by Gareth Davies (2013)
"A memoir of the London Symphony Orchestra on tour, focusing on their historical first visit to America in 1912 and their most recent US tour earlier this year. Gareth Davies, Principal Flautist at the LSO, tells the remarkable story of a groundbreaking expedition through recently discovered diaries, archive material from London and New York and newspaper reports from the time. Against this is set a behind-the-scenes account of the LSO's contemporary US touring schedule, which finds that a surprising number of the same challenges remain. We join Gareth and his colleagues as they contend with airports, volcanoes, travel strikes, illness and even life and death situations. As well as vivid descriptions of sitting centre stage surrounded by music and working with Haitink, Gergiev and Sir Colin Davies, we get to glimpse into the backstage goings on and see inside the mind of a professional musician as never before. Written by someone at the heart of the action, we follow the travels of two musicians, a century apart in the same orchestra. The show does go on." --Publisher description.
Flora Lewis
The condition in the mid 1980's of twenty-five European countries: Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, West Germany, Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia.
Diana Gabaldon
Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and history that combines exhilarating adventure with a love story for the ages. One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read! Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743. Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens her life, and may shatter her heart. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn betw
Pat Rogers
This is the first full-length analysis of A Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-26), long recognized as a key book for understanding the eighteenth century and as one of Daniel Defoe's most characteristic works. A principle aim of this book is to describe the elements that went into the making of the Tour. A substantial introduction sets out a conceptual framework for the chapters that follow, putting the Tour into the historical context of travel writing and the development of a literature of tourism. This work also reflects the concerns and methods of Defoe's oeuvre as a whole. Other aspects of the Tour's ideology are reviewed, notably its political bearings and its treatment of the South Sea Bubble of 1720, a national disaster that has strong personal overtones for Defoe. Finally, an attempt is made to illuminate the design of the work and the ways in which its formal structure supports Defoe's intellectual attitudes.
Kristin Petrie
A biography of the English seaman and explorer who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for helping to make England a world power by circumnavigating the globe and raiding Spanish ships.