Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty-year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the listener right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.
Friendships, for many of us, are at the very centre of our daily existence and identity. Yet it hasn't always been this way. Our modern view of what makes a friend is shaped by centuries of political and social upheaval. In this landmark study, Dr Thomas Dixon considers both the differences and similarities between friendships in history and those we experience today.
Now we tend to view friendships among children as a good thing, but did you know that in the 18th and 19th century they were seen as fraught with danger? Or that the Bible heavily influenced early companionship? Beginning with the social networks of the 16th century, Dr Dixon moves through history to examine the invention of the best friend, working class Friendly Societies, dogs as 'man's best friend', and the tragic impact of the First World War on male friendships. Finally, we look at how the old and the young are navigating friendships today, and how friendship might look in the technologically-enhanced future. This fascinating and surprising history provides a unique look at how human companionship has changed through the ages - and what comes next.
This is the optimistic story of our fraught relationship to universal consciousness, the domain that transcends every local mind. It is also the story of how reality is relative and changeable to the way each of us makes meaning. Truth on the other hand represents the permanent and timeless state of being beyond history and culture that is called nonlocal, universal consciousness. This is the state of non-personal awareness within insight and eyesight. This dynamic, live domain has a profound structure and function that underlies all realities and every strategy we have for making meaning.
The elegant, intelligent amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey is one of detective literature's most popular creations. Ian Carmichael is the personification of Dorothy L. Sayers' charming investigator in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. When Sandy Campbell's body is found at the foot of a cliff near the small town of Kircdubright, the local constabulary are convinced that the argumentative painter is the victim of a tragic accident. But when Lord Peter Wimsey turns up, the hunt begins for an ingenious killer. Faced with six men, all of whom have a motive for murder, the aristocratic amateur sleuth must deduce which are the five red herrings and which has blood on his hands.
This audiobook takes the reader on a grand musical tour from its origins in prehistory to the twenty-first century. It describes its roles in culture and religion in ancient China and the Middle East and how it developed in the Mediterranean world of classical Greece and Rome. Andrew Gant considers the evolution of music in medieval Europe and looks at what led to the astonishing revolution of musical forms and genres that took place in the renaissance, first in Italy and then across the rest of Europe. He examines the ideas, composers and patrons behind the advent of the baroque and its evolution into the music of the classical and romantic periods. At the same time he explores developments in musical style and changes in forms, techniques and instrumentation, not only in music for the court and church but as sung in pubs, theatres, the streets, and at home. The final chapters describe the modernist revolutions personified by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok and Messiaen. They show how, with the advent of mass media, different forms of music - from pop, blues and musicals to classical, opera and jazz - along with music from places such as South America, Africa and the Far East, all began to influence each other in a series of percussive but productive collisions.The account ranges widely across time and space. It is authoritative, scholarly and consistently readable. It presents a series of coherent arguments, spiced with unexpected detail and anecdote. This an audiobook, in short, for everyone interested in music.
Our entire lives, we’ve always been taught to stay away from things like drugs because they are addictive. Their addiction is said to be due to the chemicals they contain, but how about things like gambling? Gambling does not contain chemicals. So how can a behaviour, rather than a chemical, be addictive?
But more important questions re – why is it that certain people become addicted and other not? Why do people become more addicted at certain times of their lives than others? And once you’re an addict – are you always an addict or can you change? Basically, if you’ve ever wondered how addictions work and, more importantly, how to break them – then you’re in the right place. It all comes back to the way in which we learn to feel.
Whether it’s an induction to one of my online courses or a book – one of the first little pieces of awareness I like to direct people’s attention to, is the way in which our unconscious mind learns to feel. And that is through transference, which basically refers to the concept that feelings ‘rub off’. The classic example marketers use are things like celebrity endorsements. They take a known face that people already have existing feelings towards. When that celebrity endorses a brand with repetition, some of those feelings ‘rub off’ onto the bran. And they rub off onto additional product lines and so forth. This is why, when a celebrity becomes embroiled in a sex scandal or some kind of controversy, all the advertisers pull their sponsorships. They don’t want negative feelings to transfer.
The lesson is this. Feelings ‘rub off’. Certain feelings more so than others but we are going to get to the bottom of this throughout the book.
Despite a long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion, creating a more diverse bar has been challenging for the legal profession. And this begs the question 'why?' Does the profession find itself in the precarious position of having self-imposed barriers in place that work against its best efforts? Are outside factors beyond the profession's control inhibiting progress? Or is it a combination of the two? Fix It: How History, Sports, and Education Can Inform Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Today cites historical and current references and the latest research to address these questions and much more.
Is your marriage turning out to be less than you had hoped it to be? Have you ever looked back on your time as newlyweds and wished to relive those feelings?
Don't Panic! We're here to assist you in any way! You can restore the newlywed feeling to your marriage! Simply read this straightforward, easy-to-follow Fix Marriage book that every married couple ought to have!
You wake up one morning, and suddenly, your once-perfect marriage is broken. This is something that occurs to everyone at some time in their lives. The spark is no longer there. And the one person who could complete your life wants absolutely nothing to do with you. You find yourself longing for the emotions you experienced on your wedding day. When you and your partner were both full of hope and possibilities for what the future held in store for you. Do you find yourself wishing you could experience those emotions once more?
Don't Stress; You Can Do It!
You are just as capable as I am! But, look, there must have been a compelling reason to marry the person you did. Things probably went swimmingly well at the beginning of your relationship, but as time went on, circumstances shifted, and perhaps both of you underwent personal development. You will accept such shifts and put them to work for you and your partner in ways that you could never have even dreamed of before reading this book.
When you read this book, what do you hope to take away from it?
- The reasons why marriages end
- What the red flags are that your marriage might be in peril and how to recognize them
- How to Bring Back the Romance Adjusting your thoughts to work for a healthy marriage
- How to Bring Back the Romance Getting back in touch with your partner through various means
**READ BY THE AUTHOR**
'Get your daughters to read this, but only after your partners and sons have finished it' Jo Brand
'An astute and persuasive page-turner' Observer
'Powerful' Sunday Times
Too often, we blame women. For walking home alone at night. For not demanding a seat at the table. For not overcoming the odds that are stacked against them.
This distracts us from the real problem: the failings and biases of a society that was not built for women. In this explosive book, feminist writer and activist Laura Bates exposes the systemic prejudice at the heart of five of our key institutions.
Education
Politics
Media
Policing
Criminal justice
Combining stories with shocking evidence, Fix the System, Not the Women is a blazing examination of sexual injustice and a rallying cry for reform.
'A blistering manifesto for change' Dr Pragya Agarwal
'I am in awe of Laura Bates . . . her writing is nothing short of perfect' Sofie Hagen, author of Happy Fat
'Finish the book furious - before rallying for the next fight' Grazia Latest Must-Reads
In his early twenties, Mindy Greiling's son, Jim, was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder after experiencing delusions that demanded he kill his mother. At the time, and for more than a decade after, Greiling was a Minnesota state legislator who struggled, along with her husband, to navigate and improve the state's inadequate mental health system. Fix What You Can is an illuminating and frank account of caring for a person with a mental illness, told by a parent and advocate.
Greiling describes challenges shared by many families, ranging from the practical to the heartbreaking. Greiling confronts the reality that some people with serious mental illness may be dangerous and reminds us that medication works-if taken.
The book chronicles her efforts to pass legislation to address problems in the mental health system. It also recounts Greiling's painful memories of her grandmother, who was confined in an institution for twenty-three years-recollections that strengthen her determination that Jim's treatment be more humane. Written with her son's cooperation, Fix What You Can offers hard-won perspective, practical advice, and useful resources through a brave and personal story that takes the long view of what success means when coping with mental illness.
