traces the history of disco music and culture. From the outset, disco was essentially a shotgun marriage between a newly out and proud gay sexuality and the first generation of post-civil rights African Americans, all to the serenade of the recently developed synthesizer. Shapiro maps out these converging influences, as well as disco's cultural antecedents in Europe, looks at the history of DJing, explores the mainstream disco craze at it's apex, and details the long shadow cast by disco's performers and devotees on today's musical landscape. One part cultural study, one part urban history, and one part glitter-pop confection, Turn the Beat Around is the most comprehensive study of the Me Generation to date. |
| book review the secret history: Seven Steps to Happiness Stella Newman, 2016-10-06 Do you love Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella and Jill Mansell? If so, Stella Newman is for you! Is there a formula for happiness? If it's Netflix, two-for-one Malbec and the perfect toasted-cheese sandwich, Lenny has it covered. But when her friend Juliet finds herself at rock bottom, Lenny realises it's going to take more than that to fix her. Luckily help is at hand in the form of HappyGuru: a plan which promises happiness in seven easy steps. So when Lenny is asked to research it, she puts scepticism aside and persuades Juliet they should give it a go. The friends quickly find themselves immersed in mindfulness, juice cleanses and death-defying circus stunts. Yet as Juliet becomes increasingly buoyant, things only get more complicated for Lenny. Can it be that happiness is only seven steps away? A funny and moving novel of friendship, heartbreak, and the restorative power of melted cheese. |
| book review the secret history: The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida Clarissa Goenawan, 2020-03-10 From the critically acclaimed author of Rainbirds comes a novel of tragedy and dark histories set in Japan. University sophomore Miwako Sumida has hanged herself, leaving those closest to her reeling. In the months before her suicide, she was hiding away in a remote mountainside village, but what, or whom, was she running from? Ryusei, a fellow student at Waseda who harbored unrequited feelings for Miwako, begs her best friend Chie to bring him to the remote village where she spent her final days. While they are away, his older sister, Fumi, who took Miwako on as an apprentice in her art studio, receives an unexpected guest at her apartment in Tokyo, distracting her from her fear that Miwako’s death may ruin what is left of her brother’s life. Expanding on the beautifully crafted world of Rainbirds, Clarissa Goenawan gradually pierces through a young woman’s careful façade, unmasking her most painful secrets. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of the World Jonathan Black, Quercus, 2013-05-30 THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The complete history of the world, from the beginning of time to the present day, based on the beliefs and writings of the secret societies. Jonathan Black examines the end of the world and the coming of the Antichrist. Or is the Antichrist already here? How will he make himself known and what will become of the world when he does? Willl it be the end of Time? Having studied theology and learnt from initiates of all the great secret societies of the world, Jonathan Black has learned that it is possible to reach an altered state of consciousness in which we can see things about the way the world works that hidden from our everyday commonsensical consciousness. This history shows that by using secret techniques, people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and George Washington have worked themselves into this altered state - and have been able to access supernatural levels of intelligence. This book will leave you questioning every aspect of your life and spotting hidden messages in the very fabric of society and in life itself. It will open your mind to a new way of living and leave you questioning everything you have been taught - and everything you've taught your children. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of Magic Peter Lamont, Jim Steinmeyer, 2018-07-17 Pull back the curtain on the real history of magic – and discover why magic really matters If you read a standard history of magic, you learn that it begins in ancient Egypt, with the resurrection of a goose in front of the Pharaoh. You discover how magicians were tortured and killed during the age of witchcraft. You are told how conjuring tricks were used to quell rebellious colonial natives. The history of magic is full of such stories, which turn out not to be true. Behind the smoke and mirrors, however, lies the real story of magic. It is a history of people from humble roots, who made and lost fortunes, and who deceived kings and queens. In order to survive, they concealed many secrets, yet they revealed some and they stole others. They engaged in deception, exposure, and betrayal, in a quest to make the impossible happen. They managed to survive in a world in which a series of technological wonders appeared, which previous generations would have considered magical. Even today, when we now take the most sophisticated technology for granted, we can still be astonished by tricks that were performed hundreds of years ago. The Secret History of Magic reveals how this was done. It is about why magic matters in a world that no longer seems to have a place for it, but which desperately needs a sense of wonder. |
| book review the secret history: The One Device Brian Merchant, 2017-06-22 The secret history of the invention that changed everything and became the most profitable product in the world. Odds are that as you read this, an iPhone is within reach. But before Steve Jobs introduced us to 'the one device', as he called it, a mobile phone was merely what you used to make calls on the go. How did the iPhone transform our world and turn Apple into the most valuable company ever? Veteran technology journalist Brian Merchant reveals the inside story you won't hear from Cupertino - based on his exclusive interviews with the engineers, inventors and developers who guided every stage of the iPhone's creation. This deep dive takes you from inside 1 Infinite Loop to nineteenth-century France to WWII America, from the driest place on earth to a Kenyan pit of toxic e-waste, and even deep inside Shenzhen's notorious 'suicide factories'. It's a first-hand look at how the cutting-edge tech that makes the world work - touch screens, motion trackers and even AI - made its way into our pockets. The One Device is a road map for design and engineering genius, an anthropology of the modern age and an unprecedented view into one of the most secretive companies in history. This is the untold account, ten years in the making, of the device that changed everything. |
| book review the secret history: Area 51 Annie Jacobsen, 2011-05-17 The explosive, untold story of the Cold War's biggest secret. The REAL X-Files. It is the most famous military installation in the world. And no credible insider has ever divulged the truth about his time inside of it. Until now. This is the first book based on interviews with scientists, pilots, and engineers - 58 in total - who provide an unprecedented look into the mysterious activities of a top-secret base, from the Cold War to today. With a jaw-dropping ending, it proves that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of the English Language M. J. Harper, 2008 This book presents a new history to explain the story of English. |
| book review the secret history: Dark Territory Fred Kaplan, 2016 Originally published in hardcover in 2016 by Simon & Schuster. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of the Blitz Joshua Levine, 2015-07-30 The Blitz of 1940-41 is one of the most iconic periods in modern British history - and one of the most misunderstood. The 'Blitz Spirit' is often celebrated, whereas others dismiss it as a myth. Joshua Levine's thrilling biography rejects the tired arguments and reveals the human truth: the Blitz was a time of extremes of experience and behaviour. People werepulling together and helping strangers, but they were also breaking rules and exploiting each other. Life during wartime, the author reveals, was complex and messy and real. From the first page readers will discover a different story to the one they thought they knew - from the sacrifices made by ordinary people to a sudden surge in the popularity of nightclubs; from secret criminal trials at the Old Bailey to a Columbine-style murder in an Oxford College. There were new working opportunities for women and clandestine homosexual relationships conducted in the shadows. The Blitz also allowed for a melting pot of cultures: whilst prayers were offered up in a south London mosque, Jamaican sailors crossed the country. Unlikely friendships were fostered and surprising sexualities explored - these years saw a boom in prostitution and even the emergence of a popular weekly magazine for fetishists. On the darker side, racketeers and spivs made money out of the chaos, and looters prowled the night to prey on bomb victims. From the lack of cheese to the increased suicide rate, this astonishing and entertaining book takes the true pulse of a 'blitzed nation'. And it shows how social change during this time led to political change - which in turn has built the Britain we know today. |
| book review the secret history: Bartlett's Roget's Thesaurus , 2003-09-02 Supplies synonyms and antonyms for words in over 800 categories, arranged thematically, providing information on parts of speech, cross-references, and including quotations that use the featured word. |
| book review the secret history: Paris Andrew Hussey, 2010-07-22 If Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon described daily life in contemporary Paris, this book describes daily life in Paris throughout its history: a history of the city from the point of view of the Parisians themselves. Paris captures everyone's imaginations: It's a backdrop for Proust's fictional pederast, Robert Doisneau's photographic kiss, and Edith Piaf's serenaded soldier-lovers; a home as much to romance and love poems as to prostitution and opium dens. The many pieces of the city coexist, each one as real as the next. What's more, the conflicted identity of the city is visible everywhere-between cobblestones, in bars, on the métro. In this lively and lucid volume, Andrew Hussey brings to life the urchins and artists who've left their marks on the city, filling in the gaps of a history that affected the disenfranchised as much as the nobility. Paris: The Secret History ranges across centuries, movements, and cultural and political beliefs, from Napoleon's overcrowded cemeteries to Balzac's nocturnal flight from his debts. For Hussey, Paris is a city whose long and conflicted history continues to thrive and change. The book's is a picaresque journey through royal palaces, brothels, and sidewalk cafés, uncovering the rich, exotic, and often lurid history of the world's most beloved city. |
| book review the secret history: The Secret History of Star Wars Michael Kaminski, 2008 In this thorough account of one of cinema's most lasting works, Kaminski presents the true history of how Star Wars was written. For this unauthorized account, he has pored through more than 400 sources. |
| book review the secret history: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks E. Lockhart, 2015-01-01 Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14: Debate Club. Her father's 'bunny rabbit'. A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school. Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15: A knockout figure. A sharp tongue. A chip on her shoulder. And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend: the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston. Frankie Landau-Banks: No longer the kind of girl to take 'no' for an answer. Especially when 'no' means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society. Not when her ex-boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places. Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them. When she knows Matthew's lying to her. And when there are so many, many pranks to be done. Frankie Landau-Banks at age 16: Possibly a criminal mastermind. This is the story of how she got that way. |
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and …
In Ghost Wars, Steve Coll provides a useful, if overly long, chronology and analysis of pivotal events, missteps, indecision, apathy, and ultimately tragedy up to the day be-fore the attacks. …
Review of 'Surprise, Kill, Vanish' - The World Factbook
Surprise, Kill, Vanish. The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators and Assassins Annie Jacobsen (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), 545 pps, 16 pages of photographs. …
The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations …
Review of The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis (2017). Annie Jacobsen Little, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and …
review essay The History of Secret Histories
These scholars trace the emergence and develop-ment of the secret history genre by studying the reception and adaptation of certain key texts. Although they disagree about precisely which …
CDR mBook Review - United States Army
Jul 31, 2018 · Richard J. Aldrich's book, GCHQ: The Uncensored Story of Britain's Most Secret Intelligence Agency is the best example of primary source mastery which, instead of bogging it …
The Secret History of the Bluebook - Minnesota Law Review
The book review author, James W. Paulsen, wrote: “The Bluebook was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in the summer of 1926, the child of second-year law student Erwin Griswold and the
Review of 'The Secret History of RDX: The Super-Explosive …
Colin F. Baxter’s The Secret History of RDX: The Super-Explosive that Helped Win World War II is a book with much promise, but it does not reach its potential.
Review: Gerry Docherty & Jim Macgregor, Hidden History: the …
It is quite impossible in a short review es-say to summarise the complex machinations of imperial policy arising from their African experience which Hidden History uncovers, but I must try to list …
REVIEW SSAY The Afghanistan Papers - Army University Press
The contention of Craig Whitlock’s The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War is that senior military and political leaders routinely lied to the American pub-lic. If the title of...
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the …
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Tom O’Neill with Dan Piepenbring (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), 521 pages, plates and illustrations, bibli …
Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and …
From the feared ‘troll armies’ of the Ukraine conflict to a US election plagued by allegations of foreign meddling we are never far from this malign influence. In Active Measures Thomas Rid …
The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6, Life and Death …
Drawing on interviews and first-hand accounts from participants, Corera constructs the tale of MI6 during those years by telling the story of the spies and spy masters who played significant roles …
The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA
Propelled by the same meticulous reporting and vivid storytelling that infused CODE GIRLS, THE SISTERHOOD offers a riveting new perspective on history, revealing how women at the CIA …
Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special …
an authoritative and well-written book Relentless Strike chronicles the history of the Joint Special Operations Com-mand (JSOC), America’s top-tier special operations military unit To the …
OSS THE SECRET HISTORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST CENTRAL …
Elsewhere he repea ?s tie legend that, in 1941, "unaware that a top secret Naval intelligence team had broken the JaPanese military code, O.S.S. men in Portugal secretly en- tered the …
Review of "The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the …
Matthew Aid has dug up some astoundingly sensitive facts, some of which are among the deepest secrets in the cryptologic cupboard. And they did not all come from his assiduous gleaning of …
Review-Two Perspectives on The Sisterhood: The Secret …
In this article, we ofer two perspectives by veteran intelligence oficers on Lisa Mundy’s best-selling The Sisterhood. The first is by Brent Geary, a historian in the Center for the Study of …
The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6, Life and Death …
Drawing on interviews and first-hand accounts from participants, Corera constructs the tale of MI6 during those years by telling the story of the spies and spy masters who played significant roles …
The Secret World: A History of Intelligence - The World …
The Secret World: A History of Intelligence Christopher Andrew (Yale University Press, 2018), 960 pp., illustrations, bibliography, notes, index. Reviewed by Leslie C. Christopher Andrew is the …
Book Review of SIX-A History of Britain's Secret Intelligence …
By repute, the British Secret Intelligence Service is the oldest, most experi-enced, and most secret in the Western world. Today, according to former Chief of Secret Service (CSS), Sir …
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and …
In Ghost Wars, Steve Coll provides a useful, if overly long, chronology and analysis of pivotal events, missteps, indecision, apathy, and ultimately tragedy up to the day be-fore the attacks. …
Review of 'Surprise, Kill, Vanish' - The World Factbook
Surprise, Kill, Vanish. The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators and Assassins Annie Jacobsen (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), 545 pps, 16 pages of photographs. …
The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations …
Review of The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis (2017). Annie Jacobsen Little, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and …
review essay The History of Secret Histories
These scholars trace the emergence and develop-ment of the secret history genre by studying the reception and adaptation of certain key texts. Although they disagree about precisely which …
CDR mBook Review - United States Army
Jul 31, 2018 · Richard J. Aldrich's book, GCHQ: The Uncensored Story of Britain's Most Secret Intelligence Agency is the best example of primary source mastery which, instead of bogging it …
The Secret History of the Bluebook - Minnesota Law Review
The book review author, James W. Paulsen, wrote: “The Bluebook was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in the summer of 1926, the child of second-year law student Erwin Griswold and the
Review of 'The Secret History of RDX: The Super-Explosive …
Colin F. Baxter’s The Secret History of RDX: The Super-Explosive that Helped Win World War II is a book with much promise, but it does not reach its potential.
Review: Gerry Docherty & Jim Macgregor, Hidden History: …
It is quite impossible in a short review es-say to summarise the complex machinations of imperial policy arising from their African experience which Hidden History uncovers, but I must try to list …
REVIEW SSAY The Afghanistan Papers - Army University …
The contention of Craig Whitlock’s The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War is that senior military and political leaders routinely lied to the American pub-lic. If the title of...
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of …
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Tom O’Neill with Dan Piepenbring (Little, Brown and Company, 2019), 521 pages, plates and illustrations, bibli …
Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and …
From the feared ‘troll armies’ of the Ukraine conflict to a US election plagued by allegations of foreign meddling we are never far from this malign influence. In Active Measures Thomas Rid …
The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6, Life and …
Drawing on interviews and first-hand accounts from participants, Corera constructs the tale of MI6 during those years by telling the story of the spies and spy masters who played significant …
The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA
Propelled by the same meticulous reporting and vivid storytelling that infused CODE GIRLS, THE SISTERHOOD offers a riveting new perspective on history, revealing how women at the CIA …
Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special …
an authoritative and well-written book Relentless Strike chronicles the history of the Joint Special Operations Com-mand (JSOC), America’s top-tier special operations military unit To the …
OSS THE SECRET HISTORY OF AMERICA'S FIRST …
Elsewhere he repea ?s tie legend that, in 1941, "unaware that a top secret Naval intelligence team had broken the JaPanese military code, O.S.S. men in Portugal secretly en- tered the …
Review of "The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the …
Matthew Aid has dug up some astoundingly sensitive facts, some of which are among the deepest secrets in the cryptologic cupboard. And they did not all come from his assiduous gleaning of …
Review-Two Perspectives on The Sisterhood: The Secret …
In this article, we ofer two perspectives by veteran intelligence oficers on Lisa Mundy’s best-selling The Sisterhood. The first is by Brent Geary, a historian in the Center for the Study of …
The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6, Life and …
Drawing on interviews and first-hand accounts from participants, Corera constructs the tale of MI6 during those years by telling the story of the spies and spy masters who played significant …
The Secret World: A History of Intelligence - The World …
The Secret World: A History of Intelligence Christopher Andrew (Yale University Press, 2018), 960 pp., illustrations, bibliography, notes, index. Reviewed by Leslie C. Christopher Andrew is the …
Book Review of SIX-A History of Britain's Secret Intelligence …
By repute, the British Secret Intelligence Service is the oldest, most experi-enced, and most secret in the Western world. Today, according to former Chief of Secret Service (CSS), Sir …
