A damning indictment of Utilitarianism & the dehumanising influence of the Industrial Revolution Charles Dickenss Hard Times" is edited with an introduction & notes by Kate Flint in " Penguin Classics". In " Hard Times" the Northern mill-town of Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind school headmaster & model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils & family with facts he bans fancy & wonder from any young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman & bully of humanity Mr Bounderby & his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling & robbery. & as their fortunes cross with those of free-spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe & victimized weaver Stephen Blackpool Gradgrind is eventually forced to recognize the value of the human heart in an age of materialism & machinery. This edition of " Hard Times" is based on the text of the first volume publication of 1854. Kate Flints introduction sheds light on the frequently overlooked character interplay in Dickenss great critique of Victorian industrial society. Charles Dickens is one of the best-loved novelists in the English language whose 200th anniversary was celebrated in 2012. His most famous books including " Oliver Twist" " Great Expectations" "A Tale of Two Cities" " David Copperfield" & " The Pickwick Papers" have been adapted for stage & screen & read by millions. If you enjoyed " Hard Times" you might like Dickens " Bleak House" also available in " Penguin Classics". "A masterpiece...a completely serious work of art". (F.R. Leavis)." ...

Unusually for Dickens Hard Times is set not in London but in the imaginary mid-Victorian Northern industrial town of Coketown with its blackened factories downtrodden workers & polluted environment. This is the soulless domain of the strict utilitarian Thomas Gradgrind & the heartless factory owner Josiah Bounderby. However human joy is not excluded thanks to Mr Slearys Horse-Riding circus a gin-soaked & hilarious troupe of open-hearted & affectionate people who act as an antidote to all the drudgery & misery endured by the ordinary citizens of Coketown. ...

This edition of Dickens tenth novel set in the industrial Midlands is that of the 1854 first edition. It has been re-edited in the light of scholarly findings made since 1990. Annotations have been revised & expanded. Sections on backgrounds sources & contemporary reactions include material on industrialism education & utilitarianism. The criticism section

Includes:: 17 essays on the novel seven of which are new to this edition.

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Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind school headmaster & model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils & family with facts he bans fancy & wonder from any young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman & bully of humanity Mr Bounderby & his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling & robbery. & as their fortunes cross with those of free-spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe & victimized weaver Stephen Blackpool Gradgrind is eventually forced to recognize the value of the human heart in an age of materialism & machinery. ...

Lucile Garrett is just thirteen when she meets Clint Palmer a charismatic stranger who will forever change her life. The year is 1934 & as the windblown dust of the Great Depression rakes the Oklahoma plains Palmer offers Lucile & her father homeless & hungry the irresistible promise of a better future. But when they follow Palmer to Texas Lucile's father mysteriously disappears launching man & girl on an epic journey through the American Southwest: a spree of violence & murder that culminates in one of the most celebrated criminal trials of the era. Based on a true story Hard Twisted is a chilling tale of survival & redemption & a young girl's coming of age in a world as cruel as it is beautiful. ...

A narrative particle-accelerator that zooms between Wild Turkey Whiskey & Bob Dylan unicorn skulls & voracious librarians John Coltrane & Lord Jim. Science fiction detective story & post-modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel Hard-boiled Wonderland & the End of the World is the tour de force that expanded Haruki Murakami's international following. Tracking one man's descent into the Kafkaesque underworld of contemporary Tokyo Murakami unites East & West tragedy & farce compassion & detachment slang & philosophy. The result is a wildly inventive fantasy & a meditation on the many uses of the mind. ...

When V.I. Warshawski is asked to find a man whos been missing for four decades a search that she thought would be futile turns lethal. Old skeletons from the citys racially charged history rise up to force her back with a vengeance
- a nun who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. dies without revealing crucial evidence & on the citys South Side people spit when she shows up. The elderly sisters who hired her are also keeping important information to themselves. Then V.I. finds that her family is keeping secrets of their own. A young cousin whom shes never met arrives from Kansas City to work on a political campaign but disappears under mysterious circumstances. Afraid to learn that her adored father might have been a bent cop deception & corruption following her at every step V.I. finds all her certainties under threat but takes the investigation all the way to its frightening end.
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What does it feel like to fall through a flaming table for the very first time? Or the umpteenth time for that matter. In the fresh off-the-cuff style that has earned him legions of admirers & made his previous wrestling books massive worldwide bestsellers Foley gives readers a blow-by-blow first-hand account of exactly what it is like to step into the wrestling ring. As a champion wrestler he was known both for his tenacity in the ring & for the fearlessness which led him to take extraordinary risks in any number of groundbreaking dangerous stunts. & as an industry insider he offers a unique perspective on what it was like to perform at that level which readers will never find anywhere else. In HARDCORE DIARIES Mick Foley will take fans right inside a wrestling year vividly recreating his experiences in diary form & revealing how mentally & physically preparing for this extremely challenging sport has helped him become the legend he is today. ...

In this valuable book Tubal Cain takes the reader beyond the superficial or the simply practical with explanations of the composition of steel its additives & the effects of different temperatures on its constituents. With a grasp of what changes are actually taking place in the metal the care needed in following the practical processes described becomes understandable & will lead to better & more consistent results. Flame salt bath & furnace heating are detailed with information on accurate measurement or recognition of temperature levels. For the average small workshop operative or model engineer the discourses on tool material hardening & tempering will be of most use & in this connection this book replaced the authors earlier Hardening & Tempering Engineers Tools providing a broader-based more detailed & up to date examination of the subject. ...

This title is part of four new titles in the fantastic First Reading" series aimed at children who are beginning to read. luxurious ...