This book is of a time when Bridget Rose Tansey, a linen worker in County Armagh, waited in vain for her freedom-fighter husband to return. He never did. Now a young widow, she took her two sons away from The North, fearful for their safety, to Dublin and its Workhouse and from there to County Wexford, where her boys inadvertently became involved in the Great Irish Rebellion of 1798.This book is of a time of love lost and love found, of a young English journalist in love with two I...

In 1921, Sergei Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges**—one of the earliest, most famous examples of modernist opera—premiered in Chicago. Prokofiev's source was a 1913 theatrical divertissement by Vsevolod Meyerhold, who, in turn, took inspiration from Carlo Gozzi's 1761 commedia dell'arte*****–***infused theatrical fairy tale. Only by examining these whimsical, provocative works together can we understand the full significance of their inte...

Forensic metrology is the application of scientific measurement to the investigation and prosecution of crime. It provides a framework for the performance and critical evaluation of all forensic measurements. It enables forensic scientists to better develop, perform and communicate forensic measurements; lawyers to better understand, present and cross-examine the results of forensic measurements; and judges to better subject testimony and evidence based on forensic measurements to the appr...

**FINALIST FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE“[Barry writes] in language of surpassing beauty. . . . It is like a song, with all the pulse of the Irish language, a song sung liltingly and plaintively from the top of Ben Bulben into the airy night.” —The New York TimesAn epic story of family, love, and unavoidable tragedy from the acclaimed author of Old God's Time and The Newer World**Sebastian Barry's novels have been hugely admired by readers and crit...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, LOS ANGELES TIMES, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLYFor more than four hundred years, the art of ballet has stood at the center of Western civilization. Its traditions serve as a record of our past. Lavishly illustrated and beautifully told, Apollo’s Angels—the first cultural history of bal...

A clear, friendly, and truly complete handbook to learning how to listen to opera, whether on the radio, on recordings, or live at the opera house.If you've decided that the time has finally come to learn about opera and discover for yourself what it is about opera that sends your normally reserved friends into states of ecstatic abandon, this is the book for you.Opera 101 is recognized as the standard text in English for anyone who wants to become...

A priceless relic and a monster that will do anything to get hold of it.In the summer of 1888, a killer is about to rampage through East London. But what are the real motives behind the murders?Police Commissioner Charles Warren has in his possession an ancient artefact of incredible value, and unknowable danger. Discovered on a mission to Jerusalem, he smuggled the relic back to England, never imagining the peril he would place himself in, and more devas...

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a Russian painter credited as being among the first to truly venture into abstract art. He persisted in expressing his internal world of abstraction despite negative criticism from his peers. He veered away from painting that could be viewed as representational in order to express his emotions, leading to his unique use of colour and form. Although his works received heavy censure at the time, in later years they would become greatly influential.

**In this fascinating book, Edward Said looks at the creative contradictions that often mark the late works of literary and musical artists."These studies . . . buzz with excitement and intelligence and demonstrate...the extraordinary range of Said’s intellectual interests.” —Frank Kermode, London Review of Books**Said shows how the approaching death of an artist can make its way into his work, examining essays, poems, novels, films, and operas by such artists as B...

Queen Victoria was the ultimate Victorian, and she was not amused. Luckily YOU will be splitting your sides - because the prim and proper Victorians were actually a jolly naughty bunch!

Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini’s art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as Tosca, La Bohéme, and Madama Butterfly has never waned, he has long been a victim of critical snobbery and cultural marginalization.In this witty and informat...

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice SelectionNamed one of the Best Books of the Year by the Economist and Kirkus ReviewsAn “extraordinary” biography that “in its breadth . . . reminds me of nothing so much as Robert A. Caro’s The Power Broker” (New York Review of Books).Harvey Sachs’s “monumental” (Alex Ross) biography recounts the sixty-eight-year career of conductor Arturo Tosca...