Rocking the Ramparts

Rocking the Ramparts
Author: Larry Christiansen
Publisher: B T Batsford Limited
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2003
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 9780713487763

U.S. chess champion Larry Christiansen provides the principles of middlegame understanding, tactical alertness and counterattacking skills, enabling club players to get more out of their chess by adopting the sharp, aggressive play of present-day grandmasters. Chess enthusiasts will find incisive methods of play that illustrate attacking motives inherent in the structures of different opening systems and their variations. The Sicilian Defense, the Najdorf, Dragon, Taimanov-Paulsen, Sveshnikov, Rauser, Rossolimo, Closed, and Grand Prix are all handled individually, showing the reader how to recognize and exploit typical tactical opportunities. Even the art of swindling is not neglected, and it's all richly illustrated with examples from practical play, including the games of amateurs. Players of all levels enjoy and benefit from Christiansen's instructive writing and insider information.

Storming the Barricades

Storming the Barricades
Author: Larry Christiansen
Publisher: Gambit Publications
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2000
Genre: Chess
ISBN: 9781901983258

A top-class grandmaster takes more than 50 real-life positions, breaks each one down into its key elements and explains the right strategy for conducting a successful attack. The examples are selected to illustrate a wide variety of attacking themes and to provide an instructive and accurate picture of how modern players attack and defend. This book tackles the vital phases of deciding how and where to attack in the first place, and build up the offensive without giving the opponent any real counter-chances.

A Bomb in Every Issue

A Bomb in Every Issue
Author: Peter Richardson
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2009-08-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1595585257

A Mother Jones "Best Book of 2009," A Bomb in Every Issue uncovers the largely untold story of Ramparts magazine, the spectacular San Francisco muckraker that captured the zeitgeist of the '60s and repeatedly scooped the New York Times, changing American journalism forever. Launched in 1962 as a Catholic literary quarterly, Ramparts quickly transformed into a "radical slick," winning a George Polk Award in 1967 for its "explosive revival of the great muckraking tradition." According to the Los Angeles Times, the magazine "not only blew the cover off the biggest stories of the era, it also helped set the ideological agenda for its core demographic, the New Left, and forced the mainstream press to follow its lead." Ramparts' list of contributors—including Noam Chomsky, César Chávez, Seymour Hersh, Angela Davis, and Susan Sontag—formed a who's who of the American left. Although Ramparts folded for good in 1975, former staffers founded Rolling Stone and Mother Jones and include some of the most illustrious names in journalism (names like Robert Scheer, Jann Wenner, and Warren Hinckle), and Ramparts remains an inspiration to investigative journalists today.

Crossroads of Twilight

Crossroads of Twilight
Author: Robert Jordan
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Total Pages: 623
Release: 2010-07-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429960744

The Wheel of Time is now an original series on Prime Video, starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine! In Crossroads of Twilight, the tenth novel in Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time®, Rand al'Thor and his allies endure trials by fire amidst battles, sacrifices, and treachery. Fleeing from Ebou Dar with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, whom he is fated to marry, Mat Cauthon learns that he can neither keep her nor let her go, not in safety for either of them, for both the Shadow and the might of the Seanchan Empire are in deadly pursuit. Perrin Aybara will stop at nothing to free his wife Faile from the Shaido Aiel. Consumed by rage, he offers no mercy to those he takes prisoner. And when he discovers that Masema Dagar, the Prophet of the Dragon, has been conspiring with the Seanchan, Perrin considers making an unholy alliance. Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn himself, has cleansed the Dark One's taint from the male half of the True Source, and everything has changed. Yet nothing has, for only men who can channel believe that saidin is clean again, and a man who can channel is still hated and feared—even one prophesied to save the world. Now, Rand must gamble again, with himself at stake, and he cannot be sure which of his allies are really enemies. Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters. The last six books in series were all instant #1 New York Times bestsellers, and The Eye of the World was named one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. The Wheel of Time® New Spring: The Novel #1 The Eye of the World #2 The Great Hunt #3 The Dragon Reborn #4 The Shadow Rising #5 The Fires of Heaven #6 Lord of Chaos #7 A Crown of Swords #8 The Path of Daggers #9 Winter's Heart #10 Crossroads of Twilight #11 Knife of Dreams By Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson #12 The Gathering Storm #13 Towers of Midnight #14 A Memory of Light By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons The Wheel of Time Companion By Robert Jordan and Amy Romanczuk Patterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Book of Koli

The Book of Koli
Author: M. R. Carey
Publisher: Orbit
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2020-04-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316477478

"This is a beautiful book. Gripping, engaging, and absolutely worth the time it takes to burrow yourself into its reality. I can't recommend it highly enough." —Seanan McGuire The first in a masterful new trilogy from acclaimed author M. R. Carey, The Book of Koli begins the story of a young boy on a journey through a strange and deadly world of our making. Everything that lives hates us... Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable landscape. A place where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will. Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He believes the first rule of survival is that you don't venture too far beyond the walls. He's wrong. "A captivating start to what promises to be an epic post-apocalyptic fable." —Kirkus "Enthralling...Koli embarks upon a journey as perilous as it is enlightening." —Guardian "The best thing I've read in a long time. I loved it." —Joanne Harris "Carey hefts astonishing storytelling power with plainspoken language, heartbreaking choices, and sincerity like an arrow to the heart." —Locus Look out for the next novels in the trilogy: The Trials of Koli and The Fall of Koli

The Dragon Queen

The Dragon Queen
Author: Alice Borchardt
Publisher: Del Rey
Total Pages: 603
Release: 2002-02-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0345449509

Arthur turned and strode toward us. He was magnificent, and I will never forget that, in that moment, I first loved him. And I believe--had I known what the future held for us: all the trouble, torment, battle, and grief of our lives--I still believe that I would have yielded my heart into his keeping as I did then . . . In a sweeping epic of the imagination, Alice Borchardt enters the wondrous realm of Arthurian legend and makes it her own. The Dragon Queen is the first volume in a trilogy of novels that boldly re-imagines Camelot--and casts Guinevere as a shrewd, strong-willed, magical warrior queen. Born into a world of terrible strife, where war is constant and weapons are never far from the hands of men or women, Guinevere, daughter of a mighty pagan queen, is a threat to her people and a prize to the dreaded sorcerer Merlin. Sent into hiding, she grows up under the protection of a shapeshifting man-wolf and an ornery Druid. But even on the remote coast of Scotland, where dragons feed and watch over her, she is not safe from the all-seeing High Druid Merlin. He knows the young beauty's destiny, and he will stop at nothing to prevent what has been foretold. For if Guinevere becomes Queen and Arthur, King, they will bring a peace to the land that will leave the power-hungry Merlin a shriveled magician in a weary cloak. Yet Guinevere possesses power of her own--dazzling power to rival even that of Merlin. Summoned from her home by forces she cannot fathom, she travels from the Underworld to an Otherworld of the Past, at each step calling on ancient powers to aid her way. When young Guinevere proves her mettle to an embarrassed Merlin, even her faithful dragon protectors cannot prevent the evil that the sorcerer rains down. Seeking revenge, Merlin banishes Arthur to a world from which the only escape is death. Now Guinevere must face Merlin's wrath without him--and prove that she is worthy of being Arthur's Queen. From the glass-roofed Great Hall at Tintigal to the lush garden forts of Wales, Alice Borchardt details the travels of Guinevere in a rich fabric of prose. The Dragon Queen is a novel of great emotional depth, timeless romance, and soul-stirring adventure.

Mating the Castled King

Mating the Castled King
Author: Danny Gormally
Publisher: Quality Chess
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: Chess
ISBN: 9781907982712

Every chess player loves to win with a devastating attack. But even beginners know the importance of early castling, so the most significant attacking strategies are those against a castled king. Danny Gormally sheds light on this vital area of the game, arguing that pattern recognition is key to improvement. This book strips away the mystique surrounding successful attacking play, and identifies several recurring motifs which can be applied to specific pawn structures and scenarios. Well-chosen model examples and test positions are complemented by the author's lively writing style and original terminology. Clobber your opponents with motifs such as the "Shotgun" and the "Tower of Terror"!

Listen to This

Listen to This
Author: Alex Ross
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2010-09-28
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1429977612

One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books 2011 Alex Ross's award-winning international bestseller, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, has become a contemporary classic, establishing Ross as one of our most popular and acclaimed cultural historians. Listen to This, which takes its title from a beloved 2004 essay in which Ross describes his late-blooming discovery of pop music, showcases the best of his writing from more than a decade at The New Yorker. These pieces, dedicated to classical and popular artists alike, are at once erudite and lively. In a previously unpublished essay, Ross brilliantly retells hundreds of years of music history—from Renaissance dances to Led Zeppelin—through a few iconic bass lines of celebration and lament. He vibrantly sketches canonical composers such as Schubert, Verdi, and Brahms; gives us in-depth interviews with modern pop masters such as Björk and Radiohead; and introduces us to music students at a Newark high school and indie-rock hipsters in Beijing. Whether his subject is Mozart or Bob Dylan, Ross shows how music expresses the full complexity of the human condition. Witty, passionate, and brimming with insight, Listen to This teaches us how to listen more closely.