Mata Hari S Last Dance

From the international bestselling author of Rebel Queen and Nefertiti comes a captivating novel about the infamous Mata Hari, exotic dancer, adored courtesan, and, possibly, relentless spy. Paris, 1917. The notorious dancer Mata Hari sits in a cold cell awaiting freedom…or death. Alone and despondent, Mata Hari is as confused as the rest of the world about the charges she’s been arrested on: treason leading to the deaths of thousands of French soldiers. As Mata Hari waits for her fate to be decided, she relays the story of her life to a reporter who is allowed to visit her in prison. Beginning with her carefree childhood, Mata Hari recounts her father’s cruel abandonment of her family as well her calamitous marriage to a military officer. Taken to the island of Java, Mata Hari refuses to be ruled by her abusive husband and instead learns to dance, paving the way to her stardom as Europe’s most infamous dancer. From exotic Indian temples and glamorous Parisian theatres to stark German barracks in war-torn Europe, international bestselling author Michelle Moran who “expertly balances fact and fiction” (Associated Press) brings to vibrant life the famed world of Mata Hari: dancer, courtesan, and possibly, spy.

In 1895, Margaretha Zelle -- a beautiful young woman from The Hague -- answers a personal ad placed by a Dutch army captain twice her age seeking a wife. After a speedy wedding, they depart for Indonesia, where their marriage collapses amid infidelity, violence, and their son's disturbing death. Margaretha returns to Europe, traveling to Paris, where she reinvents herself as the erotic dancer Mata Hari ("Eye of the Dawn"), the likes of which no one has ever seen. As Europe lurches toward explosive conflict, her reputation as a dancer and courtesan attracts the attention of powerful admirers from Madrid to St. Petersburg. In time she finds herself caught in a military intrigue that would affect the course of World War I. Narrated by historical figures whose lives intersected with Mata Hari's, The Red Dancer explores the mystery and downfall of a woman who has fascinated historians and inspired artists for nearly a century. From the lush hills of Indonesia to the dance halls of Paris, it brilliantly re-creates the sensual decadence of fin de siècle Europe and the global conflict that ended an era and nearly destroyed a generation.

Entertainments and popular cultures played a major part in the lives of those experiencing the First World War. This collection of studies spans the role of newspapers, films, posters and music and much more, looking at the different ways, different media entertainments were produced and consumed during the war.

Presenting famous and infamous individuals and events that shocked the world and helped set the scene for today's history, this book illustrates how little is really known about some of the most dramatic and most-studied events. Who motivated whom, how and why, and what counterplots and alternative scenarios may have been at play? "Terrorism," the fomenting of revolution, undermining from within, and trumped up events to spur a nation to go to war: these techniques are not new. The public's interest in certain personalities never seems to wane -- Mata Hari, Gavrilo Princip, Sidney Reilly, T.E. Lawrence, Jimmy Doolittle, Hitler, Reinhard Heydrich and Lee Harvey Oswald among others. Each chapter presents two or three characters and elaborates on their lives and how they relate to historical events in the 20th century. The book starts with an incident in 1903 in the Balkans and moves chronologically forward to the assassination of JFK

From the internationally bestselling author of Nefertiti and Cleopatra’s Daughter comes the breathtaking story of Queen Lakshmi—India’s Joan of Arc—who against all odds defied the mighty British invasion to defend her beloved kingdom. When the British Empire sets its sights on India in the mid-nineteenth century, it expects a quick and easy conquest. India is fractured and divided into kingdoms, each independent and wary of one another, seemingly no match for the might of the English. But when they arrive in the Kingdom of Jhansi, the British army is met with a surprising challenge. Instead of surrendering, Queen Lakshmi raises two armies—one male and one female—and rides into battle, determined to protect her country and her people. Although her soldiers may not appear at first to be formidable against superior British weaponry and training, Lakshmi refuses to back down from the empire determined to take away the land she loves. Told from the unexpected perspective of Sita—Queen Lakshmi’s most favored companion and most trusted soldier in the all-female army—Rebel Queen shines a light on a time and place rarely explored in historical fiction. In the tradition of her bestselling novel, Nefertiti, and through her strong, independent heroines fighting to make their way in a male dominated world, Michelle Moran brings nineteenth-century India to rich, vibrant life.

From the author of The Jewel of Medina, a moving and insightful novel based on the life of legendary performer and activist Josephine Baker, perfect for fans of The Paris Wife and Hidden Figures. Discover the fascinating and singular life story of Josephine Baker—actress, singer, dancer, Civil Rights activist, member of the French Resistance during WWII, and a woman dedicated to erasing prejudice and creating a more equitable world—in Josephine Baker’s Last Dance. In this illuminating biographical novel, Sherry Jones brings to life Josephine's early years in servitude and poverty in America, her rise to fame as a showgirl in her famous banana skirt, her activism against discrimination, and her many loves and losses. From 1920s Paris to 1960s Washington, to her final, triumphant performance, one of the most extraordinary lives of the twentieth century comes to stunning life on the page. With intimate prose and comprehensive research, Sherry Jones brings this remarkable and compelling public figure into focus for the first time in a joyous celebration of a life lived in technicolor, a powerful woman who continues to inspire today.

A far-reaching examination of exoticism, cultural internationalism and modernism's encounters with Indonesian tradition, Performing Otherness examines how Indonesia entered world stages through imperialism as an antimodern phantasm and through nationalism became a means of intercultural communication and cultural diplomacy.

The book tackles the challenging theme of death as seen through the lens of literature and its connections with history, the visual arts, anthropology, philosophy and other fields in humanities. It searches for answers to three questions: what can we know about death; how is death socialised; and how and for which purposes is death aesthetically shaped? Unlike many other publications, the volume does not endorse the fallacy of over-simplifying death by seeing it either in an exclusively positive light or by reducing it to a purely literary figure. Using literature’s potential to stimulate critical thinking, many contemporary stereotypical configurations of death and dying are debunked, and many hitherto unforeseen ways in which death functions as a complex trigger of meaning-making are revealed. The book proves that death is an inexhaustible source of meanings which should be understood as peremptorily plural, discontinuous, problematic, competitive, and often conflictual. It offers original contributions to the field of death studies and also to literary and cultural studies.