The great, the good, and the very, very bad from Worcestershire’s past live again in this informative, lively and entertaining collection of more than 700 mini-biographies of county men and women from across the centuries.All of human life is here, from composers to conmen, from military men – and a woman – to medical pioneers and nineteenth-century manufacturers, from daring explorers to one of the great entertainers of the music hall era.The county can claim many more who were either born or lived here for a major part of their lives, who made their mark with colourful enterprise or diligent toil. All of them called Worcestershire home and their contribution to its rich and varied history is remembered here in this well-researched and engaging book.

This book re-examines the work of the Committee on Disaster Studies, Study #3, "Tornado in Worcester, Massachusetts: An Exploratory Study of Individual and Community Behaviors in an Extreme Situation" originally edited by Anthony F. C. Wallace, PhD. The review draws upon the primary source including the original interviews, maps and committee investigatory materials (included in their entirety and unabridged). Commentary is provided by End Notes - to enhance the material and to allow for a modern day understanding and comparison to the events described in the original report and subsequent commentary on disasters/studies. Included is a personal recount of the day of the storm and the following day's trip to the disaster city.

Over many centuries, the world has been gripped by warfare, and from this chaos there have risen many heroes and villains. This book takes a look at various individuals and their deeds, including the year and place of birth (wherever possible). Their ranks range from the lowliest Private soldier to Field Marshals. They have been decorated in some cases for their actions, and the student of history will be stunned to discover just how they acted. Some of these have included ancient leaders such as Emperors, and their various campaigns covered most of Europe and also the Middle East.

With contributions from Will Brooker, Jeffrey A. Brown, Scott Bukatman, John G. Cawelti, Peter Coogan, Jules Feiffer, Charles Hatfield, Henry Jenkins, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, Gerard Jones, Geoff Klock, Karin Kukkonen, Andy Medhurst, Adilifu Nama, Walter Ong, Lorrie Palmer, Richard Reynolds, Trina Robbins, Lillian Robinson, Roger B. Rollin, Gloria Steinem, Jennifer Stuller, Fredric Wertham, and Philip Wylie Despite their commercial appeal and cross-media reach, superheroes are only recently starting to attract sustained scholarly attention. This groundbreaking collection brings together essays and book excerpts by major writers on comics and popular culture. While superhero comics are a distinct and sometimes disdained branch of comics creation, they are integral to the development of the North American comic book and the history of the medium. For the past half-century, they have also been the one overwhelmingly dominant market genre. The sheer volume of superhero comics that have been published over the years is staggering. Major superhero universes constitute one of the most expansive storytelling canvases ever fashioned. Moreover, characters inhabiting these fictional universes are immensely influential, having achieved iconic recognition around the globe. Their images and adventures have shaped many other media, such as film, videogames, and even prose fiction. The primary aim of this reader is twofold: first, to collect in a single volume a sampling of the most sophisticated commentary on superheroes, and second, to bring into sharper focus the ways in which superheroes connect with larger social, cultural, literary, aesthetic, and historical themes that are of interest to a great many readers both in the academy and beyond.

The existential question facing the antebellum presidents was how to resolve the dichotomy between the freedoms guaranteed in the Declaration of Independence and the protection of slavery established by the Constitution. This work details how each president dealt with this issue. It then ranks the presidents on the sole criterion of their ability to recognize slavery as the critical threat to national unity, and to act decisively to end the evil and peacefully preserve the Union. The book ends with the beginning of the Civil War – the result of presidents’ efforts.

This collection of new essays focuses on The CW network's hit television series Arrow--based on DC Comic's Green Arrow--and its spin-offs The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl. Comic book adaptations have been big business for film studios since Superman (1978) and in recent years have dominated at the box office--five of the 11 highest grossing films of 2016 were adapted from comics. Superheroes have battled across the small screen for considerably longer, beginning with The Adventures of Superman (1952-1958), though with mixed results. The contributors explore the reasons behind Arrow's success, its representation of bodies, its portrayal of women, its shifting political ideologies, and audience reception and influence on storylines.

Anthony Poulton-Smith takes the reader on a fascinating A-Z tour of the haunted hotspots of Worcestershire. Contained within the pages of this book are strange tales of spectral sightings, active poltergeists and restless spirits appearing in streets, inns, churches, estates, public buildings and private homes across the area. They include tales from Worcester, Bewdley, Droitwich, Bromsgrove, Tenbury Wells and Stourport-on-Severn. This new collection of stories, a product of both historical accounts and numerous interviews conducted with local witnesses, is sure to appeal to all those intrigued by Worcestershire's haunted heritage.