In The Allies on the Rhine Skrjabina describes the coming of the Allies to the Rhineland, the occupation, and the first clear signs of the recovery of war-shattered Germany. She describes what occurred and how it was interpreted at the time by a keen observer who had lived under Soviet, Nazi, American, and French rule. She describes the first chaotic days of the occupation when instead of the calm and peace expected as a remit of the American advance, there was fearful chaos. She shows clearly that as the main allied forces moved on there was no real law and order and that she and the frightened populace were often terrorized by marauding youthful former work camp inmates over whom there was no effective control.

No business, legitimate or otherwise, has had a more raucous influence on the history of a city than that of the Outfit in Chicago. From the roots of organized crime in the late 19th century to the present day, The Chicago Outfit examines the evolution of the city's underworld, focusing on their business activities and leadership along with the violence and political protection they employed to become the most successful of the Cosa Nostra crime families. Through a vivid and visually stunning collection of images, many of which are published here for the first time, author John Binder tells the story of the people and places of the world of organized crime from a fresh and informed point of view.

Stanley Baxter delighted over 20 million viewers at a time with his television specials. His pantos became legendary. His divas and dames were so good they were beyond description. Baxter was a most brilliant cowboy Coward, a smouldering Dietrich. He found immense laughs as Formby and Liberace. And his sex-starved Tarzan swung in a way Hollywood could never have imagined. But who is the real Stanley Baxter? The comedy actor's talents are matched only by his past reluctance to colour in the detail of his own character. Now, the man behind the mischievous grin, the twinkling eyes and the once- Brylcreemed coiffure is revealed. In a tale of triumphs and tragedies, of giant laughs and great falls from grace, we discover that while the enigmatic entertainer could play host to hundreds of different voices, the role he found most difficult to play was that of Stanley Baxter.

As a Spice Girl, TV talent show judge and Broadway star, Mel B a.k.a Scary Spice, has been a global icon since her twenties. But behind the glittering façade of fame, the struggles and pain of this working-class, mixed-race girl from Leeds are laid bare in her critically acclaimed best-selling memoir, Brutally Honest.

With deep personal insight, remarkable frankness and trademark Yorkshire humour, the book tells how she went from Girl Power to girl powerless during her ten-year emotionally abusive marriage. Tracing a path through the key moments in her life, she reflects on her childhood, rise to fame and her chilling downward spiral before she finally broke free.

In this expanded edition, written with Louise Gannon, Mel brings her story up to date. With her trademark honesty, she tells the unfiltered story of piecing herself back together, dealing with trauma and new heartbreak whilst becoming a champion for survivors of abuse, performing once more with the Spice Girls and receiving her MBE from Prince William.

Gidon Lev, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor, has lived an extraordinary life. At the age of six, he was imprisoned in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt. Liberated when he was ten, he lost at least 26 members of his family, including his father and grandfather.

But Gidon’s life is extraordinary not only because he is one of the few living survivors remaining but because of his lessons learned over nearly a century. His enduring message is of hope and opportunity – to make things better. By sharing his timeless simple belief and truths, Gidon reminds us that we have the power to incrementally improve what is in front of us and leave something better behind us.

His life is a lesson of how to do it, even in the face of astonishing adversity, and Let’s Make Things Better is the calling card of an indomitable spirit.

Learn about Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics who wanted to give everyone the opportunity to play the sports they love. This nonfiction book explores how she created places for athletes with disabilities to shine. Ideal for young readers, this book includes a fiction story related to the topic, discussion questions, an additional project, and other meaningful features. This 24-page full-color book describes the life and legacy of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. It also covers important topics such as acceptance and inclusivity, and includes an extension activity for Grade 1. Perfect for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to learn about people with disabilities, amazing athletes, and leadership.

Bukeng ena e ntle le e tletseng kgothatso, Mofts Afrika Borwa, Shudufhadzo Musida, o pheta pale ya moo a tswang teng bophelong; ho tsa mmino le ho tantsha le ho ba sebueng motsaneng o bitswang Ha-Vhangani, a potapotilwe ke lerato haholoholo le tswang ho mme wa hae le Nkgono Gugu.

Empa dintho di a senyeha ha Shudu a fallela toropong e ntjha mme o hloriswa ke bomphato ba hae ka tlelaseng.

Bala kamoo Shudu a hlolang tlhonamo le mathata ao a kopaneng le ona, mme e eba ngwanana, le ho ba motho e moholoya ithutileng ho ithata!

Essays from a Native American grandfather to help navigate life's difficult experiences. Offered in the oral traditions of the Nez Perce, Native American writer W. S. Penn records the conversations he held with his granddaughter, lovingly referred to as ""Bean,"" as he guided her toward adulthood while confronting society's interest in possessions, fairness, and status. Drawing on his own family history and Native mythology, Penn charts a way through life where each endeavor is a journey-an opportunity to love, to learn, or to interact-rather than the means to a prize at the end. Divided into five parts, Penn addresses topics such as the power of words, race and identity, school, and how to be. In the essay "In the Nick of Names," Penn takes an amused look at the words we use for people and how their power, real or imagined, can alter our perception of an entire group. To Have and On Hold is an essay about wanting to assimilate into a group but at the risk of losing a good bit of yourself. "A Harvest Moon" is a humorous anecdote about a Native grandfather visiting his granddaughter's classroom and the absurdities of being a professional Indian. "Not Nobody" uses "Be All that You Can Be Week" at Bean's school to reveal the lessons and advantages of being a "nobody." In "From Paper to Person," Penn imagines the joy that may come to Bean when she spends time with her Paper People-three-foot-tall drawings, mounted on stiff cardboard-and as she grows into a young woman like her mom, able to say she is a person who is happy with what she has and not sorry for what she doesn't. Comical and engaging, the essays in Raising Bean will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and interests, especially those with a curiosity in language, perception, humor, and the ways in which Native people guide their families and friends with stories.

Legendary recording artist Billie Eilish shares an intimate inside look at her life - both on and off the stage - in this stunning, photo-filled book.

Billie Eilish is a phenomenon. With distinctive visual flair and darkly poignant lyrics that are unparalleled among music icons of the 21st century, Billie is a musician who stands out from the crowd. Between her record-shattering, award-winning music and her uncompromising and unapologetic attitude, it's no surprise that her fanbase continues to grow by millions, month after month. She is that rare combination of both wildly popular and highly respected for her prodigious talent, a once-in-a-generation superstar.

Now in this stunning visual narrative journey through her life, she is ready to share more with her devoted audience for the first time, including hundreds of never-before-seen photos. This gorgeous book captures the essence of Billie inside and out, offering readers glimpses into her childhood, her life on tour, and more. A must-have for any fan.

Recommended for ages 14 and over.

When Letshego Zulu set off with her husband, South African racing champion Gugulethu Zulu, to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro in July 2016, she had no idea that she would return to South Africa days later with her husband’s body in a coffin. Known and loved as SA’s Adventure Couple, the husband and wife team were brimming with excitement at being part of the 42-strong team of the Trek4Mandela initiative, attempting to summit the world’s highest free-standing mountain.

Along the way, Gugulethu complained about a scratchy throat but seemed fit to scale the 5 895 m peak. The doctor on the expedition gave him the all clear. On 17 July, the couple were separated as Gugu, who seemed to be struggling with the altitude, elected to join the slower team heading for the Kibo peak.

By the time the couple rejoined that evening at the base station, Gugu was deeply exhausted. Letshego helplessly watched as an energy drip was attached to her husband, which she later discovered was a medical faux pas at high altitudes. Within hours, his breathing had become gurgling gasps for air. Letshego’s blood turned to ice; it sounded like her husband was drowning. The camp doctor decided that Gugu, now in medical emergency mode, needed to descend. In the middle of the icy night, along with two guides, team leader Richard Mabaso and her husband strapped to a crude metal stretcher, Letshego ran down the treacherous mountain for eight hours in the black night behind her husband to find help.

I Choose to Live is both a tragic and inspiring memoir told in mesmerising detail by Letshego Zulu. As much as it is about the death of a beloved husband and the 17-year-long relationship the two shared, it is also a remarkable story of a wife’s courage and stamina as she tries to make sense of her loss and find life after Gugu’s untimely death. Letshego’s wish is that after reading her story, readers will be inspired to choose to live, to really live.

Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience – classics which will endure for generations to come.

A single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty.

John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their daughter fall ill. At first they thought it was flu, then she was placed on life support. Days later, the Dunnes were sitting down to dinner when John suffered a massive and fatal coronary.

This powerful book is Didion’s ‘attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness’. The result is a personal yet universal portrait of marriage and life, in good times and bad, from one of the defining voices of American literature.

Ken Thompson served as Sarasota's city manager from 1950 to 1988, making him the longest-serving manager in United States history. During these years, Sarasota experienced a population explosion and an unprecedented modernization of city services. The city moved from a sleepy little town to an independent city with an identifiable economy. This period of growth gave residents a vastly improved bayfront that included Island Park and the Marina Jack development and saw the creation of the current city hall and the Van Wetzel Theater. In thirty-eight years, Sarasota moved from the Circus City to the multifaceted city it is today. Follow well-known Sarasota historian Jeff LaHurd as he recounts the sometimes controversial era of Sarasota's greatest growth.

In the 1970s Hennie Keyter was an angry young man, fresh out of military service for the apartheid government of South Africa, unsure of his path in life and deeply uneasy about his faith. When God revealed to him that He had a purpose for him and a calling on his life, at first Hennie was not ready to hear it. When he finally accepted and understood his mission, a flame was lit in his heart that nothing could have extinguished.

But nothing could have prepared him either for the extraordinary spiritual journey he was about to embark on which would take him wherever God wanted him to go: from Malawi, "the warm heart of Africa", to Mozambique at the height of its civil war, where he was sentenced to death and faced a firing squad, from a less than welcoming beginning in Zanzibar, to the United Nations base at Lokichokio on the border between Kenya and Sudan (where on one trip he discovered that he had a price of US 10 000 on his head). Desiring only to do the will of God and to spread the Gospel, Hennie took up the challenge of taking the Gospel to many of the countries on the African continent and in the Middle East, building up leaders and planting churches in poverty stricken areas, lands devastated by years of conflict and deprivation, and war zones where soldiers seemed to have lost everything, even hope.

Through the bushfire of mass evangelism and his dedicated teams of volunteers, supported by the love and faith of his wife Rita and his children Anton and Mari, in His Call, My All: An African Drumbea, A Missionary's Heartbeat Hennie Keyter looks back at his life in the service of the Lord and forward to continuing His work for as long as God requires it of him.

The first time Ravi Shankar was arrested, he spoke out against racist policing on National Public Radio and successfully sued the city of New York. The second time, he was incarcerated when his promotion to full professor was finalized. During his ninety-day pretrial confinement at the Hartford Correctional Center--a level 4, high-security urban jail in Connecticut--he met men who shared harrowing and heart-felt stories. The experience taught him about the persistence of structural racism, the limitations of mass media, and the pervasive traumas of twenty-first-century daily life. Shankar's bold and complex self-portrait--and portrait of America--challenges us to rethink our complicity in the criminal justice system and mental health policies that perpetuate inequity and harm. Correctional dives into the inner workings of his mind and heart, framing his unexpected encounters with law and order through the lenses of race, class, privilege, and his bicultural upbringing as the first and only son of South Indian immigrants. Vignettes from his early life set the scene for his spectacular fall and subsequent struggle to come to terms with his own demons. Many of them, it turns out, are also our own.

Every few weeks in British politics, a columnist will reach for the word ‘unprecedented’ as a cabinet minister resigns or yet another inquiry is called. We have become so accustomed to turmoil that it is impossible to take a breath and see where we are headed.

In this magisterial history, respected broadcaster and journalist Steve Richards blends anecdote and analysis to put the recent chaos into context and takes a step back to explore ten critical moments that have shaped modern Britain – from the Suez Crisis of 1956 to the Covid-19 pandemic, from 1945 to Thatcher.

Richards argues that it is only with distance that we can perceive the tectonic plates shifting – and events that may seem earth-shattering in the moment might be a passing tremor with the perspective of history.

A must-read for anyone seeking to understand our nation, this landmark work is enlightening and entertaining in equal measure.

HENRY V reigned over England for only nine years and four months, and died at the age of just thirty-five, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond.

The victor of Agincourt was remembered as the acme of kingship, a model to be closely imitated by his successors. William Shakespeare deployed Henry V as a study in youthful folly redirected to sober statesmanship. In the dark days of World War II, Henry's victories in France were presented by British filmmakers as exemplars for a people existentially threatened by Nazism. Churchill called Henry 'a gleam of splendour in the dark, troubled story of medieval England', while for one modern medievalist, Henry was, quite simply, 'the greatest man who ever ruled England'.

For Dan Jones, Henry is one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down: a hardened warrior, yet also bookish and artistic; a leader who made many mistakes, yet always triumphed when it mattered. As king, he saved a shattered country from economic ruin, and in foreign diplomacy made England a serious player once more. Yet through his conquests in northern France, he sowed the seeds for calamity at home, in the form of the Wars of the Roses.

Dan Jones's life of Henry V stands out for the generous amount of space it allots to his long royal apprenticeship - the critical first twenty-six years of his life before he became king. It is an enthralling portrait of a man with a rare ability to force his will on the world. But, above all, it is an unmissable account of England's greatest king from our bestselling medieval historian.

Learn about Clara Barton, a nurse and founder of the American Red Cross, with this exciting nonfiction book. Ideal for young readers, the book includes a short fiction piece related to the topic, an additional project, discussion questions, and other useful features. This 20-page full-color book details the life and legacy of Clara Barton using historical images and grade-level text. It also covers important topics such as leadership and volunteerism, and includes an extension activity for kindergarten. Perfect for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to learn about American leaders, helping others, and U.S. History.

THE CLASSIC BESTSELLER: 'The greatest book about food ever written' 'A compelling book with its intriguing mix of clever writing and kitchen patois ... more horrifically gripping than a Stephen King novel' Sunday Times 'Extraordinary ... written with a clarity and a clear-eyed wit to put the professional food-writing fraternity to shame' Observer _____________________________ After twenty-five years of 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine', chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain decided to tell all - and he meant all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown; from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.