Andrew Porter

WINNER AT THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2025 'Fascinating - a great read' - Miriam O'Callaghan 'Brilliant, absolutely terrific' - Matt Cooper With a foreword by Richie Sadlier From the heartbreak of losing his mother to breast cancer at just 12 years old, to battling mental health struggles throughout his teens, Andrew Porter's journey is one of extraordinary resilience. In this deeply personal and inspiring account, the Irish rugby star opens up about the challenges that shaped him - on and off the pitch. With honesty and heart, Andrew shares how rugby became his lifeline, guiding him from the gym floor to the world stage. He reflects on the emotional highs and lows of his career, including earning 75 caps for Ireland, winning three Six Nations titles and becoming one of the sport's most respected figures. This is more than a story of athletic triumph - it's a testament to the power of perseverance, vulnerability, and the human spirit.

From the heartbreak of losing his mother to breast cancer at just 12 years old, to battling mental health struggles throughout his teens, Andrew Porter's journey is one of extraordinary resilience. In this deeply personal and inspiring account, the Irish rugby star opens up about the challenges that shaped him - on and off the pitch.With honesty and heart, Andrew shares how rugby became his lifeline, guiding him from the gym floor to the world stage. He reflects on the emotional highs and lows of his career, including earning 75 caps for Ireland, winning three Six Nations titles and becoming one of the sport's most respected figures. This is more than a story of athletic triumph - it's a testament to the power of perseverance, vulnerability, and the human spirit.

A taut and elegiac novel that follows a man determined to uncover the truth about the father who vanished from his life A taut, elegiac and engrossing read, The Imagined Life follows Steven Mills, a man in a struggling marriage who becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth about the father who vanished from his life when he was only twelve. Driving up the coast of California, Steven seeks out his father’s friends, family, and former colleagues, and is transported back to his 1980s childhood: his parents’ legendary pool parties, black-and-white films on the backyard projector, his father’s male friends in the cabana house... With every revelation his father becomes more difficult to recognize, and, with every insight, Steven must confront truths about his own life. In cinematic prose, Andrew Porter explores the full nexus of male relationships: fathers and sons, husbands and lovers—set achingly against the US AIDS epidemic in the 1980s—and masterfully weaves a tale of trauma, generational secrets, forbidden love, and shame.

From the award-winning, internationally acclaimed writer, a taut, elegiac novel about a man trying to uncover the truth about the father who left him behind Steven Mills has reached a crossroads. His wife and son have left, and they may not return. Which leaves him determined to find out what happened to his own father, a brilliant, charismatic professor who disappeared in 1984 when Steve was twelve, on a wave of ignominy. As Steve drives up the coast of California, seeking out his father's friends, family members, and former colleagues, the novel offers us tantalizing glimpses into Steve's childhood--his parents' legendary pool parties, the black-and-white films on the backyard projector, secrets shared with his closest friend. Each conversation in the present reveals another layer of his father's past, another insight into his disappearance. Yet with every revelation, his father becomes more difficult to recognize. And, with every insight, Steve must confront truths about his own life. Rich in atmosphere, and with a stunningly sure-footed emotional compass, The Imagined Life is a probing, nostalgic novel about the impossibility of understanding one's parents, about first loves and failures, about lost innocence, about the unbreakable bonds between a father and a son.

A collection of stories that trace the threads of loss and displacement running through all our lives, by the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Theory of Light and Matter A husband and wife hear a mysterious bump in the night. A father mourns the closeness he has lost with his son. A friendship with a married couple turns into a dangerous codependency. With gorgeous sensitivity, assurance, and a propulsive sense of menace, these stories center on disappearances both literal and figurative--lives and loves that are cut short, the vanishing of one's youthful self. From San Antonio to Austin, from the clamor of a crowded restaurant to the cigarette at a lonely kitchen table, Andrew Porter captures each of these relationships mid-flight, every individual life punctuated by loss and beauty and need. The Disappeared reaffirms the undeniable artistry of a contemporary master of the form.

Agamemnon led a ten-year-long struggle at Troy only to return home and die a pathetic death at his wife’s hands. Yet while Agamemnon’s story exerts an outsize influence—rivalled by few epic personalities—on the poetic narratives of the Iliad and Odyssey, scholars have not adequately considered his full portrait. What was Agamemnon like as a character for Homer and his audience? More fundamentally, how should we approach the topic of characterization itself, following the discoveries of Milman Parry, Albert Lord, and their successors?Andrew Porter explains the expression of characterization in Homer’s works, from an oral-traditional point of view, and through the resonance of words, themes, and “back stories” from both the past and future. He analyzes Agamemnon’s character traits in the Iliad, including his qualities as a leader, against events such as his tragic homecoming narrative in the Odyssey. Porter’s findings demonstrate that there is a traditional depth of characterization embedded in the written pages of these once-oral epics, providing a shared connection between the ancient singer and his listeners.

First Published in 1988. These essays have been written to mark the retirement of Ronald Robinson as Beit Professor of the History of the British Commonwealth at the University of Oxford. The contributors have all at various times worked closely with ‘Robbie’ as pupils, colleagues and friends. They offer this volume to him with their thanks and great affection, both in recognition of his immense contribution to the revival and development of imperial or commonwealth history, and in the conviction that he has still much to offer all scholars in the field.

"Andrew Porter is a born storyteller . . . He makes his own space instantly and invites you in. Hats off " --Barry Hannah From a commanding new voice in fiction comes a novel as perceptive as it is generous: a portrait of an American family trying to cope in our world today, a story of choices and doubts and transgressions. The Hardings are teetering on the brink. Elson--once one of Houston's most promising architects, who never quite lived up to expectations--is recently divorced from his wife of thirty years, Cadence. Their grown son, Richard, is still living at home: driving his mother's minivan, working at a local coffee shop, resisting the career as a writer that beckons him. But when Chloe Harding gets kicked out of her East Coast college, for reasons she can't explain to either her parents or her older brother, the Hardings' lives start to unravel. Chloe returns to Houston, but the dangers set in motion back at school prove inescapable. Told with piercing insight, taut psychological suspense, and the wisdom of a true master of character, this is a novel about the vagaries of love and family, about betrayal and forgiveness, about the possibility and impossibility of coming home.

The RB211 gas turbine engine was to be the biggest engineering project in Britain, and the world's fi rst three-spool turbofan. It had been developed for the Lockheed L1011 Tristar and fi nally entered service in 1972. Despite its huge development costs, which pushed Rolls-Royce into bankruptcy, it turned Rolls-Royce into a global company, supplying engines for many thousands of airliners and military aircraft. Despite the development costs, the failure of the company that produced the engine and the problems of its single launch customer (Lockheed), the RB211 proved itself to be a highly fl exible engine, with a massive potential power range, light weight and ease of maintenance. Andrew Porter tells the story of the RB211, the history of its development and the political and economic factors that saw the company nearly die.

School leadership is synonymous with challenge. However, some school leaders face true crises - situations threatening the continuing existence of their school. Leading Schools During Crisis analyzes leadership and behaviors of principals in these extraordinary circumstances. A simultaneously scholarly and practice-oriented book, Leading Schools During Crisis proposes the first school-specific model of defining and analyzing crises. Through authentic case studies, Leading Schools During Crisis offers a detailed theoretical and practical analysis of each crisis and the lessons from it for all school leaders. Highlights of the twelve case studies include: P.S. 234, Manhattan. At nine a.m. on September 11, 2001, the thirty-seven teachers and 650 elementary students of P.S. 234 were twelve hundred feet from Ground Zero. Principal Anna Switzer states, '[r]ight when the second plane crashed_that's when we knew that it wasn't an accident.' George Washington Carver H.S., New Orleans, Louisiana. Principal Vanessa Eugene believed Katrina would be another chapter in New Orleans' long history of near-miss hurricanes. Carver's campus was soon under ten feet of water. Sobrante Park E.S., Oakland, California. Like many schools, Sobrante Park only slowly realized the paradigm shift associated with the No Child Left Behind Act_until the fifth year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress. 'What do you do when all the data is bad?' asked Principal Marco Franco. Platte Canyon H.S, Bailey, Colorado. Principal Brian Krause was approached by a frantic student who reported: ''[T]here's a guy in the English classroom with a gun' . . . . I remember thinking, okay, he said guy. He didn't say student or kid or Johnny.' Other case studies include the challenges inherent in starting charter schools, discovery of systemic and deliberate grade fraud, rezoning of 95 percent of a elementary school's student population, and leading a school populated by changing_and often contentious_refugee groups.

School leadership is synonymous with challenge. However, some school leaders face true crises - situations threatening the continuing existence of their school. Leading Schools During Crisis analyzes leadership and behaviors of principals in these extraordinary circumstances. A simultaneously scholarly and practice-oriented book, Leading Schools During Crisis proposes the first school-specific model of defining and analyzing crises. Through authentic case studies, Leading Schools During Crisis offers a detailed theoretical and practical analysis of each crisis and the lessons from it for all school leaders. Highlights of the twelve case studies include: P.S. 234, Manhattan. At nine a.m. on September 11, 2001, the thirty-seven teachers and 650 elementary students of P.S. 234 were twelve hundred feet from Ground Zero. Principal Anna Switzer states, "[r]ight when the second plane crashed—that's when we knew that it wasn't an accident." George Washington Carver H.S., New Orleans, Louisiana. Principal Vanessa Eugene believed Katrina would be another chapter in New Orleans' long history of near-miss hurricanes. Carver's campus was soon under ten feet of water. Sobrante Park E.S., Oakland, California. Like many schools, Sobrante Park only slowly realized the paradigm shift associated with the No Child Left Behind Act—until the fifth year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress. "What do you do when all the data is bad?" asked Principal Marco Franco. Platte Canyon H.S, Bailey, Colorado. Principal Brian Krause was approached by a frantic student who reported: "'[T]here's a guy in the English classroom with a gun' . . . . I remember thinking, okay, he said guy. He didn't say student or kid or Johnny." Other case studies include the challenges inherent in starting charter schools, discovery of systemic and deliberate grade fraud, rezoning of 95 percent of a elementary school's student population, and leading a school populated by changing—and often contentious—re

These ten stories take us across the country--from rural Pennsylvania to Southern California to suburban Connecticut--and deep into characters struggling to find meaning in their day-to-day lives. The Theory of Light and Matter is a stunningly astute vision of contemporary American suburbia, full of tension, heartbreak, and emotional complexity--the work of an important new voice. Long Listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year, Short Fiction One of the Best Books of the YearKansas City Star - San Antonio Express-News

These ten short stories explore loss and sacrifice in American suburbia. In idyllic suburbs across the country, from Philadelphia to San Francisco, narrators struggle to find meaning or value in their lives because of (or in spite of) something that has happened in their pasts. In "Hole," a young man reconstructs the memory of his childhood friend's deadly fall. In "The Theory of Light and Matter," a woman second-guesses her choice between a soul mate and a comfortable one.Memories erode as Porter's characters struggle to determine what has happened to their loved ones and whether they are responsible. Children and teenagers carry heavy burdens in these stories: in "River Dog" the narrator cannot fully remember a drunken party where he suspects his older brother assaulted a classmate; in "Azul" a childless couple, craving the affection of an exchange student, fails to set the boundaries that would keep him safe; and in "Departure" a suburban teenage boy fascinated with the Amish makes a futile attempt to date a girl he can never be close to.Memory often replaces absence in these stories as characters reconstruct the events of their pasts in an attempt to understand what they have chosen to keep. These struggles lead to an array of secretive and escapist behavior as the characters, united by middle-class social pressures, try to maintain a sense of order in their lives. Drawing on the tradition of John Cheever, these stories recall and revisit the landscape of American suburbia through the lens of a new generation.

This study surveys the growth of European intervention outside Europe between 1860 and 1914. It treats its subject, 'imperialism', as a process of increasing contact, influence and control, rather than as the nature and consequences of colonial rule. The problems of defining 'imperialism' are considered alongside various analytical approaches to the term. In examining the controversial historiographical literature surrounding this subject, the book criticises particular explanations, and introduces readers to some of the new directions in research and inquiry currently being explored by historians.

Current interest in Britain's imperial past and the loss of her formal empire since World War II is substantial. This book, the second of a two-part study, brings together a collection of original and hitherto unpublished source material, throwing light on the approaches of those politicians, civil servants and expert advisers who were responsible for Britain's changing relations with her colonies and the Commonwealth. Major themes touched on include the impact on the empire of the international upheavals of the 1950s, the place of colonies in Britain's strategic defence planning, problems of colonial economic development, and relations with the USA.

First Published in 1988. These essays have been written to mark the retirement of Ronald Robinson as Beit Professor of the History of the British Commonwealth at the University of Oxford. The contributors have all at various times worked closely with ‘Robbie’ as pupils, colleagues and friends. They offer this volume to him with their thanks and great affection, both in recognition of his immense contribution to the revival and development of imperial or commonwealth history, and in the conviction that he has still much to offer all scholars in the field.