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  Fascist as Author The - A Short...

  Knut Hamsun, Luigi Pirandello,...

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  Authors are authors and we are drawn to their works because of their style, their narrative, and their characters and how each part is assembled into the arc of the whole. 
   
  But are we?  Do social conventions, or fashion or other influences decide what we read or what we listen to? 
   
  Its famously said that everyone has a story, everyone should be heard. 
   
  So, when we discover a particular author has a dark past, a difficult character, what do we do?   
   
  Europe was in the last century riven by two catastrophic world wars and a myriad of other local ones.  And like good citizens everywhere our thoughts are stilled by the word ‘Fascist’.  This word which originally meant many strands held together to make a stronger whole is now a one word response to evil and work done in its name. 
   
  In this volume our approach has been to take authors of then great renown, two of whom won the Nobel Prize, and compile a work from each which is seen in a literary context rather than in the heinous shadow of their political and social beliefs.   
   
  We are taught that authors write of their own experiences, but is that really true?  Can an author be separated from their nihilistic approach to politics and actually be a good writer who adds to our knowledge and experience rather than taint us with their reprehensible beliefs on their fellow man. 
   
  Its an ongoing argument.  Perhaps both sides are right.  Perhaps both sides are wrong.

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  The Young Lions - A Novel

  Irwin Shaw

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  One of the great World War II novels, this New York Times–bestselling “masterpiece” captures the experiences of three very different soldiers (The Boston Globe).   Standing alongside Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead and James Jones’s From Here to Eternity, The Young Lions is one of the most powerful American novels to tackle the Second World War. Ambitious in its scope and robust in its prose, Irwin Shaw’s work is also deeply humanistic, presenting the reality of war as seen through the eyes of ordinary soldiers on both sides. The story follows the individual dramas—and ultimately intertwined destinies—of Christian Diestl, a Nazi sergeant; Noah Ackerman, a Jewish American infantryman; and Michael Whitacre, an idealistic urbanite from the New York theatrical world.   Diestl first appears as a dashing ski instructor in Austria, mouthing his loyalty to Nazi ideals. As the war progresses, Diestl’s character continues to erode as he descends into savagery. Ackerman must endure domestic anti-Semitism and beatings in boot camp before proving himself in the European theater. Eventually, as part of the liberating army, he comes face-to-face with the unimaginable horrors of the death camps. Whitacre, trading cocktail parties for Molotov cocktails, confronts the barbarism of war, and in fighting simply to survive, finds his own capacity for heroism.   Shaw’s sweeping narrative is at once vivid, exciting, and brutally realistic as well as poignant in its portrayal of the moral devastation and institutional insanity of war. Penned by a master storyteller at the height of his craft, The Young Lions stands the test of time as a classic novel of war and the human experience.  This ebook features an illustrated biography of Irwin Shaw including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

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  A Little More Scandal

  Carrie Lofty

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  Self-made industrialist Sir William Christie tempts the scorn of London society by attempting to seduce Catrin Jones, a modest but opinionated battlefield nurse who earned notoriety after surviving a naval shipwreck. His ambition to secure her exclusive story is part of his latest business plan, while her intention is to marry well before her moment of fame expires. With respectability, wealth, and security at stake, they must decide whether love is worth embracing just a little more scandal...

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  The German Woman

  Paul Griner

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  This riveting war story introduces us to beautiful Kate Zweig, the English widow of a German surgeon, and Claus Murphy, an exiled American with German roots—two lovers with complicated loyalties. 
   
  In 1918, Kate and her husband, Horst, are taken for spies by Russian soldiers and forced to flee their field hospital on the eastern front, barely escaping with their lives. Years later, in London during the Nazis’ V-1 reign of terror, Claus spends his days making propaganda films and his nights as a British spy, worn down by the war and his own many secrets. When Claus meets the intriguing Kate, he finds himself powerfully drawn to her—even after evidence surfaces that she might not be exactly who she seems. As the war hurtles to a violent end, Claus must decide where his own loyalties lie, whether he can make a difference in the war—and what might be gained by taking a leap of faith with Kate. 
   
  Echoing Pat Barker’s spare power and the sweep of Sebastian Faulks’s historical sagas, The German Woman takes us inside the world wars that defined the twentieth century and the hidden histories of two unforgettable characters whose love story will haunt listeners’ hearts and minds.

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  Around the World in 80 Days

  Jules Verne

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  In Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg rashly bets his companions £20,000 that he can travel around the entire globe in just eighty days -- and he is determined not to lose. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life, the reserved Englishman immediately sets off for Dover, accompanied by his hot-blooded French manservant, Passepartout. Traveling by train, steamship, sailboat, sledge, and even elephant, they must overcome storms, kidnappings, natural disasters, Sioux attacks, and the dogged Inspector Fix of Scotland Yard to win the extraordinary wager. Combining exploration, adventure, and a thrilling race against time, Around the World in Eighty Days gripped audiences upon its publication and remains hugely popular to this day. 
  Jules Verne was born on February 8, 1828 in Nantes, France. In Paris, Verne studied law but chose to pursue literature. In 1850 his play, Les Pailles Rompues ("The Broken Straws"), was successfully produced at Alexandre Dumas's Theatre Historique. He served as secretary at the Theatre Lyrique (1852-54) and later became a stockbroker but continued writing. He died on March 24, 1905, in Amiens, France, leaving behind a legacy of science fiction works, including Journey to the Center of the Earth.

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  Ruler of the Sky - A Novel of...

  Pamela Sargent

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  A novel of the thirteenth-century Mongolian warrior, and the women who surrounded him, that offers “a panoramic view of the charismatic leader” (Library Journal).   In 1167, in the harsh homeland of Mongol tribes, a child was born who was to change the course of human history. His father named him Temujin, but the world knows him as Genghis Khan. Set amid the barbaric splendor of the Mongol hordes, Ruler of the Sky tells the tale of the warrior who forged one of the greatest and most terrifying armies the world had ever seen, and conquered the world from Peking to Persia. Not only is this the story of Genghis Khan, it is also the story of those who were closest to him, especially the women who played such an important role in his life. From the windswept plains of Mongolia to the opulence of the Chinese court, Ruler of the Sky is unforgettable.  

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