This original study is the first fully to acknowledge the impact of early grief on Wordsworth's poetry and to integrate it into a critical account of how his art developed from 1787 to 1813. Looks at the impact of grief on Wordsworth's great poetry. Explains the importance of the poet's great, unfinished epic 'The Recluse' to his work as a whole. Includes 20 illustrations from original notebooks. Contains the first annotated text of 'The White Doe of Rylstone'.

"Crazy Free - An Epic Spiritual Journey" is the true story of one woman's solo adventure, over 15,000 miles by road, 2,660 miles on foot and 444 miles by kayak, with a side trip to the foot of the Indian Himalayas. A journey of exploration, transformation and awakening.

Two-time Academy Award winner Sir David Lean (1908–1991) was one of the most prominent directors of the twentieth century, responsible for the classics The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965). British-born Lean asserted himself in Hollywood as a major filmmaker with his epic storytelling and panoramic visions of history, but he started out as a talented film editor and director in Great Britain. As a result, he brought an art-house mentality to blockbuster films. Combining elements of biography and film criticism, Beyond the Epic: The Life and Films of David Lean uses screenplays and production histories to assess Lean’s body of work. Author Gene D. Phillips interviews actors who worked with Lean and directors who knew him, and their comments reveal new details about the director’s life and career. Phillips also explores Lean’s lesser-studied films, such as The Passionate Friends (1949), Hobson’s Choice (1954), and Summertime (1955). The result is an in-depth examination of the director in cultural, historical, and cinematic contexts. Lean’s approach to filmmaking was far different than that of many of his contemporaries. He chose his films carefully and, as a result, directed only sixteen films in a period of more than forty years. Those films, however, have become some of the landmarks of motion-picture history. Lean is best known for his epics, but Phillips also focuses on Lean’s successful adaptations of famous works of literature, including retellings of plays such as Brief Encounter (1945) and novels such as Great Expectations (1946), Oliver Twist (1948), and A Passage to India (1984). From expansive studies of war and strife to some of literature’s greatest high comedies and domestic dramas, Lean imbued all of his films with his unique creative vision. Few directors can match Lean’s ability to combine narrative sweep and psychological detail, and Phillips goes beyond Lean’s epics to reveal this unifying characteristic in the director’s body of work. Beyond the Epic is a vital assessment of a great director’s artistic process and his place in the film industry.

Bestselling author Joe Queenan's True Believers explores the world of sports fans in an attempt to understand the inexplicable: What does anyone get out of it? For Yankee, Cowboy, and Laker fans the answer is fairly clear: the return on investment is relatively high. But why do people root so passionately for formerly inept teams like the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, and the Philadelphia Phillies? Why do people organize their emotional lives around lackluster franchises such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Diego Padres, and the Phoenix Suns, of whom decades passed with only winning a single championship in their entire history? Is it pure tribalism? An attempt to maintain contact with one's vanished childhood? In True Believers, humorist and lifelong Philly fan Joe Queenan answers these and many other questions, shedding light on—and reveling in—the culture and psychology of his countless fellow fans. Making pilgrimages to such cradles of competition as Notre Dame Stadium, Fenway, and Wrigley Field, Queenan delves into every aspect of fandom in such illuminating chapters as Fans Who Love Too Much (men, like the author, who actually resort to psychotherapy to deal with their unhealthy addiction), Fans Who Run in Front (which meticulously delineates the differences between Retroactive, Municipal, and Vicarious Frontrunners), and Fans Who Misbehave (those who spill beer on women, moon other fans, or throw half-eaten sandwiches at innocent bystanders simply because they look like the current coach of the New York Jets). True Believers is a hilarious but also heartfelt look into the world of those fans who realize that it is, in fact, more than just a game.

With over 200 spectacular images, including astonishing satellite photographs and stills from the PBS docuseries, Life from Above reveals our planet as you've never seen it before. Thanks to advanced satellite images, we can now see the earth's surface, its megastructures, weather patterns, and natural wonders in breathtaking detail. From the colors and patterns that make up our planet to the mass migrations and seismic changes that shape it, Life from Above sheds new light on the place we call home. It reveals the intimate stories behind the images, following herds of elephants crossing the plains of Africa and turtles traveling on ocean currents that are invisible unless seen from space. The true colors of our planet are revealed, from the striped tulip fields of Holland to the vivid turquoise lakes in Iceland to the green swirl of a plankton super bloom attracting a marine feeding frenzy. Whether it's the world's largest beaver dam--so remote it was discovered only through satellite imagery--or newly formed islands born from volcanic eruptions, you'll discover new perspectives with every image.

This multimedia coffee-table book/CD-ROM package is the only one of its kind to honor in exquisite detail the remarkable, historical papacy of Pope John Paul II. Through hundreds of rare and archival photographs, extensive video footage, and decades' worth of reporting and interviews, John Paul II: The Epic Life of a Pilgrim Pope is the definitive tribute to the man and his legacy. The book is a captivating pictorial record of the pontiff's life and reign, with hundreds of photos, interviews, and firsthand news accounts of the most significant events of the Pope's quarter century in power. World leaders such as President George H.W. Bush, Lech Walesa, and many others share their experiences with Pope John Paul II and reflect on the impact of his papacy. The companion CD-ROM is divided into nine comprehensive segments that chronicle a specific time period in the papacy of Pope John Paul II, and features thousands of photographs, video footage, published newspaper and magazine articles, and original text written and compiled by the Chicago Tribune's award-winning editorial and design staffs.