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Hisham Matar
Hisham Matar (; born 1970) is an American-born British-Libyan novelist, essayist, and memoirist. His debut novel '' In the Country of Men'' was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, and his memoir of the search for his father, '' The Return'', won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and several other awards. Matar's essays have appeared in ''The New Yorker'', ''The Guardian'', ''The New York Times'', and many other publications. He has also written several other novels. Early life and education Hisham Matar was born in New York City in 1970, the son of Jaballa Matar, who was considered a political dissident for his opinions on Colonel Muammar Qaddafi's 1969 coup, and had to move the family away from Tripoli. He was working for the Libyan delegation to the United Nations, in New York, at the time of Matar's birth. The family moved back to Tripoli in 1973, but fled the country again in 1979. Matar was nine when they moved to Cairo, Egypt, where the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tripoli, Libya
Tripoli, historically known as Tripoli-of-the-West, is the capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.317 million people in 2021. It is located in the northwest of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean Sea and forming a bay. It includes the port of Tripoli and the country's largest commercial and manufacturing center. It is also the site of the University of Tripoli. Tripoli was founded in the 7th century BC by the Phoenicians, who gave it the Libyco-Berber name (), before passing into the hands of the Greek rulers of Cyrenaica as Oea (). Due to the city's long history, there are many sites of archeological significance in Tripoli. ''Tripoli'' may also refer to the (top-level administrative division in the Libyan system), the Tripoli District. Name In the Arab world, Tripoli is also known as "Tripoli-of-the-West" (), to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon, known in Arabic as (), meaning 'Tripoli of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers along an edge with a thick needle and strong thread. One can also use loose-leaf rings, binding posts, twin-loop spine coils, plastic spiral coils, and plastic spine combs, but they last for a shorter time. Next, one encloses the bound stack of paper in a cover. Finally, one places an attractive cover onto the boards, and features the publisher's information and artistic decorations. The trade of bookbinding includes the binding of blank books and printed books. Blank books, or stationery bindings, are books planned to be written in. These include accounting ledgers, guestbooks, logbooks, notebooks, manifold books, day books, diary, diaries, and sketchbooks. Printed books are produced through letterpress printing, offset printing, offset litho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stonemasonry
Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using rock (geology), stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with Mortar (masonry), mortar and even the ancient lime mortar, to wall or cover formed structures. The basic tools, methods and skills of the banker mason have existed as a trade for thousands of years. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient Shelter (building), shelters, temples, monuments, artifact (archaeology), artifacts, fortifications, roads, bridges, and entire city, cities were built of stone. Famous works of stonemasonry include Göbekli Tepe, the Egyptian pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Cusco's Incan Wall, Taq-e Bostan, Taqwesan, Easter Island's Moai, statues, Angkor Wat, Borobudur, Tihuanaco, Tenochtitlan, Persepolis, the Parthenon, Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China, the Mesoamerican pyramids, Chart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu Salim Prison Massacre
The Abu Salim Prison massacre took place in Abu Salim prison, Libya, on 29 June 1996, where an estimated 1,270 Libyan prisoners were killed. The massacre is considered to be one of the deadliest massacres carried out by the Gaddafi regime. Background A prisoner protest took place on June 28, 1996. Food rations had been drastically cut as a punishment after several inmates had escaped from the prison a few days earlier. The revolting prisoners captured two guards while they distributed food. One guard died, and the other guards opened fire, killing six prisoners and wounding about 20. Government negotiators, including Abdullah Senussi, then met with prisoner representatives who asked for improved conditions, care for the sick and trials. Senussi did not accept to put prisoners on trial, but he agreed to the other conditions, once the captured guard was released. The prisoners agreed. 120 injured and sick prisoners were told they would receive medical care and were taken away in bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu Salim Prison
Abu Salim prison () is a maximum security prison in Tripoli, Libya. The prison was notorious during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi for alleged mistreatment and human rights abuses, including a massacre in 1996 in which Human Rights Watch estimated that 1,270 prisoners were killed. In 2011, when the National Transitional Council invited investigators from CNN and other organizations, it found only what appeared to be animal bones at that site and announced further investigations. Construction The prison was built in 1984 by foreign workers in record time from imported, pre-fabricated concrete slabs. Each slab had a concrete hole in its middle, so that cranes could put the slabs in place. The holes were then filled with mortar, but inmates later managed to reopen the holes, hide the openings and communicate through them with each other. Abu Salim prison was built to replace the “Black Horse” prison. The prison consisted of two identical blocks called the military prison and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egyptian Secret Police
The State Security Investigations Service ( ) was the highest national internal security authority in Egypt. Estimated to employ 100,000 personnel, the SSI was the main security and intelligence apparatus of Egypt's Ministry of Interior. The SSIS focused on monitoring underground networks of radical Islamists and probably planted agents in those organizations and had the role of controlling opposition groups, both armed groups and those engaged in peaceful opposition to the government. It has been described as "detested" and "widely hated". Following the 2011 Egyptian revolution, the head of the SSI was arrested under suspicion of ordering the killings of demonstrators. On March 15, 2011, the Ministry of the Interior announced the dissolution of the agency. The service was replaced by (or renamed) the Egyptian Homeland Security after the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état. History Origins and early history The State Security Investigations Service was originally formed during the colo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year career. With an estimated more than 125 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social, and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture. Dylan was born in St. Louis County, Minnesota. He moved to New York City in 1961 to pursue a career in music. Following his 1962 debut album, ''Bob Dylan (album), Bob Dylan'', featuring traditional folk and blues material, he released his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive vocal and songwriting style. Marley increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide and became a global figure in popular culture. He became known as a Rastafarian icon, and he infused his music with a sense of spirituality. Marley is also considered a global symbol of Jamaican music and Culture of Jamaica, culture and identity and was controversial in his outspoken support for democratic social reforms. Marley also supported the legalisation of Cannabis (drug), cannabis and advocated for Pan-Africanism. Born in Nine Mile, Jamaica, Marley began his career in 1963, after forming the group Teenagers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, which became Bob Marley and the Wailers, the Wailers. In 1965, they released their debut studio album, ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slate (magazine)
''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former '' New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 2004, it was purchased by The Washington Post Company (later renamed the Graham Holdings Company), and since 2008 has been managed by The Slate Group, an online publishing entity created by Graham Holdings. ''Slate'' is based in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C. ''Slate'', which is updated throughout the day, covers politics, arts and culture, sports, and news. According to its former editor-in-chief Julia Turner, the magazine is "not fundamentally a breaking news source", but rather aimed at helping readers to "analyze and understand and interpret the world" with witty and entertaining writing. As of mid-2015, it publishes about 1,500 stories per month. A French version, ''slate.fr'', was launched in Februa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss Alps
The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physical geography, physiographic regions. The Swiss Alps extend over both the Western Alps and the Eastern Alps, encompassing an area sometimes called Central Alps. While the northern ranges from the Bernese Alps to the Appenzell Alps are entirely in Switzerland, the southern ranges from the Mont Blanc massif to the Bernina Range, Bernina massif are shared with other countries such as France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The Swiss Alps comprise almost all the highest mountains of the Alps, such as Dufourspitze (4,634 m), the Dom (mountain), Dom (4,545 m), the Liskamm (4,527 m), the Weisshorn (4,506 m) and the Matterhorn (4,478 m). The other following major summits can be found in this list of mountains of Switzerland. Since the Middle Age ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop music, pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new way of manipulating Phrase (music), phrasing and tempo. Holiday was known for her vocal delivery and Jazz improvisation, improvisational skills. After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem where she was heard by producer John Hammond (record producer), John Hammond, who liked her voice. Holiday signed a recording contract with Brunswick Records, Brunswick in 1935. Her collaboration with Teddy Wilson produced the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which became a jazz standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia Records, Columbia and Decca Records, Decca. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
