1.
News Corp
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News Corporation is an American multinational mass media company, formed as a spin-off of the former News Corporation focusing on newspapers and publishing. On June 28,2012, Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporations publishing operations would be spun off to form a new, the move also came in the wake of a series of scandals that had damaged the reputation of multiple News Corporation-owned properties. The logo of the new News Corporation was unveiled at a presentation on May 28,2013. The shares fell in price by 3% to $14.55 per share, the new News Corp began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol NWS on July 1,2013, at the same time, the former News Corporation was renamed 21st Century Fox. The newspapers will be operated by GateHouse Media, a group owned by Fortress. Robert Thomson indicated that the newspapers were not strategically consistent with the portfolio of the company. GateHouse then filed for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 27,2013, then GateHouse emerged from bankruptcy on November 26,2013. On May 2,2014, News Corp acquired romance novel publisher Harlequin Enterprises from Torstar for $415 million, the deal closed on August 1, it is now operated a subsidiary. On September 30,2014, News Corp announced its acquisition of Move, Inc. a real estate listings company, a 20% stake is owned by REA Group, a publicly-traded subsidiary of News Corp Australia. In October 2015, News Corp sold its digital education brand Amplify Education to a management team supported by a group of investors for an undisclosed sum. HarperCollins, a book trade publisher News America Marketing, a distributor of advertising and coupon promotions Wireless Group
2.
195 Broadway
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195 Broadway is a 29-story building on Broadway in the Financial District of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It was the headquarters of American Telephone and Telegraph, as well as Western Union for a time. It occupies almost an entire block on one side of Broadway and it also has the address 15 Dey Street, well known as the site of one end of the first transcontinental telephone call. 195 Broadway is also known as the Telephone Building, Telegraph Building, or Western Union Building, the building is still in use. The 1987 film Wall Street used the ground floor lobby as Charlie Sheens characters office. The building includes an entrance to the Fulton Street station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, from 1885 to 1910, AT&T was headquartered at 125 Milk Street in Boston. In 1912, Vail developed a plan for a 29-story headquarters building that would be constructed on Broadway on the block stretching from Dey Street to Fulton Street. The plan entailed constructing one wing on the Dey Street corner, the first portion of the building, the Dey Street wing completed in 1916, was an L-shaped structure at the corner of Dey Street and Broadway with an extension reaching Fulton Street. William W. Bosworth, the architect who designed the John D. Rockefeller estate at Kykuit, was commissioned to create the Fulton Street wing of the building. Bosworths designed featured layers of granite columns in Doric and Ionic styles. The statue was cast in bronze and covered with over 40,000 pieces of gold leaf, after a court-ordered divestiture of Western Union, the statues official title was changed to Genius of Electricity. The statue was renamed Spirit of Communication in the 1930s, but has been known by its nickname. One of sculptor Paul Manships earliest public works was The Four Elements, in 1978, AT&T commissioned a new building at 550 Madison Avenue. This new AT&T Building was designed by Philip Johnson and quickly became an icon of the new Postmodern architectural style, the building was completed in 1984, the very year of the Bell System divestiture. It proved to be too large for the corporation and in 1993, AT&T leased the building to Sony
3.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
4.
Publishing
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Publishing is the dissemination of literature, music, or information—the activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers, meaning originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver, also, the word publisher can refer to the individual who leads a publishing company or an imprint or to a person who owns/heads a magazine. Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books, Publishing includes the following stages of development, acquisition, copy editing, production, printing, and marketing and distribution. There are two categories of book publisher, Non-paid publishers, A non-paid publisher is a house that does not charge authors at all to publish their books. Paid publishers, The author has to meet with the expense to get the book published. This is also known as vanity publishing, at a small press, it is possible to survive by relying entirely on commissioned material. But as activity increases, the need for works may outstrip the publishers established circle of writers, for works written independently of the publisher, writers often first submit a query letter or proposal directly to a literary agent or to a publisher. Submissions sent directly to a publisher are referred to as unsolicited submissions, the acquisitions editors send their choices to the editorial staff. Unsolicited submissions have a low rate of acceptance, with some sources estimating that publishers ultimately choose about three out of every ten thousand unsolicited manuscripts they receive. Many book publishers around the world maintain a strict no unsolicited submissions policy and this policy shifts the burden of assessing and developing writers out of the publisher and onto the literary agents. At these publishers, unsolicited manuscripts are thrown out, or sometimes returned, established authors may be represented by a literary agent to market their work to publishers and negotiate contracts. Literary agents take a percentage of earnings to pay for their services. Some writers follow a route to publication. Such books often employ the services of a ghostwriter, for a submission to reach publication, it must be championed by an editor or publisher who must work to convince other staff of the need to publish a particular title. An editor who discovers or champions a book that becomes a best-seller may find their reputation enhanced as a result of their success. Once a work is accepted, commissioning editors negotiate the purchase of property rights. The authors of traditional printed materials typically sell exclusive territorial intellectual property rights that match the list of countries in which distribution is proposed. In the case of books, the publisher and writer must also agree on the formats of publication —mass-market paperback
5.
Hachette (publisher)
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Hachette, French pronunciation, , is a French publisher. It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif, a bookshop and it became L. Hachette et Compagnie on 1 January 1846, Librairie Hachette in 1919, and Hachette SA in 1977. It was acquired by the Lagardère Group in 1981, in 1992 the publishing assets of Hachette SA were grouped into a subsidiary called Hachette Livre, the flagship imprint of Lagardère Publishing. Hachette has its headquarters in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, in 1996 it merged with the Hatier group. In 2004, Hachette acquired dictionary publisher Éditions Larousse, in 2006, it expanded into the United States when it purchased Time Warners book-publishing division, which was then renamed Hachette Book Group USA. In June 2013, Hachette announced that it would acquire Hyperion Books from Disney and it is one of the largest English-language publishers, known as the Big Five. In May 2014, Amazon. com stopped taking pre-order sales of Hachette books, citing a breakdown in negotiations over commission and ebook pricing. According to Hachette, Amazon had also stopped discounting its books, Hachette has its headquarters in the Beaugrenelle district in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. Hachettes head office previously occupied a building at the intersection of Saint-Germain and it later moved to its current location. Hachette planned to lease 9,900 square metres of space at a building in Malakoff, Hauts de Seine around 2011, in June 2014, the companys U. S. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, however, in August 2014, the deal was called off because Hachette and the other parties involved decided the deal was too complicated
6.
Macmillan Publishers
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Macmillan Publishers Ltd is an international publishing company owned by Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others, Macmillan was founded in 1843 by Daniel and Alexander Macmillan, two brothers from the Isle of Arran, Scotland. Alfred Tennyson joined the list in 1884, Thomas Hardy in 1886, other major writers published by Macmillan included W. B. Chaudhuri, Seán OCasey, John Maynard Keynes, Charles Morgan, Hugh Walpole, Margaret Mitchell, C. P. Snow, Rumer Godden and Ram Sharan Sharma. Beyond literature, the company created such enduring titles as Nature, Macmillan established an office in New York City. It sold its American division in 1896, which published as the Macmillan Company, Macmillan Publishers re-entered the American market in 1954 under the name St. Martins Press. After retiring from politics in 1964, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan became chairman of the company and he had been with the family firm as a junior partner from 1920 to 1940, and from 1945 to 1951 while he was in the opposition in Parliament. The company was one of the oldest independent publishing houses until 1995, Holtzbrinck purchased the remaining shares in 1999, ending the Macmillan familys ownership of the company. Even with the split of the American company from its parent company in England, George Brett, Jr. and he came to the United States with his family in the service of Macmillans of England and built up a business of approximately $50,000 before he died. By my father, who eventually incorporated The Macmillan Company of New York, I succeeded my father, and we currently doing a business of approximately $12,000,000. So then, the name of Brett and the name of Macmillan have been and are synonymous in the United States, pearson acquired the Macmillan name in America in 1998, following its purchase of the Simon & Schuster educational and professional group. Holtzbrinck purchased it from them in 2001, mcGraw-Hill continues to market its pre-kindergarten through elementary school titles under its Macmillan/McGraw-Hill brand. The US operations of Georg von Holtzbrinck are now known as Macmillan, one of the leading companies is Macmillan, that started by selling British English dictionaries and textbooks that were adapted for Russian readers. Their site website provides Russian teachers and students with an access for tests, competitions, contests and information on scheduled online seminars. By some estimates, as of 2009 e-books account for three to five per cent of total sales, and are the fastest growing segment of the market. Following the announcement of the Apple iPad on 27 January 2010—a product that comes with access to the iBookstore—Macmillan gave Amazon, in the latter case, Amazon. com would receive a 30 per cent commission. Amazon responded by pulling all Macmillan books, both electronic and physical, from their website, on 31 January 2010, Amazon chose the agency model preferred by Macmillan. In April 2012, the United States Department of Justice filed United States v. Apple Inc. naming Apple, Macmillan, the suit alleged that they conspired to fix prices for e-books, and weaken Amazon. coms position in the market, in violation of antitrust law
7.
Penguin Random House
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Penguin Random House is a company formed by the merger of book publishers Random House, and Penguin Group. Penguin Random House markets itself as the worlds first truly global trade book publisher, Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the U. S. U. K. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across five continents and it comprises almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 70 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors, the creation of the company has been referred to as the publishing industrys response to the increasing dominance of Amazon. com in the book market. PRH relaunched Book Country, Penguins languishing online unit in July 2013 and this buttresses the existing Universal subsidiary Focus Features deal with Random House Films. Haines would report to PRH Children’s managing director, Francesca Dow, in November 2015, Pearson announced that it would rebrand and completely focus on its education division. Pearson will likely sell its share in Penguin Random House, though Pearson CEO John Fallon estimates that the company will wait until at least 2017, DK was founded in London in 1974 and is a leading reference publisher focusing on highly visual non-fiction for adults and children. Imprints under DK include Alpha, Prima Games and Rough Guides, Alpha Books produces the Complete Idiots Guides, Prima Games publishes video game strategy guides, and Rough Guides publishes travel guides. As of 2015 DK also has a number of official publishing relationships with Angry Birds, Lego, Marvel, Crown Publishing was founded in 1933 as the Outlet Book Company and became the nations leading remainder house but is now a publisher of fiction and narrative non-fiction. Amphoto Books is a publisher of photography books, broadway books was founded in 1996 as part of Bantam Doubleday Dell and is the now the paperback imprint of Crown. Clarkson Potter is a publisher and includes cookbooks, illustrated gift books. Crown Archetype is a publisher of pop-culture titles, while Crown Business publishes business. Harmony Books focuses on self-help titles, hogarth is a partnership between Crown in the U. S. and Windus in the UK and the imprin focuses on new generation literary talent. Convergent, Image Catholic Books, Multnomah Books, and Waterbrook Multnomah, pam Krauss Books was founded in 1915 to focus on culinary, food and healthy sustainable lifestyles. Ten Speed Press which joined Crown in 2009 is a West Coast publisher of nonfiction, tim Duggan Books was founded in 2014 to and focuses on storytelling across genres. Watson Guptill was founded in 1937 but now as part of Ten Speed Press i publishes illustrated Art books. Imprints under Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group include Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday, Pantheon, Schocken, Vintage Books, Anchor Books, Vintage Español, Black Lizard, Nan A. Talese and Everymans Library. Alfred A. Knopf was founded one hundred years ago in 1915 by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr
8.
Simon & Schuster
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Simon & Schuster, Inc. a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, is an American publishing company founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard Simon and Max Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster publishes 2,000 titles annually under 35 different imprints, in 1924, Richard Simons aunt, a crossword puzzle enthusiast, asked whether there was a book of New York World crossword puzzles, which were very popular at the time. After discovering that none had been published, Simon and Max Schuster decided to launch a company to exploit the opportunity, at the time, Simon was a piano salesman and Schuster was editor of an automotive trade magazine. They pooled US$8,000 to start a company to publish crossword puzzles, fad publishing became the business model for the new publishing house, which set out to exploit current fads and trends and publish books with commercial appeal. Instead of signing authors with a manuscript, they came up with their own ideas. In the 1930, the moved to what was known as Publishers Row on Park Avenue in Manhattan. In 1939, with Robert Fair de Graff, Simon & Schuster founded Pocket Books, in 1942, Simon & Schuster, or Essandess as it is called in the initial announcement, launched the Little Golden Books series in cooperation with the Artists and Writers Guild. Simon & Schusters partner in the venture was the Western Printing and Lithographing Company, Western Printing bought out Simon & Schusters interest in 1958. In 1944, Marshall Field III, owner of the Chicago Sun, purchased Simon & Schuster, following Fields death in 1957, his heirs sold the company back to Richard Simon and Max Schuster, while Leon Shimkin and James Jacobson acquired Pocket Books. In the 1950s and 1960s, many publishers including Simon & Schuster turned toward educational publishing due to the boom market. Pocket Books focused on paperbacks for the market instead of textbooks. By 1964 it had published over 200 titles and was expected to put out another 400 by the end of that year, Books published under the imprint included classic reprints such as Lorna Doone, Ivanhoe, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Robinson Crusoe. In 1966, Max Schuster retired and sold his half of Simon & Schuster to Leon Shimkin, Shimkin then merged Simon & Schuster with Pocket Books under the name of Simon & Schuster. Among his many bestsellers was Joseph Hellers Catch-22, in 1976, Gulf+Western headed by Charles Bluhdorn acquired S&S, which was grossing about US$50 million a year for $11 million, most of it in Gulf+Western stock. After the death of Bluhdorn in 1983, Simon & Schuster made the decision to diversify, bluhdorns successor Martin Davis told The New York Times, Society was undergoing dramatic changes, so that there was a greater need for textbooks, maps and educational information. We saw the opportunity to diversify into areas, which are more stable. In 1984, CEO Richard E. Snyder acquired Esquire Corporation, buying everything, Prentice Hall was brought into the company fold in 1985 for over $700 million and Martin Davis said that Prentice Hall became the road map for remodeling the company and a catalyst for change. This acquisition was followed by Silver Burdett in 1986, mapmaker Gousha in 1987, part of the acquisition included educational publisher Allyn & Bacon which according to Michael Korda became the nucleus of S&Ss educational and informational business
9.
Harper (publisher)
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Harper is an American publishing house, currently the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins. James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business J. & J. Harper in 1817 and their two brothers, Joseph Wesley Harper and Fletcher Harper, joined them in the mid-1820s. The company changed its name to Harper & Brothers in 1833, the headquarters of the publishing house were located at 331 Pearl Street, facing Franklin Square in Lower Manhattan. Harper & Brothers began publishing Harpers New Monthly Magazine in 1850, the brothers also published Harpers Weekly, Harpers Bazar, and Harpers Young People. George B. M. Harvey became president of Harpers on Nov.16,1899, Harpers New Monthly Magazine ultimately became Harpers Magazine, which is now published by the Harpers Magazine Foundation. Harpers Weekly was absorbed by The Independent in 1916, which in turn merged with The Outlook in 1928, Harpers Bazar was sold to William Randolph Hearst in 1913 and is now Bazaar, published by the Hearst Corporation. In 1924, Cass Canfield joined Harper & Brothers and held a variety of positions until his death in 1986. In 1925, Eugene F. Saxton joined the company as an editor, in 1935, Edward Aswell moved to Harper & Brothers as an assistant editor of general books and eventually became editor-in-chief. Aswell persuaded Thomas Wolfe to leave Scribners, and, after Wolfes death, edited the posthumous novels The Web and the Rock, You Cant Go Home Again, in 1962 Harper & Brothers merged with Row, Peterson & Company to become Harper & Row. Marshall Pickering was bought by Harper and Row in 1988, marshall Pickering itself was formed in 1981 from two long established Christian publishers. Marshall Morgan and Scott, a London-based predominantly Baptist publishing house, Pickering and Inglis was a long established Glasgow based publisher, publishing largely for the non conformist church in Scotland with many Brethren publications. Rupert Murdochs News Corporation acquired Harper & Row in 1987, the names of these two national publishing houses were combined to create HarperCollins, which has since expanded its international reach with further acquisitions of formerly independent publishers. The Harper imprint began being used in place of HarperCollins in 2007, after the purchase of Harper & Row by News Corporation, HarperCollins launched a new mass market paperback line to complement its existing trade paperback Perennial imprint. It was known as Harper Paperbacks from 1990 to 2000, HarperTorch from 2000 to 2006, the Harper Establishment, or, How a New York Publishing Giant Was Made. The brothers Harper, a publishing partnership and its impact upon the cultural life of America from 1817 to 1853 Eugene Exman, The House of Harper, NY, Harper & Row
10.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
11.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
13.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
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New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
15.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
16.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
17.
The News Building (London)
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The News Building is a 17-storey office block in the London Bridge area of London that forms part of the London Bridge Quarter development. It houses all of News UKs London operations, including The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and HarperCollins. It was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, who also designed The Shard across the road from it, and was financed by Qatar, the News Building was known as The Place and The Baby Shard until 2014, when its name was changed. It was built on the site of the demolished New London Bridge House, designed by Richard Seifert, at its base is a new station that is part of London Bridge bus station. The building was opened on 16 September 2014 by the Mayor of London, in January 2017, Sky News opened its new Business Studio in the building. The studio will house Ian King Live, Skys flagship evening business programme, as well as business bulletins
18.
Rupert Murdoch
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Keith Rupert Murdoch /ˈmɜːrdɒk/, AC, KCSG is an Australian-born American media mogul. His father, Keith Murdoch, had been a reporter, editor, after his fathers death in 1952, Murdoch declined to join his late fathers registered public company and created his own private company, News Limited. Murdoch moved to New York City in 1974, to expand into the U. S. market, however, he retained interests in Australia and Britain. In 1981, Murdoch bought The Times, his first British broadsheet, in 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, Murdoch consolidated his UK printing operations in Wapping, causing bitter industrial disputes. Murdochs News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox, HarperCollins, and The Wall Street Journal, Murdoch formed the British broadcaster BSkyB in 1990, and during the 1990s expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000, Murdochs News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries, Murdoch faces police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the U. S. On 21 July 2012, Murdoch resigned as a director of News International, on 1 July 2015, Murdoch left his post as CEO of 21st Century Fox. Murdoch and his own both 21st Century Fox and News Corp through the Murdoch Family Trust. In July 2016, after the resignation of Roger Ailes due to accusations of sexual harassment, Keith Rupert Murdoch was born on 11 March 1931 in Melbourne to Sir Keith Murdoch and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. He is of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry, Murdochs parents were also born in Melbourne. Keith Murdoch was a war correspondent and later a newspaper magnate owning two newspapers in Adelaide, South Australia, and a radio station in a faraway mining town. Later in life, Keith Rupert chose to use Rupert, the first name of his maternal grandfather. Keith Murdoch the elder asked to meet with his wife after seeing her debutante photograph in one of his own newspapers and they married in 1928. In addition to Rupert, the couple had three daughters, Janet Calvert-Jones, Anne Kantor and Helen Handbury, Murdoch attended Geelong Grammar School, where he was co-editor of the schools official journal The Corian and editor of the student journal If Revived. He took his schools cricket team to the National Junior Finals and he worked part-time at the Melbourne Herald and was groomed by his father to take over the family business. After her husbands death from cancer in 1952, Elisabeth Murdoch did charity work, as governor of the Royal Womens Hospital in Melbourne. At the age of 102, she had 74 descendants, Murdoch completed an MA before working as a sub-editor with the Daily Express for two years. Following his fathers death, when he was 21, Murdoch returned from Oxford to take charge of the family business News Limited, Rupert Murdoch turned its newspaper, Adelaide News, its main asset, into a major success
19.
News Corporation
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The original News Corporation or News Corp. was an American multinational mass media corporation headquartered in New York City. It was the worlds fourth-largest media group in 2014 in terms of revenue, board members include prominent former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar. News Corporation was a traded company listed on the NASDAQ. Formerly incorporated in Adelaide, South Australia, the company was re-incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law after a majority of shareholders approved the move on 12 November 2004. News Corporation was headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York and its major holdings at the time of the split were News Limited, News International, Dow Jones & Company, the book publisher HarperCollins, and the Fox Entertainment Group. News Corp was created in 1979 by Rupert Murdoch as a company for News Limited. News Limited was created in 1923 in Adelaide, subsequently the controlling interest was bought by The Herald, in 1949, Sir Keith Murdoch took control of The Adelaide News. When he died in 1952, his son Rupert inherited a controlling interest in an Adelaide afternoon tabloid, News Limited operates today as News Corporations Australian brand, The Australian operating out of Surry Hills, in Sydney. News Ltd. made its first acquisition in the United States in 1973, soon afterwards it founded the National Star, a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976 it purchased the New York Post. In 1981, News Corp bought half of the movie studio 20th Century Fox, in 1985, News Corp announced it was buying the Metromedia group of stations, setting the stage for the launch of a fourth U. S. commercial broadcasting television network. On 4 September 1985, Murdoch became a citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only United States citizens could own American television stations. In 1986, the Metromedia deal closed, and the Fox Broadcasting Company was launched and this network, known on-screen as Fox, can now be picked up in over 96% of U. S. households. In 1986 and 1987, News Corp moved to adjust the production process of its British newspapers, a number of senior Australian media moguls were brought into Murdochs powerhouse, including John Dux, who was managing director of the South China Morning Post. This led to a confrontation with the printing unions National Graphical Association and Society of Graphical, the move of News Internationals London operation to Wapping in the East End resulted in nightly battles outside the new plant. Delivery vans and depots were frequently and violently attacked, in 1993, News Corp acquired a 63. 6% stake of the Hong Kong-based STAR TV satellite network for over $500 million, followed by the purchase of the remaining 36. 4% in July 1995. Murdoch declared that, have proved a threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere. Satellite broadcasting makes it possible for residents of many closed societies to bypass state-controlled television channels. In 1995, the Fox network became the object of scrutiny from the FCC when it was alleged that its Australian base made Murdochs ownership of Fox illegal, the FCC, however, ruled in Murdochs favour, stating that his ownership of Fox was in the publics best interests
20.
William Morrow and Company
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William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981, the company is now an imprint of HarperCollins. William Morrow has published many renowned fiction and non-fiction authors, including Ray Bradbury, Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman, Erle Stanley Gardner, liddell Hart, Elmore Leonard, Judith Rossner, and Neal Stephenson. Francis Thayer Hobson was President and later Chairman of the Board of William Morrow and Company
21.
Avon (publisher)
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Avon Publications was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. As of 2010, it is an imprint of HarperCollins, publishing primarily romance novels, Avon Books was founded in 1941 by the American News Corporation to create a rival to Pocket Books. They hired brother and sister Joseph Meyers and Edna Meyers Williams to establish the company, ogilvie Publications, a dime novel publisher partly owned by both the Meyers, and renamed it Avon Publications. They also got into comic books, the early Avons were somewhat similar in appearance to the existing paperbacks of Pocket Books, resulting in an immediate and largely ineffective lawsuit by that company. Despite this superficial similarity, though, from early on Meyers differentiated Avon by placing an emphasis on popular appeal rather than loftier concepts of literary merit, the first 40 titles were not numbered. First editions of the first dozen or so have front and rear endpapers with an illustration of a globe, as well as normal-sized paperbacks, Avon published digest-format paperbacks in series. These included Murder Mystery Monthly, Modern Short Story Monthly and Avon Fantasy Readers, many authors highly prized by present-day collectors were published in these editions, including A. Merritt, James M. Cain, H. P. Lovecraft, Raymond Chandler and Robert E. Howard. In 1953, Avon Books sold books in the range of 25¢ to 50¢ and were selling more than 20 million copies a year. Their books were characterized by Time Magazine as westerns, whodunits, at around this time, Avon also began to publish under other imprints, including Eton, Novel Library, Broadway and Diversey. Avons 35-cent T series, introduced in 1953, also had strong mass-market appeal, the T series also contained many movie tie-in editions and the stand-bys of mysteries and science fiction. Avon was bought by the Hearst Corporation in 1959, in 1972, Avon entered the modern romance genre with the publication of Kathleen Woodiwiss The Flame and the Flower. The novel went on to sell 2.35 million copies, Avon followed its release with the 1974 publication of Woodiwisss second novel, The Wolf and the Dove and two sexy novels by newcomer Rosemary Rogers, Sweet Savage Love and Dark Fires. The latter sold two million copies in its first three months of release, in 1999, the News Corporation bought out Hearsts book division. Avons hardcover and non-romance paperback lines were moved to sister company Morrow, from at least 1945 through the mid-1950s, Avon published comic books. Its titles included horror fiction, science fiction, Westerns, romance comics, war comics, most titles lasted only a few issues, with the six longest-running detailed in the complete list below, Official website
22.
Thomas Nelson (publisher)
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Thomas Nelson is a publishing firm that began in West Bow, Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1798 as the namesake of its founder. It is a subsidiary of HarperCollins, the unit of News Corp. Their most successful title to date is Heaven Is for Real, in Canada, the Nelson imprint is used for educational publishing. In the United Kingdom, it was a publisher until the late 20th Century and is now part of another educational imprint. The company gained its ‘Sons’ when William and Thomas Jr. entered their father’s business in 1835 and 1839, Thomas Sr. died in 1861 and is buried in the extreme NW corner of Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh. William concentrated his talents on the side, while Thomas Jr. devoted his to editing. Their Hope Park Works in Edinburgh burned down in 1878 and the city council allowed temporary accommodation on the Meadows, in appreciation, the company funded the stone pillars at the east end of Melville Drive. William Nelson died in 1887 and Thomas Jr. died in 1892 and they were succeeded by George Brown, Thomas’s nephew, who directed the company until Thomas III and Ian, Thomas Jr. s sons, were able to join him and John Buchan as partners. Buchan, employed by the firm until 1929, dedicated his novel The Thirty Nine Steps to Thomas III in 1914, Ian Nelson took over as head of the family firm after Thomas Nelson IIIs death in action in 1917 during the First World War. By the early century, Thomas Nelson had become a secular concern in the United Kingdom. The First World War led to the rundown of Nelson, through the denial of foreign markets, the loss of manpower, and the general exigencies of wartime. Much of the effort expended during the period represented merely an attempt to reverse that decline, particularly in expanding the education list. Ian Nelson remained head of the firm until his death in 1958, Ian Nelson’s successor, his son Ronnie Nelson, seemed less interested in the successful management of the family firm than previous generations. In 1962, Thomas Nelson and Sons was absorbed into the Thomson Organisation in an effort to sustain its academic, the printing division of Nelsons was sold to the Edinburgh company Morrison and Gibb in 1968. Until 1968, according to the curators of a Senate House Library exhibition and it was the first publisher for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Thomson owned the company from 1960 until 2000 and that year, it was acquired by Wolters Kluwer, who merged Nelson with its existing publishing arm, Stanley Thornes, to form Nelson Thornes. The American branch of Thomas Nelson was set up in 1854 in New York and, by the 1870s and it held the copyright for the American Standard Version of the Bible from 1901 until 1928, when it transferred the copyright to the International Council of Religious Education. In the 1930s, the made a deal with this Council to publish the Revised Standard Version
23.
Zondervan
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Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. and has multiple imprints including Zondervan Academic, Zonderkidz, Blink, Zondervan is the commercial rights holder for the New International Version Bible in North America. Zondervan was founded in 1931 in Grandville, MI, a suburb of Grand Rapids, by brothers Peter and Bernard Zondervan, the company began in the Zondervans farmhouse and originally dealt with selling remainders and publishing public domain works. The first book it published was Women of the Old Testament by Abraham Kuyper, within a few years it developed a list of its own, and began publishing Bible editions. The Berkeley Version appeared in 1959, and the Amplified Bible in 1965, the NIV New Testament was published in partnership with the International Bible Society in 1973, and the complete NIV Bible appeared in 1978. The company was bought by HarperCollins, a division of News Corp, in 1988, scott Macdonald was appointed President and CEO in May 2011. Zondervan also publishes many books by Christian authors focusing on topics of interest to Christians. In the 1970s it published The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, NOOMA is a series of short spiritual films. In 2004, Zondervan expanded to include Renee Altson, Shane Claiborne, Sarah Raymond Cunningham and Margaret Feinberg, in 1980, Zondervan and Paragon Associates bought Christian record label Benson Records in a partnership to own and operate for $3 Million. The resulting company was one and a half times the size of its closest competitor, Zondervan bought out Paragon in 1983, and eventually sold Benson to Zomba Label Group in 1993, now a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Pradis was the name for Zondervans native format for biblical software. On 22 September 2009, Logos Research Systems, Inc, and Zondervan announced a new partnership, thirty-one titles were slated for availability in early 2010 in the LOGOS Bible Software format
24.
United States v. Apple Inc.
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United States of America v. Apple Inc. et al.12 Civ. 2862, was a US antitrust case in which the Court held that Apple Inc. conspired to raise the price of e-books in violation of the Sherman Act. The suit, filed in April 2012, alleged that Apple Inc. and five book publishing companies conspired to raise, the publishers are Hachette Book Group, Inc. HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group, Inc. and Simon & Schuster, only Apple proceeded to trial while the Publisher Defendants settled their claims. The Publisher Defendants sold over 48% of all e-books in the U. S. in the first quarter of 2010. The Publisher Defendants along with Random House Publishing are the six largest publishers in the United States and are referred to as the Big Six in the publishing industry. In 2009 Amazon. com Inc. had nearly 90% of the e-books industry, Amazon charged $9.99 for certain new releases and bestselling e-books which helped make it the market leader in the sale of e-books and e-readers with its Kindle. Amazons price point caused discontent among the Publishers, the Publishers believed that the low price point was a problem for their sales of more profitable hardcover books. Windowing is a tactic that would delay the release of books to their form for a certain window of time. Apple planned to unveil the iPad on January 27,2010, Apple also hoped to announce its new iBookstore at launch and include content in it from the major publishers. Beginning on December 8,2009, Apples senior VP of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, contacted the Publishers to set up meetings for the following week. During the meetings Cue suggested that Apple would sell the majority of e-books between $9.99 and $14.99, with new releases being $12.99 to $14.99, Apple also adopted the agency model which it used in its App Store for distribution of e-books. This let Publishers control the price of the e-books with Apple receiving a 30% commission, Apple also set up price tiers for different books. Apple also included a MFN clause in their contract with the Publishers which allowed for Apple to sell e-book at its competitors lowest price, Amazon learned about the coming deals between the Publishers and Apple on January 18,2010. In response, Amazon appealed directly to authors and encouraged disintermediation, authors could choose a new 70 percent royalty option for e-books with a list price between $2.99 and $9.99. The Big Six publishers called each other over 100 times in the week before signing the agreement, steve Jobs even called Rupert Murdoch, HarperCollins parent company News Corps CEO, to persuade him to have HarperCollins join. On the day of the launch, Jobs was asked by a reporter why people would pay $14.99 for a book in the iBookstore when they could purchase it for $9.99 from Amazon, in response Jobs stated that The price will be the same. Publishers are actually withholding their books from Amazon because they are not happy, by stating this, Jobs acknowledged his understanding that the Publishers would raise e-book prices and that Apple would not have to face any competition from Amazon on price
25.
Apple Inc.
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Apple is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Apples consumer software includes the macOS and iOS operating systems, the media player, the Safari web browser. Its online services include the iTunes Store, the iOS App Store and Mac App Store, Apple Music, Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in April 1976 to develop and sell personal computers. It was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. in January 1977, Apple joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average in March 2015. In November 2014, Apple became the first U. S. company to be valued at over US$700 billion in addition to being the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization. The company employs 115,000 full-time employees as of July 2015 and it operates the online Apple Store and iTunes Store, the latter of which is the worlds largest music retailer. Consumers use more than one billion Apple products worldwide as of March 2016, Apples worldwide annual revenue totaled $233 billion for the fiscal year ending in September 2015. This revenue accounts for approximately 1. 25% of the total United States GDP.1 billion, the corporation receives significant criticism regarding the labor practices of its contractors and its environmental and business practices, including the origins of source materials. Apple was founded on April 1,1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, the Apple I kits were computers single-handedly designed and hand-built by Wozniak and first shown to the public at the Homebrew Computer Club. The Apple I was sold as a motherboard, which was less than what is now considered a personal computer. The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66, Apple was incorporated January 3,1977, without Wayne, who sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. Multimillionaire Mike Markkula provided essential business expertise and funding of $250,000 during the incorporation of Apple, during the first five years of operations revenues grew exponentially, doubling about every four months. Between September 1977 and September 1980 yearly sales grew from $775,000 to $118m, the Apple II, also invented by Wozniak, was introduced on April 16,1977, at the first West Coast Computer Faire. It differed from its rivals, the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, because of its character cell-based color graphics. While early Apple II models used ordinary cassette tapes as storage devices, they were superseded by the introduction of a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drive and interface called the Disk II. The Apple II was chosen to be the platform for the first killer app of the business world, VisiCalc. VisiCalc created a market for the Apple II and gave home users an additional reason to buy an Apple II. Before VisiCalc, Apple had been a distant third place competitor to Commodore, by the end of the 1970s, Apple had a staff of computer designers and a production line
26.
E-book
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An electronic book is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as a version of a printed book. Commercially produced and sold e-books are usually intended to be read on dedicated e-reader devices, however, almost any sophisticated computer device that features a controllable viewing screen can also be used to read e-books, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. In the 2000s, there was a trend of print and e-book sales moving to the Internet, where readers buy traditional paper books and e-books on websites using e-commerce systems. With e-books, users can browse through online, and then when they select and order titles. At the start of 2012 in the U. S. more e-books were published online than were distributed in hardcover, the main reasons that people are buying e-books online are due to possibly lower prices, increased comfort and a larger selection of titles. With e-books, lectronic bookmarks make referencing easier, and e-book readers may allow the user to annotate pages, although fiction and non-fiction books come in e-book formats, technical material is especially suited for e-book delivery because it can be searched for keywords. In addition, for programming books, code examples can be copied, E-book reading is increasing in the U. S. by 2014, 28% of adults had read an e-book, compared to 23% in 2013. This is increasing, because by 2014 50% of American adults had an e-reader or a tablet, E-books are also referred to as ebooks, eBooks, e-Books, e-journals, e-editions or as digital books. The devices that are designed specifically for reading e-books are called e-readers, the idea of an e-reader that would enable a reader to view books on a screen came to Bob Brown after watching his first talkie. In 1930, he wrote a book on this idea and titled it The Readies, although Brown came up with the idea intellectually in the 1930s, early commercial e-readers did not follow his model. Schuessler relates it to a DJ spinning bits of old songs to create a beat or a new song as opposed to just a remix of a familiar song. The inventor of the first e-book is not widely agreed upon and her idea behind the device was to decrease the number of books that her pupils carried to school. The first e-book may be the Index Thomisticus, a heavily annotated electronic index to the works of Thomas Aquinas, prepared by Roberto Busa beginning in 1949, although originally stored on a single computer, a distributable CD-ROM version appeared in 1989. In 2005, the Index was published online, augment ran on specialized hardware, while FRESS ran on IBM mainframes. All these systems also provided extensive hyperlinking, graphics, and other capabilities, van Dam is generally thought to have coined the term electronic book, and it was established enough to use in an article title by 1985. FRESS was used for reading extensive primary texts online, as well as for annotation and online discussions in several courses, browns faculty made extensive use of FRESS, for example the philosopher Roderick Chisholm used it to produce several of his books. Thus in the Preface to Person and Object he writes The book would not have been completed without the epoch-making File Retrieval, despite the extensive earlier history, several publications report Michael S. Hart as the inventor of the e-book
27.
Amazon (company)
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Amazon. com, also called Amazon, is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company that was founded on July 5,1994, by Jeff Bezos and is based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total sales, the company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo—and is the worlds largest provider of cloud infrastructure services. Amazon also sells certain low-end products like USB cables under its in-house brand AmazonBasics. Amazon has separate retail websites for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India, and Mexico. Amazon also offers international shipping to other countries for some of its products. In 2016, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish language versions of the German Amazon website were launched. In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization, in 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co. a Wall Street firm and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a plan for what would eventually become Amazon. com. Bezos incorporated the company as Cadabra on July 5,1994, Bezos changed the name to Amazon a year later after a lawyer misheard its original name as cadaver. In September 1994, Bezos purchased the URL Relentless. com and briefly considered naming his online store Relentless, the domain is still owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer. The company went online as Amazon. com in 1995, Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand, telling a reporter, Theres nothing about our model that cant be copied over time. But you know, McDonalds got copied, and it still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down to the brand name, brand names are more important online than they are in the physical world. Additionally, a beginning with A was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized. Since June 19,2000, Amazons logotype has featured a curved arrow leading from A to Z, representing that the company carries every product from A to Z, with the arrow shaped like a smile. After reading a report about the future of the Internet that projected annual Web commerce growth at 2, 300% and he narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products, which included, compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos and books. Amazon was founded in the garage of Bezos home in Bellevue, the company began as an online bookstore, an idea spurred off with discussion with John Ingram of Ingram Book, along with Keyur Patel who still holds a stake in Amazon. Amazon was able to access books at wholesale from Ingram, in the first two months of business, Amazon sold to all 50 states and over 45 countries
28.
United States antitrust law
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The main statutes are the Sherman Act 1890, the Clayton Act 1914 and the Federal Trade Commission Act 1914. These Acts, first, restrict the formation of cartels and prohibit other collusive practices regarded as being in restraint of trade, second, they restrict the mergers and acquisitions of organizations that could substantially lessen competition. Third, they prohibit the creation of a monopoly and the abuse of monopoly power, the Federal Trade Commission, the U. S. Department of Justice, state governments and private parties who are sufficiently affected may all bring actions in the courts to enforce the antitrust laws. Large manufacturing conglomerates emerged in great numbers in the 1880s and 1890s, the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 began a shift towards federal rather than state regulation of big business. Indeed, at this time hundreds of small short-line railroads were being bought up, people for strong antitrust laws argued the American economy to be successful requires free competition and the opportunity for individual Americans to build their own businesses. As Senator John Sherman put it, If we will not endure a king as a power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act almost unanimously in 1890, the Act prohibits agreements in restraint of trade and abuse of monopoly power. It gives the Justice Department the mandate to go to court for orders to stop illegal behavior or to impose remedies. Public officials during the Progressive Era put passing and enforcing strong antitrust high on their agenda, president Theodore Roosevelt sued 45 companies under the Sherman Act, while William Howard Taft sued 75. In 1902, Roosevelt stopped the formation of the Northern Securities Company, one of the more well known trusts was the Standard Oil Company, John D. In 1911 the Supreme Court agreed that in recent years Standard had violated the Sherman Act, in approving the breakup the Supreme Court added the rule of reason, not all big companies, and not all monopolies, are evil, and the courts are to make that decision. To be harmful, a trust had to damage the economic environment of its competitors. United States Steel Corporation, which was larger than Standard Oil. In fact, it lobbied for tariff protection that reduced competition, likewise International Harvester survived its court test, while other monopolies were broken up in tobacco, meatpacking, and bathtub fixtures. Over the years hundreds of executives of competing companies who met together illegally to fix prices went to federal prison, in the words of one critic, Isabel Paterson, As freak legislation, the antitrust laws stand alone. Nobody knows what it is they forbid, in 1914 Congress passed the Clayton Act, which prohibited specific business actions if they substantially lessened competition. American hostility to big business began to decrease after the Progressive Era, ford became as much of a popular hero as Rockefeller had been a villain. Welfare capitalism made large companies an attractive place to work, new career paths opened up in middle management, talk of trust busting faded away
29.
RR Donnelley
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RR Donnelley is a Fortune 500 integrated communications company that provides marketing and business communications, commercial printing, and related services. Its corporate headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois, USA, the company, legally known as R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, was founded in 1864 by Richard Robert Donnelley. His son, Reuben H. Donnelley, founded the otherwise unrelated company R. H. Donnelley, RR Donnelleys cartographic production facility in Lancaster, Pennsylvania grew to be one of the largest custom mapmaking companies in the United States. In the early 1990s, the division successfully integrated routing technology with its digital map databases and launched a company, Geosystems. Throughout its history, particularly in the 1990s and 2000s, RR Donnelley purchased a number of other companies outright, in February 2004, RR Donnelley merged with Moore Wallace Inc. keeping the name RR Donnelley as the name of the combined companies. Donnelley went on to purchase OfficeTiger, a publishing and financial outsourcing company. In May 2007, RR Donnelley also acquired book and educational materials printer Von Hoffmann from Visant Corporation, an additional purchase at the beginning of 2007 was Perry Judds Holdings Inc. a private catalog and magazine printer. At the beginning of 2008, RRD also announced the acquisition of Pro Line Printing, as of 2007, RR Donnelley is the worlds largest commercial printer. In 2006 it acquired Canadian Bank Note Companys financial printing business, in 2007, RR Donnelley was also named as an interested party in an attempt to purchase Quebecor World. In May 2009, the company tendered a bid to purchase Quebecor World. In July 2008, the established a multi-year contract with F+W Publications Inc. which will allow Donnelley to print a large amount of F + Ws book. The contract is valued at about $80 million, in 2010 and 2011, RR Donnelley acquired Bowne & Co. San Francisco-based Nimblefish Technologies, Helium. com, and Austin-based LibreDigital, on August 15,2012, RR Donnelley acquired EDGAR Online. In 2013, RR Donnelly acquired Consolidated Graphics, in August 2015, the company announced it would spin into three different companies. One would keep the name RR Donnelley & Sons whereas the two would be titled LSC Communications and Donnelley Financial Solutions. The spin was completed in October 2016, the Lakeside Classics is a series of books that was printed annually, at Christmas time, by RR Donnelley. This tradition began in 1903 by Thomas E. Donnelley, who was then the company president, the basic format of these books remained essentially the same since inception, as a hardcover, cloth wrapped and gold embossed. Subject matter tended to cover elements of American history, many early volumes contained speeches and writings of noted Americans, including Benjamin Franklin, whose autobiography was published as the first Lakeside Classic
30.
Mark Twain
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Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter and he later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, the short story brought international attention and was even translated into classic Greek. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. He filed for bankruptcy in the wake of financial setbacks. He chose to pay all his creditors in full, even though he had no legal responsibility to do so. Twain was born shortly after an appearance of Halleys Comet, and he predicted that he would go out with it as well and he was lauded as the greatest American humorist of his age, and William Faulkner called him the father of American literature. His parents met when his father moved to Missouri, and they were married in 1823, Twain was of Cornish, English, and Scots-Irish descent. Only three of his siblings survived childhood, Orion, Henry, and Pamela and his sister Margaret died when Twain was three, and his brother Benjamin died three years later. His brother Pleasant died at six months of age, slavery was legal in Missouri at the time, and it became a theme in these writings. His father was an attorney and judge, but he died of pneumonia in 1847, the next year, Twain left school after the fifth grade to become a printers apprentice. In 1851, he working as a typesetter, contributing articles and humorous sketches to the Hannibal Journal. He educated himself in libraries in the evenings, finding wider information than at a conventional school. Twain describes his boyhood in Life on the Mississippi, stating there was but one permanent ambition among his comrades. Pilot was the grandest position of all, the pilot, even in those days of trivial wages, had a princely salary – from a hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars a month, and no board to pay. As Twain describes it, the pilots prestige exceeded that of the captain, bixby took Twain on as a cub pilot to teach him the river between New Orleans and St. Louis for $500, payable out of Twains first wages after graduating. It was more than two years before he received his pilots license, piloting gave also him his pen name from mark twain, the leadsmans cry for a measured river depth of two fathoms, which was safe water for a steamboat
31.
William Makepeace Thackeray
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William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He is known for his works, particularly Vanity Fair. Thackeray, a child, was born in Calcutta, British India. His mother, Anne Becher, was the daughter of Harriet Becher and John Harman Becher. Richmond died in 1815, which caused Anne to send her son to England in 1816, the ship on which he travelled made a short stopover at St. Helena, where the imprisoned Napoleon was pointed out to him. Once in England he was educated at schools in Southampton and Chiswick, and then at Charterhouse School, Thackeray disliked Charterhouse, and parodied it in his fiction as Slaughterhouse. Nevertheless, Thackeray was honoured in the Charterhouse Chapel with a monument after his death, Thackeray then travelled for some time on the continent, visiting Paris and Weimar, where he met Goethe. He returned to England and began to study law at the Middle Temple and he also lost a good part of his fortune in the collapse of two Indian banks. The Thackerays had three children, all girls, Anne Isabella, Jane and Harriet Marian, who married Sir Leslie Stephen, editor, Thackeray now began writing for his life, as he put it, turning to journalism in an effort to support his young family. Between 1837 and 1840 he also reviewed books for The Times and he was also a regular contributor to The Morning Chronicle and The Foreign Quarterly Review. Later, through his connection to the illustrator John Leech, he began writing for the newly created magazine Punch, in which he published The Snob Papers and this work popularised the modern meaning of the word snob. Thackeray was a regular contributor to Punch between 1843 and 1854. Tragedy struck in Thackerays personal life as his wife, Isabella, succumbed to depression after the birth of their third child, in 1840. Finding that he could get no work done at home, he spent more and more time away until September 1840, struck by guilt, he set out with his wife to Ireland. During the crossing she threw herself from a water-closet into the sea and they fled back home after a four-week battle with her mother. From November 1840 to February 1842 Isabella was in and out of professional care and she eventually deteriorated into a permanent state of detachment from reality. Isabella outlived her husband by 30 years, in the end being cared for by a family named Thompson in Leigh-on-Sea at Southend until her death in 1894, after his wifes illness Thackeray became a de facto widower, never establishing another permanent relationship. He did pursue other women, however, in particular Mrs Jane Brookfield, in 1851 Mr Brookfield barred Thackeray from further visits to or correspondence with Jane. Baxter, an American twenty years Thackerays junior whom he met during a tour in New York City in 1852
32.
H. G. Wells
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Herbert George H. G. Wells was an English writer. He was prolific in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, social commentary, Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is called a father of science fiction, along with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Wellss earliest specialised training was in biology, and his thinking on ethical matters took place in a specifically and fundamentally Darwinian context and he was also from an early date an outspoken socialist, often sympathising with pacifist views. His later works became increasingly political and didactic, and he wrote science fiction. A diabetic, in 1934, Wells co-founded the charity The Diabetic Association, Herbert George Wells was born at Atlas House,46 High Street in Bromley, Kent, on 21 September 1866. Called Bertie in the family, he was the fourth and last child of Joseph Wells and his wife, Sarah Neal. An inheritance had allowed the family to acquire a shop in which they sold china and sporting goods, although it failed to prosper, the stock was old and worn out, and the location was poor. Joseph Wells managed to earn an income, but little of it came from the shop. Payment for skilled bowlers and batsmen came from voluntary donations afterwards, a defining incident of young Wellss life was an accident in 1874 that left him bedridden with a broken leg. To pass the time he started reading books from the local library and he soon became devoted to the other worlds and lives to which books gave him access, they also stimulated his desire to write. Later that year he entered Thomas Morleys Commercial Academy, a school founded in 1849 following the bankruptcy of Morleys earlier school. The teaching was erratic, the curriculum mostly focused, Wells later said, Wells continued at Morleys Academy until 1880. In 1877, his father, Joseph Wells, fractured his thigh, the accident effectively put an end to Josephs career as a cricketer, and his subsequent earnings as a shopkeeper were not enough to compensate for the loss of the primary source of family income. No longer able to support financially, the family instead sought to place their sons as apprentices in various occupations. From 1880 to 1883, Wells had an apprenticeship as a draper at the Southsea Drapery Emporium. Wellss parents had a turbulent marriage, owing primarily to his mother being a Protestant, when his mother returned to work as a ladys maid, one of the conditions of work was that she would not be permitted to have living space for her husband and children. Thereafter, she and Joseph lived separate lives, though they never divorced and remained faithful to each other, as a consequence, Herberts personal troubles increased as he subsequently failed as a draper and also, later, as a chemists assistant
33.
Agatha Christie
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Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE was an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly revolving around her fictional detectives Hercule Poirot. She also wrote the worlds longest-running play, a mystery, The Mousetrap. In 1971 she was made a Dame for her contribution to literature, Christie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon. She served in a hospital during the First World War before marrying and starting a family in London and she was initially an unsuccessful writer, but The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in 1920 featuring Hercule Poirot. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time and her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies, and her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the worlds most-widely published books, behind only Shakespeares works and the Bible. According to Index Translationum, she remains the most-translated individual author – having been translated into at least 103 languages. And Then There Were None is Christies best-selling novel, with 100 million sales to date, making it the worlds best-selling mystery ever, in 1955 Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of Americas highest honour, the Grand Master Award. Later the same year, Witness for the Prosecution received an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play, in 2013, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was voted the best crime novel ever by 600 fellow writers of the Crime Writers Association. Most of her books and short stories have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890, into a wealthy upper middle-class family in Ashfield, Torquay, Devon. Her mother, Clara Boehmer, was an Englishwoman who was born in Belfast in 1854 to Captain Frederick Boehmer and Mary Ann West, Clara Boehmer had four brothers, one of whom died young. Captain Boehmer was killed in an accident while stationed on Jersey in April 1863. Under financial strain, she sent Clara to live with her aunt Margaret Miller, the couple lived in Prinsted, West Sussex. Clara stayed with Margaret, and there she met her husband, an American stockbroker named Frederick Alvah Miller. Christies father Frederick was a member of the American upper class and he was considered personable and friendly by those who knew him. He soon developed a relationship with Clara, and they were married in April 1878. Clara soon purchased a villa in Torquay named Ashfield in which to raise her family, Christie described her childhood as very happy. She was surrounded by a series of strong and independent women from an early age
34.
J. R. R. Tolkien
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He was at one time a close friend of C. S. Lewis—they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972, after Tolkiens death, his son Christopher published a series of works based on his fathers extensive notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion. Between 1951 and 1955, Tolkien applied the term legendarium to the part of these writings. While many other authors had published works of fantasy before Tolkien and this has caused Tolkien to be popularly identified as the father of modern fantasy literature—or, more precisely, of high fantasy. In 2008, The Times ranked him sixth on a list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945, forbes ranked him the 5th top-earning dead celebrity in 2009. Tolkiens paternal ancestors were middle-class craftsmen who made and sold clocks, watches and pianos in London, the Tolkien family had emigrated from Germany in the 18th century but had become quickly intensely English. According to the tradition, the Tolkiens had arrived in England in 1756. Several families with the surname Tolkien or similar spelling live in northwestern Germany, mainly in Lower Saxony, however, this origin of the name has not been proven. A German writer has suggested that the name is likely to derive from the village of Tolkynen near Rastenburg. Although that village is far from Lower Saxony, its name is derived from the now-extinct Old Prussian language. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State to Arthur Reuel Tolkien, an English bank manager, the couple had left England when Arthur was promoted to head the Bloemfontein office of the British bank for which he worked. Tolkien had one sibling, his brother, Hilary Arthur Reuel. In another incident, a family servant, who thought Tolkien a beautiful child, took the baby to his kraal to show him off. When he was three, he went to England with his mother and brother on what was intended to be a family visit. His father, however, died in South Africa of rheumatic fever before he could join them and this left the family without an income, so Tolkiens mother took him to live with her parents in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Soon after, in 1896, they moved to Sarehole, then a Worcestershire village, Mabel Tolkien taught her two children at home. Ronald, as he was known in the family, was a keen pupil and she taught him a great deal of botany and awakened in him the enjoyment of the look and feel of plants. Young Tolkien liked to draw landscapes and trees, but his lessons were those concerning languages
35.
The Art of Loving
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The Art of Loving is a 1956 book by psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm, which was published as part of the World Perspectives Series edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen. In this work, Fromm develops his perspective on nature, from his earlier work, Escape from Freedom. Fromm presents love as a skill that can be taught and developed, because modern humans are alienated from each other and from nature, we seek refuge from our lonesomeness in romantic love and marriage. However, Fromm observes that love is not a sentiment which can be easily indulged in by anyone. It is only through developing ones total personality to the capacity of loving ones neighbor with true humility, courage, faith and this should be considered a rare achievement. as something one falls in. But the question is that one cannot fall in love, really, and that means that loving becomes, and the ability to love, becomes one of the most important things in life. The Art of Loving argues that the character of true love involves four basic elements, care, responsibility, respect. Each of these is difficult to define and can differ depending on the people involved. Seen in these terms, love is hard work, but it is also the most rewarding kind of work, one of the books concepts is self-love. According to Fromm, loving oneself is quite different from arrogance, Loving oneself means caring about oneself, taking responsibility for oneself, respecting oneself, and knowing oneself. In order to be able to love another person, one needs first to love oneself in this way. The current belief is that a couple should be a team, sexually and functionally. This is in contrast with Fromms description of love and intimacy. One cannot truly love another person if one does not love all of mankind including oneself, to be able to fully comprehend the ideas illustrated in Fromms book, one must understand the concept of paradoxical thought, or the ability to reconcile opposing principles in one same instance. Fromm himself explains paradoxical thought in the dedicated to the love of God. Fromm begins the last chapter The Practice of Love saying, many readers of this book, I am afraid that anyone who approaches this last chapter in this spirit will be gravely disappointed
36.
Erich Fromm
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Erich Seligmann Fromm was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory, Erich Fromm was born on March 23,1900, at Frankfurt am Main, the only child of Orthodox Jewish parents. He started his studies in 1918 at the University of Frankfurt am Main with two semesters of jurisprudence. During the summer semester of 1919, Fromm studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he began studying sociology under Alfred Weber, psychiatrist-philosopher Karl Jaspers, Fromm received his PhD in sociology from Heidelberg in 1922. During the mid-1920s, he trained to become a psychoanalyst through Frieda Reichmanns psychoanalytic sanatorium in Heidelberg and he began his own clinical practice in 1927. In 1930 he joined the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research and completed his psychoanalytical training, after the Nazi takeover of power in Germany, Fromm moved first to Geneva and then, in 1934, to Columbia University in New York. Together with Karen Horney and Harry Stack Sullivan, Fromm belongs to a Neo-Freudian school of psychoanalytical thought, Horney and Fromm each had a marked influence on the others thought, with Horney illuminating some aspects of psychoanalysis for Fromm and the latter elucidating sociology for Horney. Their relationship ended in the late 1930s and he was on the faculty of Bennington College from 1941 to 1949, and taught courses at the New School for Social Research in New York from 1941 to 1959. When Fromm moved to Mexico City in 1949, he became a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and he taught at UNAM until his retirement, in 1965, and at the Mexican Society of Psychoanalysis until 1974. In 1974 he moved from Mexico City to Muralto, Switzerland, all the while, Fromm maintained his own clinical practice and published a series of books. Indeed, Escape from Freedom is viewed as one of the works of political psychology. His second important work, Man for Himself, An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics, first published in 1947, taken together, these books outlined Fromms theory of human character, which was a natural outgrowth of Fromms theory of human nature. Central to Fromms world view was his interpretation of the Talmud and he began studying Talmud as a young man under Rabbi J. Horowitz and later under Rabbi Salman Baruch Rabinkow, a Chabad Hasid. While working towards his doctorate in sociology at the University of Heidelberg, Fromm studied the Tanya by the founder of Chabad, Fromm also studied under Nehemia Nobel and Ludwig Krause while studying in Frankfurt. Fromms grandfather and two great grandfathers on his fathers side were rabbis, and an uncle on his mothers side was a noted Talmudic scholar. However, Fromm turned away from orthodox Judaism in 1926, towards secular interpretations of scriptural ideals, the cornerstone of Fromms humanistic philosophy is his interpretation of the biblical story of Adam and Eves exile from the Garden of Eden. However, Fromm distinguished his concept of love from unreflective popular notions as well as Freudian paradoxical love. Fromm also asserted that few people in society had respect for the autonomy of their fellow human beings
37.
Master and Commander
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Master and Commander is a nautical historical novel by the English author Patrick OBrian, first published in 1969 in the US and 1970 in UK. The book proved to be the start of the 20-novel Aubrey-Maturin series, set largely in the era of the Napoleonic Wars, the novel is set at the turn of the 19th century. It follows the young Jack Aubrey who has just been promoted to the rank of Master and Commander, and Stephen Maturin and they sail in HM Sloop Sophie with first lieutenant James Dillon, a wealthy and aristocratic Irishman. In the novel, Dillon is killed and Aubrey denied official recognition for his victory, though he gains a reputation within the Royal Navy as one of its great, Master and Commander met with mixed early reviews on its first publication. Although UK sales were enough for OBrian to continue with his series. In Britain and Ireland, however, voices of praise gradually became dominant, in 1990, the US publisher W. W. Norton re-issued the book and its sequels, this was an almost immediate success and drew OBrian a new, large readership. OBrians biographer has placed the novel at the start of what he called the magnum opus. The novel opens in April 1800, during the performance, Maturin elbows Aubrey who is beating the measure half a beat ahead. The men, both at low points, treat the matter as one of honour, they exchange names. Later that evening, Aubrey learns that he has promoted to the rank of commander and has been given command of the 14-gun HM Sloop Sophie. Meeting Maturin in the street the day, Aubreys joy overcomes his animosity. The men discover a love of music, Aubrey playing the violin and Maturin the cello. On learning Maturins profession, Aubrey asks him to join his ship, although as a physician Maturins expertise goes far beyond that normally expected of a naval surgeon, he agrees. Sophie is sent to accompany a small convoy of merchant ships in the Mediterranean, Aubrey takes the opportunity to get to know his sailors and work them into a fighting unit with the aid of his new first lieutenant, James Dillon, a wealthy and aristocratic Irishman. Dillon and Maturin had met earlier as members of the United Irishmen, Dillon suffers a crisis of conscience when ordered to intercept an American ship thought to be harbouring Irish rebels, and he works to help them avoid capture. Maturin is treated by the crew as a landsman, though without offence, as a natural philosopher he relishes the opportunity to study rare birds and fish. His convoy duties complete, Aubrey is permitted by Admiral Keith to cruise the Mediterranean independently, Sophie meets and defeats the much larger and better-armed Cacafuego, a Spanish 32 gun xebec-frigate, though losing a number of crew, including Dillon, in the bloody action. Harte ensures that Aubrey receives none of things, though he cannot prevent Aubrey gaining a reputation within the Royal Navy as one of its great
38.
Patrick O'Brian
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A partially finished 21st novel in the series was published posthumously containing facing pages of handwriting and typescript. OBrian wrote a number of novels and short stories, most of which were published before he achieved success with the Aubrey–Maturin series. He also translated works from French to English, and wrote two biographies and his major success as a writer came late in life, when the Aubrey-Maturin series caught the eye of an American publisher. The series drew more readers and favourable reviews when the author was in his seventies. OBrian was born Richard Patrick Russ, in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, to Charles Russ, an English physician of German descent, and Jessie Russ, an English woman of Irish descent. He published his first novel at age 15, Caesar, The Life Story of a Panda Leopard, in 1934, he underwent a brief period of pilot training with the Royal Air Force, but this was not successful, and he left the RAF. Prior to that, his application to the Royal Navy had been rejected on health grounds, in 1935, he was living in London, where he married his first wife, Elizabeth Jones, in 1936. The second was a daughter who suffered from spina bifida, she died in 1942, when the child died, OBrian had already returned to London, where he worked throughout the war. The details of his work during the Second World War are murky and he worked as an ambulance driver, and he stated that he worked in intelligence. Dean King has claimed that OBrian was actively involved in intelligence work, indeed, despite his usual extreme reticence about his past, OBrian wrote in an essay, Black, Choleric and Married. Our work had to do with France, and more than that I shall not say, since disclosing methods and stratagems that have deceived the enemy once, after the war we retired to Wales where we lived for a while in a high Welsh-speaking valley. Which confirms in first person the connection, as well as introducing his wife Mary Wicksteed Tolstoy as a co-worker. Nikolai Tolstoy, stepson through OBrians marriage to Mary Tolstoy, disputes this account, doing this work, he met Mary, the separated wife of Russian-born nobleman and lawyer Count Dimitri Tolstoy. They lived together through the part of the war and. The following month he changed his name by deed poll to Patrick OBrian, the young are wonderfully resilient, and although I never became much of a topman, after a while I could hand, reef and steer without disgrace, which allowed more ambitious sailoring later on. However in 1995, venture capitalist Thomas Perkins offered OBrian a two week cruise aboard his then sailing yacht, a 154 ft ketch, in an article about the experience written after OBrians death, Perkins commented. I began to suspect that his autobiographical references to his months at sea as a youth were fanciful, between 1946 and 1949 the OBrians lived in Cwm Croesor, a remote valley in north Wales, where they initially rented a cottage from Clough Williams-Ellis. OBrian pursued his interest in history, he fished, went birdwatching
39.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
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Master and Commander, The Far Side of the World is a 2003 American epic historical war-drama film written, produced and directed by Peter Weir, set in the Napoleonic Wars. The films plot and characters are adapted from three novels in author Patrick OBrians Aubrey–Maturin series, which includes 20 completed novels of Jack Aubreys naval career, the film stars Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey, captain in the Royal Navy, and Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin. The film, which cost $150 million to make, was a co-production of 20th Century Fox, Miramax Films, Universal Pictures, and Samuel Goldwyn Films, the film grossed $212 million worldwide. The film received acclaim upon release. At the 76th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for 10 Oscars and it won in two categories, Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing and lost in all other categories to The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. In May 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, Captain Jack Aubrey of HMS Surprise is ordered to pursue the French privateer Acheron, the British warship is ambushed by Acheron, Surprise is heavily damaged, while its own cannon fire does not penetrate the enemy ships hull. Using smaller boats, the crew of Surprise tow the ship into a fog bank, meanwhile, Aubrey learns from a crewman who saw Acheron being built that it is heavier as well as faster than Surprise. The senior officers conclude that the Surprise is no match for Acheron, Aubrey, however, notes that the Acheron could tip the balance of power in Napoleons favour if allowed to plunder the British whaling fleet at will. He orders the mission resumed and the Surprise refitted at sea, shortly afterwards, Acheron again ambushes Surprise, but Aubrey slips away in the night by using a clever decoy buoy and ships lamps. Following the privateer south, Surprise rounds Cape Horn and heads to the Galapagos Islands, the ships doctor, Maturin, is interested in the islands unique flora and fauna, and Aubrey promises his friend several days exploration time. When Surprise reaches the Galapagos, however, they recover the survivors of a ship destroyed by Acheron. Realizing the ship is close, Aubrey hastily pursues the privateer, Maturin feels that Aubrey is going back on his word, and is following Acheron more out of pride rather than duty. Aubrey flatly rejects these accusations, however, he concedes to Maturin that he has exceeded his orders in this mission. Still in pursuit, Surprise is stranded without wind for several days, due to the extreme heat, lack of rain and overconsumption of grog, the crew becomes restless and disorderly. Midshipman Hollum, already unpopular with the crew, is named a Jonah, as the tension rises, crew member Nagel refuses to salute Hollum on the deck, and is flogged for his insubordination. That night, Hollum experiences a breakdown, convinced he is cursed. The next morning, Aubrey holds a service, asking on behalf of the crew for God, the wind picks up again, and Surprise resumes the chase. The next day, Marine officer Captain Howard attempts to shoot an albatross, the surgeons mate informs Aubrey that the bullet and a piece of cloth it took with it must be removed soon, otherwise they will fester
40.
The Blessing Way
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The Blessing Way is the first crime fiction novel in the Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee Navajo Tribal Police series by Tony Hillerman. First published in 1970, it introduces the character of officer Joe Leaphorn, two anthropology professors from New Mexico plan a summer research trip on the Navajo Reservation. Bergen McKee meets his college friend Joe Leaphorn, now a police officer, McKees interest is the Navajo witches and the role they play in the culture. He learns of one on his first day of interviews, who visits his campsite in the night. Leaphorn has a young man as his case, which intertwines with McKees encounters with a true Navajo witch. Anthropologist Bergen McKee comes to the Navajo Reservation to research tales of witches, visiting his college friend, Leaphorn is a Navajo Tribal Police lieutenant. A young man, Luis Horseman, thinking he had killed a man in a fight and his victim survives, so Leaphorn spreads the word at a trading post, to induce Luis to come in. McKee and Leaphorn see a Navajo man buying a new hat and his old one was stolen, but not the expensive silver concho hatband on it. Leaphorn says that Otherwise well go in there and get him, the next morning, the body of Luis is found near Ganado, he had been suffocated with sand after being killed elsewhere. Leaphorn rues his statement, feeling it led to this murder, McKee and his colleague, J. R. Canfield, begin a joint field trip in the Lukachukai Mountains, the canyons of the west slope. They expect to meet Ellen Leon in Many Ruins canyon, as she seeks her fiancé, the Tsosie family hosts a Navajo Enemy Way ceremony to deal with depredation of their livestock, which Joe Leaphorn attends. He meets Billy Nez, brother to Luis Horseman, Billy found the hat used as a symbolic scalp of the troublesome witch. Leaphorn finds the tracks of Billy and the man where Billy had taken the hat and he sets out to stop that. McKee learns in his interviews that there is a Navajo Wolf active now, neither Canfield nor his vehicle are at the campsite that evening. Instead, there is a saying he will return, oddly, he signed the note John. McKee sleeps outside, waking on hearing unexpected sounds and he moves away from the campsite, to listen. A man wearing a skin and holding an automatic weapon walks into the campsite. He calls out McKees name but McKee keeps silent and the man walks away, in the morning, McKee looks for Miss Leon so they can both drive out quickly
41.
Tony Hillerman
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Anthony Grove Tony Hillerman was an award-winning American author of detective novels and non-fiction works best known for his Navajo Tribal Police mystery novels. Several of his works have been adapted as big-screen and television movies, Tony Hillerman was born in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma to August Alfred Hillerman, a farmer and shopkeeper, and his wife, Lucy Grove. He was the youngest of their three children, and the second son and his paternal grandparents were born in Germany, and his maternal grandparents were born in England. He grew up in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, attending elementary and he was a decorated combat veteran of World War II, serving from August 1943 to October 1945. He served as a mortar-man in the 103rd Infantry Division and he earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart. He attended the University of Oklahoma after the war, meeting Marie Unzner, the couple wed and have one biological child and five adopted children. From 1948–62, he worked as a journalist, moving to Santa Fe, in 1966, he moved his family to Albuquerque, where he earned a masters degree from the University of New Mexico. He taught journalism from 1966 to 1987 at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and he lived there with his wife Marie until his death in 2008. At the time of his death, they had been married 60 years and had ten grandchildren, a consistently bestselling author, he was ranked as New Mexicos 22nd wealthiest man in 1996. He wrote 18 books in his Navajo series and he wrote more than 30 books total, among them a memoir and books about the Southwest, its beauty and its history. His literary honors were awarded for his Navajo books, Hillermans books have been translated into eight languages, among them Danish and Japanese. Hillermans writing is noted for the details he provides about his subjects, Hopi, Zuni, European-American, federal agents. His works in nonfiction and in fiction reflect his appreciation of the wonders of the American Southwest and his appreciation of its people. His mystery novels are set in the Four Corners area of New Mexico and Arizona, sometimes reaching into Colorado and Utah, with forays to the big cities of Washington. Los Angeles and New York City, the protagonists are Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee of the Navajo tribal police. Lt. Leaphorn was introduced in Hillermans first novel, The Blessing Way, Jim Chee was introduced in the fourth novel, People of Darkness. The two first work together in the novel, Skinwalkers, considered his breakout novel, with a distinct increase in sales with the two police officers working together. The Upfield novels began to be published in 1928 and featured a half-European, half-aboriginal Australian hero, bony worked with deep understanding of tribal traditions
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Collins English Dictionary
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The Collins English Dictionary is a printed and online dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins in Glasgow, by the third edition, they increasingly used the Bank of English established by Hanks at COBUILD to provide typical definitions rather than examples composed by the lexicographer. The current edition is the 12th edition, which was published in October 2014, the previous edition was the 11th edition, which was published in October 2011. A special 30th Anniversary 10th edition was published in 2010, with editions published once every 3–4 years. The unabridged Collins English Dictionary was published on the web on 31 December 2011 on CollinsDictionary. com, along with the dictionaries of French, German, Spanish. The site also includes example sentences showing word usage from the Collins Bank of English Corpus, word frequencies and trends from the Google Ngrams project and this followed an earlier launch of a discussion forum for neologisms in 2004. In May 2015, CollinsDictionary. com added 6500 new Scrabble words to their Collins Official Scrabble Wordlist, the words are based on terms related to and influenced by slang, social media, food, technology, and more. Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary CollinsDictionary. com – Collins English Dictionary, American English Dictionary, Thesaurus, French, German, Italian and Spanish
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Sharpe (novel series)
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Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of Richard Sharpe. The stories formed the basis for an ITV television series wherein the character was played by Sean Bean. Cornwells series charts Sharpes progress in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars and he is gradually promoted through the ranks, finally becoming a lieutenant colonel in Sharpes Waterloo. The stories dramatise Sharpes struggle for acceptance and respect from his fellow officers, Sharpe was born a guttersnipe in the rookeries of London. Commissioned an officer on the battlefield, he overcomes class in an army where an officers rank is often bought, unlike many of the officers with whom he serves, Sharpe is an experienced soldier. Sharpe is described as brilliant but wayward in Sharpes Sword, and is portrayed by the author as a loose cannon. A highly skilled leader of troops, he takes part in a range of historical events during the Napoleonic Wars and other conflicts. The earliest books chronologically are set in India, and chronicle Sharpes years in the ranks and he is known as a dangerous man to have as an enemy, he is a skilled marksman and grows to be a good swordsman. In most of the novels he is a Rifle Officer, armed with a 1796 pattern heavy cavalry sword and Baker rifle and he is described as being six feet tall, having an angular, tanned face, long black hair and blue eyes. By the end of the series he has had three children and two wives, although not at the same time, Richard Sharpe was born in London circa 26 June 1777 to a prostitute residing in Cat Lane, and an unknown father. When Sharpe is three, his mother is killed in the Gordon Riots, leaving him an orphan. With no other relatives to claim him, Sharpe is deposited in Jem Hockings foundling home at Brewhouse Lane, Wapping. He is malnourished and regularly beaten, resulting in his being undersized for his age, because of this, he is eventually sold to a master chimney sweep to train as an apprentice at the relatively late age of 12. Fearing the high mortality rate among apprentice sweeps, Sharpe flees to the Rookery of St Giles and he stays under Maggies protection for three years, learning various forms of thieving. After killing a gang leader during a fight over Maggie, he escapes from London to Yorkshire at the age of fifteen and it is possible that Sharpe learned to play cricket in Yorkshire, as in Sharpes Waterloo the Duke of Wellington attests that Sharpe bowls fiendish. He also played while training with the Rifles at Shorncliffe Redoubt, within six months of his arrival in Yorkshire, Sharpe kills a second man, the landlord of the tavern where he is working, in a fight over a local girl. To avoid arrest, Sharpe takes the Kings shilling, joining the 33rd Foot, the regiment is first sent to Flanders in 1794, where Sharpe fights in his first battle, at Boxtel. The next year, he and his regiment are posted to India under the command of the British East India Company
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Bernard Cornwell
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The plot, from beginning to end, The main characters of the novel are Saban and Camaban, the young sons of Hengall, tribal chief of Ratharryn. They both outsmart their enemies and survive attempts to kill them and their main enemy is their older half-brother, Lengar, an ambitious and bloodthirsty man. When an outsider rides into the Old Temple of the tribe, Lengar mercilessly murders him, Lengar then attempts to also murder his younger half-brother Saban, so there will be no witnesses to Lengars theft of the gold. Lengar plans to use the gold to raise an army and make himself into a power in the land, however, the quick-witted and quick-footed Saban outwits and outruns his brother. Hengall forces Lengar to give up the stolen gold, a disgruntled Lengar defects from the tribe with most of his friends, plotting to return to kill his own father and attack his own former tribesfolk. Before he is killed by Lengar, Hengall invests some of the gold in rebuilding and improving the Sky Temple, all three of his sons get a turn at reshaping this famous center of worship. The monument is called The Old Temple in the novel, indeed, at the time of the events, it was already a thousand years old, having been created c.3000 BC as a circular ditch and bank, with 56 wooden posts. Lengar becomes chief and sells Saban into slavery, Camaban frees his brother and tells Saban about his plans for a new temple. Saban marries the Sun Bride, but because of their different opinions and status, Camaban becomes chief, but Saban kills him to protect his daughter. But Sabans daughter gets sacrificed and the Sun Bride, who became Camabans lover, Saban remarries again, but he still visits his first wife before Lengar killed Hengall
US$ 1.573 billion (2017)
