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This is a memoir of adolescence and the search for identity. The 1950s with the Cold War, National Service and the persecution of gays was an awkward decade in which to discover life’s purposes. If the author’s education pointed to his becoming an academic historian, an early modernist at school, a medievalist as an undergraduate, a modern Europeanist as a graduate, he was drawn to the alternatives of poet, monk and psychotherapist. It was a peculiarly troubling time in which to resolve a crisis of sexuality and accept a gay identity. He had to cope with his parents’ divorce. At Oxford, after falling foul of the law, he spent time as a mental patient. National Service in the Navy, commissioned as a Midshipman, with its exposure to the Cyprus Emergency and Suez, took him into an entirely different world.
A Spiritual Bloomsbury is an exploration of how three English writers--Edward Carpenter, E.M. Forster, and Christopher Isherwood--sought to come to terms with their homosexuality by engagement with Hinduism. Copley reveals how these writers came to terms with their inner conflicts and were led in the direction of Hinduism by friendship or the influence of gurus. Tackling the themes of the guru-disciple relationship, their quarrel with Christianity, relationships with their mothers and the problematic feminine, the tensions between sexuality and society, and the attraction of Hindu mysticism; this fascinating work seeks to reveal whether Hinduism offered the answers and fulfillment these writers ultimately sought. Also included is a diary narrating Copley's quest to track down Carpenter's and Isherwood's Vendantism and Forster's Krishna cult on a journey to India.
Randolph Stow was one of the great Australian writers of his generation. His novel To the Islands — written in his early twenties after living on a remote Aboriginal mission — won the Miles Franklin Award for 1958. In later life, after publishing seven remarkable novels and several collections of poetry, Stow’s literary output slowed. This biography examines the productive period as well as his long periods of publishing silence. In Mick: A Life of Randolph Stow, Suzanne Falkiner unravels the reasons behind Randolph Stow’s quiet retreat from Australia and the wider literary world. Meticulously researched, insightful and at times deeply moving, Falkiner’s biography pieces together an intriguing story from Stow’s personal letters, diaries, and interviews with the people who knew him best. And many of her tales – from Stow’s beginnings in idyllic rural Australia, to his critical turning point in Papua New Guinea, and his final years in Essex, England — provide us with keys to unlock the meaning of Stow’s rich and introspective works.
Through this assessment of creative (climate) communications, readers will understand what works where, when, why and under what conditions.
A one of its kind biography, The Only Life is the story of a woman who blazed a path for herself and others in the presence of one of the greatest mystics, Osho. Growing up an ordinary Indian girl in British India, and rendered powerless in a domineering world, Laxmi went on to become Osho’s ?rst disciple and secretary. What follows is an account of not just a life, but of the massive international movement which grew around Osho in the 1970s and 80s—one that Laxmi was at the helm of. Equally, what unfolds is a narrative, full of pathos, where her protégé usurps her place. Heartbroken, ostracised and later banished, she wanders the wastelands of America in isolation, seeking to rediscover herself by choosing devotion for her master over despair. The Only Life is an extraordinary account of a life of starkly contrasting ups and downs. Laxmi’s journey and the way she lived continues to serve as a crucial illustration for dealing with life’s adversities. It shows that the path of kindness, devotion and awareness trumps all in these present chaotic and precarious times.
The last words Osho spoke before leaving the body: "Anando will be my medium." Through a series of poignant memories and anecdotes, Anando offers a glimpse into the private life of the twentieth-century mystic, Osho, through her unique perspective as one of his caretakers and secretaries in the last years of his life. These stories, never before shared publicly, show another side of the man described by The Times (London) as "one of the makers of the twentieth century". Anando reveals the sense of humor and fearlessness with which he navigated the controversies that hounded him in his later years, as well as the immense compassion and love with which he worked on those closest to him.
A political theorist teases out the century-old ideological transformation at the heart of contemporary discourse in Muslim nations undergoing political change. The Arab Spring precipitated a crisis in political Islam. In Egypt Islamists have been crushed. In Turkey they have descended into authoritarianism. In Tunisia they govern but without the label of “political Islam.” Andrew March explores how, before this crisis, Islamists developed a unique theory of popular sovereignty, one that promised to determine the future of democracy in the Middle East. This began with the claim of divine sovereignty, the demand to restore the sharīʿa in modern societies. But prominent theorists of poli...
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The Unofficial Guide to Prescribing lays out the practical steps of how to assess, investigate and manage a patient, with a focus on what to prescribe and how to prescribe it. Its aim is to empower newly graduated junior doctors to excel at dealing with emergencies and handling complex prescribing scenarios. Prescribing errors cost healthcare systems millions annually, so early training in prescribing has become an urgent priority of medical education and now forms an essential part of teaching and assessment. The Unofficial Guide to Prescribing (from the same stable as The Unofficial Guide to Passing OSCEs) is a new book designed to address this requirement. It is written by junior doctors ...