In 1611, thirty-four-year-old Nur Jahan, daughter of a Persian noble and widow of a subversive official, became the twentieth and favorite wife of the Emperor Jahangir, who ruled the vast Mughal Empire. An astute politician as well as a devoted partner, she issued imperial orders; coins of the realm bore her name. When Jahangir was imprisoned by a rebellious nobleman, the Empress led troops into battle and ultimately rescued him.
The only woman to acquire the stature of empress in her male-dominated world, Nur was also a talented dress designer and innovative architect whose work inspired her stepson's Taj Mahal. Nur's confident assertion of talent and power is revelatory; it far exceeded the authority of her female contemporaries in Renaissance Europe, including Elizabeth I. Here, she finally receives her due in a deeply researched and evocative biography that awakens us to a fascinating history.
"I cannot tell you the number of times I've wondered, especially after a spicy meal, why evolution wasn't smart enough to build us with buttholes made out of something more durable? Titanium, perhaps?"
From the hilarious Mara Altman, Gross Anatomy unapologetically explores the beautiful, and sometimes not so beautiful, aspects of our bodies, and why they're worth loving anyway. From hairy chins to braless outings, lice-infestations to PMS, no body part is left undiscussed as Altman takes the reader on a wild journey from head to toe, recounting experiences most of us are too polite to share.
Hugely funny and unashamedly body-positive, this book is a must-read for all women (and men, too). Through a combination of personal anecdotes and fascinating research, Mara Altman proves herself as a fearless and thoroughly charming writer, creating one of the most compulsive feminist reads of the year.
Luck plays an important part in the careers of writers. In this book David Lodge explores how his work was inspired and affected by unpredictable events in his life. In 1976 Lodge was pursuing a 'twin-track career' as novelist and academic. As a literary critic, he made serious contributions to the subject, before carnivalising it in his comic-satiric novel Small World. The balancing act between his two professions was increasingly difficult to maintain, and he became a full-time writer just before he published his bestselling novel Nice Work. Both books were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, in which he was later involved as Chairman of the judges.
Letters from the Southern Rift, the first volume of Xafrica, is a collection of observations and reflections on the charm and mystery of natural Southern Africa, its wildlife and nature reserves, spanning five years and four countries: Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa. Volume 2, Seasons in the Heart is due for publication in 2018.
"In this ground-breaking new book, Thomas Page McBee, a trans man, trains to fight in a charity match at Madison Square Garden while struggling to untangle the vexed relationship between masculinity and violence.
Through his experience of boxing - learning to get hit, and to hit back; wrestling with the camaraderie of the gym; confronting the betrayals and strength of his own body - McBee examines the weight of male violence, the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and the limitations of conventional masculinity. A wide-ranging exploration of gender in our society, Amateur is ultimately a story of hope, as McBee traces a way forward: a new masculinity, inside the ring and out of it.
A graceful and uncompromising exploration of living, fighting and healing, in Amateur we gain insight into the stereotypes and shifting realities of masculinity today through the eyes of a new man."
Morgonen den 17 januari 2005 var Sibas vd Fabian Bengtsson på väg till jobbet. Men han kom aldrig fram. I garaget överfölls Fabian av två män, beväpnade med pistol och tårgas. Sedan hölls han inspärrad i en ljudisolerad låda i 17 dygn. Gärningsmännen krävde en lösensumma på drygt 50 miljoner kronor för att släppa honom.
Göteborgs tingsrätt har kallat kidnappningen för ett brott som saknar motstycke i svensk rättshistoria. Men vad var det egentligen som hände? Trots att kidnappningen av Fabian Bengtsson är så omskriven har mycket varit höljt i dunkel. Men nu kan spelet bakom kulisserna för första gången avslöjas.
Journalisterna Andreas Utterström och Anna Wetterqvist har djupdykt i materialet om den spektakulära kidnappningen. Här berättar de historien om hur svensk polis trots obegränsade resurser och hjälp av en av världens främsta kidnappningsexperter från Scotland Yard länge famlade i mörkret. Om hur Fabian spelade Trivial Pursuit och drack whisky med en av gärningsmännen som med tiden tyckte så bra om sitt offer att han ångrade sig. Om den före detta polischefen som bedrev privatspaningar på uppdrag av familjen Bengtsson. Om hur en falsk kidnappare i Österrike försökte lura till sig lösensumman. Och om förhörsledaren som var tvungen att vinna i schack för att få svar på sina frågor och då äntligen uppdagade hela sanningen.
'Cultural rocket fuel.' --Vanity Fair
'Emotional and painful but also layered with humour, I'm Afraid of Men will widen your lens on gender and challenge you to do better. This challenge is a necessary one--one we must all take up. It is a gift to dive into Vivek's heart and mind.' --Rupi Kaur, bestselling author of The Sun and Her Flowers and Milk and Honey
A trans artist explores how masculinity was imposed on her as a boy and continues to haunt her as a girl--and how we might reimagine gender for the twenty-first century.
Vivek Shraya has reason to be afraid. Throughout her life she's endured acts of cruelty and aggression for being too feminine as a boy and not feminine enough as a girl. In order to survive childhood, she had to learn to convincingly perform masculinity. As an adult, she makes daily compromises to steel herself against everything from verbal attacks to heartbreak.
Now, with raw honesty, Shraya delivers an important record of the cumulative damage caused by misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia, releasing trauma from a body that has always refused to assimilate. I'm Afraid of Men is a journey from camouflage to a riot of colour and a blueprint for how we might cherish all that makes us different and conquer all that makes us afraid.
The JT LeRoy scandal is a story of our times. In January 2006, the New York Times unmasked Savannah Knoop as the face of the mysterious author JT LeRoy. A media frenzy ensued as JT's fans, mentors, and readers came to terms with the fact that the gay-male-ex-truck-stop-prostitute-turned literary-wunderkind was really a girl from San Francisco, whose sister-in-law wrote the books. Girl Boy Girl is the story of how Savannah Knoop led this bizarre double life for six years, trading a precarious existence as a college dropout for a life in which she was embraced by celebrities and artists-Carrie Fisher, Courtney Love, Mary Ellen Mark, Winona Ryder, Asia Argento, Sharon Olds, Gus Van Sant, Mike Pitt, Calvin Klein, and Shirley Manson, to name a few-and traveled the world. Telling her side of the story for the first time, Savannah reveals how being perceived as a boy gave her a sense of confidence and entitlement she never had before. Her love affair with Asia Argento is particularly wrenching, as they embark on an intimate relationship that causes more alienation than closeness. As Savannah and Laura struggle over control of the JT character, Savannah realizes the limits of the game - - and inadvertently finds herself through the adventure of being someone else.
Dr M.K. Ranjitsinh has had an unparalleled role in India's wildlife conservation history. He was the prime architect of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 and of the Central government schemes to assist national parks and sanctuaries. His passion for saving endangered species continues after his retirement, whether in planning the relocation of the Asiatic lion from Gir forest, the reintroduction of the cheetah into the grasslands of central India, or in saving from extinction the Kashmir stag, the Manipur brow-antlered deer and the Great Indian bustard. A Life with Wildlife traces the course of wildlife from the princely and British era to the present and shows how wildlife conservation efforts in India have always emanated from the upper echelons of power. The book reveals the challenges of conservation in a democracy like India, and how to counteract them. There is also a candid, never-revealed-before account of the Bhopal gas tragedy from someone who played a pivotal role in its aftermath. This delightful first-hand narrative is in its essence the history of nature conservation in India, by a person who was part of it and contributed to it, during its most tumultuous period.
Dr M.K. Ranjitsinh has had an unparalleled role in India's wildlife conservation history. He was the prime architect of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 and of the Central government schemes to assist national parks and sanctuaries. His passion for saving endangered species continues after his retirement, whether in planning the relocation of the Asiatic lion from Gir forest, the reintroduction of the cheetah into the grasslands of central India, or in saving from extinction the Kashmir stag, the Manipur brow-antlered deer and the Great Indian bustard. A Life with Wildlife traces the course of wildlife from the princely and British era to the present and shows how wildlife conservation efforts in India have always emanated from the upper echelons of power. The book reveals the challenges of conservation in a democracy like India, and how to counteract them. There is also a candid, never-revealed-before account of the Bhopal gas tragedy from someone who played a pivotal role in its aftermath. This delightful first-hand narrative is in its essence the history of nature conservation in India, by a person who was part of it and contributed to it, during its most tumultuous period.
Tetje Mierendorf ist Comedian, Schauspieler, Sänger und Synchronsprecher und bekannt unter anderem aus Let's Dance und der Doku-Soap Mein großer, dicker, peinlicher Verlobter. Seine größte Leistung in den letzten drei Jahren: Er hat sich halbiert, d.h. 80 Kilo abgenommen! Wie ihm das gelungen ist und wie dieser Prozess nicht nur seinen Körper, sondern sein ganzes Leben verändert hat, beschreibt er in diesem Buch. Neben vielen Infos und Tipps zu Ernährung, Stoffwechsel und Sport erfahren wir, warum Tetje Mierendorf eigentlich so dick geworden ist. Welche Probleme er damit lösen, welchen Konflikten er aus dem Weg gehen wollte. Scham, Verletzlichkeit und Selbstwertgefühl spielen dabei eine Rolle - Themen, mit denen Männer in der Regel ja nicht gerade offen umgehen. Tetje ist da anders und besonders.
In order to survive her childhood, Vanya Erickson was forced to become fluent in two languages: her Christian Scientist mother’s honeyed versions of the truth; and her rancher father’s hard-as-the-scrape-of-his-bootheels words, which stung like the back of his hand. Long version: From the outside, Vanya’s childhood of riding horses with her father in the solitude of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and attending flamboyant operas with her mother in the city looked idyllic. But life for Vanya was more about learning to gauge and survive her parents’ unpredictable actions - from being left to lie in her own blood-soaked diaper while her Christian Scientist mother prayed, refusing to get medical help, to watching her father writhe on his bed in the detox ward, his hands and feet tethered with leather straps. Vanya the only way she knew how: by immersing herself in the beauty and solitude of the wilderness around her.
