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As an adult, Stan Laurel (1890-1965) lived in the United States. As a boy, he lived in north-east England, the son of a prominent local theatrical figure. This ground-breaking biography examines Laurel's family background, his formative years and his struggle to establish a show business career. Stan retained the emotional bonds forged in his youth throughout his life and visited his boyhood homes during his UK tours with Oliver Hardy. Describing Stan Laurel's key roles in making his films with his partner Oliver Hardy so successful internationally, the book analyzes how Stan's boyhood experiences are often echoed in those films. It also notes his influence on successive generations of comic actors who, to this day, still pay fulsome tribute to him. Included is a selection of photographs relevant to Laurel's boyhood, some related to themes in the Laurel and Hardy comedies.
Millgarth Police Station reverberates with the early adrenalin-rush of a case they won't close for years. A teenage boy trails the city centre bars of the eighties in thrall to his hero - a Leeds United football hooligan. A single woman finds her frustrations with men confirmed speed-dating in a city re-invented as a party capital. Bringing together fiction from some of the city's most celebrated writers, The Book of Leeds traces the unique contours that fifty years of social and economic change can impress on a city. These are stories that take place at oblique angles to the larger events in the city's history, or against wider currents that have shaped the social and cultural landscape of today's Leeds: a modern city with both problems and promise.
When a company's workers are literally dying on the job, when their business model relies on preying on local businesses and even their own vendors, when their CEO is the richest person in the world while their workers make low wages with impossible quotas... wouldn't you want to resist? Danny Caine, owner of Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas has been an outspoken critic of the seemingly unstoppable Goliath of the bookselling world: Amazon. In this book, he lays out the case for shifting our personal money and civic investment away from global corporate behemoths and to small, local, independent businesses. Well-researched and lively, his tale covers the history of big box stores, the big political drama of delivery, and the perils of warehouse work. He shows how Amazon's ruthless discount strategies mean authors, publishers, and even Amazon themselves can lose money on every book sold. And he spells out a clear path to resistance, in a world where consumers are struggling to get by. In-depth research is interspersed with charming personal anecdotes from bookstore life, making this a readable, fascinating, essential book for the 2020s.
We Aim to Live is a collection of fourteen powerful, dark and funny short stories, about ordinary people – mostly men – at moments of crisis, crossroads or revelation. The stories look unflinchingly at men’s behaviour and the moments when masculinity is on the edge of turning dangerous. Some stories portray the toxic world of professional football drawing upon the writer’s past in that world; while others are set in high end hotels, removals firms and sheds. Here, the issues of masculinity, class and the struggle with life’s small (and large) humiliations are all told in an authentic and utterly distinctive voice.
Young people have been disappearing from their homes in Saint Anthony Parish, Louisiana, for years. However, now that both Jonathan and Rafael are dead and thrown into hell, there should be no more danger. Except, Lawrence Hindel is not about to forget it was Detectives Hays and Olivier' who helped make this happen. Now the only focus on Lawrence Hindel's mind is the young son of Jack Olivier' whose fault it is that Jonathan has not been reborn back onto this plane. Evil will always find a way to extract payment for what it believes is its just due. Especially when that evil lives in the body of a Rougarou. “A Chilling passage into the nether world for readers who explore the dark side of myth.”—Ann Rule, Author of Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors and Don't Look Behind You.
In early summer 1982--winter in the South Atlantic--Argentina's military junta invades the Falklands. Within days, a British Royal Navy Task Force is assembled and dispatched. This is the story of D Squadron, 22 SAS, commanded by Cedric Delves. The relentless tempo of events defies belief. Raging seas, inhospitable glaciers, hurricane-force winds, helicopter crashes, raids behind enemy lines--the Squadron prevailed against them all, but the cost was high. Eight died and more were wounded or captured. Holding fast to their humanity, D Squadron's fighters were there at the start and end of the Falklands War, the first to raise a Union Jack over Government House in Stanley. Across an Angry Sea is a chronicle of daring, skill and steadfastness among a tight-knit band of brothers; of going awry, learning fast, fighting hard, and winning through.
The Debate picks up where The Group leaves off. Danny had finished his tense sessions with The Group, made up of self styled student philosophers. At the end of the final session Peter Grayson challenges Danny to a campus wide debate, scheduled for the first Saturday in March. Dean Moreland had approved of the debate. On a personal note, Danny spends a marvelous Thanksgiving with the Lowry’s while Karen spends a very exciting and event fi lled week at the Carters for Christmas. Much drama ensues as Karen discovers that she looks amazingly like Danny’s sister, Mary, and then Mary springs a Christmas shocker surprise on everyone. Meanwhile, Peter Grayson discovers that solid facts that sup...
In this hard-boiled mystery, a Brooklyn bodyguard-turned-P.I. investigates a case involving funk, R&B, and his grandfather’s murder. Ex-bodyguard D Hunter heads to the City of Angels on a very dark mission when his grandfather, businessman Daniel “Big Danny” Hunter, is shot dead in a drive-by. Why would someone execute a grocery store owner? D soon finds there was more to Big Danny’s life than selling loaves of bread. The old man was deeply involved with Dr. Funk, a legendary musical innovator who has become a mysterious recluse. To Funk and Die in L.A. is set largely in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Crenshaw, Koreatown, and Pico-Union—areas where Black, Asian, and Latino cultur...
Unpacking Critical Race Theory (CRT) and exploring why it has become a focus in politics across the US and the UK, White Lies uses CRT to expose the systemic racism that shapes education. It charts the coordinated campaigns – involving think tanks, mainstream media and politicians – that have tried to silence antiracism in the wake of George Floyd's murder and 'Black Lives Matter'. Each chapter is devoted to exposing a key ‘white lie’ by examining the evidence that shows how the interests of white people continue to occupy centre stage and block movement towards a more equitable education for all. Gillborn establishes how the public debates, shaped by misinformation and 'white lies',...