Visigoth
"Visigoth" is a portrait of the American male -- gritty, violent, and fascinating. The protagonists in this collection of stories come from all walks of life -- hockey players, middle managers, political hopefuls, and wayward husbands -- but all share a tendency to turn towards violence when life begins spinning out of control. In "The Flyweight," an all-star high-school wrestler struggles with his own success and the expectations of others when he begins hearing voices after a schizophrenic breakdown. "Visigoth," the title story, depicts a college hockey player unable to understand that his relationship with an English professor is over. The novella "The Free Fall" focuses on a cycle of escalating violence in small farming and mining towns and the effect that it has on the main character and his family. Sharp, inquisitive, and witty, "Visigoth" challenges the reader to question the popular glory of violence in all its manifestations.
Scriabin's Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 20, and Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No.4 in D Minor, by Alexander Scriabin, ISBN 0486424383
This handsome compilation features a pair of great works from two distinguished Russian composers. Alexander Scriabin wrote his Piano Concerto in F-sharp Minor during the first significant phase of his artistic career, during which he focused on creating piano works in the modes of Chopin and Liszt. He ventured beyond his Romantic models to fashion pieces with a fresh delicacy, clarity, and richness, as well as a uniquely expressive range that ran from subtlety to vivid "sensations" (the composer's favorite term). Anton Rubinstein spent a lifetime touring, thrilling audiences with a pianistic virtuosity reputed to rival that of Liszt. A prolific composer (his oeuvre includes 17 operas), Rubinstein naturally wrote a vast quantity of piano music, including this magnificent concerto. Pianists as well as any admirer of these composers will delight in this convenient, authoritative edition of two excellent piano concertos. Unabridged republication of Scriabin's Piano Concerto, Op. 20, originally...
Scriabin's Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 20, and Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No.4 in D Minor, by Alexander Scriabin, ISBN 0486424383 
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The Essential Mary Midgley
Feared and admired in equal measure, Mary Midgely has carefully, yet profoundly challenged many of the scientific and moral orthodoxies of the twentieth century. "The Essential Mary Midgley" collects for the first time the very best of this famous philosopher's work, described by the "Financial Times" as "commonsense philosophy of the highest order."
This anthology includes carefully chosen selections from her best-selling books, including "Wickedness, Beast and Man, Science and Poetry" and "The Myths We Live By." It provides a superb and eminently accessible insight into questions she has returned to again and again in her renowned sharp prose, from the roots of human nature, reason and imagination to the myths of science and the importance of holism in thinking about science and the environment.
It offers an unrivalled introduction to a great philosopher and a brilliant writer, and also includes a specially written foreword by James Lovelock.
The Essential Mary Midgley
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Presumption: An Entertainment by Julia Barrett, ISBN 0226038130
This witty sequel to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice follows the fate of Georgiana Darcy, Mr. Darcy's younger sister, who must choose between two suitors, a well-placed navy captain and a brash young architect. Masterfully adapted to Austen's original nineteenth-century style, "Presumption brings back to life the book's most memorable characters, the Bennets, Darcys, Collins, and de Bourghs.
"An elegant emulation and continuation of "Pride and Prejudice. . . . Jointly composed by two admirers of Jane Austen, the book often achieves crisp replication of her style. . . . "Presumption shows how sequel-writing can, like parody, be a sharp exercise in literary appreciation."--Peter Kemp, "Times Literary Supplement
Julia Barrett is a pseudonym for Julia Braun Kessler and Gabrielle Donnelly.
Presumption: An Entertainment by Julia Barrett, ISBN 0226038130
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A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic
This major new history of the birth of the American republic is fast-paced and filled with sharp-eyed portraits and telling insights. 19 halftones & 7 maps.
A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic
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The Making of Intelligence by Ken Richardson, ISBN 0231120052
What do we mean when we describe a person as intelligent? The concept of intelligence wields a powerful influence on research dealing with the brain and on how individuals progress in society. Yet, remarkably, there is no scientific consensus about the meaning of intelligence. In "The Making of Intelligence" Ken Richardson looks at how intelligence has been characterized and measured in the past, explores current trends in our understanding and uses of the concept, and predicts what form these trends will take in the future.
He argues that intelligence is not solely predetermined by such factors as genes and environment; it is also created by self-organizing interactions within evolved developmental systems. Considering the implications for society of this dynamic-systems approach, Richardson predicts that as our understanding of the relationship between the mind and the brain improves, the notion of intelligence as a single concept may disappear altogether.
Richardson takes particularly...
The Making of Intelligence by Ken Richardson, ISBN 0231120052
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The Sisters Mallone by Louisa Ermelino, ISBN 0758204337
Growing up Italian and female among the Irish of Hell's Kitchen in the 1930s isn't for shrinking violets. Fortunately, the Mallone sisters--that's Mal-Ion-e, pronounced the Italian way--are shrewd, tough, and sharp-tongued, quick with a Lucky Strike and a good time. While their grandmother Anona insists the whole family is cursed with the evil eye. Helen, Mary, and Gracie prefer to make their own luck with everyone from mobsters to the cops on the beat. But while tough-talking Helen and flirtatious Mary have what it takes to keep the creeps away, their sweet baby sister has it bad for the notorious Frankie--a guy who never met a skirt he couldn't chase or a woman he couldn't make miserable. They're not about to let Gracie ruin her life for a wrong number like Frankie. Sisters have to stick together, no matter what. Now, in downtown Manhattan's darkened nightclub booths, where cigarette girls trade looks with small-time hoods, the sisters Mallone are hatching a wickedly devious plan, one...
The Sisters Mallone by Louisa Ermelino, ISBN 0758204337
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