Barbara Holland – författare

What is really going on behind thoseluminous feline eyes?Affectionate yet aloof, intelligentand inquisitive yet dangerouslycareless, the more-or-lessdomesticated house catintrigues us as no other animal can.Now Barbara Holland offers cat loversa fascinating, funny, and refreshinglycandid look at their feline companions:their history, lore, and secrets, and theircomplicated relations with people andwith each other.Secrets of the Cat is a livelyappreciation of cats as we know andlove them, with witty analysis and freshobservations about felines both high andlow. Here are Winston Churchill''s gingertom, who attended cabinet meetings;Teddy Roosevelt''s cat, Slippers, whocame to dinner; and even the author''sown George II, who was bitten by amouse and adopted by a blue jay. BarbaraHolland''s warm, vivid speculations oncats'' lives and times—on their social,psychic, and mythological legacy, and theirimpenetrable mysteries—will give readersa delightful cat''s-eye view of the world.

Throughout history there have been women, endowed with curiosity and abundant spirit, who stepped out of the cave, cast off the shackles of expectation, and struck out for new territory. In this ode to bold, brash, and sometimes just plain dangerous women, Barbara Holland reanimates those rebels who defied convention and challenged authority on a truly grand scale: they traveled the world, commanded pirate ships, spied on the enemy, established foreign countries, scaled 19,000-foot passes, and lobbied to change the Constitution. Some were merry and flamboyant; others depressive and solitary. Some dressed up as men; others cherished their Victorian gowns. Many were ambivalent or absentminded mothers. But every one of them was fearless, eccentric, and fiercely independent. Barbara Holland evokes their energy in this unconventional book that will acquaint you with the likes of Grace O’Malley, a blazing terror of the Irish seas in the 1500s, and surprise you with a fresh perspective on legends like Bonnie Parker of “Bonnie and Clyde” fame. With wit, wisdom, and irreverent flair, They Went Whistling makes a compelling case for the virtue of getting into trouble.From the Trade Paperback edition.

A compendium of the highlights and lowlights from the careers of our 43 chief executives—from George Washington to George Bush Jr.—told with wit and accuracy, clearly reminding us that presidents are also people. Under the mutton-chop whiskers, behind the bulging waistcoats, presidents were actually human.

With characteristic elegance and delicious wit, Barbara Holland, ("a national treasure,"-Philadelphia Inquirer) celebrates the age-old act of drinking in this gimlet-eyed survey of man''s relationship with booze, since the joyful discovery, ten thousand years ago, of fermented fruits and grains. In this spirited paean to alcohol, two parts cultural history, one part personal meditation, Holland takes readers on a bacchanalian romp through the Fertile Crescent, the Mermaid Tavern, Plymouth Rock, and Capitol Hill and reveals, as Faulkner famously once said, how civilization indeed begins with fermentation. Filled with tasty tidbits about distillers, bootleggers, taverns, hangovers, and Alcoholics Anonymous, The Joy of Drinking is a fascinating portrait of the world of pleasures fermented and distilled.