Michael Blanding

Draws on exclusive interviews with confessed rare-map thief E. Forbes Smiley to document his high-stakes experiences with mercenary explorers and mapmakers, offering insight into the cutthroat map trade while investigating allegations of hundreds of additional thefts

The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-map Dealer who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps

The Map Thief

From the acclaimed author of The Map Thief, the true story of a self-taught Shakespeare sleuth's quest to prove his eye-opening theory about the source of the English language's most famous plays, taking readers inside the vibrant era of Elizabethan England and the contemporary scene of Shakespeare scholars and obsessives. A work of gripping non-fiction, North by Shakespeare presents the twinning narratives of rogue scholar Dennis McCarthy, called "the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community," and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the undiscovered source for Shakespeare's plays. Dennis McCarthy is an unlikely figure, a fifty-something college dropout who, for the last fifteen years, has obsessively pursued the true source of Shakespeare's works. His findings are stunning. With the help of plagiarism software, he has not only found direct links between Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Thomas North's published and unpublished writings, but he has also discovered plotlines in the plays seemingly lifted straight from North's colorful life. McCarthy's wholly original conclusion is this: Shakespeare wrote the plays, but he adapted them from source plays written by North decades before-many penned on behalf of North's patron Robert Dudley, in his efforts to woo Queen Elizabeth. That bold theory answers many lingering questions about the Bard with compelling new evidence, including a newly unearthed journal of North's travels through France and Italy, filled with details of places appearing in the plays where Shakespeare himself is never known to have traveled. North by Shakespeare alternates between the dramatic life of Thomas North, the intrigues of the Tudor court, the rivalries of English Renaissance theatre, and outsider scholar Dennis McCarthy's attempts to air his provocative ideas in the clubby world of Shakespearean scholarship. Through it all, Blanding employs his keen journalistic eye to craft a highly readable drama, up-ending our understanding of the beloved playwright and his "singular genius."

A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard¿s Work

North by Shakespeare

A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work

The Coke Machine takes readers deep inside the Coca-Cola Company and its international franchisees to reveal how they became the number one brand in the world, and just how far they'll go to stay there. Ever since its "I'd like to teach the world to sing" commercials from the 1970s, Coca-Cola has billed itself as the world's beverage, uniting all colors and cultures in a mutual love of its caramel-sweet sugar water. The formula has worked incredibly well-making it one of the most profitable companies on the planet and "Coca-Cola" the world's second- most recognized word after "hello." However, as the company expands its reach into both domestic and foreign markets, an increasing number of the world's citizens are finding the taste of Coke more bitter than sweet. Journalist Michael Blanding's The Coke Machine probes shocking accusations about the company's global impact, including: ? Coca-Cola's history of winning at any cost, even if it meant that its franchisees were making deals with the Nazis and Guatemalan paramilitary squads ? How Coke has harmed children's health and contributed to an obesity epidemic through exclusive soda contracts in schools ? The horrific environmental impact of Coke bottling plants in India and Mexico, where water supplies have been decimated while toxic pollution has escalated ? That Coke bottlers stand accused of conspiring with paramilitaries to threaten, kidnap, and murder union leaders in their bottling plants in Colombia A disturbing portrait drawn from an award-winning journalist's daring, in-depth research, The Coke Machine is the first comprehensive probe of the company and its secret formula for greed. COKE is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company. This book is not authorized by or endorsed by The Coca-Cola Company.

The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink

The Coke Machine

Indagine scioccante su come una delle più grandi società oggi esistenti abbia sistematicamente attaccato salute, lavoro e ambiente. L’autore è testimone diretto di una sorta di schizofrenia fra l’immagine solare e ottimistica della pubblicità e la devastazione di intere comunità, dall’India al Messico, sino alla Colombia. Sfruttamento indiscriminato dell’acqua, inquinamento, sindacalisti uccisi perché difendevano i diritti dei lavoratori. E altro ancora...

Michael Blanding

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