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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > General
The Noble Art of Heavyweight Boxing is a knockout trip through the
history of this popular sport, from the last thrilling bareknuckle
contest in 1889 between champion John L. Sullivan and challenger
Jake Kilrain, right through to modern times, covering key fights
and boxing greats such as Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano,
Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, and many, many more.
Illustrated with contemporary photographs and packed with
fascinating true details about the personalities and bouts, this
book will be a winner with every sports fan and boxing enthusiast.
You know him as the founder of Microsoft; the philanthropic,
kind-hearted billionaire who has donated endless funds to good causes
around the world. But there’s another side to Bill Gates.
In this fearless, groundbreaking investigation, Tim Schwab offers
readers a counter-narrative, one where Gates has used his monopolistic
approach in business to amass a stunning level of control over public
policy, scientific research and the news media. Whether he is pushing
new educational standards in America, health reforms in India or
industrialized agriculture in Africa, Gates’s unbridled social
experimentation has shown itself to be not only undemocratic, but also
ineffective.
All of which begs the question: why should the super rich be able to
transform their wealth into political power, and just how far can they
go?
In the 1980s and early 1990s, David Campese thrilled spectators both in Australia and overseas with his footloose, crazy-brave style of free running. This book tells the story of his rise from humble beginnings to the very top of a global sport.
As a rugby player, David Campese seemed to operate on cross-grained pure instinct, one that left many a defender clutching at him in vain, stranded in the slipstream of his audacity. Hailed as the 'Bradman of rugby' by former Wallaby coach Alan Jones, and the 'Pele' of rugby by others, Campese was a match-winner. The refrain 'I saw Campese play' now speaks to much more than wistful reminiscences about a player widely regarded as the most entertaining ever to play the game of Rugby Union. It has come to represent a state of chronic disbelief that the Wallaby ascendancy of Campese's era has been seemingly squandered.
Campese occupies a unique intersection in rugby's history: one of its last amateurs, and one of its first professionals. He had shown, too, that coming from outside the traditional bastions of rugby - the private schools and universities - was no barrier to reaching the top. Indeed, he challenged that establishment and unsettled it, warning in the early 1990s that the code risked 'dying' if more was not done to expand its appeal.
David Campese revolutionised how the game was played and appreciated. His genius, most visibly manifest in his outrageous goosestep, captured the national and sporting imagination. The rigid, robotic rugby of today appears incapable of accommodating a player of his dash and daring.
Has the global phenomenon that is Pop Idol completely ruined pop
music, or is it just the natural revolution of a genre of music
that has always been manufactured? From Tin Pan Alley via The
Monkees and finally to boy bands, this is the complete history of
the most successful genre of music ever.;Manufactured acts have
been the money-spinning mainstay of the pop industry for decades.
"Bubblegum: The History of Plastic Pop" takes a decade-by-decade
look at some of the music industry's more cynical creations from
the 1950s to the 21st century, encompassing acts such as The
Monkees, The Bay City Rollers and The Spice Girls, as well as the
phenomenon that is Pop Idol and its siblings. This revealing study
includes interviews with the movers and shakers of the pop world
and the artistic armies behind their successes, including Chinn and
Chapman, Stock, Aitken and Waterman, Simon Fuller, Paula Abdul and
Cathy Dennis. The result is a comprehensive look back at some of
the fly-by-nights of pop and a DIY guide to becoming a pop star,
listing the dos and don'ts of making it in the pop music industry.
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