On July 20, 1969, a quiet, determined man from Wapakoneta, Ohio, stepped out of his fragile spacecraft and into history. Neil Armstrong--engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, astronaut and devoted family man--became the first man to walk on the moon. In this powerful, unrelenting biography of a man of no particularly spectacular talent yet who stands as a living testimony to everyday grit and determination, former NASA historian Hansen has achieved something quite remarkable. Like a rich pointillist painting, he has created a magnificent panorama of the second half of the American 20th century by assembling a multitude of luminescent moments in one man's life.
This series takes a historical look at the ancient world's leading figures, who led armies to victory and ruled over vast domains in a time when the world was still young. As one empire fell, another would rise, led by charismatic and powerful commanders who could unite many people and were touched by greatness. This king of Macedonia claimed to be descended from the gods, and in his 33 years he achieved amazing conquests and explored lands previously unknown to Westerners.
Cardiac diseases are still the leading causes of death in industrialized countries. They induce considerable harm to survivors and often lead to severe and irreversible physical and neurological disabilities. However, a considerable amount can be done to prevent coronary artery disease or to slow the progression of the disease. Both can be achieved by tackling the panoply of modifiable risk factors, which have been identified to be amenable to lifestyle changes.
Between the 1460s and the 1630s Ireland was transformed from a medieval into a modern society. A poor society on the periphery of Europe, dominated by the conflicts of competing warlords--Irish and English--it later became a centralised political unit with a single government and code of laws, and a still primitive, but rapidly developing, market economy. These changes, however, had been achieved by brutal wars of conquest, while large scale colonisation projects had created lasting tensions between old inhabitants and recent settlers.
Gerald had an affair. And an illegitimate child. He carried these secrets for decades, doing his best to blot them from memory. He failed–but he achieved something far greater…
