The book begins with Vidal detailing his early childhood. Vidal discusses the turbulent marriage of his parents as well as the political turmoil when Castro overthrew Batista. He details his close relationship with his two brothers, Roberto and Juan Antonio, and the family’s relatively comfortable life in Camaguey in the 1950s. In the early sections of the book Vidal also takes the reader through the early life of his parents and the beginnings of a turbulent marriage, detailing his mother’s depression and destructive behavior as well as his father’s excessive desire for success. Vidal remembers the first days of Castro’s regime: watching Castro ride through the streets of a nearby town on a tank and being lifted by his parents to touch Castro’s hand. After those early days though, Vidal recounts how his life drastically changed. He narrates how soon people began to live in fear of Castro’s army and his spies, some of whom where neighbors or close friends of the Vidal’s. In September 1961, Marta and Roberto took their three boys to Havana, Cuba, in order to send their sons to the United States for safety. The Vidal boys left communist Cuba on September 29, 1961 with other Cuban children seeking exile through Operation Pedro Pan. Upon arrival in Miami, the Vidal boys expected to be picked up by family members who had already escaped Cuba and were living in Miami, but when no one arrived the three were taken to a temporary housing camp. Eventually the boys were moved to Sacred Heart Orphanage in Pueblo, Colorado. En route to Colorado the boys met Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General at the time. In the span of two years, 10-year old Vidal had met two of the most influential men of the time. Vidal’s life at Sacred Heart Orphanage was plagued with fear of the harsh treatment of its caretaker and older boys, as well as the challenges of learning English and adjusting to the oddities of American culture. In their three years at Sacred Heart, the Vidal boys seemed to completely shed their Cuban heritage and become “real” Americans, even adopting the very American names “Bill,” “John,” and “Bob.” Not knowing when, if at all, their parents would ever escape Cuba to retrieve them, the boys adjusted as best they could to their new life in Pueblo. On April 11, 1964 the Vidal family was reunited after Marta and Roberto emigrated to Mexico and eventually the United States. The family relocated to Littleton, Colorado and then later moved into the city of Denver. Though free from the oppression and fear of Castro’s regime, the Vidal family faced innumerable challenges in their new lives in America. The family struggled financially and they were often the victims of hate and discrimination. Moreover, Marta and Roberto''s marriage had greatly deteriorated adding to their erratic behavior. Vidal recounts his adolescence as an extremely turbulent time. Despite domestic hardship the Vidal family was successful – each member of the family took classes at the University of Colorado at Denver. After receiving his degree in engineering Bill went on to work for the Colorado Department of Transportation. He married his high school sweetheart, Christine, and together they had a boy and adopted two girls. Though he flourished professionally Vidal continued to struggle with his relationship with his parents and eventually in his marriage as well. Eventually Bill and Christine divorced. Years later Vidal remarried Gabriela, a Chilean immigrant also working for CDOT. Vidal credits Gabriela with inspiring him to reconnect with his family and his heritage. It is she who encourages him to return to Cuba in 2001 to try to face and understand his past. The book ends with Vidal returning to his childhood home to try to make sense of his life, and how very different it would be if he had not left as a 10-year old boy.

Boxing For Cuba

There is no actual plot to the book, as it is a field guide, but it has several mini-stories within it as well as a tour around both the forest and lake camps of the Clans, guided by one of the warrior cats, and the ceremonies for different positions, as well as general guides. The beginning of the book tells the story of how the Clans came to be in the first place. This section describes that before the Clans it was every cat for themselves. Then the members of the dead come and visit the living cats, telling them to unite or die. Four cats named Thunder, Wind, River, and Shadow volunteered to be leaders of a single Clan, but they were so different that they became four different Clans. The tale forgets to mention a cat named Sky, but this was probably because Firestar''s Quest hadn''t been released yet. The section of the Cats in the Clans begins with the leader of the Clan at the time of publication saying something about their Clan, followed by a short fact file, a map and guided tour of both territories, a short story narrated by one of the cats, and the significant leaders and medicine cats of the Clan. In the case of StarClan, there is a brief guide as to what a cat must be to get into StarClan and the story of Snowfur, Bluestar''s sister. For the groups that cannot be classified as Clans (SkyClan not included), there is little more than a fact file featuring Clan character, habitat, their version of leader and deputy, and notable history, as well as a short story about it. There is also a quick guide to all of the loners, rogues, and kittypets featured in the Warriors series. This group of sections features a quick guide to both the habitats (forest and lake) of the Warrior cats, as well as Fourtrees, Highstones, the Moonpool, the Island, sun-drown-place, and a story of how the Moonstone was discovered. This section features what happens in the ceremony to initiate a new cat of a certain position, using a specific cat as an example, including how they felt about becoming that position. It also features all of Firestar''s nine lives and a guide to all of the medicine cat herbs. In this section, we learn that the Warriors have a small mythology featuring three Clans with wild cats: LionClan, TigerClan, and LeopardClan (actually cheetahs). There is the story of how LeopardClan won the river, how the snakes of Sunningrocks came to the forest, and how TigerClan got their stripes. There are general guides as well, such as a guide to the prophecies in the Warriors series and other, non-prey animals that inhabit their homes.

Secrets of the Clans

The setting is at a lakeside summer vacation house in Dutchess County, two hours north of New York City where eight gay friends spend the three major holiday weekends of one summer together for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day. The house belongs to Gregory, a successful Broadway choreographer now approaching middle age, who fears he is losing his creativity; and his twenty-something lover, Bobby, a legal assistant who''s blind. Each of the guests at their house is connected to Gregory’s work in one way or another - Arthur and longtime partner Perry are business consultants; John Jeckyll, a sour Englishman, is a dance accompanist; die-hard musical theater fanatic Buzz Hauser is a costume designer and the most stereotypically gay man in the group. Only John''s summer lover, Ramon, and John''s twin brother James are outside the circle of friends. But Ramon is outgoing and eventually makes a place for himself in the group, and James is such a gentle soul that he is quickly welcomed. Infidelity, flirtations, soul-searching, AIDS, truth-telling and skinny-dipping mix monumental questions about life and death with a wacky dress rehearsal for Swan Lake performed in drag.

Love! Valour! Compassion!

The handwritten will of a deceased world-traveller is strange and mysterious. Its instructions are to deliver "the valuable object to the rightful owner, a descendant of an Aztec warrior." What is the valuable object and where is it? What is the name of the owner and where is he? Frank and Joe Hardy have only one clue to work with: the name of a complete stranger who can help find the answers, Roberto Hermosa. Despite the harassments, the threats, and the attacks made upon them by an unknown, sinister gang, Frank and Joe unravel clue after clue in their adventure-packed search for the living descendant of the mighty Aztec nation which once ruled Mexico. The hunt leads to a marketplace in Mexico City, to the Pyramids at Teotihuacan, to the tombs of Oaxaca-where Chet Morton, the Hardy''s buddy, is nearly buried alive by foul play. It takes as much high courage as clever deduction for the young detectives to defeat their ruthless foes and to decipher the fascinating secrets of the strange and mysterious will.

The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior

The story follows the exploits of Chichikov, a gentleman of middling social class and position. Chichikov arrives in a small town and quickly tries to make a good name for himself by impressing the many petty officials of the town. Despite his limited funds, he spends extravagantly on the premise that a great show of wealth and power at the start will gain him the connections he needs to live easily in the future. He also hopes to befriend the town so that he can more easily carry out his bizarre and mysterious plan to acquire "dead souls." The government would tax the landowners on a regular basis, with the assessment based on how many serfs (or "souls") the landowner had on their records at the time of the collection. These records were determined by census, but censuses in this period were infrequent, far more so than the tax collection, so landowners would often find themselves in the position of paying taxes on serfs that were no longer living, yet were registered on the census to them, thus they were paying on "dead souls." It is these dead souls, manifested as property, that Chichikov seeks to purchase from people in the villages he visits; he merely tells the prospective sellers that he has a use for them, and that the sellers would be better off anyway, since selling them would relieve the present owners of a needless tax burden. Although the townspeople Chichikov comes across are gross caricatures, they are not flat stereotypes by any means. Instead, each is neurotically individual, combining the official failings that Gogol typically satirizes (greed, corruption, paranoia) with a curious set of personal quirks. Chichikov''s macabre mission to acquire "dead souls" is actually just another complicated scheme to inflate his social standing (essentially a 19th century Russian version of the ever-popular "get rich quick" scheme). He hopes to collect the legal ownership rights to dead serfs as a way of inflating his apparent wealth and power. Once he acquires enough dead souls, he will retire to a large farm and take out an enormous loan against them, finally acquiring the great wealth he desires. Setting off for the surrounding estates, Chichikov at first assumes that the ignorant provincials will be more than eager to give their dead souls up in exchange for a token payment. The task of collecting the rights to dead people proves difficult, however, due to the persistent greed, suspicion, and general distrust of the landowners. He still manages to acquire some 400 souls, and returns to the town to have the transactions recorded legally. Back in the town, Chichikov continues to be treated like a prince amongst the petty officials, and a celebration is thrown in honour of his purchases. Very suddenly, however, rumours flare up that the serfs he bought are all dead, and that he was planning to elope with the Governor''s daughter. In the confusion that ensues, the backwardness of the irrational, gossip-hungry townspeople is most delicately conveyed. Absurd suggestions come to light, such as the possibility that Chichikov is Napoleon in disguise or the notorious and retired ''Captain Kopeikin,'' who had lost an arm and a leg during a war. The now disgraced traveller is immediately ostracized from the company he had been enjoying and has no choice but to flee the town in disgrace. In the novel''s second section, Chichikov flees to another part of Russia and attempts to continue his venture. He tries to help the idle landowner Tentetnikov gain favor with General Betrishchev so that Tentetnikov may marry the general''s daughter, Ulinka. To do this, Chichikov agrees to visit many of Betrishchev''s relatives, beginning with Colonel Koshkaryov. From there Chichikov begins again to go from estate to estate, encountering eccentric and absurd characters all along the way. Eventually he purchases an estate from the destitute Khlobuyev but is arrested when he attempts to forge the will of Khlobuyev''s rich aunt. He is pardoned thanks to the intervention of the kindly Mourazov but is forced to flee the village. The novel ends mid-sentence with the prince who arranged Chichikov''s arrest giving a grand speech that rails against corruption in the Russian government.

Dead Souls

The events of the novel take place between 1946 and 1948, primarily on the Near Northwest Side of Chicago. The title character is Francis Majcinek, known as "Frankie Machine", a young man who is a gifted card dealer and an amateur drummer. While serving in World War II, Frankie is treated for shrapnel in his liver and medicated with morphine. He develops an addiction to the drug, although initially in the story he believes he can control his habit. Frankie lives in a small apartment on Division Street with his wife, Sophie (nicknamed "Zosh"). Sophie has been using a wheelchair since a drunk-driving accident caused by Frankie (although the novel implies that her paralysis is psychological in nature). She spends most of her time looking out the window and watching the nearby elevated rail line. She takes out her frustrations by fighting with her husband, and she uses his guilt to keep him from leaving her. The turmoil in their relationship only spurs on his addiction. He works nights dealing in backroom card games operated by "Zero" Schwiefka. He aspires to join the Musicians'' Union and work with jazz drummer Gene Krupa, but this dream never materializes. His constant companion and protégé is "Sparrow" Saltskin, a feeble-minded thief who specializes in stealing and selling dogs; Frankie gets Sparrow a job as a "steerer", watching the door to the card games and drawing in gamblers. Often referring to his drug habit as the "thirty-five-pound monkey on his back", Frankie initially tries to keep Sparrow and the others in the dark about it. He sends Sparrow away whenever he visits "Nifty Louie" Fomorowski, his supplier. One night, while fighting in a back stairwell, Frankie inadvertently kills Nifty Louie. He and Sparrow attempt to cover up his role in the murder. Meanwhile, Frankie begins an affair with a childhood friend, "Molly-O" Novotny, after her abusive husband is arrested. Molly helps Frankie fight his addiction, but they soon become separated when Frankie is imprisoned for shoplifting and she moves out of the neighborhood. Without Molly, he begins using drugs again when he is released. Nifty Louie owed money to politically connected men, and finding his killer becomes a priority for the police department. Sparrow is held for questioning by the police, and he is moved from station to station to circumvent Habeas corpus requirements. Eventually he breaks down and reveals what he knows, and Frankie is forced to flee. While on the run, Frankie manages to find Molly at a strip club near Lake Street. He hides in her apartment and beats his addiction, but in the end the authorities learn where he is hiding. He barely manages to escape and gets shot in the foot, leaving Molly behind. He flees to a flophouse, but without any hope of reuniting with Molly or staying free, he hangs himself in his room. The novel ends with a transcript of the coroner''s inquest, as well as a poem for Frankie entitled "Epitaph."

The Man with the Golden Arm

Life is not easy for any thirteen-year-old, but when your mother was a human and your father was a vampire, and they were both killed in a fire, it''s especially hard. The school bullies harass Vlad, the principal seems to have it in for him, and his dream girl, Meredith, seems to prefer his friend, Henry. Vlad''s mother''s long-time friend, Nelly, is raising him, and she understands his problems and helps him to hide the fact that he is a vampire and must have blood to survive. Vlad''s best friend, Henry is the only other person who knows his secret, and Vlad bit Henry once when they were eight years old, making Henry his drudge (someone who is forced to the will of a vampire). Vladimir has real rapport with one teacher, but that teacher has disappeared and no one knows where he is. Vlad and Henry are determined to find out what happened to him. But the substitute teacher begins to question Vlad too closely ... and there is just something strange about Mr. Otis. Vlad worries that Otis might suspect the truth. Then when Otis assigns Vampires as Vlad''s research project, and the teacher scribbles "I know your secret" across the bottom of his essay, he is really frightened. Vlad discovers his father''s journal and is learning about the reality of being a vampire and the powers that he may possess. He also becomes convinced that there is a Vampire slayer in town, and that he is searching for Vlad. Things go from bad to worse when Nelly invites Otis to dinner and he confronts Vlad with what he knows.

Eighth Grade Bites

When the novel opens Catherine has decided she can bear it no longer not to see her boys. Openly confessing that she is breaking her promise, she announces that she would like a reunion. In the meantime Cassius Clare has remarried and has had three more children by the second Mrs Clare: eight-year-old Henry, seven-year-old Megan, and Tobias, aged three. With the help of a head nurse, a nursemaid, and a governess, Flavia Clare has been a perfect mother to all five children, never drawing a line between her own flesh and blood and the two oldest children by her husband''s first marriage. But when Fabian and Guy learn about her natural mother''s plans, the biological bond proves to be stronger than any care that could be given them by their stepmother, and they want to meet her. Cassius Clare, in an awkward position of wanting to please each member of his family, agrees to Catherine''s wish, although right from the start it is clear to all members of the family that she will want to see her two sons on a regular basis once the first meeting has taken place. To Cassius Clare''s dismay, the two women get on astonishingly well with each other. Seemingly without a job which demands his time and attention, Clare feels neglected and soon starts pitying himself. This feeling is enhanced when, casually conversing with his sons, he realizes that they do not think highly of him either. For example, asked to say which people he likes best, 13 year-old Fabian comes up with the following list: (1) Catherine, his biological mother; (2) Guy, his brother; and (3) Flavia (whom he calls "Mater"), his stepmother&mdash;with his father altogether absent from the list. Similarly, three-year-old Tobias''s favourites turn out to be Catherine, Bennet, the head nurse; his sister Megan; and William, the middle-aged gardener. It seems Cassius Clare takes these pronouncements very seriously, in spite of their being uttered by children. His only comfort is his father, a man of over 70 who has moved in with his son''s family after his wife''s death and who is just waiting for his own. The one other person who seems to be close to him is Alfred Ainger, the 40-year-old butler. Clare actually discusses with his father how the family might react if he committed suicide and how the natural order of things would be turned upside down if he died before his own father. It never becomes quite clear whether this conversation is meant to be a cry for help. When people keep paying no attention whatsoever to him, Cassius Clare takes his father''s pills, ten of which taken together constitute a lethal dose. Clare, however, as a sort of "compromise", takes only four tablets, thus deceiving his family, who think he has really tried to kill himself. A doctor is called for, but he cannot do anything about Clare''s condition: the patient just has to wait until the effects of the drug wear off. Cassius Clare considers his scheme to have been at least partly successful when, unexpectedly, Tobias finds the phial with the remaining tablets, and, as there are more of them left than he has claimed, Clare''s "deceit" is discovered. Everybody, including the servants, are embarrassed that the head of the family is both weak and a liar, and after Clare''s speedy recovery he is appalled to find out that he is still not given the amount of love and attention he thinks he is entitled to. When, obviously only a few days later, Ainger finds him lying on the sofa in very much the same manner as during his faked suicide attempt, the butler does not do anything about it: he neither calls the doctor, nor does he inform Flavia about her husband''s state. When the family eventually do start worrying about Clare''s health the latter is already dead: now it turns out that, at the age of 52, he has had a heart attack (or something like that), that his life could have been saved but that he has just been left dying without any help. The remaining family members now realize that far-reaching changes will have to be made. Although they do not blame each other or themselves for Clare''s death, they all agree that the two women could not possibly go on living under the same roof and raising their five children together. Catherine is prepared to leave the house for good, but on condition that she can take her two sons with her if they wish to go. When Catherine puts the question to them, it is Fabian who spontaneously decides to go with his biological mother. Guy, on the other hand, would not want to leave "Mater", but his relationship to his older brother proves to be the stronger, and so he makes up his mind to go with him.

The Present and the Past

In The Cement Garden, the father of four children dies. His death is followed by the death of the children''s mother. In order to avoid being taken into foster care, the children hide their mother''s death from the outside world by encasing her corpse in cement in their basement. Two of the siblings, a teenage boy and girl, enter into an incestuous relationship, while the younger son starts to experiment with transvestism. The narrator is Jack (15), who has two sisters, Julie (17) and Sue (13), and one brother, Tom (6). When they were younger, Jack describes how he and Julie would play doctor with their younger sister, although he is aware that their version of the game occasionally broke boundaries. Jack then mentions how he longs to do the same to his older sister but it was not allowed. When Julie begins to date a man called Derek and invites him round to their house, Jack feels jealous and shows hostility towards him. Derek becomes more and more interested in what is hidden in their cellar but the children attempt to hide it from him. When a smell begins to emanate from down there, he helps to reclose the trunk their mother is hidden in. Tom eventually tells Jack that Derek has told him that their mother is down in the cellar. The story comes to a climax when Jack enters, apparently absent-mindedly, naked into Julie''s bedroom. Only Tom is there and he begins to talk to him about their parents. They fall asleep together, in Tom''s crib, naked because of the heat. Afterword, Julie enters and perhaps surprisingly, does not say much or show surprise on his nakedness, only to joke that ''It is big''. They sit on the bed and whilst talking, they become more and more intimate with each other. Julie encourages him to go on. Right at this point, Derek enters, remarks that he has seen it all and calls them ''sick''. When he is gone, they begin to have sex. A thudding noise can be heard and their sister, Sue, informs them that Derek is smashing up the concrete coffin. They begin to talk, remembering their mother, and after a while, they sleep, while police lights illuminate the room through the window.

The Cement Garden

A walk in the Black Forest for twins Jacob and Erin turns into an adventure through time when they meet Shadow, a red fox with an unusual set of talents. They are welcomed to his underground laboratory, Hora Cella, and witness the power of Nikola Tesla''s time travel device, the Wall of Light. On their first journey through the Wall of Light, they travel to Boston in 1775, to help Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty spread the word that British Redcoats are on the march. Shadow has discovered seven gaps in the story of Paul Revere''s midnight ride. If those gaps are not filled, the American Revolution may never be fought, and liberty as we know it will cease to exist. Travel through time with them and follow Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott, ordinary men who choose to act for the cause of liberty. Meet Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the leaders of the Sons of Liberty, as he sets the famous ride in motion. Watch Robert Newman and John Pulling as they attempt to place signal lanterns in the steeple of the Old North Church. But, look out for Pratt! If he has his way, you could become trapped in a time when King George III rules, and there is no liberty and justice for all.

Shadow Fox

The story takes the form of a quest exploring in allegorical fashion the qualities of youth, duty, self and heritage. Ywain, a knight bored with his administrative duties, abandons his estate to his younger brother and goes on a pilgrimage to seek his heart''s desire. Following a will-o''-the-wisp resembling a child, he is led to a hermit dwelling in the wilderness, under whose instruction he lives for a time. Afterwards his quest takes him to the city of Paladore (also the subject of a separate poem by Newbolt) and the lady Aithne, half-fae enchantress and daughter to Sir Ogier of Kerioc and the Sidhe-descended Lady Ailinn of Ireland, whom he woos and encounters on various occasions. In the course of his adventures he intervenes in the strife of the two warring Companies of the Tower and of the Eagle, afterward feasting with both in Paladore; he undertakes the Three Adventures, of the Chess, the Castle of Maidens, and the Howling Beast; visits the City of the Saints and the Lost Lands of the South; sojourns with Fauns; and has a vision of Paladore’s counterpart, the city of Aladore, which he afterwards seeks. After revisiting the hermit and Paladore, he achieves his objective, and he and Aithne are wed there. In a subsequent return to Paladore Ywain finds he has wearied of it, is mishandled by the Great Ones of the city, and is “excommunicate after the Custom of Paladore.” Wondering at the likeness and contrast of the two cities, he and Aithne wonder which is the more enduring, and test the question by building two sand castles on the shore. Ywain’s, built with his hands as a stand-in for Paladore, is swept away by the tide, while Aithne’s, created from a song in representation of Aladore, is preserved. They then return to the mortal city, and appear to perish in a final battle.

Aladore

Menger advanced his theory that the marginal utility of goods, rather than the labor inputs that went into making them, is the source of their value. This marginalist theory solved the diamond-water paradox that had been puzzling classical economists: the fact that mankind finds diamonds to be far more valuable than water although water is far more important. Menger stressed uncertainty in the making of economic decisions, rather than relying on "homo economicus" or the rational man who was fully informed of all circumstances impinging on his decisions. This was a deviation from classical and neoclassical economic thought. Menger asserted that such perfect knowledge never exists, and that therefore all economic activity implies risk. The entrepreneurs'' role was to collect and evaluate information and to act on those risks. Menger saw that time was the root of uncertainty within economics. As production takes time then producers have no certainty on the supply or demand for their product. Thus the price of the finished product bears no resemblance to the costs of production, since the two represent market conditions at very different points in time. The labour theory of value was the explanation that had been reached by Adam Smith among others, and the Marxist school of economics still relies on this theory. The Labour theory of value was that the value of an object was reliant on the labour that had gone into producing it, including any training or investment that supplemented the labour. According to Neo-Classical economists the Labour theory of value could not explain fluctuating values for different kinds of labour, nor did it explain how found goods could be more valuable than extracted goods. As the price of a commodity is the average cost of production, it includes the fact that a tiny proportion of commodities may be found, although finding goods is hardly typical of modern manufacturing processes. Marginal utility as the source of value meant that the perceived need for an object was seen to be dictating the value, on an individual rather than a general level. The implication was that the individual mind is the source of economic value. Although Menger accepted the marginal utility theory, he made deviations from the work of other neoclassical pioneers. Most importantly he fundamentally rejected the use of mathematical methods insisting that the function of economics was to investigate the essences rather than the specific quantities of economic phenomena.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Boxing For Cuba

No Author Listed

Secrets of the Clans

By Erin Hunter

Love! Valour! Compassion!

By Terrence McNally

The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior

By Franklin W. Dixon

Dead Souls

By Nikolai Gogol

The Man with the Golden Arm

By Nelson Algren

Eighth Grade Bites

By Heather Brewer

The Present and the Past

By Ivy Compton-Burnett

The Cement Garden

By Ian McEwan

Shadow Fox

No Author Listed

Aladore

By Henry Newbolt

Principles of Economics

No Author Listed