For centuries, crowds gathered beneath painted banners, inside travelling tents, outside fairground booths, and along the noisy midways of circuses and dime museums to stare at human beings advertised as wonders, marvels, monsters, curiosities, living miracles, and strange mistakes of nature. Behind the bright posters and theatrical promises stood a darker and far more complicated history: one shaped by poverty, showmanship, exploitation, survival, medicine, disability, racism, public curi...

Frames is a simple sci-fi story with fictional physics, silly math, donnish puns, and characters who march along to their fates with the inevitability of a Bach fugue.Frames is not fantasy; it's not space opera; there's no magic, no superheros, no politics - just geeks who love their work, love each other, do what's next, and save the world - twice.There are some complications: a fully deterministic 4d+t universe with an allowable form of time travel; alie...

Focused Quality: Managing for Results is a book about using quality improvement as a means to enhance bottom line results. Written for managers in industry, services, healthcare and government, this important new book provides a focused approach on how to target critical improvement initiatives and insure their success. Prepare - Plan - Deploy - Transition are the steps in the improvement process that are covered in detail. Included are examples of how organizations have successfully accom...

Born into a traditional Welsh valley community, Paul Murphy has been a member of the Labour Party for more than 55 years. In this book, he describes how the socialist beliefs of that community, and of his parents especially, helped to develop his own very early political consciousness. After three years studying at Oxford, and alongside work as a lecturer in History and Government, he went on to serve on his local council before succeeding another mentor, Leo Abse, as MP for his home const...

From Glasgow to the Highlands, Aussies have left their mark in Scotland.Socceroos in Scotland is the untold story of how Australian footballers have gone from fringe curiosities to key players in Scottish football. With roots tracing back to the early influence of Scottish immigrants on the Australian game, the dynamic flipped in the 1980s as a wave of adventurous Aussies crossed the globe in search of opportunity.From Dave Mitchell blazing a trail...

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ ChoiceThe untold story of the artistic battle between James Abbot MacNeill Whistler and John Ruskin over Whistler’s controversial, ground-breaking Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket.In November 1878, America’s greatest painter sued England’s greatest critic for a bad review. The painter won—but ruined himself in the process. The painter: James Abbot MacNeill Whistler, whose...

During her long reign, Queen Victoria was the target of no fewer than eight assassination attempts. In seven of these cases her life was saved by poor marksmanship or misfiring weaponry, but one assailant managed to strike her with a finely wrought cane. Remarkably, all eight of her attackers lived to tell their tales, and were variously incarcerated in asylums, deported to Australia, or in a few cases eventually released into society again.Paul Thomas Murphy shows how these obscur...

This book is for Christian leaders, whether in the ministry or in the marketplace. How do we experience the fingerprints of God upon us and upon the ministry He has given us? Leading Well is arranged by sections the Purpose, Power, Personalities, and Practice of leading well as a Christ-like servant leader. I have written this book to spark renewal in your own life, while equipping you to lead well in ministry. I hope you will experience a caring arm around your shoulder and a firm hand in...

In this comprehensive portrait of the women of Chechnya in modern war, Paul Murphy challenges conventional thinking on why they fight and are willing to kill themselves in the name of Allah. His book covers the two wars with Russia in 1994 and 1999 and the present conflict with Islamic Jihadists. It argues that these wars forced Chechen women to venture far beyond their traditional roles and advance their human rights but that the current movement championing traditional Islam is taking th...

David Copperfield is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr. Murdstone; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations. In David C...

Chappuis - My Story is a captivating narrative that chronicles the remarkable journey of Charyl Chappuis, one of Thailand's most iconic footballers of the 21st Century and arguably the country's first 'celebrity footballer'. From his beginnings in Kloten, a small town near Zurich, to his rise to stardom in Thailand, the book delves into the life of a player whose talent and resilience captured the hearts of a country.As a teenager, Charyl became a world champion wi...

Award-winning psychology writer Annie Paul delivers a scathing exposé on the history and effects of personality tests.Millions of people worldwide take personality tests each year to direct their education, to decide on a career, to determine if they'll be hired, to join the armed forces, and to settle legal disputes. Yet, according to award-winning psychology writer Annie Murphy Paul, the sheer number of tests administered obscures a simple fact: they don't work. ...