The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour

Kenneth Turan (Author)

Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation

2,Kenneth Turan brings to life the extraordinary partnership of Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg and their role in creating the film industry as we know it "Sharply observant."--Farran Smith Nehme, Wall Street Journal A New Yorker Best Book of the Year One was a tough junkman's son, the other a cosseted mama's boy, but they dreamed the same mighty dream: that the right movies could make a profit and change both the culture and individual lives. Sharing a religion and an evangelical zeal for film, Louis B. Mayer (1884-1957) and Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) were unlikely partners in one of the most significant collaborations in movie history. Over the course of their decade-long relationship, as key players at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and major players in Hollywood, they joined forces in redefining and mastering the template for the film industry. Mayer, older by more than a dozen years, was the business-minded face of the studio, while Thalberg worked closely with the creative corps, especially writers; together they rarely set a foot wrong. And while Mayer initially viewed Thalberg as the son he never had, the two would go from passionate friends to near enemies before Thalberg's ...

Clara Batten (Author)

Gin & Phonics: My Journey Through Middle-Class Motherhood (Via the Occasional Pub)

'I was asked the other day what I thought the hardest part of parenting was. I'd have to say that it's definitely the kids.' TikTok sensation Clara Batten has dedicated the last few years to seeking the answer to one of life's most crucial questions: Is it possible to raise and nurture two small humans without losing your bloody mind? The good news is, now she's found (some of) the answers and is sharing her secrets with the rest of us! In this riotous book, Clara reveals: when it's acceptable to buy your kids lunch from a kebab shop. why a jar of pickled herrings from Waitrose is the ultimate guilty pleasure, nay necessity, for a sleep-deprived parent. how to finally pursue your acting ambitions in your forties (despite a toddler sh*tting on the stairs during a self-tape audition). Most importantly, Clara shows us that no matter how much we adore our little treasures, life isn't just about their A, B and bloody Cs.

Anthony Julius (Author)

Abraham: The First Jew

1,The story of Abraham, the first Jew, portrayed as two lives lived by one person, paralleling the contradictions in Judaism throughout its history In this new biography of Abraham, Judaism's foundational figure, Anthony Julius offers an account of the origins of a fundamental struggle within Judaism between skepticism and faith, critique and affirmation, thinking for oneself and thinking under the direction of another. Julius describes Abraham's life as two separate lives, and as a version of the collective life of the Jewish people. Abraham's first life is an early adulthood of questioning the polytheism of his home city of Ur Kasdim until its ruler, Nimrod, condemns him to death and he is rescued, he believes, by a miracle. In his second life, Abraham's focus is no longer on critique but rather on conversion and on his leadership over his growing household, until God's command that he sacrifice his son Isaac. This test, the Akedah (or "Binding"), ends with another miracle, as he believes, but as Julius argues, it is also a catastrophe for Abraham. The Akedah represents for him an unsurpassed horizon--and in Jewish life thereafter. This book focuses on Abraham as leader of the ...