Author: Ryan Holiday File Type: epub In the tradition of Janet Malcolms THE JOURNALIST AND THE MURDERER and Robert Greenes THE 48 LAWS OF POWER, author Ryan Holiday examines the case that rocked the media world--and the billionaire mastermind behind it In 2007, a short blogpost on Valleywag, the Silicon Valley-vertical of Gawker Media, outed PayPal founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel as gay. Thiels sexuality had been known to close friends and family, but he didnt consider himself a public figure, and believed the information was private. This post would be the casus belli for a meticulously plotted conspiracy that would end nearly a decade later with a $140 million dollar judgment against Gawker, its bankruptcy and with Nick Denton, Gawkers CEO and founder, out of a job. Only later would the world learn that Gawkers demise was not incidental--it had been masterminded by Thiel. For years, Thiel had searched endlessly for a solution to what hed come to call the Gawker Problem. When an unmarked envelope delivered an illegally recorded sex tape of Hogan with his best friends wife, Gawker had seen the chance for millions of pageviews and to say the things that others were afraid to say. Thiel saw their publication of the tape as the opportunity he was looking for. He would come to pit Hogan against Gawker in a multi-year proxy war through the Florida legal system, while Gawker remained confidently convinced they would prevail as they had over so many other lawsuit--until it was too late. The verdict would stun the world and so would Peters ultimate unmasking as the man who had set it all in motion. Why had he done this? How had no one discovered it? What would this mean--for the First Amendment? For privacy? For culture? In Holidays masterful telling of this nearly unbelievable conspiracy, informed by interviews with all the key players, this case transcends the narrative of how one billionaire took down a media empire or the current state of the free press. Its a study in power, strategy, and one of the most wildly ambitious--and successful--secret plots in recent memory. Some will cheer Gawkers destruction and others will lament it, but after reading these pages--and seeing the access the author was given--no one will deny that there is something ruthless and brilliant about Peter Thiels shocking attempt to shake up the world. **

Author: Carl R. Holladay File Type: pdf Christian interpretation of the Bible is not a simpletask. While finding both its beginning and end in the theological claim that Scripture reveals to uswhat God has done in Christ,Christian interpretation demands much more. The interaction between believer and text is also conversation between reader and interpretive community, both ancient and modern. Theological interpretation entails close readingsof texts but also a close analysis of contextsthe social and political shapeof the Mediterranean worldas well as our own. Interpretation requires theinterweaving of theology, history,and literature. In Introduction to the New Testament Carl R. Holladay does just that. He roots each of the New Testaments twenty-seven writings in their historical, literary, and theological contexts. A true Reference Edition, Holladay provides thorough, detailed, and exacting overviews, background material, and textual analysis. Holladay leads readers to consider questions of canon, authority, and genre that shape the formation of the text and the texts formation of the identity, theology, and mission of the church today. ThisIntroductiondoes not leave its readers stranded in the first century it also intentionally connects the message of the New Testament to the issues facing its faithful readers today. No stone goes unturned and no issue unexaminedHolladaysIntroduction to the New Testamentis an essential text for any serious student of biblical interpretation. **

Author: Edward Burman File Type: epub A history of the famous Terracotta Army in Xian, China, exploring what we now know about it, what remains hidden, and the fascinating theories that surround its creation.Exciting investigations in northwest China are about to reveal more of the mysteries of the huge mausoleum of the Qin Emperor, a portion of which was accidently discovered in 1974 by farmers who were digging a well. The second phase of an international research project began in 2011 and is ongoing. More recently still, promising new excavations began in Pit 2, with exciting fresh discoveries already announced. The Terracotta Warriors seeks to examine one of Chinas most famous archaeological discoveries in light of these new findings. The book begins with the discovery of the terracotta warriors and then tells the history of the Qin Dynasty and as much as is known about the construction of the 3rd century bce mausoleum, based on the work of the historian Sima Qian (14590 bce). He wrote that the First Emperor was buried with palaces, towers, officials, valuable artifacts, and wondrous objects. According to this account, one hundred flowing rivers were simulated using mercury the ceiling was decorated with heavenly bodies, high above the features of the land. The new findings and the description of the mausoleum based on the quoted historical accounts suggest that the next discoveries may surpass the size and conception of the original discovery of the terracotta warriors. In the second part, Edward Burman asks Who built it and how? He also questions the role of the terracotta warriors, who may be servants and not warriors, and what their function may have been in the afterlife. Finally, he anticipates the ongoing discoveries and describes the new methods of excavation and preservation.

Author: Robert Paul Lamb File Type: pdf In The Hemingway Short Story A Study in Craft for Writers and Readers, Robert Paul Lamb delivers a dazzling analysis of the craft of this influential writer. Lamb scrutinizes a selection of Hemingways exemplary stories to illuminate the authors methods of construction and to show how craft criticism complements and enhances cultural literary studies. The Hemingway Short Story, the highly anticipated sequel to Lambs critically acclaimed Art Matters Hemingway, Craft, and the Creation of the Modern Short Story, reconciles the creative writers focus on art with the concerns of cultural critics, establishing the value that craft criticism holds for all readers.Beautifully written in clear and engaging prose, Lambs study presents close readings of representative Hemingway stories such as Soldiers Home, A Canary for One, God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen, and Big Two-Hearted River. Lambs examination of Indian Camp, for instance, explores not only its biographical contexts -- showing how details, incidents, and characters developed in the writers mind and notebook as he transmuted life into art -- but also its original, deleted opening and the final text of the story, uncovering otherwise unseen aspects of technique and new terrains of meaning. Lamb proves that a writer is not merely a site upon which cultural forces contend, but a professional in his or her craft who makes countless conscious decisions in creating a literary text.Revealing how the short story operates as a distinct literary genre, Lamb provides the meticulous readings that the form demands -- showing Hemingway practicing his craft, offering new inclusive interpretations of much debated stories, reevaluating critically neglected stories, analyzing how craft is inextricably entwined with a storys cultural representations, and demonstrating the many ways in which careful examinations of stories reward us.**