Helen Macdonald – författare

Discover the memoir that inspired the major new film starring Claire Foy and Brendan GleesonThe hawk was everything I wanted to be: solitary, self-possessed, free from grief, and numb to the hurts of human life. An instant international bestseller and prize-winning sensation, Helen Macdonald's story of adopting and raising a goshawk has soared into the hearts of millions of readers. Fierce and feral, her goshawk Mabel's temperament mirrors Helen's own state of grief after her father's death, and together raptor and human discover the pain and beauty of being alive.H Is for Hawk is a genre-defying masterpiece on grief, memory, taming and untaming, and how it might be possible to reconcile death with life and love.'An absolute classic of nature writing’ Guardian 'It just sings. I couldn't stop reading' Mark Haddon‘One of the best grief books ever written’ Cariad Lloyd

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**'Thrilling dispatches from a vanishing world' ObserverAnimals don't exist to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what they teach us is what we think we know about ourselves.From the bestselling author of H is for Hawk comes Vesper Flights, a transcendent collection of essays about the human relationship to the natural world.Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best-loved writing along with new pieces covering a thrilling range of subjects. There are essays here on headaches, on catching swans, on hunting mushrooms, on twentieth-century spies, on numinous experiences and high-rise buildings; on nests and wild pigs and the tribulations of farming ostriches.Vesper Flights is a book about observation, fascination, time, memory, love and loss and how we make the world around us. Moving and frank, personal and political, it confirms Helen Macdonald as one of this century's greatest nature writers. A perfect read for anyone looking for renewed appreciation for the natural world.'Helen Macdonald is one of the best nature writers now working' The Telegraph

Until 1832, when an Act of Parliament began to regulate the use of bodies for anatomy in Britain, public dissection was regularly—and legally—carried out on the bodies of murderers, and a shortage of cadavers gave rise to the infamous murders committed by Burke and Hare to supply dissection subjects to Dr. Robert Knox, the anatomist.This book tells the scandalous story of how medical men obtained the corpses upon which they worked before the use of human remains was regulated. Helen MacDonald looks particularly at the activities of British surgeons in nineteenth-century Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in which a ready supply of bodies was available. Not only convicted murderers, but also Aborigines and the unfortunate poor who died in hospitals were routinely turned over to the surgeons.This sensitive but searing account shows how abuses happen even within the conventions adopted by civilized societies. It reveals how, from Burke and Hare to today’s televised dissections by German anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens, some people’s bodies become other people’s entertainment.

This book unravels the institutions surrounding witchcraft in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh through theoretical and empirical research on witchcraft, violence and modernity in contemporary times. The author pieces together ‘fragments’ of stories gathered utilising ethnographic methods to examine the meanings associated with witches and witchcraft, and how they connect with social relations, gender, notions of agency, law, media and the state.The volume uses the metaphor of the shattered urn to tell the story of the accusations, punishment, rescue and the aftermath of the events of the trial of women accused of being witches. It situates the ṭonhī or witch as a key elaborating symbol that orders behaviour to determine who the socially included and excluded are in communities. Through the personal interviews and other ethnographic methods conducted over the course of many years, the author delves into the stories and practices related to witchcraft, its relations with modernity, and the relationship between violence and ideological norms in society.Insightful and detailed, this book will be of great interest to academics and researchers of anthropology, development studies, sociology, history, violence, gender studies, tribal studies and psychology. It will also be useful for readers in both historic and contemporary witchcraft practices as well as policy makers.

This book unravels the institutions surrounding witchcraft in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh through theoretical and empirical research on witchcraft, violence and modernity in contemporary times. The author pieces together ‘fragments’ of stories gathered utilising ethnographic methods to examine the meanings associated with witches and witchcraft, and how they connect with social relations, gender, notions of agency, law, media and the state.The volume uses the metaphor of the shattered urn to tell the story of the accusations, punishment, rescue and the aftermath of the events of the trial of women accused of being witches. It situates the ṭonhī or witch as a key elaborating symbol that orders behaviour to determine who the socially included and excluded are in communities. Through the personal interviews and other ethnographic methods conducted over the course of many years, the author delves into the stories and practices related to witchcraft, its relations with modernity, and the relationship between violence and ideological norms in society.Insightful and detailed, this book will be of great interest to academics and researchers of anthropology, development studies, sociology, history, violence, gender studies, tribal studies and psychology. It will also be useful for readers in both historic and contemporary witchcraft practices as well as policy makers.

Over the last two decades, attempts to control the problem of tuberculosis have become increasingly more complex, as countries adopt and adapt to evolving global TB strategies. Significant funding has also increased apace, diagnostic possibilities have evolved, and greater attention is being paid to developing broader health systems. Against this background, this book examines tuberculosis control through an anthropological lens. Drawing on ethnographic case studies from China, India, Nepal, South Africa, Romania, Brazil, Ghana and France, the volume considers: the relationship between global and national policies and their unintended effects; the emergence and impact of introducing new diagnostics; the reliance on and use of statistical numbers for representing tuberculosis, and the politics of this; the impact of the disease on health workers, as well as patients; the rise of drug-resistant forms; and issues of attempted control. Together, the examples showcase the value of an anthropological understanding to demonstrate the broader bio-political and social dimensions of tuberculosis and attempts to deal with it.

Over the last two decades, attempts to control the problem of tuberculosis have become increasingly more complex, as countries adopt and adapt to evolving global TB strategies. Significant funding has also increased apace, diagnostic possibilities have evolved, and greater attention is being paid to developing broader health systems. Against this background, this book examines tuberculosis control through an anthropological lens. Drawing on ethnographic case studies from China, India, Nepal, South Africa, Romania, Brazil, Ghana and France, the volume considers: the relationship between global and national policies and their unintended effects; the emergence and impact of introducing new diagnostics; the reliance on and use of statistical numbers for representing tuberculosis, and the politics of this; the impact of the disease on health workers, as well as patients; the rise of drug-resistant forms; and issues of attempted control. Together, the examples showcase the value of an anthropological understanding to demonstrate the broader bio-political and social dimensions of tuberculosis and attempts to deal with it.

Learn how to live well with pain'An invaluable resource for all sufferers of chronic pain.' Christine Padesky, bestselling author of Mind Over MoodChronic pain can be extremely challenging in many ways, both physically and emotionally, yet it does not need to dominate your life. This guide is based on highly effective self-help methods developed by specialists and used in community and hospital pain management programmes. Your experience of pain is greatly reduced by pacing daily activities, reducing stress, learning relaxation techniques and effective ways to cope with depression, anxiety, worry, anger and frustration.This easy-to-follow book sets out:· Why pain can persist when there's no injury or disease present.· How to become fitter and pace your activities, progress valued goals.· Practical ways to improve sleep and relaxation, and lessen moods and unhelpful thinking patterns.· Ways to be more accepting and steadily create a life you value.Living Well self-help guides use clinically proven techniques to treat long-standing and disabling conditions, both psychological and physical.Series Editor: Professor Kate Harvey

Take control of your life, take control of your painChronic pain can be extremely debilitating; however, it does not need to dominate your life. This self-help book is based on highly effective self-help methods developed by specialists and used in community and hospital pain management programmes. Your experience of pain can be greatly reduced by pacing daily activities, reducing stress, learning relaxation techniques and effective ways to cope with depression, anxiety, worry, anger and frustration.This easy-to-follow book sets out:- Why pain can persist when there's no injury or disease present- How to become fitter and pace your activities- Practical ways to improve sleep and relaxation- Tips for returning to work, study and gaining a life you valueOvercoming self-help guides use clinically proven techniques to treat long-standing and disabling conditions, both psychological and physical.This book is recommended by the national Reading Well scheme for England delivered by The Reading Agency and the Society of Chief Librarians with funding from Arts Council England and Wellcome.

This book examines death’s changing topography in Britain, France, the US, sub-Saharan Africa, British India, Australia and elsewhere from the perspectives of history, anthropology, and literary studies. It illuminates the religious and civil rites of passage societies created and maintained to mark dying, death and the treatment of human remains at a time when large forces were transforming the world.The essays in this volume illustrate the ways in which power went to work in death’s realm during a period of severe dislocation associated with industrialization, urbanization and imperialism, and mass movements of people, both forced and free. They show how, between 1800 and 1920 in the west, certain people’s bodies were considered to be of more value than others, so while some were cared for and memorialized those who were socially disconnected and poor were vulnerable to being turned into objects of study or disposed of in paupers’ graves. Meanwhile, abroad, imperialists acted upon the belief that idealized western ways of dying and corpse disposal had most moral worth. In empire’s cause they interfered with others’ funerary and mortuary rituals, and deployed political and scientific theories to argue that high local mortality rates reflected a people’s own moral and material backwardness, and that the extinction of so-called savage races was inevitable rather than man-made.A Cultural History of Death is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available as hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a tangible reference for their shelves or as part of a fully-searchable digital library. The digital product is available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access via www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com . Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available in print or digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com .

YOUR HAPPIEST MEMORY IS THEIR DEADLIEST WEAPON‘Prophet is a blast’ Sunday Times‘Brilliant. Hypnotically enthralling… I loved it’ CHRIS WHITAKER***A mysterious eventAn all-American diner appears overnight in a remote British field. More and more objects materialise: toys, fairground rides, pets and other treasured mementos of the past.A weapon like no otherThe deaths quickly follow. A devastating weapon – Prophet – is bringing these memories to life, then stifling innocent people with their own joy. But nobody knows who created it, or why.A fight for the futureSunil Rao and Adam Rubenstein are tasked with investigating this strange new reality. After a troubled past together, they are drawn closer than ever to defend what they both hold most dear…***‘A fast-paced techno-thriller…immense fun’ Guardian‘A thrilling dystopian novel’ TIMEREADERS LOVE PROPHET:‘It’s a wild ride and I loved it!’‘What an amazing novel…totally compelling’‘An endlessly inventive sci-fi thriller’‘Thoroughly enjoyable…full of action, drama, sci-fi twists’‘Absolutely brilliant’

The fastest animal alive, the falcon deserves attention not just for the combination of speed, power, beauty and ferocity that have made it an object of fascination for thousands of years, but for the light it sheds on the cultures through which it has flown. This book, bridging science and cultural history, surveys the practical and symbolic uses of falcons in human culture in new and exciting ways.Bestselling natural history writer Helen Macdonald follows the movements of the falcon, her personal experience and knowledge of falconry enriching the history and lore of this bird of prey. She ranges across the globe and over many millennia, taking in natural history, myth and legend, falconry, science and conservation, and falcons in the military, in urban settings and the corporate world. Along the way we discover how falcons were mobilized in secret military projects, their links with espionage, the Third Reich and the space programme, and even how they have featured in erotic stories.Originally published in 2006, this new format edition features a new introduction. Combining in-depth practical, personal and scientific knowledge, Macdonald offers a fascinating account of the place of these birds in human history. Falcon is for lovers of the countryside, birdwatchers or anyone fascinated by these captivating birds.

The hawk was everything I wanted to be: solitary, self-possessed, free from grief, and numb to the hurts of human life.How do we carry on when someone close to us dies? Is it simply a case of putting one foot in front of the other in a bleak new world or do we need something more? Reeling with grief after the sudden death of her father, Helen Macdonald found herself turning to the wild for comfort. With breathtaking honesty and insight, she recounts her months spent taming a goshawk and how, finally, this strange kinship led her to the first tentative steps to recovery. Selected from H is for HawkVINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human.Discover the Vintage Minis ‘Head Space’ series:Therapy by Stephen GroszFamily by Mark Haddon

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