JUVENILE · HISTORY
Richard Tames
Also known as: Richard Tames, R. Tames
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself. The nobleman then has the play performed for Sly's diversion. The main plot depicts the courtship of Petruchio and Katherina, the headstrong, obdurate shrew. Initially, Katherina is an unwilling participant in the relationship; however, Petruchio "tames" her with various psychological and physical torments, such as keeping her from eating and drinking, until she becomes a desirable, compliant, and obedient bride.
Early in the morning of August 6, 1945, a big American bomber roars down the runway on a tiny island called Tinian.
— from Hiroshima
Most acclaimed
Mother Teresa
When Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa (1910-1997) in October 2003, Magnum photographer Raghu Rai had already paid homage to the extraordinary sister and her exemplary destiny. Know for his numerous reportages on India, especially on Bhopal, Rai met Mother Teresa in the early 1970s. Fascinated by someone who, from the age of twelve, was fully aware of her "mission," he continued to photograph her until her death in 1997. In 1928, when she was only eighteen, she left Macedonia to join the Sisters of Loreto, a community of nuns in Ireland with missions in India. After a few month' training in Dublin, she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun, choosing the name Teresa in honor of Saint Theresa of Lisieux. From 1931 to 1948, Mother Teresa taught in Kolkata (Calcutta), but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working in the slums of Kolkata. In October 1950, seh started her own order, Thhe Missionaries of Charity, whose primary thask was to love and care for those persons nobody else was prepared to look after. Less than two years after her death, Pope John Paul II permitted the opening of her Cause of Canonization. On December 20, 2002, a decree approved Mother Teresa's heroic virtues and the miracle attributed to her intercession. The relationship of trust that Raghu Rai and Mother Teresa gradually built up is very apparent in the photographer's work. He observed her daily life and that of her community, successfully conveying its prayerful intensity and strength of Kolkata, where the everpresent poverty and distress illustrated the need for Mother Teresa's work. With nearly a hundred black-and-white photographs, punctuated by anecdotal texts that recall their encounters, Rai has captured the strength of Mother Teresa's commitment and her daily fight against poverty.
Hiroshima
The bombing of Hiroshima was one of the pivotal events of the twentieth century, yet this controversial question remains unresolved. At the time, General Dwight Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur, and chief of staff Admiral William Leahy all agreed that an atomic attack on Japanese cities was unnecessary. All of them believed that Japan had already been beaten and that the war would soon end. Was the bomb dropped to end the war more quickly? Or did it herald the start of the Cold War? In his probing new study, prizewinning historian Ronald Takaki explores these factors and more. He considers the cultural context of race - the ways in which stereotypes of the Japanese influenced public opinion and policymakers - and also probes the human dimension. Relying on top secret military reports, diaries, and personal letters, Takaki relates international policies to the individuals involved: Los Alamos director J. Robert Oppenheimer, Secretary of State James Byrnes, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and others... but above all, Harry Truman.
Florence Nightingale
2003
Begun in the reign of George IV and ended in that of Edward VII, her life more than spanned the whole Victorian era. "Do you think you are improving?" had asked the Aga Khan. She would not have hesitated for an instant in her reply. Life for the majority had improved, was improving and would continue to improve. Grieved greatly by his imperfections, she still believed in the ultimate perfectibility of man. Few of the great Victorians brought about by their personal efforts more of the material improvements of the era than Florence Nightingale. Probably in her own mind the betterment of the soldiers' lot, in sickness and in health, that she had helped to bring about would have rated highest. Next to that would have come her efforts to better the health of the peasants of India. Today she is remembered first and foremost as the founder of the nursing profession in its modern form. Her 38 ragtag-and-bobtail women, who coped with the shambles at Scutari, and the 15 young ladies introduced into St. Thomas' in 1860, were the start of one of the greatest of all services to mankind. This was her achievement, and almost hers alone. - p. 246.