In this fascinating and entertaining memoir, the legendary White Bushman, Peter Stark, writes about his experiences in the former German South West Africa: first as a farm manager and lion hunter, and later as nature conservationist.

Stark's fearless personality and phenomenal knowledge of the veld, combined with an intimate knowledge of the San people and their culture make for stories and experiences that most people can only dream of. Whether it's about lions chasing San trackers, elephants trampling a campsite or the spearing of 32 scorpions with a kebab-skewer - Stark's stories are bound to awe and entertain.

With Peter Stark's unique and genial narrative voice, The White Bushman presents an important cultural-historical perspective on the country that became Namibia. The photographs, taken either by Stark himself or his fellow game wardens, contribute greatly to enhancing the images conjured up by these captivating adventures and anecdotes.

Die legendariese Wit Boesman, Peter Stark, skryf onderhoudend oor sy belewenisse in die destydse Duits-Suidwes-Afrika. Eers as plaasbestuurder en leeuvanger van formaat (wat Natuurbewaring by Etosha grys hare gegee het) en later self as natuurbewaarder, het hy ’n formidabele kennis van die veld, die San, die wild en die mense opgedoen. Hierdie kennis spreek mee in die staaltjies en verhale oor sy ervarings, opgeskryf in die gesellige trant eie aan Namibie. Peter Stark is in Duits-Suidwes-Afrika (vandag Namibie) gebore en was vir baie jare natuurbewaarder in die Okaukuejo-omgewing. As ware seun van die veld het Peter hom onderskei as onverskrokke grootwildjagter, uitnemende ruiter en spoorsnyer van formaat. Hy het in 1974 by die destydse Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag aangesluit as kommandant in die rykunsvleuel, waar hy 'n enorme bydrae gelewer het tot die opleiding van ruiters. Vandag woon op die plaas Vogelsang naby Ventersdorp.

In the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Skeleton in the Zahara, Astoria is the thrilling, true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition, an epic, now forgotten, three-year journey to forge an American empire on the Pacific Coast. Peter Stark offers a harrowing saga in which a band of explorers battled nature, starvation, and madness to establish the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest and opened up what would become the Oregon trail, permanently altering the nation's landscape and its global standing.

Six years after Lewis and Clark's began their journey to the Pacific Northwest, two of the Eastern establishment's leading figures, John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson, turned their sights to founding a colony akin to Jamestown on the West Coast and transforming the nation into a Pacific trading power. Author and correspondent for Outside magazine Peter Stark recreates this pivotal moment in American history for the first time for modern readers, drawing on original source material to tell the amazing true story of the Astor Expedition.

Unfolding over the course of three years, from 1810 to 1813, Astoria is a tale of high adventure and incredible hardship in the wilderness and at sea. Of the more than one hundred-forty members of the two advance parties that reached the West Coast--one crossing the Rockies, the other rounding Cape Horn--nearly half perished by violence. Others went mad. Within one year, the expedition successfully established Fort Astoria, a trading post on the Columbia River. Though the colony would be short-lived, it opened provincial American eyes to the potential of the Western coast and its founders helped blaze the Oregon Trail.

This autobiographical novel is not only the true story of a child's upbringing by his grandparents in the 1920s, but is also a story of the villagers of Wootton on the Isle of Wight. Through Charles Lansley's meticulous research related to the manuscript written by his late father Peter Lansley, most of the characters have been identified along with their places of residence, memorials and other places of interest. We learn about the local milkman, the butcher, the shoemaker and other trades persons who made up the community, including Peter's nursery teacher at Hillgrove House. But also, through his grandfather's love, we gain a child's understanding of God, the afterlife and the cemetery at Mount Joy, Carisbrooke. We join Peter at Christmas time for stir up Sunday, sips of Guinness and many amusing misunderstandings as well as various misadventures with his girlfriend Victoria in the grounds of Fernhill House and at Wootton Creek. There are also visits to Ashey races and muses on the Dairyman's Daughter at Arreton and on Tennyson's Maud at Wootton. Through the stories and anecdotes we gain a greater understanding of what family and village life was like in the 1920s when the steam train ran supreme, when there was no electricity or telephone, where the house was lit by an oil lamp and candles, where the 'range' was used for cooking and when it was safe for a five year old to walk into the village alone. This book is a delight to read both as a story and as a description of life on the Island. It should appeal to both those who want a good read and those who want to find out a bit more about the local and social history of the Isle of Wight.

This autobiographical novel is not only the true story of a child's upbringing by his grandparents in the 1920s, but is also a story of the villagers of Wootton on the Isle of Wight. Through Charles Lansley's meticulous research related to the manuscript written by his late father Peter Lansley, most of the characters have been identified along with their places of residence, memorials and other places of interest. We learn about the local milkman, the butcher, the shoemaker and other trades persons who made up the community, including Peter's nursery teacher at Hillgrove House. But also, through his grandfather's love, we gain a child's understanding of God, the afterlife and the cemetery at Mount Joy, Carisbrooke. We join Peter at Christmas time for stir up Sunday, sips of Guinness and many amusing misunderstandings as well as various misadventures with his girlfriend Victoria in the grounds of Fernhill House and at Wootton Creek. There are also visits to Ashey races and muses on the Dairyman's Daughter at Arreton and on Tennyson's Maud at Wootton. Through the stories and anecdotes we gain a greater understanding of what family and village life was like in the 1920s when the steam train ran supreme, when there was no electricity or telephone, where the house was lit by an oil lamp and candles, where the 'range' was used for cooking and when it was safe for a five year old to walk into the village alone. This book is a delight to read both as a story and as a description of life on the Island. It should appeal to both those who want a good read and those who want to find out a bit more about the local and social history of the Isle of Wight.

A memorable tale of adventure on the turbulent seas of the Great Southern and Atlantic oceans-on one of the most historic voyages of our time-finds its way into paperback. This is William F. Stark's engrossing memoir of the last leg of the Grain Race, and the Pamir's rounding of fearsome Cape Horn-the storm-tossed tip of South America just 600 miles from Antarctica-the veritable Mount Everest of sailing. In 1949, the crew of thirty-four sailors from around the world experienced the shipboard life of the seventeenth century on a four-masted vessel that carried hundreds of acres of sail. In 128 days the Pamir journeyed 16,000 miles from Port Victoria, Australia, to Falmouth, England, through the world's stormiest seas, as Stark worked on decks awash with huge swells, and scrambled up ice-coated rigging to manhandle sails on masts that were up to twenty stories high. Contrasting romance with the realities of life at sea, and poignantly evoking the love affair he left behind to join the Pamir, while punctuating his tale with illuminating photos, maps, and details of maritime history, Stark has written a thrilling book that climaxes the fabled era begun by Cape Horn merchant sailors more than three centuries ago.

Transformations of the Welfare State gives a new twist to the longstanding debate on the impact of economic globalization on the welfare state. The authors focus on several small, advanced OECD economies in order to assess whether (and how) the welfare state will be able to compete under conditions of an increasingly integrated world economy.
Small states can be seen as an 'early warning system' for general trends, because of their dependence on world markets and vulnerability to competitive pressures. The book's theoretical part innovatively integrates the literature on the political economy of small states with more recent research on the impact of globalization on social policy to generate a set of ideal-typical policy scenarios. In the main body of the book, the authors systematically test these scenarios against the experience of four countries: Austria, Denmark, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
The comparative, in-depth analysis of reform trajectories since the 1970s in four key policy areas; pensions, labor market policy, health care, and family policy provides, according to the authors, substantial evidence of a new convergence in welfare state patterns. They go on to argue that this amounts to a fundamental transformation of the welfare state from the old Keynesian welfare state positioned 'against the market' to a new set of supply-side policies 'with' and 'for' the market. Yet one of the big lessons to be learned from this timely study is that the transformation does not match the doomsday scenario predicted by neo-classical economists in the 1990s. There is no evidence of a 'race to the bottom' of social expenditure and standards of social protection, nor of a convergence towards a 'liberal' social policy model. Looking to the possible future of the welfare state in an era newly marked by profound uncertainty, the authors sound an optimistic note for states of any size.

This unique handbook covers over two dozen cold-weather sports, from snowshoeing, snowboarding, sledding, ice-sailing, and winter camping to dog sledding, skijoring, animal tracking, igloo-building, and even how to make the perfect snow angel. Special sections treat staying warm, equipment, technique, safety, and tips for maximizing fun. Every winter adventurer will find something new here, from novice to thrill-seeker to kids and the entire family.