Plantation Walk

Plantation Walk is a mixed-use complex in Plantation, Florida, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. The complex includes the office tower, hotel and parking decks from the demolished Fashion Mall, a three-level shopping mall that opened in 1988 and closed in December 2006 following hurricane damage.
History.
Fashion Mall opened with Lord and Taylor as an anchor store in early 1988. Thereafter, Macy's opened in time for the busy 1988 Holiday shopping season before the rest of the mall was completed. The Lord and Taylor store closed in 2003, when the chain exited the state of Florida. After a series of sales, the property was acquired by U.S. Capital Holdings Group in 2004. The Macy's remained open until 2005, when Hurricane Wilma caused significant damage to the store; on 26 July 2006, Macy's announced it was permanently closing the Fashion Mall store.
Leadup to closure.
After Lord & Taylor and Macy's closed, the occupancy dwindled to fewer than 20 stores. Adding to the center's woes was the hurricane damage and an agreement signed by the previous owners with the city of Plantation, agreeing to install upgrades to the mall's fire safety systems. While U.S. Capital Holdings Group considered plans to repair and renovate the property, the city pressed to have the upgrades installed, since the deficiencies had been noted since 2003 unbeknownst to the owner and it was claimed that nothing had been done to remediate them.
After a number of discussions between the city and the owner, the cost to remedy the city's requirements was considered excessive and unwarranted by the new owner, unless part of the total mall renovation. Without an amicable resolution, the city informed the mall's tenants that they would be required to vacate their locations in the mall by October 15, 2007, and that any occupational licenses held by tenants of the center were revoked.
Redevelopment.
On 25 January 2007, U.S. Capital announced plans to develop the project into a mixed-use lifestyle destination, named 321 North (for its address on University Drive). The plan calls for a significant portion of the mall structure to be demolished, and the retail portion to be reconfigured to street-front stores. The company received site plan approval in November 2008 and began renovations. However, the recession that took full effect in South Florida in late 2008 and 2009 brought the project to a halt. Through 2010 and 2011, legal issues plagued the mall. However, under the auspices of a Chapter 11 restructure in late 2012, ownership was ready to move forward again.
Current status.
US Capital Holdings Group is moving forward with plans to transform the former Fashion Mall into the only true mixed-use lifestyle destination in west Broward County, integrating retail, office, and residential components synergistically into one project. The 1.5 million-square-foot project will feature a diverse range of retail, dining, entertainment and cultural experiences, as well as office rental opportunities and a self-contained residential community.
In the first phase, the existing office building will be renovated and reconfigured with new state-of-the-art technology and improvements to the common areas and adjacent, covered parking deck. Tenant installations will follow and are anticipated to be completed second quarter 2015.
In following phases, residential towers are planned and much of the former Fashion Mall will be torn down as U.S. Capital converts the retail space from an enclosed environment into spaces that have primary frontage and visibility to University Drive. More office space and improved parking are planned, along with new landscaping. In anticipation of the changes, the company purchased Merritt Flower Shop.
In May 2014, the majority owner, Chinese company Tangshan Ganglu Iron & Steel Co., accused project manager and minority owner Wei Chen of misappropriating $48.7 million of its funds.
In October 2014, The developers of the Fashion Mall in Plantation voluntarily filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy will place the mall in the hands of professional fiduciaries. It is unknown whether this will delay the redevelopment.
In 2016, Fashion Mall was demolished, leaving only the Sheraton Suites hotel, the office tower, and the parking decks. In 2017, plans were announced for a new mixed-use complex on the site, named Plantation Walk. The complex will contain the 160,000 existing office tower, and the Sheraton Suites, both of which are being remodeled. In addition, 700 apartments and 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurants will be constructed.


Lake Force

Lake Force (or Lakeforce) was a unit of the British Army stationed in the Uganda Protectorate on the west coast of Lake Victoria under the command of Brigadier-General Sir Charles Crewe in 1916, during the East African campaign of the First World War (1914–18). It consisted of 2,800 soldiers and 10,000 porters. In May 1916, Lake Force sent 5,000 porters and 100 oxwagons to serve with their allies, the "Force publique" of the Belgian Congo under Charles Tombeur. The Uganda Native Medical Corps (UNMC) served with both units.
Lake Force cooperated with the Belgians during the Tabora Offensive in German East Africa, usually subordinating their own desires to Belgian. The initial British objective was Mwanza, which fell on 14 July 1916. Over 40,000 loads were stockpiled there by 19 September, but Mwanza's value as a base was minimized by lack of porters to carry them southwards. Lake Force's logistics problems were severe. The area south of Mwanza was waterless and completely stripped of resources by the Germans. On 28 August, Lake Force captured Shinyanga without fighting. A letter by Crewe intended for Lieutenant-Colonel Philippe François Joseph Molitor, commander of the Northern Brigade, and stating that the British assault on Tabora would begin on 19 September was on the 16th intercepted by the Germans, who then abandoned the town on the night of 18–19 September. The Belgians occupied it the next day, and Lake Force camped outside it to the east. On 3 October, after the Allies had established control of the African Great Lakes region, Lake Force was disbanded. Some of its Ugandan medics were sent to serve with the Uganda Field Ambulance in the 4th battalion of the King's African Rifles.


Media Play

Media Play was a chain of retail stores founded in 1992 by Musicland that sold VHS, DVDs, music, electronics, toys, video games, anime, books, and board games similar to Hastings Entertainment, 2nd and Charles, and Half Price Books. Each store contained full book, movie, music, and video game sections under one roof. At their height, they operated 72 stores in 19 states with 2,000 employees. The first store opened in Rockford, Illinois, in 1992. Hundreds of stores were slated to be opened, but only 89 ever were. Media Play opened stores from 1992 to 2000.
Their Replay program was a loyalty program that allowed members to earn points for purchases which could earn members gift certificates. The same Replay card also worked at Sam Goody and Suncoast Motion Picture Company stores.
In 2001, Musicland was purchased by Best Buy Co. Inc. for $696 million as part of its initiative to diversify its retail holdings to reach a larger demographic with its consumer electronics and entertainment products. By then, Musicland numbered over 1300 stores. Their intention was to transform Sam Goody into a destination for young people looking for hip electronics. They launched a major remerchandising campaign and converted Musicland's On Cue concept of rural stores to the Sam Goody brand, reducing its position in books and moving more into video games and DVD.
Downfall.
The store faced strong competition, particularly from websites like Amazon.com, which was founded in 1994 and provided a wider selection than the store-based Media Play. Therefore, despite Best Buy's major efforts, they failed to generate the results they were looking for with Musicland, losing $85 million in 2002. As a result, they put the company up for sale and were likely just weeks away from liquidating the entire chain when they found a buyer in Sun Capital Partners of Boca Raton, Florida. Sun Capital Partners acquired the company in a cash-free transaction in exchange for acquiring Musicland's debt and leases. Sun Capital attempted to get the company back to basics, but in December 2005 they announced the closure and liquidation of all remaining Media Play stores.
In December 2005, Minnetonka, Minnesota–based Musicland Group, which owned Media Play, announced it would close all 61 stores by the end of January 2006 and refocus on its Sam Goody and Suncoast chains.
Media Play had been unprofitable for a number of years. In late 2005, it increased its advertising and sales promotions, but that did not work. It is thought that the unprofitability, caused by competition from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and online retailers such as Amazon.com, was the major factor in the decision to close the retail chain.
Bankruptcy.
The Musicland Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2006, and in February announced the closing of 226 Sam Goody and 115 Suncoast Motion Picture Company stores, and all Media Play locations. Just months after the chain closed, the website MediaPlay.com was all that remained. In February 2006, Trans World Entertainment Corp. acquired the Musicland Group, which owned Sam Goody, Suncoast, and MediaPlay.com. Some former Media Play stores became home to f.y.e. superstores beginning in June 2006.


The Limited

The Limited was an American online clothing retailer that operated retail stores between the middle 1960s and the middle 2000s. After 2007, it became a brand, originally owned by the private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, now owned by another private equity firm Sycamore Partners. In January 2017 The Limited shut down all of its 250 stores, laid off 4,000 workers and filed for bankruptcy.
History.
Bella Cabakoff was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and moved to Columbus, Ohio as a toddler. At 21, she became the youngest buyer for the Lazarus department store chain. In 1951, after spending over 20 years with Lazarus, she and her husband Harry Wexner opened a women's clothing store named Leslie's (after their son) on State Street. This store became the training ground for Leslie Wexner. In 1963, he borrowed $5,000 from his aunt and $5,000 from the bank and opened a store at the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington. This store was named "The Limited" because the store focused on clothing for younger women, unlike his parents' general merchandise store. Later in 1964, Bella and Harry closed their store to join their son in his venture.
The original board consisted of only the three family members and longtime friend of Harry and Bella, Jim Waldron (who served as senior vice president): Bella Wexner (who served as secretary until her death in 2001), Harry as chairman (who served until his death in 1975), and Leslie, who succeeded his father as the chairman and later became CEO. He and his family continue to control 17% of LTD. In 1969, Wexner took Limited Brands public, listed as LTD on the NYSE. In 1977, The Limited moved into its main headquarters on Morse Road in Columbus. In 2009, most headquarters operations moved to New Albany, Ohio.
The 1980s started a string of acquisitions: In 1982, the Victoria's Secret brand, store, and catalogue were purchased from Roy Raymond for $1 million. Also in 1982, 207 Lane Bryant stores were purchased. In 1985, the exclusive Henri Bendel store on Fifth Avenue in New York City was purchased for $10 million and 798 Lerner stores for $297 million. Finally, in 1988, 25 Abercrombie & Fitch stores were purchased for $46 million. The Limited then ended its ownership of the A&F brand in 1996, when it was spun off into a publicly traded company. In 1980, Limited founded Limited Express, later known simply as Express.
The 1990s included the initial development of the Limited Too (which was renamed Justice in 2008), Bath & Body Works, Structure, and Victoria's Secret Beauty. Galyan's, a sporting goods store, was also purchased. Later in 1998, several Bath & Body Works stores were converted to The White Barn Candle Company stores to begin a home fragrance brand.
On August 3, 2007, Limited Brands transferred 75% ownership of its flagship Limited chain to buyout firm Sun Capital Partners Inc. In 2010, the remaining shares were sold to Sun Capital Partners Inc.
In 2013, Diane Ellis, president and chief operating officer of Brooks Brothers, became the CEO of The Limited. In October 2016, she then left The Limited to join Chico's leaving CFO John Buell to serve as interim CEO.
At the end of 2016, The Limited laid off a significant portion of its corporate workforce and women's fashion brand Altar'd State announced John Buell would be joining their team as CFO. As of the end of 2016, The Limited stores began selling inventory at significant discounts, with some news outlets reporting financial troubles for the chain. In January 2017, The Limited announced that it would be closing all 250 of its stores, cutting 4,000 jobs. At the time of this announcement, the company said it would continue to sell apparel online. On January 17, The Limited announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In February 2017, the brand was purchased by Sycamore Partners. Belk, Inc., a Southern department store in the Sycamore portfolio, became the exclusive distributor for The Limited in September 2017. The Limited products were again available for purchase through Belk online in October 2017 and via The Limited brand online.


Immanuel Ness

Immanuel Ness is a scholar of worker's organisation, mobilisation and politics and labour activist teaching at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. His work has resulted in multiple stays abroad, primarily in North America, Asia, and Africa.
His research focuses on worker's movements and party formation in the Global South. In 1990, he founded the New York Unemployed Committee. He is author and editor of numerous articles and academic and popular books on labour, worker insurgencies and trade unions. Notably, he worked with Mexican workers, unions, and community organizations in New York City to establish a Code of Conduct for migrant laborers in 2001 who were paid below minimum wage.
Published work.
Ness is editor of the Journal of Labor and Society. The Journal of Labor and Society, "LANDS" in short, is a quarterly peer-review social science publication founded in 1997 that examines global political economy, imperialism, workers and labor organisations, and assesses transformative social movements. LANDS editorial board includes scholars in academia and activists in labour movements throughout the world, including Samir Amin and Amiya Kumar Bagchi. Ness is general editor of the eight-volume "Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to the Present", "Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration", and the "Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism", published from 2009 to 2016. His research primarily concerns the situation and politics of the international working class and, more generally, "the poor", as well as low-wage labour or contractual and informal workers, particularly in the Global South.
His works include "Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class" (Pluto 2015) "Immigrants, Unions and the New U.S. Labor Market" (Temple University Press 1995) and "Guest Workers and U.S. Corporate Despotism" (University of Illinois Press 2011). His numerous editing projects include the "Encyclopedia of American Social Movements (M.E Sharpe)." The four volume work was recipient of the American Library Association, Best Reference Source.
In 2011, he co-edited "Ours to Master and to Own: Workers Councils from the Commune to the Present" (Haymarket Books 2011/Neuer ISP Verlag 2013). The volume covers 22 case histories of factory occupations and workers' councils over the past 150 years. His publications appear in English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Chinese, and Japanese. Ness is general editor of "Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration" (Wiley Blackwell 2013), a 5-volume examination of human mobility from prehistory to the present. In 2014, Ness authored a book titled "Southern Insurgency: the Rise of the Global Working Class."
Practice and Theory.
He was a trade union organiser and labour activist from 1989 to 2011. During this period, he learned to advocate on behalf of disconnected jobless workers to organize their own association directly at New York State unemployed offices. In 1990, he co-founded the New York Unemployed Committee (1990–1993), which successfully organised jobless workers at New York State unemployment centers to press for federal unemployment benefit extensions through public protests and demonstrations directed at national and state elected officials, in many cases, often members of the Democratic Party who had surrendered to Republicans during the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Rallies were held in New York City, and with other jobless organizations in Washington, DC, and Kennebunkport, Maine, vacation home of Bush in August 1991.
Fordism, Post-Fordism and Community labor coalition.
Ness' work is rooted in understanding production and manufacturing as essential to understanding the labour movement and capitalism. Fordism is viewed as an exceptional period which is not the norm; rather the dispersal of industry has pushed the development of contractors and dispersed work sites. In this way, in 1998, he co-founded the Lower East Side Community Labor Coalition in New York City with Michael Farrin, Cèsar Ayala and members of progressive and leftist local groups, which mobilised low-wage workers with support of UNITE Local 169, a labor union in the neighborhood that was previously affiliated with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. The campaign expanded into a successful effort to mobilise Mexican and Latino immigrant workers along with Mexican workers and the Mexican American Workers Association (AMAT), a workers' center in New York. He helped organise large Mayday demonstrations in New York City, centered around authentic-worker led mobilizations for immigrant rights from 1999 to 2001, often culminating in mass arrests of street theatre and protests by New York City police, setting a precedent of immigrant leadership and participation in the US organisation of the annual worldwide labour holiday. In 2002, when the greengrocer workers campaign ended as part of a trade union brokered deal between two rival unions, Ness vocally opposed the bureaucratic arrangement, and became disenchanted with the failure of established and traditional labour unions to defend worker interests at a time when the power of immigrant workers were at a peak in New York. At the time he also withdrawn and criticised progressive local Democratic Party operatives for their entrance into mainstream politics, and failure to move beyond conventional electoral politics to community-based organizing.
Working class spontaneity and Marxism–Leninism.
In 2000, his research became more critical of traditional unions, and he began to participate in advancing rank-and-file self-activity outside of traditional structures through new forms of autonomist Marxist unions. His advocacy included solidarity efforts with new and independent unions that had few or limited links to trade union centers and affiliates. His work included support for unions where workers had formed parallel structures of representation in the U.S. and in other countries. Much of his organising since 2010 has focused on a rejection of utopian and idealist notions propounded by social democrats and other leftists and applying classical Marxism to ongoing struggles, re-conceptualisation of the nature of the working class as a social force, and supporting the formation of building disciplined workers parties, both accountable to mass workers.
Publications 1995 to 2012.
As he initiated a campaign in New York city to advance the rights of the most exploited migrant workers, his scholarly output also centered on the immigrant workers. He is completing the co-authored work: "Migration in a World of Inequality" (Monthly Review Press 2014). Ness is also writing on working class self-activity, labour migration, anarcho-syndicalism, workers' councils and cooperatives and new forms of worker organization in the United States, Caribbean, Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and Europe. He is researching independent workers organisations and documenting mobilizations outside of traditional labour models—including efforts to organise autonomous and syndicalist unions outside traditional labour jurisdictions, anti-capitalism, and opposition to global neoliberal governance. He is currently on the advisory board of the New York City Network on Worker Cooperatives. He has collaborated on projects on migration, film, and working class studies, and imperialism including a special issues of "Crossings" and a major comprehensive work titled: "Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism" (forthcoming 2014).


Bonds of Norwich

Bonds of Norwich was a department store based in All Saints Green, Norwich, England. John Lewis Partnership purchased the business in 1982. The store was renamed John Lewis in 2001.
Early history.
Bonds was established in February 1879 by Robert Herne Bond when he took over Woodlands drapery shop at the end of Ber Street. Robert was the son of a farmer, but first started working as a grocer in London, before learning the drapery trade with his brother James in Chelmsford. Bonds in Chelmsford would become a department store in its own right and was bought by Debenhams prior to the Second World War.
The drapery business was very competitive with nearly 90 businesses in Norwich alone. To get noticed Robert Bond advertised on the front of the Norwich Mercury newspaper a Grand Sale, selling the stock of the previous owners at heavily discounted prices. In 1881, Robert and his wife Mary were living above the premises with five of their staff, including a millinery assistant who helped Mary Bond set up Department No 1. The business expanded buying up two of the adjacent properties, and by 1903 Robert's two sons William and Ernest joined the business. The company name was changed to R H Bond & Sons. The third son James Owen Bond became an architect - his firm The Owen Bond Partnership exists today and designed the 1938 store extension.
Twentieth century.
In 1924, Robert Bond died. He was succeeded as Chairman by William. The store was rebuilt with frontages on Ber Street and All Saints Green, with an arcade running in between in 1914. In the 1930s the store expanded by buying the Thatched Cinema on All Saints Green and using it as a restaurant and offices.
In 1938 23-25 All Saints Green became available, and a new extension was added. However, the buildings were damaged during the war with the Thatched Cinema being burned down. The store continued by using empty properties in Norwich.
The store was almost completely burnt down in the Baedeker Blitz (or Baedeker Raids) on 27 and 28 April 1942. The current owner, Ernest Bond, was in business again within three days of the bombing, selling what he could salvage from his damaged stock. He took possession of a fleet of damaged and disused buses using them as shops. They were put in the store's car park where they also set up a makeshift restaurant in an old corrugated iron building.
After the war, Robert Owen Bond, working in his fathers Owen Bond practice designed the new store which was completed in 1951.
The business grew after the war, buying Green in Haymarket and Cluttens in East Dereham.
During the 1970s, however, trade steadily deteriorated.
Chief Executive, Nicholas Hinde, left the business in 1979, taking the East Dereham store. A modernisation project and the addition of a further 14,000 square feet of selling space was completed in the same year in an attempt to turn the business around.
Changes at the Norwich store failed to arrest the decline in the company's fortunes, however, with operating losses since 1978 culminating in the sale of the company in 1982.
The John Lewis Partnership bought the business for a fee said to be £1 million.
The store continued to trade as Bonds until 2001 when the John Lewis name was adopted.


Indio Fashion Mall

Indio Fashion Mall was a shopping mall in Indio, California, currently the site of the Indio Grand Marketplace.
Indio Fashion Mall opened on February 24, 1975. A Harris Company department store and a Sears anchored the mall which had 40 other mall shops. The mall had of retail space on a parcel.
Decline.
The Sears store closed in 2004 (relocated to Westfield Palm Desert mall) and the Harris-Gottschalks in 2009.
By 2017, 70% of the storefronts in the mall were empty. On February 28, 2018, Los Angeles-based developer Haagen Company purchased the mall and its lot with the intention of eventual redevelopment.
Current status.
The building is now called Indio Grand Marketplace and is an indoor swap meet, consisting of lower-end independent retailers and food outlets.
Redevelopment plans.
The owner has plans to demolish the existing mall building and build a mixed-use development to cover the lot as well as an additional adjacent 20-acre parcel. It is to house retailers, casual dining and entertainment; up to 400 new residential units; and a hotel or other "hospitality element".


Encore Books

Encore Books was a regional chain of bookstores based in the eastern United States until its closure in 1999.
Founding.
Encore Books was started by David Schlessinger, who went on to found the Zany Brainy and Five Below retail chains. It enjoyed a prosperous early life and was sold to the Rite Aid Corporation, which later spun the company off.
Troubles.
By the time of its closure, the 50 Encore Books locations were owned by Lauriat's, a 127-year-old company based in Canton, Massachusetts. Problems were legion in the company's final years. A leveraged buyout, rapid expansion, and difficulty working with publishers due to competition from Borders and Barnes & Noble had forced the company into bankruptcy. Lauriat's had already gone through a round of store closings by the time the closure of the entire chain was announced. In 1999, the company closed the 71 stores that operated under the Lauriat's, Book Corner and Encore names.
Stores.
Most Encore Books locations were small operations, similar to the B. Dalton and Waldenbooks stores popular in the 1970s and 1980s. However, the company operated two large stores, dubbed Encore Books and Music—complete with a music section, plush chairs, and a coffee shop—in Princeton, New Jersey, and Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Its two other largest stores operated in State College, Pennsylvania, and Bridgehampton, New York. It operated a smaller, but very successful store on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia throughout the 1970s and 1980s.


Richard Hart (Jamaican politician)

Richard Hart (13 August 1917 – 21 December 2013) was a Jamaican historian, solicitor and politician. He was a founding member of the People's National Party (PNP) and one of the pioneers of Marxism in Jamaica. He played an important role in Jamaican politics in the years leading up to Independence in 1962. He subsequently was based in Guyana for two years, before relocating to London in 1965, working as a solicitor and co-founding the campaigning organisation Caribbean Labour Solidarity. He went on to serve as attorney-general in Grenada under the People's Revolutionary Government in 1983. He spent the latter years of his life in the UK, where he died in Bristol.
Hart was the author of several notable books on Caribbean history – including "Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour and Economic Developments in Jamaica 1939–1945" (1999), "Slaves who Abolished Slavery: Blacks in Rebellion" (2002) and "The Grenada Revolution: Setting the Record Straight" (2005) – and he lectured on the subject at universities in the West Indies, the US, Canada and Europe. Professor Rupert Lewis of the University of the West Indies' Mona campus once described Hart as "the most consistent Caribbean activist".
Life.
Richard Hart was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 13 August 1917, of mixed heritage that included Sephardic Jewish and African. He was the son of Ansell Hart, a Jamaican solicitor and author of a 1972 historical study of George William Gordon. Hart was educated in Jamaica and in England, where he was sent to boarding-school at Denstone College in Staffordshire.
He returned to Jamaica in 1937, and became a founding member of the People's National Party (PNP) in 1938; he was on the party's Executive Committee from 1941 to 1952. He had the responsibility of drafting a model trade union constitution as a member of Norman Manley's 1938 Labour Committee assisting Alexander Bustamante in the formation of a trade union, and in 1940 was arrested for organising a demonstration demanding Bustamante's release from prison. Hart sat the English Law Society examinations in Jamaica, qualifying as a solicitor in 1941. In 1942 he was imprisoned without trial by the British colonial government for his political activities.
In 1954, Hart – who self-identified as a Marxist – was one of four PNP members who were expelled from the PNP for their (alleged) communist views. The other three members were Frank Hill, Ken Hill and Arthur Henry, and they were collectively referred to as "the four Hs". Hart was also very active in the trade union movement in Jamaica in the 1940s and 1950s, and worked as a member of the Executive Committee of the Trade Union Council from 1946 to 1948. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Caribbean Labour Congress from 1945 to 1946 and Assistant Secretary from 1947 to 1953.
Believing in the importance of popular education to empower people and raise the level of political consciousness in the community – to which his first book, "The Origin and Development of the People of Jamaica" (1952), was dedicated – Hart helped establish the People's Educational Organisation (PEO), which organized a bookshop and held meetings and debates, including on the type of political party that was needed. Together with other radical thinkers and activists he then formed the People's Freedom Movement (which was later renamed the Socialist Party of Jamaica). The party disbanded in 1962.
Guyana.
After the demise of the People's Freedom Movement, Hart moved to Guyana, where he worked as the editor of "The Mirror" newspaper, which supported the views of Cheddi Jagan, from 1963 to 1965. While in Guyana, Hart also undertook research into the history and culture of the Arawak people, making many visits to Amerindian communities in the interior. After returning to the UK Hart initiated a correspondence with Canon John P. Bennett – the first Arawak priest to be ordained as an Anglican priest – and worked to assist in the writing and publication of an Arawak-English Dictionary. The letters exchanged between Hart and Bennett would eventually be published in 1991, in a book entitled "Kabethechino" ("Close Friends"), edited by Janette Forte of the University of Guyana.
London.
On leaving Guyana, Hart moved to London, England, where he worked as a solicitor to a Local Government Authority from 1965 to 1982. In 1974, he was a founding member of Caribbean Labour Solidarity (CLS), together with Cleston Taylor (1926–2010), Lionel Jeffrey (1926–93) and others. Hart remained the Honorary President of CLS, a group that "sets itself the task of informing the concerned about labour issues in the region as a whole".
Grenada; return to England.
In 1982, Hart moved to Grenada, where he worked as a legal consultant to the People's Revolutionary Government. He was appointed Attorney General of Grenada on 25 May 1983. An internal power struggle in the leadership of the New Jewel Movement led to the killing of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and the US Invasion of Grenada that began on 25 October 1983.
Hart returned to England, where he operated a private legal practice for five years until he retired in 1988. He contributed an introduction to "In Nobody's Backyard: Maurice Bishop's Speeches, 1979–1983 – A Memorial Volume" (Zed Books, 1984), placing the Grenada revolution in a historical context within the Caribbean, and later wrote other works on Grenada, including "The Grenada Revolution: Setting the Record Straight" (2005).
Later years.
Hart was readmitted to the PNP in 2001. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of the West of England. In 2005, he was presented with a Gold Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica for his "sterling contribution and achievements in the field of historical research both in Jamaica and the Caribbean", and was awarded an honorary doctorate by The University of the West Indies (UWI). In June 2006, UWI ran a three-day conference on Hart's work, entitled "Politics, Activism and History: The Life and Times of Richard Hart". In 2011, he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Hull.
Hart wrote a number of significant historical works over the years. He was also instrumental in the publication of the first Arawak dictionary in 1991. His 1999 title "Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour and Economic Developments in Jamaica 1938–1945" was described by Linden Lewis in a review as: "a meticulously documented text about the struggle for decolonization, union recognition, and the establishment of an indigenous political party in Jamaica during the War years. The text is part memoir and part historical account. As a major participant in the labor and political struggles of the 1930s and 1940s, Hart was both observer and actor in the unfolding drama of the process of decolonization." Hart's 2012 book, "Caribbean Workers' Struggles", "is a wide-ranging and immensely readable essay that gives centre stage to the struggle for workers' rights and national independence against the forces of racism and imperialism." "Socialist Review" states: "This book is testimony to the courageous and unceasing struggle from below that won freedom and political rights for a population of slaves." His last published book was "Occupation & Control: the British in Jamaica 1660–1962" (2013).
Hart died aged 96 at his home in Bristol on 21 December 2013.


Ivor Lewis

Ivor Rhys Lewis (1882 – November 1958) was a Canadian artist and business director.
Lewis was born in Wales, but emigrated to Canada as a small boy. He trained as an artist at the Ontario School of Art, and was hired in the art department of the Eaton's department store chain in Toronto. In 1919, he was commissioned by his fellow Eaton's employees to create the noted life-size statue of Timothy Eaton, which was presented to the Eaton family in honour of the store's 50th anniversary.
Lewis was an accomplished painter, and he was also known for creating the medallions on the Dr. William D. Young Memorial in Toronto's Kew Gardens. Along with C.W. Jefferys and other artists, Lewis co-founded the Graphic Arts Club (later named the Canadian Society of Graphic Art), which by the 1940s became the primary artists' group in Canada. He was also a noted actor and singer, and actively participated in Toronto's theatre scene.
Ivor Lewis was a prominent member of the Eaton's management team, serving as both Supervisor of Publicity and Public Relations and Staff Superintendent. He held the latter position until 1950. He was made a director of the T. Eaton Co. Limited in 1942. Ivor Lewis died in 1958.


One City Center (St. Louis)

One City Center (also called 600 Washington, St. Louis Centre, and sometimes spelled One City Centre) is an office tower complex and former shopping mall in St. Louis, Missouri.
The 25-story office tower is the ninth-tallest habitable building in St. Louis at a height of . The mall was four stories with a green, white, and glass façade. When the mall opened in 1985, St. Louis Centre was the largest urban shopping mall in the United States, with over 150 stores with 20 restaurants in . The $95 million complex was originally to be developed by the May Company and called May Mall, but development for the mall was given to the Simon Property Group.
St. Louis Centre opened in 1985, with anchor stores Famous-Barr at one end and Dillard's at the other. The anchor location of Famous-Barr was the company's flagship outlet and also contained that company's corporate offices, and the corporate headquarters of the May Company. The Dillard's location was once the flagship, and headquarters of Stix, Baer and Fuller, with that chain being sold to Dillard's just as mall construction commenced. The mall was initially popular and featured national chain stores.
As the 1990s progressed, the mall faced challenges with the redevelopment of the former Westroads Shopping Center into the St. Louis Galleria. By the mid-1990s, Dillard's converted its location into one of its clearance stores, and no longer carried regular day-to-day merchandise, this location closed for good in 2001. In 2006, the almost-vacant "dead mall" closed, and was bought by The Pyramid Companies and was planned to be turned into condominiums and retail space, though the plan was never realized, as Pyramid closed in 2008 due to financial troubles. The mall was foreclosed in 2009 by lender Bank of America and later bought for $12.7 million by Environmental Operations. In 2009, the building was about 85% vacant, and other developers were trying to raise funding for a renovation of the mall. Plans included a $35 million renovation, turning much of the complex into parking space, as well as a $29 million project to attract tenants to the center's office tower. The project, led by investor Stacy Hastie, includes plans for local law firm Lewis, Rice & Fingersh and accounting firm LarsonAllen LLP to move into the building. Earlier, the Missouri Development Finance Board had approved a $5 million loan for the project. In May 2010, work began to convert part of the building into a 750-car parking garage and retail/entertainment complex called Mercantile Exchange. The skybridges to the Famous-Barr Railway Exchange Building (St. Louis) and the former Stix, Baer and Fuller / Dillard's store (now referred to as The Laurel Building) have now been demolished to open up Washington and Locust streets.

Marked (TV series)

Marked is an American television documentary series produced by NorthSouth Productions for the History channel that premiered August 27, 2009, and aired through October 8, 2009. It explores the world of tattoos belonging to modern day tribes that operate at the edges of society, including motorcycle clubs, urban gangs, and hardcore prisoners.
The show takes the viewer into the minds of members as they explain what the mysterious symbols decorating their bodies mean on the street, and mean to them personally. Initiation rites, turf wars, and the fierce pride of belonging to an outlaw family are all part of the territory. Tattoo artists and cultural experts explain the technique and history behind the ink and the groups it adorns, putting the personal experiences of the main characters into perspective.


Baltic Tribes (film)

Baltic Tribes: Last Pagans of Europe () is a 2018 Latvian popular science documentary film co-directed by Lauris Ābele and Raitis Ābele about the Baltic people in the 13th century. The film consists of historical reconstructions, live action scenes and computer animations supplemented with a voice-over narration by scientific experts of the field.
In 2016 the film received financing from the National Film Centre's special fund for the 100th Anniversary of the Latvian Republic. In 2018 "Baltic Tribes" were nominated for a Lielais Kristaps National Film Festival award in the category "Best Documentary". On October 21, 2018 "Baltic tribes" premiered in the U.S. at the Baltic Film festival taking place at the Scandinavian House.
Plot.
Lars, a merchant from Gotland, travels through the lands of Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians, Prussians, Yatvingians, Galindians, Aukštaitians and Samogitians.


Socrates (Voltaire)

Socrates () is a 1759 French play in three acts written by Voltaire. It is set in Ancient Greece during the events just before the trial and death of Greek philosopher Socrates. It is heavy with satire specifically at government authority and organized religion. The main characters besides the titular role is that of the priest Anitus, his entourage, Socrates' wife Xantippe, several judges, and some children Socrates has adopted as his own.
Like more historical accounts by Herodotus, Plato, and Xenophon, the playwright shows Socrates as a moral individual charged with baseless accusations by a conspiracy of corrupt Athenians or Athenian officials although Voltaire implies that the wrongdoers are a select few.
Unlike the historical account, Socrates deals with several judges, whereas his real life counterpart receives his punishment of death by hemlock by a jury of 500 Athenians. The presence or mention of Socrates' best-known students such as Plato, Antisthenes, Aristippus, and others are replaced by unnamed disciples, delivering only a few token lines at the end of the play. Socrates is also portrayed as a monotheist and a victim of religious persecution, an interpretation that is not generally shared by modern scholars and historians.
Generally, this is not the most well-known of his works in comparison with "Letters on the English" which Voltaire published in 1734 or the "Dictionnaire philosophique" published earlier in 1764. However, hints of his contempt for government and religion are apparent here which later influenced the leaders of the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
Characters.
The play calls for the following characters. English versions of their names sometimes vary slightly.
The characters Nonoti, Chomos, and Bertios were added in 1761. During Voltaire's lifetime, their names were published as , , and , translated as Graphius, Chomus, and Bertillus; their names were first changed in the 1784 Kehl edition. The names Nonoti, Chomos, and Bertios are meant to be reminiscent of Voltaire's enemies Claude-Adrien Nonnotte, and Guillaume-François Berthier.


Antoon Van Ysendyck

Antoon Van Ysendyck (13 January 1801, Antwerp - 14 October 1875, Brussels) was a Belgian painter in the Romantic style.
Biography.
His father, Adrien-François Van Ysendyck, was a fisherman, originally from Bruges. In 1816, he began his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, and became a student of Mattheus Ignatius van Bree in 1818. The following year, he became a teaching assistant for the course, "Drawing From a Living Model".
In 1822, he travelled throughout the Netherlands and, in 1823, received an award at the Prix de Rome competition. This came with a grant that enabled him to take an extended study trip to Paris and Italy. He decided to stay in Paris, and lived there until 1838.
He was appointed Director of the Academy in Mons in 1840. He would hold that position until 1856.
He painted a wide variety of subjects, including portrait, Biblical scenes, historical scenes and genre works. In 1839, he painted two altarpieces for the Catholic church in Schiedam and, the following year, one for the church in Delft.
He had two sons; , an architect, and Léon-Jean (1841-1868), who also became a painter. His daughter, Louise-Marie (1849-1870), was a designer.


General George Washington Resigning His Commission

General George Washington Resigning His Commission is a large-scale oil painting by American artist John Trumbull of General George Washington resigning his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army on December 23, 1783 to the Congress of the Confederation, then meeting in the Maryland State House at Annapolis, Maryland. The painting was commissioned in 1817, started in 1822, finished in 1824, and is now on view in the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C., along with three other large-scale paintings by Trumbull about the American Revolutionary War.
Trumbull considered George Washington's resignation as commander-in-chief to be "one of the highest moral lessons ever given to the world".
Commission.
Congress commissioned Trumbull on January 27, 1817 to paint four Revolutionary War scenes to be displayed in the rotunda of the Capitol, including what would become the popular "Declaration of Independence", and allocated $32,000 for the work. Trumbull then had a meeting with President James Madison to determine the final size and subjects. Trumbull initially thought that the paintings should be six feet high by nine feet long, but Madison stated that the vast size of the rotunda demanded full life-sized works. The military subjects selected were the "Surrender of General Burgoyne" and the "Surrender of Lord Cornwallis". The civil subjects were the "Declaration of Independence" balanced by "General George Washington Resigning His Commission". Trumbull recommended the painting of George Washington resigning, and Madison responded, "I believe you are right; it was a glorious action".
Description.
General George Washington is shown in full military uniform, illuminated in the middle of the painting as he addresses the Continental Congress. Standing behind him are his aides-de-camp Col. David Humphreys and Col. Benjamin Walker. Standing on the left are President of the Continental Congress Thomas Mifflin and Secretary of the Continental Congress Charles Thomson. Martha Washington and her three grandchildren are shown in the gallery on the right, although they were not actually in attendance. Future Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and James Madison are shown among the delegates. Trumbull told Madison that he had used artistic license to include him in the painting. Other congressional delegates include Elbridge Gerry, Hugh Williamson, Samuel Osgood, Eleazer McComb, George Partridge, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and Benjamin Hawkins. Also standing behind Washington are General William Smallwood, General Otho Holland Williams, Col. Samuel Smith, Col. John Eager Howard, and Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, spectators from Maryland, and Maryland delegate Charles Carroll with his two daughters.
Trumbull used his 1792 portrait "General George Washington at Trenton" as the model for Washington in this work. He used several of his miniature portraits from 1790 to 1793 for the other people in attendance, including Thomas Mifflin, William Smallwood, and Martha Washington.
Other versions.
Trumbull painted a smaller version () entitled "The Resignation of General Washington, December 23, 1783" (1824–1828) that is now on view at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. An engraving from the central portion of the full-sized painting was used on the reverse of the $1,000 National Bank Note, Series 1875, and the $5,000 Federal Reserve Note, Series 1918.
Critical reception.
Trumbull described the painting in the catalogue for his exhibited works at Yale University in 1835:
Historian Matthew Moten wrote about this painting in the conclusion to his 2014 book on the American history of command in war:


Samurai Shodown V Special

Samurai Shodown V Special is the ninth entry in SNK's "Samurai Shodown/Samurai Spirits" series of fighting games. It is an upgraded version of the game "Samurai Shodown V" and is the last official game for the Neo Geo platform. A further upgraded version of the game called Samurai Shodown V Perfect was location-tested in late 2004, but not officially released until it was included in the "Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection" in 2020.
Gameplay.
The essential mechanics remained largely unchanged from previous games, with the update being directed towards graphical and audio changes. The updated visuals include portraits by artist Satoshi Ito, which convey a dark atmosphere similar to that of "Samurai Shodown III".
A significant number of changes exist between "Samurai Shodown V" and "Samurai Shodown V Special". Among them, the characters Sankuro and Yumeji were replaced with "Samurai Shodown" boss, Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, and "Samurai Shodown III" boss, Zankuro Minazuki. Also, the hidden character Poppy was replaced with "Samurai Shodown II" boss, Mizuki Rashojin, and was playable without the need of a hidden code. In addition to the roster change, many graphics and sound changes were made to give the game a fresh feel, even though most of the returning characters used their old voices, dating from "Samurai Shodown IV". Existing "Samurai Shodown V" character stages were modified, and new stages were made for the arrival of Amakusa, Zankuro, and Mizuki.
This game also received many gameplay tweaks, making this version much more balanced than its predecessor. However, the biggest gameplay change was the introduction of the Zetsumei Ougi, or the Overkill Move. When performed correctly, it instantly ends the match for its victim, regardless of how much life he/she has remaining. This concept is similar to that of the "Guilty Gear" series, except that the conditions for the move are much stricter. The character must be in a rage, and the opponent's life must be below the point where they could have entered Concentration One, introduced in "Samurai Shodown V" as a special slow-motion mode powered up by meditating (holding D while standing still). The start-up motion is the same for each character, but if it hits the attacking character, it can finish off their victim in their own unique fashion.
In addition to the overkill moves, generic fatality effects from "Samurai Shodown IV" were brought back for this game, such as being slashed in half horizontally. New fatality effects were also added, such as being split in half vertically with the victim drenching their opponent in blood. In addition, Nakoruru and Rimururu, who were both made "immune" to fatal effects in "Samurai Shodown III" and "Samurai Shodown IV", are able to experience these fatal effects at the end of the match, and in some situations, they scream violently.
This combination of violent acts in "Samurai Shodown V Special" generated much controversy and resulted in SNKP censoring the Neo Geo AES cartridge shortly after the Sasebo slashing.
Plot.
An ordained meeting of 28 fierce warriors begins, to precede a series of duels to the death. These individuals entrust their fates to their skill and their weapons. For those not up to the task, a cherished end in battle is their only hope.
The twenty-eight Samurai characters clash in one epic title.
Release.
As the AES version of the game was approaching its release date on July 8, 2004, it was mysteriously delayed a week, moving its release date to the 15th. When it came out, the generic fatalities were removed and the Zetsumei Ougi was watered down to a loosely based version of the issen for the characters. This act of censorship affected the entire worldwide release, not just the non-Japanese speaking audience. Not only did these modifications censor the game, but the censorship also created bugs, such as that of the AES's exclusive training mode, and upon hearing fan outcry, SNK did a cart recall shortly after that which fixed the bugs brought about by the censoring acts, and also to partially restore the character specific Zetsumei Ougis. The acts of body splitting were still completely gone. This meant some of the Zetsumei Ougis made no sense. However, some of the more violent content still remained, such as the more violent death screams and being able to be smashed into a wall. The only way for players outside of an arcade to experience the Zetsumei Ougis was either through emulation or to get an unfixed version of the game and apply Razoola's Universe Bios to it, which allows access to the uncensored versions of the moves and fixes the bugs that the censorship created.
Over a decade later, the game was released by SNK and Code Mystics for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita on September 12, 2017. The game is fully intact with the uncensored content in addition to settings to change the violence and blood in the Options mode. Unlike the previous "Samurai Shodown V" that receives a "T" rating, the upgraded version receives an "M" rating by the ESRB in North America. It also included online multiplayer modes, a Gallery mode featuring the artwork of the characters, trophies and ranking modes. It was released on PC on January 9, 2016 and Xbox One and Nintendo Switch
on April 18, 2019.


Abraham Janssens

Abraham Janssens I, Abraham Janssen I or Abraham Janssens van Nuyssen (1575–1632) was a Flemish painter, who is known principally for his large religious and mythological works, which show the influence of Caravaggio. He was the leading history painter in Flanders prior to the return of Rubens from Italy.
Life.
Abraham Janssens was born in Antwerp as the son of Jan Janssens and Roelofken van Huysen or Nuyssen. There is some uncertainty regarding his year of birth. He was previously thought to have been born in the year 1567, but it is now more generally assumed that his date of birth was 1575.
Janssens studied under Jan Snellinck and was registered as a pupil in the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1585. He travelled to Italy where he resided mainly in Rome between 1597 and 1602. After returning to his home country he became a master in the Antwerp Guild in the guild year 1601-1602.
On 1 May 1602 he married Sara Goetkint (died in Antwerp on 7 April 1644) with whom he had 8 children, five of whom were still alive at the time of her death: Maria Anna (the later wife of Jan Brueghel the Younger), Sara, Catharina, Lucretia and Abraham II.
In 1607 he became the dean of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke. This is also the time when he received his first major commissions, which initiated the most important period of his career. Until the return of Rubens to Antwerp in 1608, Janssens was considered perhaps the best history painter of his time. After Rubens became the dominant force for large altarpieces in the Antwerp market, Janssens had to find commissions for large monumental works from provincial patrons.
Janssens joined in 1610 the Confrerie of Romanists, a society of Antwerp humanists and artists who had travelled to Rome. The diversity and high positions held by the Confrerie's membership offered him a good opportunity to meet with potential patrons.
Janssens died in Antwerp. His pupils included his son Abraham Janssens II, Giovanni di Filippo del Campo, Michele Desubleo, Nicolas Régnier, Gerard Seghers, Theodoor Rombouts and Steven Wils.
Work.
General.
Janssens painted both religious, mythological and allegorical scenes, and occasionally a portrait. He also painted genre-style scenes representing the five senses or the seven deadly sins.
Janssens affixed the signature "Janssens van Nuyssen" to several of his pictures. It is believed that 'van Nuyssen' was the family name of his mother and that Janssens added it to his signature to distinguish himself from his namesakes as the family name Janssens was very common in 17th-century Flanders.
It is difficult to determine the chronology of Janssens' oeuvre, as he only dated or documented a few of his works.
Early works.
His earliest works are steeped in late 16th-century Mannerism and are characterized by an artificial design and a palette composed of dispersing colours. An example is his earliest dated picture "Diana and Callisto" of 1601 (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest), which demonstrates that at the time he was less influenced by Italian painting than by the late Mannerist style that was at the time being developed in Utrecht and Haarlem and drew inspiration from the work of the Flemish painter Bartholomeus Spranger. The work "Diana and Callisto" does, however, rely on Italian sculpture of both Antiquity and the Renaissance, as does his later work.
Following his return to Antwerp in 1602 Janssens' work displayed a strong reliance on Raphael. This is clear in the composition "" (Alte Pinakothek, Munich) which shows the combination of Janssens' study of the Antique and of Michelangelo, during his stay in Italy and with the help of prints which he could view in Antwerp.
From 1606 onwards, his style started to show the influence of Caravaggio. It is believed that this was a response to new tendencies in the Antwerp school of painting around this time. He painted in this style for about five to six years.
His composition "Scaldis and Antverpia" (also referred to as "Allegory of the Scheldt") of 1609 (Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp) is a key work of Janssens' Caravaggesque period. It was commissioned by the Antwerp city magistrate to decorate the chimney in the city hall's Assembly Room where the Twelve Years' Truce between Spain and the Dutch Republic was signed on 9 April 1609. Rubens also received a commission for the same occasion. It was hoped that the Truce would bring new prosperity and trade to Antwerp, for which the city had traditionally relied on the river Scheldt. The subject of the work is therefore Scaldis (the river Scheldt) and Antverpia (the city of Antwerp). This work was made when Janssens' artistic powers had reached their peak. The figure of Scaldis is inspired by the statute of the Tiber on the Capitoline Hill while the composition itself resembles Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam". This work shows how Janssens' style had developed towards a classic academic beauty, harmonious in form and with an unbroken palette. The influence of Caravaggio is seen in the use of strong contrasts of light and shadow (chiaroscuro) to create expressive power, while the influence of the School of Bologna can be found in his search for noble classicism. The preference of Janssens for sculptural form impairs the drama of the work as the figures are represented in frozen poses and expression.
Other works dating to this overtly Caravaggesque period are the ' (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, 1609), ' (Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 1614), which was also commissioned for the Antwerp city hall's Assembly Room, and ' (Metropolitan Museum of Art, c. 1610). The latter painting was likely commissioned as an altarpiece. This Caravaggesque composition predates comparable Dutch works such as Dirck van Baburen's ' by a decade.
Later works.
Janssens' later work is regarded as less convincing. After 1612 his painting style, like that of his other colleagues in Antwerp, came under the strong influence of the free style of Rubens' pictorial technique. Janssens' paintings of half-length figures were still regarded as innovative and influential while his devotional pictures were also successful. A good example of the latter is "The crucifixion" (Musée des beaux-arts de Valenciennes, c. 1620) in which the figures look painted like sculptures and take on an iconic timelessness.


Ernest Slingeneyer

Ernest Slingeneyer, Ernest Isidore Hubert Slingeneyer or Ernst Slingeneyer (28 May 1820 – 27 April 1894) was a Belgian painter of history paintings, portraits, genre scenes and the occasional landscape. Slingeneyer is regarded as one of the last representatives of Romanticism in Belgian painting and of Academism in Romanticism in Belgian art. In his later career he was one of the leading representatives of Orientalism in Belgium. An excellent portraitist, Slingeneyer made portraits of historical figures as well as of well-known figures from his time. Slingeneyer was also a politician and was a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives for the Independists of Brussels, a coalition of personalities bound by their opposition to the Radicalist liberals. As a politician he promoted Academic art and agitated against new artistic currents as promoted by, amongst others, the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.
Life.
Ernest Slingeneyer was born in Lochristi as the second son of the tax collector Joannes Andreas Slingeneyer and Anna Marie Josephina Juliana Pauwels, a homemaker. The family moved in 1825 to Geraardsbergen and later to Antwerp. Destined for a military career, Slingeneyer met with his father's opposition to his wish to study art. In the end he was allowed to attend classes at the Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp. Here he studied during the day painting under the leading Antwerp Romantic painter Gustaf Wappers while in the evening he took drawing classes. While still a student he exhibited a big canvas entitled "The arrest of Louis, Count of Crécy" which was received with critical acclaim. When a National Fund for the encouragement of historical painting art and sculpture was established by Royal Decree of 25 November 1839, Slingeneyer was quick to sign up for it. He was selected by the National Fund to paint various religious and historical subjects which he executed in an Academic and theatrical style.
Encouraged by his success he created an even more ambitious and larger composition entitled "The sinking of the French battleship Le Vengeur". Its subject was an episode of the naval combat in which, on 1 June 1794, the French fleet commanded by French Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse was defeated by the English fleet commanded by Richard Howe. The canvas measuring 16 square metres was exhibited in 1842. It created a sensation with its freer, more spontaneous and warmer form than that usually association with the academic school of painting. It was thus a victory for the Romantism introduced by Slingeneyer's master Wappers. Wappers himself had been inspired by French Romanticism. "The sinking of the French battleship Le Vengeur" was compared with "The Raft of the Medusa" by the French Romantic painter Théodore Géricault.
The success of the painting secured for the young painter an elite patronage including from King William II of the Netherlands who commissioned in 1844 his "The death of sea captain Claessens" and King Leopold I of Belgium who bought his "The death of Jacobsen", which had won the Gold Medal at the Brussels salon of 1845. The Belgian government commissioned a large historical painting from Slingeneyer. Slingeneyer chose the Battle of Lepanto as its subject. The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, led by the Venetian Republic and the Spanish Empire, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. When was finally finished and exhibited in 1848, it fell short of expectations in spite of its qualities in terms of composition and execution. This was likely a reflection of the public's growing disappointment with the historical school of painting promoted by the faculty and alumni of the Academy of Antwerp whereas the school of Brussels was gaining in prominence. The latter had abandoned Academism in favour of a Romanticism that was less theatrical and materialistic and more sentimental and elegant. This school was represented by Louis Gallait, a pupil of Paul Delaroche. Slingeneyer was advised by his critics to go to Paris to immerse himself in the new art movements there and to leave Antwerp for Brussels. Taking this advice to heart, he traveled to the Netherlands and Germany, to Rome and to Paris. In Paris he visited the studios of Paul Delaroche, Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury and Ary Scheffer.
Slingeneyer returned to Belgium where he settled in 1849 in the capital Brussels to which he was attracted by its better art market. His "Episode of St. Bartholomew" exhibited in 1849 was considered a revenge for his "Battle of Lepanto" as the work showed strength and a genuine emotion. The "Death of Nelson", which was exhibited in 1850 in one of the rooms of the Botanical Garden of Brussels was also appreciated for its skillful staging. The artist was then thirty years old and at the peak of his career. From this time onwards Slingeneyer could count himself as one of the highest paid painters of his time.
His of 1860 was another major success for the artist, less due to its intrinsic merit than to the sentimentality of the subject, which showed a Christian being martyred in the Colosseum. This work was popularised through engravings and solidified his reputation. Around this time he opened a workshop in Brussels in which artists trained under his direction. This was regarded as a competitor of the workshop of Brussels' prominent painter François-Joseph Navez who was a major promoter of Classicism in Belgium. In fact, a number of Navez' pupils switched over to the studio of Slingeneyer. In 1878, Slingeneyer received a government commission of 122,000 Belgian Francs to paint a large canvas called "Les Gloires de Belgique" (The Glories of Belgium) and a series of twelve decorative panels with historical subjects for the great hall of the Academy Palace in Brussels. The artist took 15 years to complete the works which were installed in the Academy Palace in 1880.
In 1874 Slingeneyer showed at the Brussels Salon of 1875 another historical marine scene, "The death of Camoëns". The painting could not compete with the new generation of painters "of the gray light". "Camoëns" hung at the exhibition opposite of Charles Hermans, a co-founder of the avantgarde Société Libre des Beaux-Arts. The realistic work of Hermans became a key work in Belgian art history whereas "The death of Camoëns" was so sharply criticised that from that time onwards Slingeneyer almost completely gave up participating in exhibitions, unless he was in the admission committee himself. He travelled to Ialy and Northern Africa. The numerous genre pieces with themes from the folk culture of Italy and North Africa that were inspired by these trips were successful and can still count on the interest of today's collectors.
In 1842 Slingeneyer had become a member of the Masonic lodge "Les Vrais Amis de l'Union" in Brussels. Ernest Slingeneyer married on 11 October 1862 baroness Ernestine Thérèse Joséphine de Goeswin (Liège, 17 June 1830 – Brussels, 31 October 1909), a daughter of Baron Charles Eugène Ernest de Goeswin and Marie Charlotte Victoire de Cox de Hommelen. The couple had two children, Marie Jeanne Charlotte Léopoldine Ernestine (26 August 1864 – 13 April 1939) and André Charles Joseph Marie Luc (20 October 1866 – 11 December 1936).
Slingeneyer was honoured multiple times by the ruling monarchs of his time: in 1850 he was appointed by the Belgian king a Knight the Order of Leopold, a few years later the Portuguese queen decorated him with the Christ Order, in August 1857 King William III of the Netherlands appointed him a Knight in the order of the Dutch Lion, in 1863 he was made an Officer and in 1870 a Commander in the Order of Leopold of Belgium. At the end of his life he still received distinctions such as the Légion d'Honneur of France, and the order of Franz-Joseph of Austria, Charles III of Spain, Ernest of Saxon-Coburg, St. Michael of Bavaria and others. On 7 April 1870 he became an elected member of the Fine Arts class of the bilingual Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium. In 1884 he was director of his class. From 1871 to 1894 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Museums of Painting and Sculpture, of which from 1889 on he became a vice-chairman together with the Orientalist painter Jean-François Portaels.
From the middle of the 19th century Slingeneyer belonged to the establishment and was one of the most valued painters of his time, also in financial terms. This was despite the fact that his art had gradually been left behind by the great artistic movements of his time. His son André married Marie Hélène Euphrasie Cogels, a daughter of baron Fredegand Cogels (1850–1932) and baroness Coralia de Gruben (1858–1945). On 12 October 1888, André Slingeneyer obtained the authorization to merge the family names Slingeneyer and de Goeswin, so that Ernest Slingeneyer still experienced that he became the ancestor of the new noble family Slingeneyer de Goeswin, which must undoubtedly have been a crowning achievement for him.
On 10 June 1884 Slingeneyer was elected a Belgian representative to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives for the party of the 'Brussels independents'. This party was formed around 1880 as a political response to the breakthrough of the young generation of liberal radicals around Paul Janson. With the anti-radicalism as a unifying agent, a coalition of doctrinal liberals, conservatives and opportunists had formed in Brussels around a program of 'less politics, taxes and waste'. In 1882 this independent list formed a cartel with the Catholics with the aim of conquering the Brussels seats on the radical liberals. In 1884 they succeeded for the first time and that would remain so until the disappearance of the list in 1893 with the introduction of plural voting in Belgium. The Brussels delegation of which Slingeneyer formed part included a number of personalities from cultural circles and as a result was able to weigh in on debates about cultural and artistic subjects in the Chamber. Slingeneyer soon gained the status of 'messenger of cultural affairs' and as a result of his involvement the attention for all sorts of cultural themes in the Chamber increased considerably. He was situated politically on the conservative side. He became a champion of conservative views of the role of art institutions in Belgium. He repeatedly intervened in the acquisition policy of the most important national museums, the organization of the Prix de Rome and numerous other cultural and artistic matters. His artistic views were highly utilitarian. As in his own artistic career, he strongly emphasized the commercial aspect of art in parliament. He argued fiercely about the need to apply artistic principles in industry in order to gain a competitive advantage over the neighboring countries which he believed were involved in a fierce 'battle of nations'. Slingeneyer advocated for the involvement of the entire social life of the nation in the artistic sector. Even the smallest utensils had to express the artistic spirit of the nation. He adhered to a clear hierarchy in the artistic sector. His view was that the great national museums' primary goal should be to serve as inspiration for artists from the art academies and that 'ordinary people' without artistic and cultural baggage had no business visiting them. That is why Slingeneyer, for example, thought that no information boards should be placed next to paintings, since they were completely unnecessary for academically trained artists. Special industrial museums would need to be set up to cultivate workers, so that they could also be taught a 'feeling for the beautiful'. This strongly paternalistic attitude was typical for Slingeneyer. He also pleaded for state subsidies to artists from which he had also benefited greatly during his own career. Slingeneyer further agitated against avantgarde movements in Belgian art such as the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts founded on 1 March 1868 in Brussels, to which belonged Charles Hermans, Constantin Meunier, Louis Dubois, Félicien Rops, Alfred Verwee and Louis Artan de Saint-Martin belonged.
He died in Brussels on 27 April 1894. The funeral took place in the parish church of Saint-Josse-ten-Node on 1 May.
Work.
Ernest Slingeneyer painted history paintings, portraits, Orientalist subjects, genre scenes and the occasional landscape. A prominent member of the Belgian Romantic-historical school of painting, he was also one of its most academic representatives. Unlike other Belgian Romantic painters he did not primarily treat subjects from Belgium's history unless he received a commission to do so. Rather, he explored subjects that allowed him to create dramatic scenes that combined acts of heroism with tragedy, such as in "Le Vengeur", the deaths of the sea captains such as Jacobsen, Claessens, Nelson and Camoëns, the , etc. In the later part of his career he focused more on Belgian themes for his great historical pieces, as witnessed by his . The historical themes in the decoration of the Palace of the Academies were predominantly derived from Flemish history. The reason for this is the Belgian government's decision to start promoting monumental art in Belgium from the mid 1850s. The government provided financial assistance to artists on various projects. The promotion of monumental art dealing with episodes from the Belgian national history was regarded by the government of the young Belgian state as an important means of creating a national identity. The Belgian prime minister Charles Rogier was in particular in support of this movement. Jean-François Portaels and Jean Baptiste van Eycken, both pupils of François-Joseph Navez, helped launch the monumentalist movement in Belgium. They did this by introducing into Belgium new fresco techniques such as water glass painting, which they had studied abroad. The monumentalist movement was subsequently taken up by artists such as Jan Swerts and Godfried Guffens who had learned about the movement in Germany. In 1861, the development of monumental art gained momentum thanks to the award by the minister of the interior Charles Rogier of an annual budget allocation of 30,000 Belgian Francs to support this type of art. The sum was doubled in subsequent years. It is with these funds that the Belgian government was able to pay Slingeneyer the 122,000 Belgian Francs for the large "Les Gloires de Belgique" (The Glories of Belgium) and a series of twelve decorative panels with historical subjects for the great hall of the Academy Palace in Brussels.
Slingeneyer was a commercially astute artist who was able to adapt to the changing taste of the moneyed class of Belgium, which initially was liberal and partly favorable to the French Revolution and also in awe of the major maritime nations of the time. This explains the subjects from French, Dutch, Portuguese and English maritime history to which Slingeneyer returned repeatedly early in his career. Around the great anniversaries of Belgium (1855 and 1880) there was a great outpouring of Belgian national feeling, while the French-speaking establishment also showed a great sympathy for the Flemish (often medieval) past. It is in this context that Slingeneyer painted his series of works of portraits and scenes of Flemish medieval heroes such a Nicolaas Zannekin, Jacob van Artevelde, Jan Breydel, Frans Anneessens, the Battle of Roosebeke. etc.
Slingeneyer was also an excellent portrait painter. Further he created countless genre pieces with themes from the folk culture of Italy and North Africa, which are about the only works of Slingeneyer that can still count on the interest of today's collectors. The titles of some of these works are "Souvenir of Carthage" (1872), the "Bedouin woman", the "Proud fisherman", the "Orange seller", the "Young Algerian woman", etc.
As his work had already been left behind by artistic developments in Belgium and abroad during his lifetime, his work fell quickly into oblivion after his death.


Peter Scheemakers

Peter Scheemakers or Pieter Scheemaeckers II or the Younger (1691 – 12 September 1781) was a Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicist style had an important influence on the development of modern sculpture in England.
Scheemakers is perhaps best known for executing the William Kent-designed memorial to William Shakespeare which was erected in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey in 1740 as well as that to John Dryden in the same church.
Life.
He was born in Antwerp and followed in the footsteps of his father, the sculptor Pieter Scheemaeckers. He served his formal apprenticeship in Copenhagen in Denmark where he studied for four years with the court sculptor Johann Adam Sturmberg (1683–1741).
In 1715 he allegedly walked from Copenhagen to Rome (over 1500km) where he studied both classical and baroque styles of sculpture. In 1716 he sailed to England and settled in London where he befriended Laurent Delvaux (who had also studied in Rome). He and Delvaux worked there with another Flemish sculptor Pieter-Denis Plumier on a funeral monument to John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, which they delivered in 1722 after the death of Plumier. Scheemakers and Delvaux entered into a formal partnership and set up a workshop in Millbank, south of Westminster in London, in 1723. Their workshop produced many sober classical monuments and garden statuary in the Antique style. The partners sold their stock in the partnership and travelled to Rome in 1728. Scheemakers stayed there for two years to study both antique and recent masterpieces. Upon his return to England in 1730 Scheemakers restarted the Millbank workshop (in St Martin's Lane) on his own. His 'ideal' classical sculptures became very popular with the landowning class and the city merchants. He moved his workshop a few times: first to Old Palace Yard in 1736 and then in 1740 to Vine Street, where he remained active until his retirement in 1771. On retiral he returned to Antwerp where he died at the age of 90.
He worked for a time with Francis Bird, and was the teacher of Henry Cheere and Charles Cope Trubshaw, amongst others. Joseph Nollekens joined his studio in 1747 and served his apprenticeship here, before leaving for Rome in 1762.
Scheemakers' brother, Henry Scheemakers, and his son, Thomas Scheemakers, were both also sculptors.
Works.
Westminster Abbey.
Fifteen of Scheemakers' works – monuments, figures and busts – are in Westminster Abbey. Two were executed in collaboration with his master, Delvaux: the “Hugh Chamberlen” (d. 1728, and therefore perhaps produced during his first visit to London); and “Catherine, Duchess of Buckinghamshire.” However, he is best known by his monument to William Shakespeare (1740), but, as this work was designed by Kent, the responsibility must not all be laid to Scheemakers' account.
In addition to these, there are the monuments to Admiral Sir Charles Wager, Vice-Admiral Watson, Lt. General Percy Kirke, George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe, General Monck, and Sir Henry Belasyse. His busts of John Dryden (1720) and Dr Richard Mead (1754), also in the Abbey, are noted examples of his smaller works. A memorial to Thomas Jordan was created in 1736, to Lord Aubrey Beauclerk in 1741, and to Admiral John Balchen in 1744.
Tombs by Scheemakers in the Abbey include Dr John Woodward (d.1728) and Magdalen Walsh (d.1747). The latter was relocated due to he placement of the Memorial to the Armed Forces in 2008.
Other Works in England.
1st and 2nd Dukes of Ancaster at Edenham, Lincolnshire; Lord Chancellor Hardwicke at Wimpole, Cambridgeshire; the Duke of Kent, his wives and daughters, at Flitton, Bedfordshire; the Earl of Shelburne, at Wycombe, Bucks; and the figure on the sarcophagus to Montague Sherrard Drake, at Amersham. Another example of his work is the memorial to Topham Foote (or Foot) in the parish church of St John the Baptist Church, Windsor. This burial monument, which includes the young man's bust and the Foote family crest, greets visitors in the main High Street entrance, just from the Henry VIII gate to Windsor Castle. There is also a memorial to Sir Thomas Reeve, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 1736-37 in the church. He also sculpted a memorial for the Petty family, marking the family burial place in All Saints' Parish Church, High Wycombe, which depicts the family in Roman dress.
Ireland.
In 1743, Mary Coghill erected the parish church of Clonturk (now Drumcondra Church) in memory of her brother Marmaduke Coghill, and placed in it a statue of her brother by Peter Scheemakers.
He also was the sculptor of fourteen of the busts in the Long Room of the Trinity College Library in Dublin, including James Ussher, William Shakespeare, John Milton, John Locke, Cicero, Homer, Aristotle and Socrates.
Trivia.
Between 1970 and 1993, an image of Scheemakers's Shakespeare statue appeared on the reverse of Series D £20 notes issued by the Bank of England. Alongside the statue was an engraving of the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet".


The Wife of Martin Guerre

The Wife of Martin Guerre (first published 1941) is a short novel by American writer Janet Lewis based on the story of Martin Guerre, the 16th-century French peasant who apparently returned home to his wife after a long absence but was later revealed to be an impostor. The novel has its origins in research Lewis made into trials based on circumstantial evidence, after reading in-depth about famous trials turning on circumstantial evidence, which prompted her to write a pamphlet describing the risks of using it.
The novel tells the tale from the point of view of Bertrande, Martin's wife, and turns on the compelling moral problem presented to her when a man—possibly an impostor—takes the place of her husband. The first Martin is a hard, unkind person who appears not to love her whilst the second Martin is the opposite. What should she do?
At the end of the novel, her husband, the real Martin, returns, and Bertrande has to make her moral decision: does she reveal that it is not the same man, thus subjecting herself to a lifetime of misery, or does she continue the lie? She chooses the truth, yet the real Martin Guerre rejects her, saying, "Dry your tears, Madame. They cannot, and they ought not, move my pity. The example of my sisters and my uncle can be no excuse for you, Madame, who knew me better than any living soul. The error into which you plunged could only have been caused by willful blindness. You, and you only, Madame, are answerable for the dishonor which has befallen me" (Lewis, p. 107).


Jan Baptist van Heil

Jan Baptist van Heil or Jan Baptiste van Heil (Brussels, 1609 – Brussels, after 1685), was a Flemish Baroque painter of portraits and religious paintings.
Life.
Little is known about the life and training of Jan Baptist van Heil. He was born in Brussels. His father Leo or Leon was a painter and two of his brothers were also artists: Leo was an architect and painter and Daniel was a landscape painter.
It is not known with whom Jan Baptist trained but it was likely his father.
The artist died in Brussels some time between 1685 and 1705.
Work.
Only a few of Jan Baptist van Heil's works are known. He is mainly known for his work as a portrait painter. He was the designer of the portraits of the three van Heil brothers that appeared in Het Gulden Cabinet, the book with artist biographies by Cornelis de Bie published in Antwerp in 1662. The portraits were engraved by Frederik Bouttats the Younger. He also designed the (a man known for his excessive eating), which was engraved by Antony van der Does.
He also painted religious scenes as altarpieces for local churches. An example is the "Adoration of the Magi" in the St. John's Evangelist Church of Tervuren.
Jan Baptist van Heil collaborated with his brother Daniel on the (c. 1630, Museum of the City of Brussels). Jan Baptist is believed to have been responsible for the staffage while his brother Daniel painted the landscape and the palace. The canvas shows a landscape with the palace of the governors of the Southern Netherlands near Brussels. In the foreground the Archduchess Isabella, widow of Archduke Albrecht and reigning governess, walks in the gardens of the palace in the habit of the Poor Clares, a religious order the Archduchess had joined after the death of her husband.
Jan Baptist van Heil was invited to provide designs for the first French Theatre established in Brussels in the 1670s.


Self-Portrait at Seventy-Eight (Ingres)

Self-Portrait at Seventy-Eight is an 1858 oil-on-canvas painting by the French Neoclassical artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. It is one of the last of his many portraits, which he had always regarded as bothersome distractions from his true calling, history painting. The painting measures 24 3/8 x 20 1/8 inches (62 x 51 cm) and is in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
The self-portrait is renowned for its honest treatment of the physical effects of old age. Ingres' expression is foreboding and intense, and he is tightly wrapped in stiff military like clothes. The work was painted at a point when Ingres, owing to age, could no longer commit to society portraits, which typically took him 4-5 years to complete. Ingres was to live a further nine years, dying on 14 January 1867, aged 86.
History.
In 1839 the director of the Uffizi, Antonio Ramirez di Montalvo, sent Ingres a letter requesting the donation of a painting of himself for the museum's gallery of self-portraits of great artists. Ingres demurred, believing that his obligations as director of the French Academy in Rome—and the work he was just beginning on "Cherubini and the Muse of Lyric Poetry"—would leave him no time to undertake the self-portrait. In 1855 Montalvo's successor, Marchese Luca Bourbon del Monte, renewed the request; this time Ingres felt able to oblige. On 20 March 1858, Ingres reported to Bourbon del Monte that he had completed the portrait. His letter reads in part:
I beg you, Monsieur le Directeur, to accept all my excuses and regret for not complying sooner to the request that you so kindly addressed to me. But I have just completed my portrait, finally, and I am ready to send it to you. However, I wanted to make this portrait simple and humble so that the great Painters among whom I am about to sit will not accuse me of prideful temerity.
In the first known instance of Ingres using a photograph as his primary source for a portrait, he modelled the painting on a photograph of ca. 1855 by Gerothwohl and Tanner. The painting was likely completed with the assistance of unidentified collaborators, though the passages describing his face can only have come from his hand.
Description.
The self-portrait is brutally honest and mostly bereft of vanity; as a study of old age it goes beyond even his "Portrait of Monsieur Bertin" which he deliberately invokes. As always, Ingres took Raphael as his stylistic ideal. The 1669 self-portrait by Rembrandt, an artist Ingres generally held in low regard, has been suggested as an influence as well.
Ingres presents himself in half bust view, dressed in clothing that suggest a cultivated, rich, well traveled and influential man. He is slimmer in the painting than he was in real life at the time, and wears an evening dress uniform that reflects his status as grand officer in Napoleon's Legion of Honour. Although Ingres appears aged and troubled, the portrait contains hints of optimism; he had been widowed but had recovered and was happily married to his second wife Dominique Rame, and could look back on a commercially successful if not artistically fulfilling career. He gives himself a grim expression, with a down turned mouth, which art historians view as overstating his existential view – extant photographs from the period show him almost, or about to smile, and his letters from this period reflect a degree of contentment.
His expression is often interpreted by modern art historians as conflicted, troubled and bad tempered, the reflection of a frustrated history painter at the end of a career spent largely on society painting.
The painting was widely praised when first exhibited, and is today considered one of the finest examples of self-portraiture in art history. It is often compared to Rembrandt's later self-portraits, although Ingres's work contains hints of vanity that the older master's did not; Ingres has smoothed out his skin and has more and darker grey hair than contemporary photographs suggest.
Ingres painted two variant copies of the portrait. One was completed in 1859, when Ingres reworked an octagonal, oil-on-paper sketch he had made for the Uffizi portrait. By mounting it on a rectangular canvas, he made it into a pendant for his "Portrait of Madame Ingres", painted the same year. In this version Ingres wears several state decorations and ribbons, and he holds a top hat with a gloved hand. The face is more loosely painted than in the Uffizi portrait, and Ingres does not omit the cowlick that is apparent in the source photograph. The portrait is in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.
Ingres painted a near-replica of the Fogg painting in 1864–65 to fulfill a membership obligation to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, which owns the painting.


Barack and Michelle

Barack and Michelle: Portrait of An American Marriage is an unauthorized "tell-all" biography about Barack and Michelle Obama, focusing on their marriage, written by No. 1 "New York Times" best-selling author Christopher Andersen and published in 2009.
Background.
Andersen previously wrote 28 popular biographies about Princess Diana, Barbra Streisand, the Kennedys, and the Bush family, among others. "Barack and Michelle" describes the Obamas' marriage as being difficult for several years, as Barack left his accomplished wife, Michelle, to care for children and household, himself turning away from a lucrative legal career to pursue his political ambitions with little success or income. The couple grew closer, according to the book, beginning in 2001 after the sickness of their daughter, Sasha, and Obama's growing political success.
The book draws in part on previously published accounts and Obama's own memoirs. It has been described as a "glowing" portrait of the Obamas, and characterizing their marriage as "solid". Andersen interviewed 200 friends and relatives of the Obamas in Chicago, Hawaii, and Indonesia, many of whom are identified in the book's chapter and source notes, but not the Obamas themselves.


The Erstwhile

The Erstwhile is a dark historical fantasy novel by multi-disciplinary artist B. Catling that was first published in March of 2017. It is the second in a trilogy of novels focusing on 'the Vorrh,' a massive and magical African forest.
Critical reception.
"The Erstwhile" received generally positive critical reception, garnering coverage from a wide variety of publications.
By contrast, the review at Kirkus calls the book "slow and murky" and criticizes its relentless focus on imagery over plot, characterization, or theme.


Madam Secretary (season 3)

The third season of "Madam Secretary", an American political drama television series, originally aired on CBS from October 2, 2016, through May 21, 2017. The season was produced by CBS Television Studios, with Barbara Hall as showrunner and executive producer. "Madam Secretary" was renewed for a third season on March 25, 2016.
The series follows Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni), the United States Secretary of State who, alongside President Conrad Dalton (Keith Carradine) and a dedicated staff led by Nadine Tolliver (Bebe Neuwirth), is instrumental in the shaping of a U.S. foreign policy. McCord is married to Henry (Tim Daly), a religious scholar and NSA handler.
Episodes.
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Production.
Development.
"Madam Secretary" was renewed for a third season on March 25, 2016.
Home media.
The DVD release of season three is set to be released in Region 1 on September 19, 2017.


Journey Back to Youth

Journey Back to Youth (, Puteshestvie v yunost) is a 2001 documentary film by Russian film makers Alexander Gutman and Sergei Litviakov. The film is an interview of four German women who tell the story of four young German girls from East Prussia placed into a Soviet labor camp at the end of World War II according to Stalin's decisions about mobilization of Germans for reconstruction works in the USSR.
The film won the Platinum Award at the 34th International Independent Film Festival (Worldfest) in Houston, Texas, in 2001 and the "Gold Camera Award" at the US International Film and Video Festival in 2001.
Film history.
The film maker, Gutman, said that he got the idea for the film when he learned that the Heinrich Böll Foundation funded a monument in Petrozavodsk, Karelia at the graveyard of German women who died in the local GULAG camp.