Moments of Pure Enjoyment
- 143pagine
- 6 ore di lettura






The administration has squandered the chance to eliminate al Qaeda, leading to the emergence of a new, stronger threat partly due to our own actions and inactions. Richard Clarke, the former counterterrorism czar for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, asserts that we are not adequately addressing this danger. With two decades of experience combating terrorism, Clarke served seven presidents and worked in the White House until March 2003. He possesses unparalleled insight into the successes and failures of the Clinton years, the reasons behind the failure to prevent 9/11, and the Bush administration's response to the attacks. Clarke reveals the administration's disinterest in al Qaeda before September 11, as he struggled to convince officials to take the threat seriously. He encountered key figures who seemed unaware of al Qaeda, fixated instead on Iraq and even promoted discredited conspiracy theories about Saddam's involvement in past attacks. As the crisis manager on 9/11, Clarke witnessed the aftermath with dismay, noting that after initially ignoring plans to combat al Qaeda, President Bush made disastrous decisions when he finally acknowledged the threat. This work serves as both a powerful history of our long confrontation with terrorism and a sharp critique of the current administration's actions.
Brazil is the first work of fiction to depict five centuries of a great nation's remarkable history, its evolution from colony to kingdom, from empire to modern republic. With a stunning cast of real and fictional characters, the story unfolds in South America, Africa and Europe.Two families dominate this extraordinary novel. The Cavalcantis are among the original settlers and establish the classic Brazilian plantation -- vast, powerful, built with slave labor. The da Silvas represent the second element in both contemporary and historical Brazil: pathfinders and prospectors. For generations, these adventurers have their eyes set on El Dorado, which they ultimately find -- in a coffee fazenda at Sao Paulo.Brazil is an intensely human story -- brutal and violent, tender and passionate. Perilous explorations through the Brazilian wilderness...the perpetual clash of pioneer and native, visionary and fortune hunter, master and slave, zealot and exploiter...the thunder of war on land and sea as European powers and South American nations pursue their territorial conquests...the triumphs and tragedies of a people who built a nation covering half the South American continent...all are here in one spell-binding saga.
Thomas Sanders è un brillante manager e un tranquillo padre di famiglia. Finché non ritrova una sua ex spettacolarmente sexy, Meredith Johnson, che ha abilmente scalato i vertici della DCT, l'avveniristica azienda di Seattle per cui lavora anche lui. Il primo incontro tra i due si conclude nella maniera peggiore: la spregiudicata Meredith lo accusa di averla molestata sessualmente. Per salvarsi, Thomas dovrà ribaltare l'accusa, dimostrando in un'aula di tribunale che è stato lui la vittima. Ma il suo compito sarà reso più difficile da un oscuro intrigo finanziario al cui centro si trova la stessa DCT.
Jintong, his mother, and his eight sisters struggle to survive through the major crises of twentieth century China, which include civil war, invasion by the Japanese, the cultural revolution, and communist rule in the new China.
Op de bergtoppen van Tibet ligt de dood op de loer. Daar, waar de wijsheid haar oorsprong zou hebben, dreigt nu een donker gevaar voor de gehele mensheid. Maar dat dringt niet direct tot de jonge archeologe Sarah Kincaid door. Haar eerste zorg geldt namelijk haar geliefde Kamal, die ze met alles wat in haar vermogen ligt uit de handen van hun vijanden moet redden. Het spoor voert haar via Istanbul steeds verder naar het oosten, totdat ze uiteindelijk aan boord van een luchtschip in Shambala aankomt Na de vlam van Pharos en Aan de over van de Styx opnieuw een grote titel met archeologe Sarah Kincaid in de hoofdrol.
In the title novel, two friends fall in love with each other's teenage sons, and these passions last for years, until the women end them, vowing a respectable old age. In Victoria and the Staveneys, a young woman gives birth to a child of mixed race and struggles with feelings of estrangement as her daughter gets drawn into a world of white privilege. The Reason for It traces the birth, faltering, and decline of an ancient culture, with enlightening modern resonances. A Love Child features a World War II soldier who believes he has fathered a love child during a fleeting wartime romance and cannot be convinced otherwise.
Edgy, funny and devastating, Self is the fictional autobiography of a young writer at the heart of which is a startling twist. This extraordinary life meanders through a rich, complicated, bittersweet world. The discoveries of childhood give way to the thousand pangs of adolescence, culminating in the sudden shocking news of an accident abroad. And as adulthood begins, indecisively, boundaries are crossed between countries, languages and people . . .
Het Franse meisje Julie zoekt na een diepe telerustelling troost in de wereld van de drugs. De wereld van heroïne en cocaïne, lijm en vlekkenwater. Julie steelt en tippelt als het moet. Ze liegt en bedriegt om die korte periode van vergetelheid. Daarna volgt dan weer de rusteloosheid, het lijden en de angst. Haar helse afdaling in de onderwereld van Parijs, waar zelfmoordpogingen en overdosis aan de orde van de dag zijn, blijft niet ongestraft. Met de moed der wanhoop probeert Julie tenslotte uit de modder omhoog te kruipen. Maar alleen lukt dat niet. Dan ontmoet ze Etiënne. HIj helpt het jonge meisje bij haar terugkeer naar een normaal leven. Tegen Etiënne wil Julie eerlijk zijn. Voor hem zet ze haar trieste levensverhaal op papier, al is ze nog zo bang daardoor haar enige vriend te verliezen.