The Triumph of Life was the last major work by Percy Bysshe Shelley before his death in 1822. The work was left unfinished. Shelley wrote the poem at Casa Magni in Lerici, Italy in the early summer of 1822. He modelled the poem, written in terza rima, on Petrarch's Trionfi and Dante's Divine Comedy. Shelley was working on the poem when he was accidentally drowned on 8 July 1822 during a storm on a voyage from Leghorn. The poem was first published in the collection Posthumous Poems (1824) published in London by John and Henry L. Hunt which was edited by his wife Mary Shelley, who emphasised the importance of the work. The theme of the poem is an exploration of the nature of being and reality. For Shelley, life itself, the "painted veil" which obscures and disguises the immortal spirit, is a more universal conqueror than love, death, fame, chastity, divinity, or time, and, in a dream vision, he sees this triumphal chariot pass, "on the storm of its own rushing splendour," over the captive multitude of men. Ultimately, natural life corrupts and triumphs over the spirit.

At a time when many people around the world are living into their tenth decade, the longest longitudinal study of human development ever undertaken offers some welcome news for the new old age: our lives continue to evolve in our later years, and often become more fulfilling than before. Begun in 1938, the Grant Study of Adult Development charted the physical and emotional health of over 200 men, starting with their undergraduate days. The now-classic Adaptation to Life reported on the men’s lives up to age 55 and helped us understand adult maturation. Now George Vaillant follows the men into their nineties, documenting for the first time what it is like to flourish far beyond conventional retirement. Reporting on all aspects of male life, including relationships, politics and religion, coping strategies, and alcohol use (its abuse being by far the greatest disruptor of health and happiness for the study’s subjects), Triumphs of Experience shares a number of surprising findings. For example, the people who do well in old age did not necessarily do so well in midlife, and vice versa. While the study confirms that recovery from a lousy childhood is possible, memories of a happy childhood are a lifelong source of strength. Marriages bring much more contentment after age 70, and physical aging after 80 is determined less by heredity than by habits formed prior to age 50. The credit for growing old with grace and vitality, it seems, goes more to ourselves than to our stellar genetic makeup.

A moving and inspirational true story of one woman’s life after fleeing the ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect featured in Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey—from the New York Times bestselling author of Escape “Triumph is thoughtful, intelligent, and engaging.”—Meg Wolitzer, bestselling author of The Interestings In 2003, Carolyn Jessop, a lifelong member of the extremist Mormon sect the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), gathered up her eight children, including her profoundly disabled four-year-old son, and escaped in the middle of the night to freedom. After detailing the shocking conditions of FLDS and her harrowing flight in her memoir, Escape, Carolyn reveled in her newfound identity as a bestselling author, a devoted mom, and a loving companion to the wonderful man in her life. She thought she had put her past firmly behind her. Then, on April 3, 2008, it came roaring back when the state of Texas, acting on a tip from a young girl who’d called a hotline alleging abuse, staged a surprise raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a sprawling, 1700-acre compound near Eldorado, Texas, where the jailed FLDS “prophet” Warren Jeffs had relocated his sect’s most “worthy” members three years earlier. The ranch was being run by Merril Jessop, Carolyn’s ex-husband and one of the cult’s most powerful leaders. As a mesmerized nation watched the crisis unfold, Carolyn was called upon as an expert to help authorities understand the customs and beliefs of the extremist religious sect. In Triumph, Carolyn tells the real, harrowing story behind the raid and sets the record straight on much of the damaging misinformation that flooded the media in its aftermath. She recounts the setbacks and the successes, all while weaving in details of her own life in the years since her escape—including her budding role as a social critic and her struggle to make peace with her eldest daughter’s heartbreaking decision to return to the cult. An extraordinary woman who has overcome countless challenges and tragedies in her life, Carolyn shows us in this book how she has triumphed in spite of everything—and how you can, too, no matter what adversity you face.

The contributors of Trials and Triumphs invite you to join them on a journey through trials to see the miracle of triumph. How can a person press on despite crippling illness, abusive relationships, the loss of a child, or even the confusion of homosexuality? Does God forget us at times, leaving us to muddle through life in a confusion of impossible pain? Or is He there, not just watching from afar, but guiding and supporting us right in the middle of the mess? Each story within these covers is one of a real person facing everyday challenges. In the "Coming to Faith" section, there are stories about discovering the need for a personal Savior. In the "Faith Under Fire" section, you will discover how God helped people through many problems. The honesty in these stories will give you teary eyes and goose bumps. Thanks to the authors of Trials and Triumphs, who have exposed their frailty, the reader will delight in their victories and intimate God-realizing moments. There is hope for the abused, the downtrodden, the confused, and those who suffer physical and emotional pain on a daily basis.

This book analyzes the economic challenges facing symphony orchestras and contrasts the experience of orchestras in the United States (where there is little direct government support) and abroad (where governments typically provide large direct subsidies). Robert J. Flanagan explains the tension between artistic excellence and financial jeopardy that confronts most symphony orchestras. He analyzes three complementary strategies for addressing orchestras' economic challenges—raising performance revenues, slowing the growth of performance expenses, and increasing nonperformance income—and demonstrates that none of the three strategies alone is likely to provide economic security for orchestras.

2018 Goodreads Choice Awards - Best Poetry Book Finalist Helium is the debut poetry collection by internet phenom Rudy Francisco, whose work has defined poetry for a generation of new readers. Rudy's poems and quotes have been viewed and shared millions of times as he has traveled the country and the world performing for sell-out crowds. Helium is filled with work that is simultaneously personal and political, blending love poems, self-reflection, and biting cultural critique on class, race and gender into an unforgettable whole. Ultimately, Rudy's work rises above the chaos to offer a fresh and positive perspective of shared humanity and beauty.