Showing results for "Mad World" in History

The first full-length biography of the Nobel laureate to appear in a quarter century, Mad at the World illuminates what has made the work of John Steinbeck an enduring part of the literary canon: his capacity for empathy. Angered by the plight of the Dust Bowl migrants who were starving even as they toiled to harvest California's limitless bounty and appalled by the country's refusal to recognize the humanity common to all of its citizens, Steinbeck took a stand against social injustice - paradoxically given his inherent misanthropy.

In 1887, Nellie Bly had herself committed to the notorious Blackwell's Island insane asylum in New York City with the goal of discovering what life was like for its patients. While there, she experienced firsthand the shocking abuse and neglect of its inmates, from inedible food to horrifyingly unsanitary conditions. Ten Days in a Mad-House established Bly as a pioneering female journalist and remains a classic of investigative reporting.

The Austro-Hungarian army that marched east and south to confront the Russians and Serbs in the opening campaigns of World War I had a glorious past but a pitiful present. Speaking a mystifying array of languages and lugging outdated weapons, the Austrian troops were hopelessly unprepared for the industrialized warfare that would shortly consume Europe.

From the New York Times bestselling author of First Man comes a sweeping saga involving two extraordinary—and extraordinarily different—adventurers who have only one thing in common: the ambition to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat . . . alone. With gripping and insightful prose, James R. Hansen brings to life John Fairfax and Tom McClean's expeditions, from their battle with the elements to their own inner demons. Completely Mad is a nail-biting, epic tale of endurance, and listeners will be gripped until the end to find out who won.

I årevis har journalist Mads Brügger været besat af en gådefuld organisation ved navn Det Sydafrikanske Institut for Maritim Research (SAIMR), der tilhører Apartheid-regimets mørkeste hemmeligheder. Han har endda lavet en prisbelønnet dokumentarfilm om SAIMR (Cold Case Hammarskjöld), men det stopper ikke her. I Doktor Maxwell, formoder jeg? graver han sig endnu længere ned i kaninhullet og kommer tættere end nogensinde på sandheden om SAIMR og den mystiske og voldsparate kæderyger Keith Maxwell, der var instituttets sidst kendte leder.

Journalist Nellie Bly went undercover in 1887 to investigate an insane asylum on an assignment for New York World. After getting herself committed by acting deranged, Bly uncovered the dark truth about the asylum. Patients were fed rotten food, subject to filthy living conditions, and abused by staff. Not only was this no place for the mentally ill to find treatment, Bly discovered it was the kind of place that could drive even a perfectly sane woman off the edge.