Best Selling Books by Rebecca West

The challenge of being a teacher educator in today’s shifting context and accountability climate is real. The Complex Work of Teacher Educators: Cases that Illustrate Teacher Educator Standards in Action provides concrete, contemporary examples of the ATE Standards from practicing teacher educators.

In these four brilliant short novels set in America, England and Paris, Rebecca West explores the lives and relationships of rich women and men who are ruled by "the harsh voice we hear when money talks, or hate." There is Josie, a flower of American girlhood whose boundless ambition for wealth fatally loosens the bonds of her marriage to Corrie. There is Etienne de Sevenac, a dilettante French aristocrat whose courtly stratagems are no match for Nancy Sarle--a plain but powerful American businesswoman. There is Alice Pemberton, a sensible Englishwoman--the very salt of the earth--but a petty tyrant in her gracious Georgian home. And lastly there is Sam Hartley, an American businessman who has fought his way to riches with his wife at his side, but whose life is now haunted by an abiding vision of beautiful young women. --Amazon.com.

In "Henry James," Rebecca West provides a penetrating study of the literary giant whose complex psychological landscapes and intricate narrative structures have significantly shaped modern literature. West''s prose melds critical analysis with personal insight, showcasing her sharp intellect and rich literary style. She masterfully situates James within the broader context of his time, exploring how his experiences as a transatlantic figure influenced his exploration of themes such as consciousness, morality, and the nuances of human relationships. This work not only illuminates James''s oeuvre but also engages with broader discussions about art and its relation to life, making it a seminal text in literary criticism. West, a prominent novelist, journalist, and literary critic, herself navigated the complexities of modernity and gender, which undoubtedly informed her perceptions of James. Her extensive background in literature and deep appreciation for psychological nuance allow her to draw connections between James''s intricate character studies and the societal shifts occurring during his lifetime. As a contemporary of modernist movements, West''s engagement with James''s work reflects her understanding of the challenges faced by artistic minds amidst rapid cultural change. This scholarly exploration is a must-read for anyone wishing to deepen their understanding of Henry James''s contributions to literature. West''s astute observations and elegant prose not only enhance the appreciation of James''s work but also invite readers to reflect on the broader implications of his narrative techniques. A blend of biography and literary criticism, "Henry James" is essential for students, scholars, and admirers of literature alike.

Mary en Rose is het tweede deel van de Aubrey-trilogie, die vertelt over de excentrieke, intellectuele familie Aubrey. Moeder Clare heeft door een slimmigheid wat geld verdiend en de familie Aubrey geniet nu van kleine luxes. De kinderen zijn opgegroeid tot tieners: de tweeling Mary en Rose zit op een muziekacademie in Londen en ontdekt een wereld aan muziekleraren en concertzalen, maar ervaart ook de onromantische hardheid van het leven als professioneel pianist. Hun broer, Richard Quin, lijkt voorbestemd voor literaire grootsheid in Oxford. Hun oudere zus Cordelia heeft haar artistieke ambities opgegeven om te trouwen en nicht Rosamund werkt als verpleegkundige. Maar als de Eerste Wereldoorlog uitbreekt en zijn donkere schaduw over de wereld werpt, worden alle zwaarbevochten zekerheden van de familie Aubrey aan het wankelen gebracht.

A thumbnail of the world in 1900.

Given the increasing diversity of the United States and students entering schools, the value of teacher learning in clinical contexts, and the need to elevate the profession, national organizations have been calling for a re-envisioning of teacher preparation that turns teacher education upside down. This change will require PK-12 schools and universities to partner in robust ways to create strong professional learning experiences for aspiring teachers. University faculty, in particular, will not only need to work?in?schools, but they will need to work?with?schools in the preparation of future teachers. This collaboration should promote greater equity and justice for our nation’s students. The purpose of this book is to support individuals in designing clinically based teacher preparation programs that place equity at the core. Drawing from the literature as well as our experiences in designing and coordinating award-winning teacher?education programs, we offer a vision for equity-centered, clinically based preparation that promotes powerful teacher professional learning and develops high-quality, equity-centered teachers for schools. The chapter topics include policy guidelines, partnerships, intentional clinical experiences, coherence, curriculum and coursework, university-based teacher educators, school-based teacher educators, teacher candidate supervision and evaluation, the role of research, and instructional leadership in teacher preparation. While the concepts we share are research-based and grounded in the empirical literature, our primary intention is for this book to be of practical use. We hope that by the time you finish reading, you will feel inspired and equipped to make change within your own program, your institution, and your local context. We begin each chapter with a “Before You Read” section that includes introductory activities or self-assessment questions to prompt reflection about the current state of your teacher preparation program. We also weave examples, a “Spotlight from Practice,” in the form of vignettes designed to spark your thinking for program improvement. Finally, we conclude each chapter with a section called “Exercises for Action,” which are questions or activities to help you (re)imagine and move toward action in the (re)design of your teacher preparation program. We hope that you will use the exercises by yourself, but perhaps more importantly, with others to stimulate conversations about how you can build upon what you are already doing well to make your program even better. Praise for (Re)Designing Programs: A Vision for Equity-Centered, Clinically Based Teacher Preparation: "Jennifer Jacobs and Rebecca West Burns’ book, “(Re)Designing Programs: A Vision for Equity-Centered, Clinically Based Teacher Preparation,” is a must-read for all teacher educators, especially those involved in the creation and/or direction of clinically based teacher education programs. Their text provides a roadmap for higher education and school-based teacher educators to collaboratively design a program that prepares teachers to meet the needs of future students. They not only redefine the terms and language we use within clinical practice programs but also encourage us to reflect upon how teachers should be prepared in an equity-centered, clinically based teacher education program. Their text deserves to be on the book shelves of all teacher educators." - D. John McIntyre

Rosamund is het derde en laatste deel van de Aubrey-trilogie, die vertelt over de excentrieke, intellectuele familie Aubrey. In de jaren na de Eerste Wereldoorlog reizen Mary en Rose, nu twee beroemde pianisten, door Amerika. Ze verblijven in de meest exclusieve hotels en worden als sterren ontvangen op feesten, waar champagne rijkelijk vloeit en de gasten charmant en bevoorrecht zijn. Maar luxe en succes zijn niet alles, want in deze wereld lijkt niemand echt liefde voor muziek te hebben. De oorlog heeft bij Mary en Rose diepe sporen achtergelaten en ze zijn niet in staat de kloof tussen heden en verleden te overbruggen. Als nicht Rosamund een plotse keuze maakt, moeten ze heroverwegen wat familie en liefde voor hen betekenen. In Rosamund volgen we hun pijnlijke reis naar emotionele en artistieke volwassenheid.

The gripping courtroom drama of a Brooklyn-born Englishman who became the voice of Nazi Germany, by “one of the most brilliant and erudite journalists of the century” (The New York Times). In 1945, The New Yorker commissioned star reporter Rebecca West to cover the London trial of William Joyce, who stood accused by the British government of aiding the Third Reich. Captured by British forces in Germany, Joyce was alleged to have hosted a radio program, Germany Calling, devoted to Nazi propaganda and calls for a British surrender. The legal case against Joyce (known as “Lord Haw-Haw” for his supposedly posh accent) proved to be tenuous and full of uncertainties. Yet each new piece of evidence added to West’s timeless portrait of a social reject who turned to the far right, who rose through the ranks without ever being liked, and who sought validation through a set of shared hatreds—of elites, of communists, and especially of Jews. As a work of psychological suspense, Rebecca West’s Radio Treason anticipates Truman Capote, Janet Malcolm, and Joan Didion at their best. As a study in political extremism, as Katie Roiphe writes in her foreword, “It is as if Lord Haw-Haw has been transported from her time into ours.”

Use your home as a tool to make better changes happen in your life. Through aligning your heart, home, and health, experience first-hand how small changes make a big difference. What does it take to be happy at home? It''s not about buying or not buying a new sofa. It''s about whether your home is working for you in the best way. Your home can directly improve your well-being and contentment with better health, sleep, and relationships, and ultimately decrease your stress levels to increase your all-round happiness. Design expert Rebecca West helps you to learn how to achieve a geographical cure without actually relocating and how to redecorate so you can feel best in your space. Along with beautiful photographs, there are a variety of self-assessment activities to connect your financial, emotional and physical health to your space to ensure it nurtures your vision – and while doing so, investing your time and money more effectively too. With the valuable advice in Happy Starts at Home, you can commit to a philosophy of buying fewer things and doing more to discover what''s holding you back, in order to find joy and create a home that makes you smile.

Congress regularly enacts laws that benefit particular groups or localities while imposing costs on everyone else. Sometimes, however, Congress breaks free of such parochial concerns and enacts bills that serve the general public, not just special interest groups. In this important and original book, R. Douglas Arnold offers a theory that explains not only why special interests frequently triumph but also why the general public sometimes wins. By showing how legislative leaders build coalitions for both types of programs, he illuminates recent legislative decisions in such areas as economic, tax, and energy policy. Arnold''s theory of policy making rests on a reinterpretation of the relationship between legislators'' actions and their constituents'' policy preferences. Most scholars explore the impact that citizens'' existing policy preferences have on legislators'' decisions. They ignore citizens who have no opinions because they assume that uninformed citizens cannot possibly affect legislators'' choices. Arnold examines the influence of citizens'' potential preferences, however, and argues that legislators also respond to these preferences in order to avoid future electoral problems. He shows how legislators estimate the political consequences of their voting decisions, taking into account both the existing preferences of attentive citizens and the potential preferences of inattentive citizens. He then analyzes how coalition leaders manipulate the legislative situation in order to make it attractive for legislators to support a general interest bill.

Unscrupulous politician meets woman who influences his career.

Els lluminosos anys vint van apagant-se, i ja s''albira la foscor de la Gran Depressió. La Mary i la Rose s''han convertit en pianistes d''èxit, i viatgen pels Estats Units, allotjant-se als hotels més exclusius i anant a les festes més selectes, on el xampany raja a dojo i on els convidats són d''allò més encantadors i fascinants. Totes dues germanes es troben immerses en un món de luxe extravagant i excessos, habitat per falsos filantrops, experts musicals que no passen d''un diletantisme del tot mediocre. Però el que de veritat impedeix a les dues germanes refer les seves vides és la desaparició de la seva mare i el seu estimat germà. La Rosamund, l''altre gran pilar, és a punt de desaparèixer en un matrimoni sòrdid i insípid. Cada vegada més la Rose i la Mary esdevenen el refugi de l''altra en un món estrany. La certesa d''aquesta vida que s''ha fet estranya farà que la Mary busqui refugi, cada cop més, en el seu interior; la Rose, en canvi, de manera sobtada, descobreix l''amor, i tot un món que li havia estat desconegut. Tercer i últim títol que tanca la trilogia de la família Aubrey, «d''una dels gegants de la literatura anglesa del segle xx», segons The New Yorker. «Un dels millors llibres del segle xx.» Alessandro Baricco «Un autèntic gegant del seu moment, tant pel que va escriure com pel que va representar.» Vanity Fair

In una casa signorile sulle colline inglesi Kitty e Jenny, come molte connazionali, attendono trepidanti il ritorno di un uomo. Il soldato Chris Baldry, marito di Kitty e cugino di Jenny, si trova «da qualche parte in Francia» a combattere. Nessuna delle due immagina che a varcare la soglia sarà un estraneo, un uomo segnato dalla guerra in maniera indelebile, illeso nel corpo ma dalla psiche martoriata. Insieme al ricordo delle granate e delle membra dilaniate di tanti commilitoni, il trentaseienne Chris ha rimosso gli ultimi quindici anni della propria vita: non rammenta nulla del matrimonio con l’aristocratica Kitty né della tragica perdita del loro figlio, avvenuta poco prima della guerra. I suoi ricordi si fermano alle estati della giovinezza nella casa di famiglia e al primo amore, quello per Margaret, la figlia di un fattore locale. È a lei che scrive annunciando il proprio ritorno imminente e, per un crudele scherzo del destino, è proprio da lei che Kitty e Jenny ricevono la notizia. Le due donne dovranno affrontare una scelta difficile: lasciare che Chris rimanga felicemente inconsapevole della sua vera vita o aiutarlo a richiamare alla memoria i traumi del passato. Il ritorno del soldato, dal quale fu tratto l’omonimo film del 1982, racconta la lotta di un uomo reduce dalla prima guerra mondiale e quella delle due donne che lo amano. Pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1918, l’esordio di Rebecca West, grazie al quale la critica la salutò come una delle scrittrici più promettenti del nuovo secolo, è uno straordinario romanzo sulla guerra e le sue conseguenze nella vita delle persone. «Senza mai cadere in facili sentimentalismi, Rebecca West ritrae il potere redentore dell’amore». Pat Barker «Ammaliante... probabilmente il suo romanzo migliore». «The Sunday Times» «Rebecca West è stata una dei giganti della letteratura inglese e vi avrà un posto per sempre. Nessuno in questo secolo ha usato una prosa più abbagliante, o ha avuto più spirito, o ha osservato le tortuosità del carattere umano e gli aspetti del mondo in maniera più intelligente». «The New Yorker»