Whether you've watched "Casablanca" countless times or you're going to see it for the first time, "The Casablanca Companion" will both deepen your understanding and heighten your enjoyment.

    Christine L. Corton tells the story of these epic London fogs, their dangers and beauty, and the lasting effects on our culture and imagination of these urban spectacles.In popular imagination, London is a city of fog. The classic London fogs, the thick yellow “pea-soupers,” were born in the industrial age of the early nineteenth century. The first globally notorious instance of air pollution, they remained a constant feature of cold, windless winter days until clean air legislation in the 1960s brought about their demise. Christine L. Corton tells the story of these epic London fogs, their dangers and beauty, and their lasting effects on our culture and imagination.As the city grew, smoke from millions of domestic fires, combined with industrial emissions and naturally occurring mists, seeped into homes, shops, and public buildings in dark yellow clouds of water droplets, soot, and sulphur dioxide. The fogs were sometimes so thick that people could not see their own feet. By the time London’s fogs lifted in the second half of the twentieth century, they had changed urban life. Fogs had created worlds of anonymity that shaped social relations, providing a cover for crime, and blurring moral and social boundaries. They had been a gift to writers, appearing famously in the works of Charles Dickens, Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad, and T. S. Eliot. Whistler and Monet painted London fogs with a fascination other artists reserved for the clear light of the Mediterranean.Corton combines historical and literary sensitivity with an eye for visual drama—generously illustrated here—to reveal London fog as one of the great urban spectacles of the industrial age.

    Tolkien had a great knowledge of, and love for, world mythology when he wrote his beloved trilogy of Middle Earth. In particular, the symbol of the Ring has a rich and fascinating heritage, and this beautifully illustrated literary detective work searches down Tolkien's sources and inspiration. To understand the roots of The Lord of the Rings, we must go far back, to a tradition of ring-quest tales that came into being before the pyramids of Egypt were built, or the walls of Babylon raised. The extraordinary journey passes through the most magical stories told: Norse myths, including the Volsunga Saga; the Arthurian legends; the Carolingian tales, linked to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne; Celtic and Saxon myths; German romances, such as the Nibelungenlied; and more. By drawing on these potent primary myths and legends, Tolkien was able himself to create a new mythology for the 20th century--and beyond.

    Judith Halberstam proposes “low theory” as a mode of thinking and writing that operates at many different levels at once. Low theory is derived from eccentric archives. It runs the risk of not being taken seriously. It entails a willingness to fail and to lose one’s way, to pursue difficult questions about complicity, and to find counterintuitive forms of resistance. Tacking back and forth between high theory and low theory, high culture and low culture, Halberstam looks for the unexpected and subversive in popular culture, avant-garde performance, and queer art. She pays particular attention to animated children’s films, revealing narratives filled with unexpected encounters between the childish, the transformative, and the queer. Failure sometimes offers more creative, cooperative, and surprising ways of being in the world, even as it forces us to face the dark side of life, love, and libido.

    In the aftermath of the war, Europe was in shambles. Nearly all of France, Germany, Italy, and Poland had been devastated. Bridges and roads were gone. Rivers and canals were clogged with sunken ships and fallen bridges. Unexploded bombs and shells littered fields.Postwar inflation whipsawed the survivors: cigarettes, coffee, and chocolate were better currencies than Deutsche marks. Prices rose in Italy to thirty-five times their prewar level. Before the year was over, disastrous harvests across the continent would leave Europeans hungry, and, in some places, even starving.Only two great powers remained strong enough to consider taking over, or materially influencing, Europe - the United States and the Soviet Union. United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall had a plan. Here's the story of that plan and the fascinating man who put it together.

    Jordan will share everything he has learned in the years since he wrote The Maker's Diet, including: Health and Diet Tips Why our nation's food supply is compromised  The importance of organic foods Choosing the best water sources Raising healthy children, healing chronic illnesses and much more! His Popular Health Myths and TruthsJordan Rubin is a renowned natural health expert and NYTBest-selling author of The Maker's Diet.

    Other than wanting to perform invasive surgical procedures, most doctors offer little help. Their advice is usually “Eat less, exercise more,” which falls back on the outdated dogma of calories in/calories out. Medical research on dieting is confusing and often contradictory. Not only are physicians unsure about which weight-loss plan is best, but their patients are, too!     It has become an “every one for him- or herself” situation, where we’re forced to experiment, hoping to hit on the magic weight-loss formula by chance . . . and the increasing number of fad diets makes our odds of picking the right weight-loss plan even less likely. Why can’t the medical industry make sense of the overload of information and give us sound advice that actually enables people to lose weight and improve their health?     Fortunately, recent studies have shined a new light on the subject and may finally help us understand a successful way to diet. This research proves what many men and women have learned through trial and error: some do better on a low-carb diet, and others do better on a low-fat diet. This is because some people have the metabolism of a hunter, while others have the metabolism of a farmer.     In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Mark Liponis, a leading expert in preventive and integrative medicine, will show you how to determine which type you are so that you can lose weight and improve your health at the same time.    Once you know your type, you’ll be on the road to successful weight loss and greater health and well-being!

    This sampler contains the story of Operation Judgement; believed to be one of the most incredible raids of World War Two.Six raids that changed the course of history...Operation Judgement: one of the most spectacular efforts of World War Two, where obsolete British biplanes attacked the Italian fleet in Taranto.Operation Archery: the first true combined operation carried out by all three British forces. THis successful raid persuaded Hitler that the Allies were planning a full scale invasion.Operation Biting: a cross-Channel raid into France that was the first major attack by the British Airborne Division and its first battle honour.Operation Gunnerside: a dramatic demolition assault on Hitler's atomic bomb plant in Norway.Operation Chariot: 'the greatest raid of all': the British amphibious attack on the Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France.Operation Deadstick: the story of the first Allies into the fray on D-Day, tasked with seizing and holding two bridges to prevent an armoured German counter-attack.

     In this latest book, Self-Mastery: Actualize Your Potential and Enjoy a Fulfilling Life, she shows you how to command the confidence that one needs to bring about a more rewarding lifestyle. Self-Mastery teaches you all of the steps and strategies needed, in order to conquer all types of negative emotions and setbacks, including: ● Defining what self-mastery is, and what it isn’t; ● How to attain self-mastery; ● What it takes to build your dream life with self-mastery; ● Revealing the precise core emotions that arise from self-mastery; ...and much more. Once you’ve bid adieu to low confidence and consistent failures, you can then welcome self-mastery into your life, and watch it prosper.