Bøger af Les Williams

The Kennedys rose from the slums of Boston to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the United States, but their journey had not been an easy one. Of Joe Kennedy's nine children, two were killed in plane crashes, two were assassinated in public office, one was institutionalised and one had his political career ruined by an accident that resulted in the death of a young campaign worker. These and other tragedies have given rise to the legend of the "Kennedy Curse," but this book aims to show that there was no curse at all. We look at each of these events in some detail and in context with one another and we see that they follow the simple rule of cause and effect. Most of the tragedies that have befallen the Kennedy family were borne out of Joseph Kennedy's obsessive desire for wealth and political power. He drove his children hard and many achieved great things, but they made a lot of dangerous enemies along the way. The Kennedys were raised to believe that they were better than anyone else and that the normal rules of life did not apply to them. They were ruthlessly ambitious and would stop at nothing to get what they wanted and they pursued Joe Kennedy's dream with the passion of a crusade. But there would be a heavy price to pay and old Joe could only look on as one after another of his precious children were either taken from him or ruined. He witnessed almost all of these tragic events as they unfolded and as he saw the pain and misery the family had endured, he must have wondered if it had all been worthwhile.

People make history in the place they call home. This book briefly describes the lives of twenty-nine Brummies, native and adopted, who shaped, influenced and made Birmingham the cosmopolitan city it has become today. In some cases, their impact was not only local, but national or global. Their lives are seen within the context of Birmingham's development from a Middle Age settlement in Deritend to Britain's second city. Virtually all are forgotten or barely known today. They include: John Rogers, martyred for his beliefs; James Brindley, father of the canals; William Hutton, Birmingham's historian; Joseph Priestley, who provoked a four day riot; Thomas Attwood, universal suffrage campaigner; Josiah Mason, big-hearted philanthropist; Peter Stanford, Birmingham's first black minister; Austen Chamberlain, overshadowed Nobel Prize winner and Hilda Lloyd, women's health care pioneer, along with twenty other Forgotten Brummies.