Silent Sky

THE STORY: When Henrietta Leavitt begins work at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn’t allowed to touch a telescope or express an original idea. Instead, she joins a group of women “computers,” charting the stars for a renowned astronomer who calculates projects in “girl hours” and has no time for the women’s probing theories. As Henrietta, in her free time, attempts to measure the light and distance of stars, she must also take measure of her life on Earth, trying to balance her dedication to science with family obligations and the possibility of love. The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries, when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them. Social progress, like scientific progress, can be hard to see when one is trapped among earthly complications; Henrietta Leavitt and her female peers believe in both, and their dedication changed the way we understand both the heavens and Earth.

On 10 May 1940 warfare changed forever when gliders swooped down to seize the fortress of Eben Emael in Belgium ahead of the German advance. In the following five years of war, the glider evolved into a war-winning weapon capable of landing men, guns and even tanks with pinpoint precision. Across the world it became a vital element in military planning, yet no full history of glider operations has been written. Tim Lynch, in this graphic and highly readable study, gives vivid accounts of glider operations - some famous, some less well known - in every theatre of the war, in northern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Far East and the Pacific. He quotes extensively from the memoirs and eyewitness accounts of the glider pilots and the troops they carried, and he traces the evolution glider tactics over the course of the war.

'The dark-skinned semi-naked boy struggled against his bindings as he stumbled along on lands he knew he didn’t have any right to be on. He had no choice but to put foot after foot and take the slaps and prods rained on him persistently since he’d been taken from his Clan lands. Forced to keep up, the boy looked dazedly across to a young girl who walked beside him. She was likewise bound, forced along and sobbing as she walked, her head and tear-streaked face looking only at the ground in front of her.' Silent Sky is a bonus story from The Fethafoot Chronicles series by Pemulwuy Weeatunga. Always wanted to know more about Aboriginal Australia? Now for the first time in our history, you too can explore our stories. Come on a journey through time with warriors of the enigmatic Fethafoot Clan. For 50,000 years my clan have solved problems for the Australian Heart-rock people.

It's about humanity.

One of the more complex and widespread rituals practiced by Native American groups focused on the calumet, a sacred pipe with a feathered shaft. The Calumet Ceremony was a powerful ritual through which members of another tribe were adopted. It also promoted social unity within tribes and facilitated contact and trade between them. Perhaps the most detailed description of a Calumet Ceremony was recorded near the turn of the century by ethnographer Alice C. Fletcher. Fletcher witnessed the Hako, a version of the Calumet Ceremony practiced by the Chaui clan of the Pawnee. With the invaluable assistance of Tahirussawichi, a Pawnee Ku'rahus or ceremonial leader, and renowned Indian scholar James R. Murie, himself a Pawnee, the author describes in marvelous detail the intricate rhythm and structure of the ceremony. Each song of the Hako is transcribed, translated, interpreted by the Pawnee Ku'rahus, and later analyzed by the author. Fletcher concludes that the Hako promised longevity, fertility, and prosperity to individuals and worked to insure "friendship and peace" between clans and tribes. The Hako, originally published in 1904, is introduced by Helen Myers, an associate professor of music at Trinity College and the ethnomusicology editor of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

“A fabulous noir.”—Daniel Woodrell “Thoughtful, complex and compassionate.”—Dan Chaon “Mark Wisniewski is a damn good writer.”—Ben Fountain Winter’s Bone meets The Wire in this edgy, soulful meditation on the meaning of love, the injustices of hate, and the power of hope. Douglas “Deesh” Sharp has managed to stay out of trouble living in the Bronx, paying his rent by hauling junk for cash. But on the morning Deesh and two pals head upstate to dispose of a sealed oil drum whose contents smell and weigh enough to contain a human corpse, he becomes mixed up in a serious crime. When his plans for escape spiral terribly out of control, Deesh quickly finds himself a victim of betrayal—and the prime suspect in the murders of three white men. When Jan, a young jockey from the gritty underworld of the Finger Lakes racetrack breaks her silence about gambling and organized crime, Deesh learns how the story of her past might, against all odds, free him from a life behind bars. Interweaving Deesh’s and Jan’s gripping narratives, Watch Me Go is a wonderfully insightful work that examines how we love, leave, lose, redeem, and strive for justice. At once compulsively readable, thought-provoking, and complex, it is a suspenseful, compassionate meditation on the power of love and the injustices of hate.

This nature novel, by following the hatching and lifetime experiences of the last know wild passenger pigeon, chronicles the life, natural history, and ultimate extinction of this species which was once the most abundant bird species in North America. The last wild bird was killed in 1900; the last captive bird died in 1914.