For nearly two decades, pundits have been predicting the demise of higher education in the United States. Our colleges and universities will soon find themselves competing for students with universities from around the world. With the advent of massive open online courses ("MOOCS") over the past two years, predictions that higher education will be the next industry to undergo "disruption" have become more frequent and fervent. Currently a university's reputation relies heavily on the "four...

'A scared playwright won't write a good play. We're going to have to try to find a bit more steel.' – TelegraphRyanCraig is not afraid of controversial topics. Described as a 'playwright with the ability to become one of the best of his generation' (British Theatre Guide), his work to date is known to probe both social norms and ethical issues. Since being nominated for the Evening Standard's Most Promising Playwright Award in 2005 his plays have been prod...

ROOM 101… BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU… SUPER STATES … THOUGHT POLICE…On 4th April 1984, Winston Smith, comrade 6079, starts a diary. In a world where every action is painstakingly monitored and controlled, this simple act puts Winston's life in jeopardy. A clandestine love affair with co-worker Julia further enrages the authorities, but can they truly trust each other? And what of the mysterious O'Brien? Will he help them overthrow the regime, confront them with their most terrifyi...

A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical fea...

The untold story of an eccentric, scientific visionary whose death-defying research has saved millions of lives.Sixty years ago, cars and airplanes were still deathtraps waiting to happen. Today, both are safer than ever, thanks in part to one pioneering air force doctor’s research on seatbelts and ejection seats. The exploits of John Paul Stapp (1910–1999) come to thrilling life in this biography of a Renaissance man who was once blasted—faster than a .45 caliber ...

Locked in a desperate Cold War race against the Soviets to find out if humans could survive in space and live through a free fall from space vehicles, the Pentagon gave civilian adventurer Nick Piantanida’s Project Strato-Jump little notice until May Day, 1966. Operating in the shadows of well-funded, high-visibility Air Force and Navy projects, the former truck driver and pet store owner set a new world record for manned balloon altitude. Rising more than 23 miles over the South Dakota pr...

College isn’t for everyone. It’s time to challenge the status quo and embrace the potential of apprenticeships in tech, healthcare, finance, and more—which can provide a sustainable pathway to economic opportunity.For decades, college has been the only respectable way to access the world of work, despite paralyzing tuition and a dire lack of practicalskills that has left 40 percent of college graduates underemployed, unfulfilled, and struggling to repay stu...

What makes someone a playwright?How do their identities and ideas interweave and co-exist?What permanent truths can we discern from examining existing texts?How can we write theatre that encapsulates the contemporary moment?How do we develop an idea from the embryonic impulse to a full and robust piece of theatre?In this fresh, lively and often very funny book, playwright Ryan Craig makes a case for the vi...

Four millennials looking for sex, love and a well-located flat find themselves caught in a complex game of rivalry, desire and seduction.As the cost of happiness soars, how can they negotiate the new rules of modern relationships and win the game of love?Games for Lovers is a glittering modern rom-com with a wicked gleam in its eye.

Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights – a mixture of established and current writers – National Theatre Connections 2013 offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study.Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department and reflects the past year's programming at the venue in the plays' ideas, themes and styles. The plays are performed by a...

Every year, the cost of a four-year degree goes up, and the value goes down. But for many students, there's a better answer.So many things are getting faster and cheaper. Movies stream into your living room, without ticket or concession-stand costs. The world's libraries are at your fingertips instantly, and for free.So why is a college education the only thing that seems immune to change? Colleges and universities operate much as they did 40 years ago, wit...

“When you’ve got no nation, no government, no place in the world what have you got? Family. You can’t depend on anything else”1968, East London. Over the years and against all the odds, Yetta Solomon has built a thriving business from nothing through sheer grit and passion. Ignoring all the obstacles - insufficient capital, economic downturns, aggressive competition - she has found a way to survive everything adversity could throw at her.Now she faces her toughest challenge...