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AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024<BR><BR>'A masterclass in masterpieces' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH<BR><BR>'Epic, personal, smart, wise, witty' JOSHUA COHEN<BR><BR>'Sizzles with passion' TOM McCARTHY<BR><BR>For more than two decades, Edwin Frank has introduced readers to forgotten or overlooked texts as director of the acclaimed publisher New York Review Books. In Stranger than Fiction, he offers a legendary editor's survey of the key works that defined the twentieth-century novel.<BR><BR>Starting with Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground, Frank shows how its twitchy, self-undermining narrator established a voice that would echo through the coming century. He illuminates Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway's reinvention of the American sentence; Colette and André Gide's subversions of traditional gender roles; and the monumental ambitions of works such as Mrs Dalloway, The Magic Mountain and The Man Without Qualities to encompass their times. Also included are Japan's Natsume Soseki and Nigeria's Chinua Achebe, as well as Vasily Grossman, Hans Erich Nossack and Elsa Morante. Later chapters range from Ralph Ellison and Marguerite Yourcenar to Gabriel García Márquez and WG Sebald.<BR><BR>Frank makes sense of the century by mixing biographical portraiture, cultural history and close encounters with great works of art. In so doing he renews our appreciation of the paradigmatic art form of our times.

Madame de Pompadour - kaum ein Name löst ähnlich starke Assoziationen aus: die Kunst zu lieben, die Verschwendungssucht und der Prunk in Versailles, selbstverständlich bei feinsten Sitten und Kultur. In ihren Briefen wird das Europa des 18. Jahrhunderts lebendig: Madame de Pompadour korrespondierte mit dem Papst, empfing Mozart, ließ ihre Liebesbriefe von Voltaire korrigieren. Aus der Tochter eines Armeelieferanten wurde die erste Frau im Staat, ihre Briefe sind Zeitzeugnis und große Literatur. Hans Pleschinski hat sie ausgewählt und übersetzt. Kenntnisreich, mit klugen und leichtfüßigen Zwischentexten moderiert er die Briefe zu einem Epochenbild des alten Europas und einem Sittengemälde des mondänen Frankreich.- Porträt einer der einflussreichsten Frauen der Geschichte Europas: So facettenreich wie ihre Epoche- Gehasst und bewundert: ehrgeizige Aufsteigerin, 'Maîtresse en titre', Verschwenderin, Ratgeberin der Mächtigen

Winner of the BAC Wadsworth Prize for Business History 2020<BR><BR>When Calouste Gulbenkian died in 1955 at the age of 86, he was the richest man in the world, known as 'Mr Five Per Cent' for his personal share of Middle East oil. The son of a wealthy Armenian merchant in Istanbul, for half a century he brokered top-level oil deals, concealing his mysterious web of business interests and contacts within a labyrinth of Asian and European cartels, and convincing governments and oil barons alike of his impartiality as an 'honest broker'. Today his name is known principally through the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, to which his spectacular art collection and most of his vast wealth were bequeathed.<BR><BR>Gulbenkian's private life was as labyrinthine as his business dealings. He insisted on the highest 'moral values', yet ruthlessly used his wife's charm as a hostess to further his career, and demanded complete obedience from his family, whom he monitored obsessively. As a young man he lived a champagne lifestyle, escorting actresses and showgirls, and in later life - on doctor's orders - he slept with a succession of discreetly provided young women. Meanwhile he built up a superb art collection which included Rembrandts and other treasures sold to him by Stalin from the Hermitage Museum.<BR><BR>Published to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, Mr Five Per Cent reveals Gulbenkian's complex and many-sided existence. Written with full access to the Gulbenkian Foundation's archives, this is the fascinating story of the man who more than anyone else helped shape the modern oil industry.

In this gripping, authoritative biography, Soledad Fox Maura reveals the tumultuous true-life story of the Oscar-nominated screenwriter responsible for Z and The War Is Over.<BR>A man of many faces, Jorge Semprún perfectly personified the struggles and successes of twentieth-century Europe. Semprún enjoyed a privileged childhood as the grandson of Spanish prime minister, Antonio Maura, until his world was shattered by the political strife of the Spanish Civil War and he went into exile. Facing dangers rarely seen outside the action movies of Hollywood, Semprún adopted a resilient spirit and rebel's stance. He fought with the French Resistance in World War II and survived imprisonment at Buchenwald. After the war, he became an organizing member of the exiled Spanish communist party, maintaining the appearance of a normal civilian life while keeping one step ahead of Francisco Franco's secret police for years. Semprún later put his experiences on paper, becoming an internationally acclaimed author and screenwriter.<BR><BR>In this skillfully crafted biography, Semprún's life reads as easily as the best thriller, and has the same addictive rush as watching an edge-of-your-seat mini-series.

23:B&W 6 x 9 in or 229 x 152 mm Perfect Bound on White w/Gloss Lam

Memorias del turbulento período de los últimos meses de la Monarquía y la llegada de la República española. Prólogo, notas y un relato personal del célebre crítico literario Juan Bautista Bergua.General Emilio Mola Vidal (Cuba,1887 - Burgos, España, 1937), conocido como "El Director", fue un militar español destacado en la historia de España por ser el instigador del golpe de Estado que dio lugar a la Guerra Civil española de 1936.Sus memorias cuenta el turbulento y hostil período de los últimos meses de la Monarquía y la llegada de la República, entre 1930 y 1931, cuando Mola ocupó uno de los puestos de mayor responsabilidad como Director General de Seguridad. Sus ideas conservadoras y su reorganización de la Policía Gubernativa le hicieron muy impopular entre la oposición socialista y republicana, y al proclamarse la Segunda República Mola fue detenido y encarcelado.Su amigo y editor Juan Bautista Bergua publicó sus tres memorias: LO QUE YO SUPE (1932), TEMPESTAD, CALMA, INTRIGA Y CRISIS (1932), y EL DERRUMBAMIENTO DE LA MONARQUIA (1933), juntas forman MEMORIAS DE MI PASO POR LA DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE SEGURIDAD que constituyen un importante documento de la historia española.