Kirjahaku

Since the heyday of Ian Fleming’s fantasy superspy James Bond, the novels of John le Carré have held up to readers across the world a sombre, fascinating picture of decline, deception and ethical ambiguity. In this study, originally published in 1986, the first to include an interpretation of A Perfect Spy, Eric Homberger argues that within the tradition of the spy thriller of John Buchan and ‘Sapper’ a ‘space’ was created by Somerset Maugham, Eric Ambler and Graham Greene for serious writing. From The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1963) to The Little Drummer Girl (1983) and A Perfect Spy (1986), le Carré has used that space to make a searching investigation of the nature of post-Imperial Britain. In the process he has become the peer of Conrad and Greene in the recognition that the spy novel is a literary form capable of the highest artistic seriousness.

Since the heyday of Ian Fleming’s fantasy superspy James Bond, the novels of John le Carré have held up to readers across the world a sombre, fascinating picture of decline, deception and ethical ambiguity. In this study, originally published in 1986, the first to include an interpretation of A Perfect Spy, Eric Homberger argues that within the tradition of the spy thriller of John Buchan and ‘Sapper’ a ‘space’ was created by Somerset Maugham, Eric Ambler and Graham Greene for serious writing. From The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1963) to The Little Drummer Girl (1983) and A Perfect Spy (1986), le Carré has used that space to make a searching investigation of the nature of post-Imperial Britain. In the process he has become the peer of Conrad and Greene in the recognition that the spy novel is a literary form capable of the highest artistic seriousness.

Now in its third edition, The Historical Atlas of New York City, takes us, neighborhood by neighborhood, through four hundred years of Gotham's rich past, from the city's initial settlement of 270 people in thirty log houses; to John Jacob Astor's meteoric rise from humble fur trader to the richest, most powerful man in the city; the fascinating ethnic mixture that is modern Queens; and the new "Freedom Tower" at One World Trade Center. With full-color maps, charts, photographs, drawings, and mini-essays, this encyclopedic volume also traces the historical development and cultural relevance of such iconic New York thoroughfares as Fifth Avenue, Wall Street, Park Avenue, and Broadway. This fully revised and updated edition brings the Atlas up to the present, including new spreads of the One World Trade Center site. A fascinating chronicle of the life of a metropolis, the striking third edition of The Historical Atlas of New York City provides a vivid and unique perspective on the nation's cultural capital.

Eric Homberger explores the contribution New York has made to American history and culture. Birthplace to Herman Melville, Henry James and Joseph Heller, and adopted home of many other playwrights, artists and radicals, New York has been relentless in overturning cultural conventions.