Daedalus Books

One of the most celebrated and controversial authors in America delivers his first novel — a sweeping chronicle of contemporary Los Angeles that is bold, exhilarating, and utterly original. Dozens of characters pass across the reader's sight lines — some never to be seen again — but James Frey lingers on a handful of LA's lost souls and captures the dramatic narrative of their lives: a bright, ambitious young Mexican-American woman who allows her future to be undone by a moment of searing humiliation; a supremely narcissistic action-movie star whose passion for the unattainable object of his affection nearly destroys him; a couple, both nineteen years old, who flee their suffocating hometown and struggle to survive on the fringes of the great city; and an aging Venice Beach alcoholic whose life is turned upside down when a meth-addled teenage girl shows up half-dead outside the restroom he calls home. Throughout this strikingly powerful novel there is the relentless drumbeat of the millions of other stories that, taken as a whole, describe a city, a culture, and an age. A dazzling tour de force, Bright Shiny Morning illuminates the joys, horrors, and unexpected fortunes of life and death in Los Angeles.

More than three decades have passed since the events described in John Updike's The Witches of Eastwick, The three divorcees — Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie — have left town, remarried, and become widows. They cope with their grief and solitude as widows do: they travel the world, to such foreign lands as Canada, Egypt, and China, and renew old acquaintance. Why not, Sukie and Jane ask Alexandra, go back to Eastwick for the summer? The old Rhode Island seaside town, where they indulged in wicked mischief under the influence of the diabolical Darryl Van Horne, is still magical for them. Now Darryl is gone, and their lovers of the time have aged or died, but enchantment remains in the familiar streets and scenery of the village, where they enjoyed their lusty primes as free and empowered women. And, among the local citizenry, there are still those who remember them, and wish them ill. How they cope with the lingering traces of their evil deeds, the shocks of a mysterious counterspell, and the advancing inroads of old age, form the burden on Updike's delightful, ominous sequel.

When Matisse dies, Pablo Picasso remarked in the 1950s, Chagall will be the only painter left who understands what color really is. As a pioneer of modernism and one of the greatest figurative artists of the twentieth century, Marc Chagall achieved fame and fortune, and over the course of a long career created some of the best-known and most-loved paintings of our time. Yet behind this triumph lay struggle, heartbreak, bitterness, frustration, lost love, exile — and above all the miracle of survival. Born into near poverty in Russia in 1887, the son of a Jewish herring merchant, Chagall fled the repressive potato-colored tsarist empire in 1911 for Paris. There he worked alongside Modigliani and Leger in the tumbledown tenement called La Ruche, where one either died or came out famous. But turmoil lay ahead — war and revolution; a period as an improbable artistic commissar in the young Soviet Union; a difficult existence in Weimar Germany, occupied France, and eventually the United States. Throughout, as Jackie Wullschlager makes plain in this groundbreaking biography, he never ceased giving form on canvas to his dreams, longings, and memories. His subject, more often than not, was the shtetl life of his childhood, the wooden huts and synagogues, the goatherds, rabbis, and violinists — the whole lost world of Eastern European Jewry. Wullschlager brilliantly describes this world and evokes the characters who peopled it: Chagall's passionate, energetic mother, Feiga-Ita; his eccentric fellow painter and teacher Bakst; his clever, intense first wife, Bella; their glamorous daughter, Ida; his tough-minded final companion and wife, Vava; and the colorful, tragic array ofartist, actor, and writer friends who perished under the Stalinist regime. Wullschlager explores in detail Chagall's complex relationship with Russia and makes clear the Russian dimension he brought to Western modernism. She shows how, as Andre Breton put it, under his sole impulse, metaphor made its triumphal entry into modern painting, and helped shape the new surrealist movement. As art critic of the Financial Times, she provides a breadth of knowledge on Chagall's work, and at the same time as an experienced biographer she brings Chagall the man fully to life — ambitious, charming, suspicious, funny, contradictory, dependent, but above all obsessively determined to produce art of singular beauty and emotional depth. Drawing upon hitherto unseen archival material, including numerous letters from the family collection in Paris, and illustrated with nearly two hundred paintings, drawings, and photographs, Chagall is a landmark biography to rank with Hilary Spurling's Matisse and John Richardson's Picasso.

In London: The Autobiography the life of the capital is told, for the first time, by those who made it and saw it at first hand. From Roman times to the 21st century, Londoners and visitors to the city have recounted the extraordinary events, everyday life and character of this unique and influential city — from politics, culture, sport, religion, and reportage. This book brings to vivid life the human trial of the capital including invasions by the Vikings, the brutal execution of Sir Thomas More, the sight of a whale swimming up the Thames and the rebuilding of St Paul's by Sir Christopher Wren, as well as the everyday life of the city. This book includes contributions from George Orwell, Martin Amis, Dr Johnson, Karl Marx, Winston Churchill, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Virginia Woolfe, George Melly, Tacitus, Samuel Pepys, and many others. Packed with personality and character, this book is a must-buy for anyone interested in London as well as a wonderful story of the city at the heart of the nation.

These are some of the slickest, moodiest, graphic short stories ever collected, from the mean streets and sin cities of crime. One of the only compilations of the crime comic genre, this volume contains 25 of the best graphic short stories and is fully loaded with some of the greatest writers and artists in comics. This collection includes Alan More, Neil Gaiman, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Johnny Craig, Alex Toth, Bernie Krigstein, Jack Cole, Jacques Tardi, Gianni De Luca, and Paul Grist. This, for sure, is one offer you cant refuse!

This title is written by the author of The Submariner's War: The Indian Ocean 1939-45. As the guns fell silent on the Western front on 11 November 1918, civil war still continued in Russia. The White Russian army, in support of the Tsar, was still fighting the Bolsheviks, especially in the north of Russia. The Royal Navy sent a squadron of ships in support of the White Russians and British troops fought against the Bolsheviks on land. Murmansk and Archangel became British enclaves as our soldiers and sailors fought a valiant but doomed war against the Bolsheviks. Michael Wilson tells the story of the Navy's part in this little known war.

Meet Jumpy Jack, a very nervous snail who's afraid of monsters, and Googily, who is a — well, who is a very good friend, indeed. Wherever they go, Googily kindly checks high and low just to make sure there are no scary monsters about. But as every child knows, monsters come in many shapes and sizes. Some are even blue with hairy eyebrows and pointy teeth. Here is a universal story of friendship and fear of the unknown told with wit and charm by the fantastic team who created the irresistible Meet Wild Boars,

In this new history of England, Tom Beaumont James uses archaeology to present a fresh view of the events that have shaped the country. Both accessible and comprehensive, The Story of England guides us from prehistory to Cool Britannia, through invasions, wars, disease and empire-building, peopled by monarchs, rebels, politicians, and others who have left an indelible mark on England's development.

»Go back and rid the world of that book. Fill it with words before spring comes, or winter will never end for you. And I will take not only your life for the Adderhead's but your daughter's, too, because she helped you bind the book. Do you understand, Bluejay»? «Why two»? asked Mo hoarsely. «How can you ask for two lives in return for one»? Under the rule of the evil Adderhead, the Inkworld is in chaos, its characters far beyond the control of their author, Fenoglio. The fire-eater Dustfinger is dead, and Meggie fears losing her mother once more. Facing the threat of eternal winter, Mo inks a dangerous deal with Death itself. A faint hope remains of changing the cursed story...

The 101 best movies ever made — from around the world and across a century — unfold here in order, along with critical commentary, behind-the-scenes information, and hundreds of lush photographs. Movie ranking has become an annual sport, and this global, all-encompassing list features the best of all time, It is sure to be a must-have for every dedicated filmgoer eager to watch the greats that he or she has not yet seen and to recall favorite films from every era. Completely revised since its hardcover publication, it features movies from as recently as 2007, plus a new foreword. Full-color, three-page sections celebrate each film on the list, which has been carefully compiled by two expert critics to include films from every decade, every genre, and a wide variety of cultures. Classics include Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, and Star Wars; international films include Rules of the Game, The 400 Blows, and Rashomon; additions to the list since publication of the hardcover include The Lives of Others, City Lights, Pan's Labyrinth, and Groundhog Day, Each section includes cast lists, plot synopses, biographies of the director and key actors, Oscar nominations and wins, behind-the-screen anecdotes, and more.

In this unprecedented collection, photojournalist Kevin Rivoli proves that the idealistic, all-American views found in Norman Rockwell's classic illustrations are, in fact, accurate and timeless portrayals of a nation that truly does exist. Some critics argue that Norman Rockwell's images are overly sentimental, old-fashioned, and contrived. Yet it was always photojournalist Kevin Rivoli's belief that the themes that make Rockwell's illustrations so poignant — patriotism, faith, family, and sports — are also what make our country so great. Determined to dispel the critics' claims against Rockwell's prolific body of work, Rivoli set out with his camera to visit small towns and capture spontaneous Rockwell moments that celebrate the glory of ordinary, everyday life. In Search of Norman Rockwell's America pairs Rivoli's photographs side by side with Norman Rockwell's iconic paintings, demonstrating how Rockwell's scenes were not just imagined on a canvas since they continue to sensitively reflect the American experience today. Each page of In Search of Norman Rockwell's America is filled with inspiring quotes and anecdotes from those who have been touched by Rockwell, including Arnold Palmer, Dick Clark, Beau Bridges, Dolly Parton, former president Jimmy Carter, and even the original subjects of Rockwell's artwork. A must-have for photographers, artists, Rockwell enthusiasts, and those desiring to slow down and focus on what's really important in life — embracing those special Rockwell moments.

From the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hairashe begins to unlock the book's mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book's journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-sicle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city's rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah's extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna's investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love. Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.

A magisterial history inspired by Winston Churchill's famous opus, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 is an engrossing account of the twentieth century, with a unique perspective on our turbulent times. In 1900, where Churchill ended the fourth volume of his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, the United States had not yet emerged onto the world scene as a great power. Yet the coming century was to belong to the English-speaking peoples, who successively and successfully fought the Kaiser's Germany, Axis aggression and Soviet Communism, and who are now struggling against Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. Andrew Roberts's History proves especially invaluable as the United States today looks to other parts of the English-speaking world as its best, closest and most dependable allies.

When the notorious investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn booked into Mr Chandler-Powell's private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a disfiguring and long-standing facial scar, she had every prospect of a successful operation by a distinguished surgeon, a week's peaceful convalescence in one of Dorset's most beautiful manor houses and the beginning of a new life. She was never to leave Cheverell Manor alive. Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate the murder, and later a second death, which are to raise even more complicated problems than the question of innocence or guilt. A new detective novel by P. D. James is always keenly awaited and 'The Private Patient' will undoubtedly equal the success of her worldwide bestseller 'The Lighthouse'. It displays the qualities which P. D. James's readers have come to expect: a masterly psychological and emotional richness of characterisation, a vivid evocation of place and a credible and exciting mystery. 'The Private Patient' is a powerful work of contemporary fiction.

The great twentieth-century Russian poet's second volume of poetry, Tristia, explores myths of Orpheus and Eurydice in a brilliantly symbolic manner. This is one of the most important books of Russian poetry.

Show-stoppers from many private and regional galleries, mixing paintings, watercolors, books, sculptures and photographs. The Guardian. Stunning and constantly surprising. Although it contains most of our great artists it is not a 'survey' so much as an unconventional, personal and thought-provoking take on British art, full of unexpected works and unfamiliar names, as well as familiar landmarks — over 300 works gathered from collections all over the world. The Spectator From the landscapes of Wilson and Constable to the visionary imagery of Blake and Bacon, this book, published to accompany a major exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, is a beautifully illustrated survey of British art from 1750 to 1950. British Vision presents some of the most celebrated works in British art history, selected from public and private collections in Europe, Britain, and the United States by Robert Hoozee, drawing on the expertise of Andrew Dempsey, John Gage, Mark Haworth-Booth, and Timothy Hyman. Among the artists whose work appears in British Vision are William Hogarth, Thomas Gainsborough, George Stubbs, William Blake, Henry Fuseli, John Constable, J. M. W. Turner, Richard Dadd, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, Stanley Spencer, Graham Sutherland, Francis Bacon, and Lucien Freud.Essays by a group of distinguished art historians focus on two defining characteristics of British art, observation and imagination, seen within the context of society, landscape, and the visionary. Together, they set forth important arguments about what makes British art recognizable, what gives it its typically «British» style, and how British artists have contributed to the history of art as a whole. This lavishly illustrated catalog is a sumptuous record of the most comprehensive exhibition of British art to be displayed in recent years, and represents a unique opportunity to discover the creative forces that shaped British art over two centuries.

Splish Splash Dog Bash! follows the exploits of a pack of neighborhood dogs, who throw a pool party on the first day the children go back to school. As the children look on forlornly from an amazing 3-D school bus, the dogs send out invitations, purchase pool party gear at the local dog mall, and finally launch their party. The designs and pop-ups provide humor and unexpected surprises that will delight pop-up book fans of all ages. Splish Splash, Dog Bash! is the 2008 Moonbeam Silver Medal Winner for Best Pop-up Book of the Year!

A divorced, middle-aged English professor finds himself increasingly unable to resist affairs with his female students. When discovered by the college authorities, he is expected to apologize and repent in an effort to save his job, but he refuses to become a scapegoat in what he sees as a show trial designed to reinforce a stringent political correctness. He preempts the authorities and leaves his job, and the city, to spend time with his grown-up lesbian daughter on her remote farm.Things between them are strained — there is much from the past they need to reconcile — and the situation becomes critical when they are the victims of a brutal and horrifying attack. In spectacularly powerful and lucid prose, Coetzee uses all his formidable skills to engage with a post-apartheid culture in unexpected and revealing ways. This examination into the sexual and political lawlines of modern South Africa as it tries desperately to start a fresh page in its history is chilling, uncompromising and unforgettable.

This fascinating collection provides hundreds of simple mnemonics to help you remember awkward spellings, grammatical rules and useful facts and figures. It also wanders through the weird and wonderful byways of English idioms, where nothing means what it says. If you want a little traditional wisdom or some cracking new insults, this book offers a treasure trove of curious, witty and downright obscure English idioms. Do you know why Big Elephants Are Useful To Indians For Unloading Logs? Because it's a BEAUTIFUL way to get a tricky spelling right. Have you ever lost an argument? Or was it an argument? If you can just remember 'I lost an 'e' in an argument', then you'll never get it wrong again. Would you be upset if someone said you were 'a sandwich short of a picnic'? Or could you be described as someone who 'fell asleep in a greenhouse'?

A study in contrasts, the career of Sergey Prokofiev spanned the globe, leaving him witness to the most significant political and historical events of the first half of the twentieth century. In 1918, after completing a program of studies at the St. Petersburg conservatory, Prokofiev escaped Russia for the United States and later France where, like most emigre artists of the time, he made Paris his home. During these hectic years, he composed three ballets and three operas, fulfilled recording contracts, and played recitals of tempestuous music. Scores were stored in suitcases, scenarios and librettos drafted on hotel letterhead. The constant uprooting and transience fatigued him, but he regarded himself as a person of action who, personally and professionally, traveled against rather that with the current. Thus, in 1936, as political anxieties increased in Western Europe, Prokofiev escaped back to Russia. Though at first pampered by the totalitarian regime, Prokofiev soon suffered official correction and censorship. He wrote and revised his late ballets and operas to appease his bureaucratic overseers but, more often than not, his labors came to naught.Following his official condemnation in 1948, many of his compositions were withdrawn from performance. Physical illness and mental exhaustion characterized his last years. Housebound, he journeyed inward, creating a series of works on the theme of youth whose music sounds despondently optimistic. The reasons for Prokofievs return to Russia and the specifics of his dealings with the Stalinist regime have long been mysterious. Owing to their sensitive political and personal nature, over half of the Prokofiev documents at the Russian State Archive have been sealed since their deposit there in 1955, two years after Prokofievs premature death. The disintegration of the Soviet Union did not lead to the rescinding of this prohibition. Author Simon Morrison is the first scholar, non-Russian or Russian, to receive the privilege to study them. Alongside wholly or partly unknown score materials, Morrison has studied Prokofievs never-seen journals and diaries, the original, unexpurgated versions of his official speeches, and the bulk of his correspondence. This new information makes possible for the first time an accurate study of the tragic second phase of Prokofievs career.Moving chronologically, Morrison alternates biographical details with discussions of Prokofievs major works, furnishing dramatic new insights into Prokofievs engagement with the Stalinist regime and the consequences that it had for his family and his health.

If ever there was a book to make you switch off your television set, The Dangerous Book for Boys was it. And now, from the same authors, after the success of Things to Do and Things to Know, comes The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boy: Facts, Figures and Fun. 'The Dangerous Book for Boys' was the book of the year in 2006 and 2007, inspiring a newfound passion for adventure, fun and all things 'dangerous'. Now the authors have brought together all their facts: fun and frivolous, entertaining and useful, into a 'Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Facts, Figures and Fun. Ever wanted to know what the best ever scientific discoveries were? Or the most gruesome deaths of all time? How namy great men were assassinated? What were the pivotal moments of the last century? Facts, Figures and Fun is crammed with odd, interesting, facts which every boy should know.

If ever there was a book to make you switch off your television set, The Dangerous Book for Boys was it. And now, from the same authors, after the success of Things to Do and Things to Know, comes The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boy: The Natural World — packed with fascinating facts and tantalising trivia about the world around us. 'The Dangerous Book for Boys' was the book of the year in 2006 and 2007, inspiring a newfound passion for adventure, fun and all things 'dangerous'. Now the authors have brought together all their facts about the natural world into a 'Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: The Natural World'. Impress your friends and family with your amazing knowledge of the solar system, your indepth insights into fossils and dinosaurs, your amazing ability to name the seven wonders of the world The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: The Natural World' will make every man and boy, not to mention the women in their lives, as knowledgeable as they have always wished to be!

Herbert List's photography has become part of the classical canon of 20th-century pictorial art. By their metaphysical and visual presence, his pictures are as familiar to us and as influential as de Chirico's visions are in painting. This monograph on List's oeuvre presents all phases of his creativity: the early fotografia metafisica; his Greece photographs blending Antiquity, Mediterranean light and Eros in visions of classical Hellas; his sensitive homoerotic pictures; his artist portraits of the 40s through to the 60s; and the human interest photography of his late work. Essays by noted authors explore List's particular interests and the photo-historic context of his oeuvre. A selection of List's own writings, a comprehensive chronology, a bibliography, a list of exhibitions, and a list of publications complete this lavish volume in reduced-size.

Magical lands inhabited by fire-breathing dragons, clever wizards casting their spells, valiant kings and gallant knights fighting for right, sly knaves eager to betray, kidnapped queens and maidens trapped in towers, merry bandits, and more: this is the entrancing stuff of which medieval legends are made. With plenty of adventure, excitement, and romance on every page, this collection of classic tales will captivate young readers. As with the two former books in the series, The Big Book of Knights, Nobles & Knaves is exquisitely designed. It features an eye-catching cover with die-cuts in the shape of castle windows, as well as breathtaking illustrations and action-packed panoramic spreads throughout. The 11 timeless stories — expertly abridged for maximum excitement and fun — include The Knights of the Round Table; Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart; Robin Hood; The Song of Roland; and Tristan and Isolde.