This book couples anecdotes with real data to help nature lovers, zoo staff, zoo fans, and even zoo foes understand the many ways zoos are conceptualized, used, and valued, unpacking what seems to happen in the minds of diverse zoo- goers to highlight powerful opportunities for learning, engagement, and activism.
John Fraser delves into a paradox surrounding the United States, examining the complexities and contradictions inherent in its identity and values. Through insightful analysis, he unpacks the tensions between ideals and reality, shedding light on the historical and cultural factors that shape American society. This exploration invites readers to reflect on the multifaceted nature of the nation and its ongoing struggles with its self-image and aspirations.
Is the Poltergeist 'Syndrome' the only type of paranormal phenomena that can really be proven?
The death of the Queen was only the beginning for the men and women behind the Crown. On September 8, 2022, an announcement was posted on the gates of Balmoral Castle in Scotland and Buckingham Palace in London that Queen Elizabeth II, the longest serving monarch in British history, had died. That set in motion a remarkable ten days of official mourning and ceremony unlike anything seen in any nation for decades. Members of the royal family gathered-the new King Charles III and his Queen Consort Camilla; the newly-minted Prince of Wales, William and his princess, Kate; Harry the Bolter and his celebrity wife Meghan; and even the bad boy himself, "Prince" Andrew-along with hundreds of royals and heads of states from around the world. Hordes of people, many from overseas, spent long hours lining up in the rain to pay tribute to the beloved monarch, a presence in their lives for seventy years. On the scene for these events, renowned journalist John Fraser takes the reader from inside St. James Palace where the new King was proclaimed to Queen Elizabeth's final resting place at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, from deeply moving scenes to the occasional hilarious screw-up, capturing the magic of the occasion with trenchant observations and witty commentary informed by a lifetime's experience and curiosity about all things monarchical and his own encounters with the royals.
The latest work of fiction by John Fraser ('the most original novelist of our time', John Fuller, Whitbread Award winner and Booker Prize nominee) consists of two stories about aspiration, and how that is suited to a short reflective life, rather than a long happenstance. 'O the Poor Horses' tells of a super-athlete, climber and circus star, Pierre, whose aim is to reach the top of the tent, and then beyond - perfection of the body and its mind. When Pierre tumbles and is crippled, Dora, his assistant and companion, once his facilitator who has become a dead weight, must take on the salvation of his aims. They are joined by Julie - there to catch the fallers, and to shoot unruly animals. She and Dora carry the wounded Pierre away, joined by Masha, the horsewoman - an athlete whose speed and direction depend on her horse, only in part her mind and body. 'Where the Philosophers Go' concerns Vince - his work, life, fate and reflections. His is a life without direction, without aspiration... He meets everyone from tycoons to avatars, experiences everything, but what is life and where does it go? he asks himself. Is meaning revealed through intensity or is the meaning simply accumulated, in long and random experience? Anonymously, he is recommended a supreme virtue - if the most hollow, and the hardest to pursue - that of loyalty.
The first volume of John Fraser's selected short stories and novellas features: The White Room (from Animal Tales) Sheep (from Happy Always) The Scorpions (from Enterprising Women) Lenin in the Cinema (from Black Masks) Where the Philosophers Go (from Short Lives) Starting Over (from Blue Light) Broken Chords (from Three Beauties) John Fraser lives near Rome. Previously, he worked in England and Canada. Of Fraser's fiction the Whitbread Award winning poet John Fuller has written: 'One of the most extraordinary publishing events of the past few years has been the rapid, indeed insistent, appearance of the novels of John Fraser. There are few parallels in literary history to this almost simultaneous and largely belated appearance of a mature oeuvre, sprung like Athena from Zeus's forehead; and the novels in themselves are extraordinary. I can think of nothing much like them in fiction. Fraser maintains a masterfully ironic distance from the extreme conditions in which his characters find themselves. There are strikingly beautiful descriptions, veiled allusions to rooted traditions, unlikely events half-glimpsed, abrupted narratives, surreal but somehow apposite social customs.'
This book describes the historic landmarks and sites along the Lower Lachine Road in Quebec, Canada. It provides an overview of the region's history, including the role of French explorers and settlers in the area. The book also focuses on specific sites, such as the La Salle Homestead, and highlights their significance in the context of Quebec's cultural heritage.