David Gilmour

A SUNDAY TIMES THE TIMES SPECTATOR NEW STATESMAN TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR A richly panoramic exploration of the British experience of India hugely researched and elegantly written sensitive to the ironies of the past and brimming with colourful details Dominic Sandbrook Sunday Times The British in this book lived in India from shortly after the reign of Elizabeth I until well into the reign of Elizabeth II Who were they What drove these men and women to risk their lives on long voyages down the Atlantic and across the Indian Ocean or later via the Suez Canal And when they got to India what did they do and how did they live This book explores the lives of the many different sorts of Briton who went to India viceroys and offcials soldiers and missionaries planters and foresters merchants engineers teachers and doctors It evokes the three and a half centuries of their ambitions and experiences together with the lives of their families recording the diversity of their work and their leisure and the complexity of their relationships with the peoples of India It also describes the lives of many who did not fit in with the usual image of the Raj the tramps and rascals the men who went native the women who scorned the role of the traditional me

David Gilmour ha avuto modo di lavorare nell'ultima casa palermitana dello scrittore e negli archivi di famiglia ha scoperto documenti per lungo tempo negati agli studiosi dalla vedova. Tra i materiali studiati vi sono molte lettere, diari, quaderni e fotografie che gli hanno consentito di ricostruire la biografia del principe. Giuseppe Tomasi, principe di Lampedusa, e morto nel 1957, ultimo discendente di un grande casato siciliano i cui antenati risalgono agli inizi dell'impero bizantino. L'anno seguente alla scomparsa dello scrittore il romanzo dal titolo "Il Gattopardo" fu pubblicato e accolto con grandissimo favore sia in Italia sia all'estero, ed e tuttora considerato uno dei maggiori romanzi del Novecento.

In 1957, Giuseppe Tomasi, the last Prince of the Sicilian Lampedusa family, died impoverished and unknown, leaving behind the manuscript of a book he had recently finished. The following year the book, The Leopard, was published in Italy and has since been widely translated and recognized as one of the great novels of the twentieth century. For over a quarter of a century, the reclusive mans papers were hidden from the public, until David Gilmour was befriended by Lampedusas adopted son. From letters, diaries and notebooks, Gilmour has brought to life the unlikely character of this enigmatic genius, and his milieu in Sicily and Europe. The Last Leopard is a fascinating meditation on what makes a writer and a masterpiece.

El último Gatopardo es la primera biografía sobre Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957) que aporta la extensa documentación personal que fue celosamente custodiada por su viuda durante más de un cuarto de siglo. Con estos y otros papeles hallados casi al azar en las ruinas del Palazzo Lampedusa y el testimonio directo de sus allegados, David Gilmour ha elaborado una obra documentada y amena en la que describe la vida de Lampedusa desde su niñez en el Palermo de la Belle Epoque hasta su muerte a los sesenta años en una clinica romana, y rastrea en los lugares en que vivio, aquellos que le inspiraron los escenarios que utilizaria en su obra. Su novela El Gatopardo no fue publicada hasta un año despues de su muerte, y desde entonces se suceden las reediciones y traducciones de la que ha sido considerada una de las mejores obras narrativas del siglo XX.

La biografía de Rudyard Kipling, que explora por primera vez el rol público del escritor, ganador del Premio Nobel. No sólo indaga en su escritura, sino que también examina temas decisivos de su intrincada vida: sus ideas, sus relaciones y su vision del imperio y de su futuro.

Jesse didnt want to go to school anymore. After much deliberation, his father offers him an unconventional deal: he can drop out, sleep all day, not work, not pay rent, but on one condition - that he watches three films a week, of his fathers choosing.What follows is an unusual journey as week by week, side by side, they watch the worlds best (and occasionally worst) films - from True Romance to Chunking Express, A Hard Days Night to Rosemarys Baby, and La Dolce Vita to Giant. The films get them talking: about girls, music, heartbreak, work, drugs, money, friendship - but they also open doors to a young mans interior life at a time when a parent is normally shut out. Gradually the fathers initial worries are set aside as he watches his son morph from chaotic teenager to self-assured adult - who even starts to get up before noon. As the film club moves towards its poignant and inevitable conclusion, the young man makes a decision which surprises even his father...The Film Club is a book that goes straight to the heart. Honest, unsparing, and emotive, it follows one mans attempt to chart a course for his beloved sons rocky passage into adulthood.

Unlike France and England, Spain has not been dominated by its capital, and the focus of its history shifts from city to city over the centuries, illuminating different features of the countrys past. Toledo, Cordoba, Seville and Madrid have at various times managed to establish a political and cultural supremacy, Cadiz and Barcelona dominated the economy in the 18th and 19th centuries. Salanca housed one of the great universities of medieval Europe while Santiago became the second religious centre of Christendom. In CITIES OF SPAIN David Gilmour takes us on a journey from Visigothic kingdom and the Cordoban caliphate to the Madrid of today. The portrait of these cities both now and in the heyday reveal both their spirit and their significance, and allowed the reader an intimate view of one of Europes most fascinating and intriguing countries.

Superb, beautifully written, touching and occasionally very funny Andrew RobertsDavid Gilmours superb biography of Rudyard Kipling is the first to show how the life and work of the great writer mirrored the trajectory of the British Empire, from its zenith to its final decades. His famous poem Recessional celebrated Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee in 1897, but his last poems warned of the dangers of Nazism, and in those intervening years Kipling, himself an icon of the Empire, was transformed from an apostle of success to a prophet of national decline. As Gilmour makes clear, Kiplings mysterious stories and poetry deeply influenced the way his readers saw both themselves and the British Empire, and they continue to challenge us today.A fine, fair and generous work ... Gilmours celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy, distaste andfastidious detachment ... there is never a flaccid line, and never a hasty judgement Jan Morris, New StatesmanEvery now and again a book comes along that sheds new light on a life we thought we knew. David Gilmours beautifully-written biography of Rudyard Kipling is just such a work ... This is literary biography at its very finest George Rosie, Sunday HeraldAn enthralling biography of a mind ... essential reading for anyone who cares about how a writer finds, and passionately lives, his subject Ruth Padel, Daily TelegraphThe best Kipling biography yet written ... Gilmours account of this driven man shines with intelligence J. B. Pick, Scotsman

A fast-moving, entertaining and finely written story Simon SchamaMasterly ... a remarkable portrait of a brilliant complex and tragic genius William Dalrymple, Los Angeles TimesGeorge Nathaniel Curzons controversial life in public service stretched from the high noon of the British Empire to the traumatized years following the First World War. As Viceroy of India under Queen Victoria and Foreign Secretary under George V, the obsessive Lord Curzon left his unmistakable mark on the era. David Gilmours lucid and elegant biography is a brilliant assessment of Curzons character and achievements, offering a rich and dramatic account of the infamous vendettas, the turbulent friendships, and the passionate, reckless love affairs that complicated and enriched his life.A magnificent work ... entirely convincing in its evocation of Curzons extraordinary character ... It is, in short, the definitive life David Cannadine, ObserverExemplary biography ... meticulously researched and elegantly written C.A.Bayly, The Times Literary SupplementA superb new biography ... a tragic story, brilliantly told Andrew Roberts, Literary ReviewAn absorbing, witty and intelligent biography ... David Gilmours mix of erudition, hard analysis and quizzical amusement will give this volume a unique place on the ever more crowded shelves of political biography Ben Pimlott, Independent on Sunday

The book that explains the whole extraordinary course of Italian history like no other in English The Pursuit of Italy traces the whole history of the Italian peninsula in a wonderfully readable style, full of well-chosen stories and observations from personal experience, and peopled by many of the great figures of the Italian past, from Cicero and Virgil to Dante and the Medici, from Cavour and Verdi to the controversial political figures of the twentieth century. The book gives a clear-eyed view of the Risorgimento, the pivotal event in modern Italian history, debunking the influential myths which have grown up around it. Gilmour shows that the glory of Italy has always lain in its regions, with their distinctive art, civic cultures, identities and cuisine and whose inhabitants identified themselves not as Italians, but as Tuscans and Venetians, Sicilians and Lombards, Neapolitans and Genoese. This is where the strength and culture of Italy still comes from, rather than from misconceived and mishandled concepts of nationalism and unity. This wise and enormously engaging book explains the course of Italian history in a manner and with a coherence which no one with an interest in the country could fail to enjoy.David Gilmour is one of Britains most admired and accomplished historical writers and biographers. His previous books include The Last Leopard : A Life of Giuseppe diLampedusa (winner of the Marsh Biography Award) Curzon (Duff Cooper Prize) and Long Recessional:The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling (Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography).

A SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN, TLS BOOK OF THE YEARThe British in this book lived in India from shortly after the reign of Elizabeth I until well into the reign of Elizabeth II. Who were they? What drove these men and women to risk their lives on long voyages down the Atlantic and across the Indian Ocean or later via the Suez Canal? And when they got to India, what did they do and how did they live?This book explores the lives of the many different sorts of Briton who went to India: viceroys and offcials, soldiers and missionaries, planters and foresters, merchants, engineers, teachers and doctors. It evokes the three and a half centuries of their ambitions and experiences, together with the lives of their families, recording the diversity of their work and their leisure, and the complexity of their relationships with the peoples of India. It also describes the lives of many who did not fit in with the usual image of the Raj: the tramps and rascals, the men who went native, the women who scorned the role of the traditional memsahib.David Gilmour has spent decades researching in archives, studying the papers of many people whohave never been written about before, to create a magnificent tapestry of British life in India. It isexceptional work of scholarly recovery portrays individuals with understanding and humour, and makes an original and engaging contribution to a long and important period of British and Indian history.

Un padre, su hijo y una educación nada convencional: ni escuela, ni trabajo, ni drogas; solo tres películas a la semana.Fue un trato muy poco convencional: Jesse podía dejar de ir al instituto, dormir todo el dia, no trabajar, no pagar alquiler pero a cambio tenia que mantenerse alejado de las drogas y ver tres peliculas a la semana con su padre, el critico de cine canadiense David Gilmour.Jesse acepto de inmediato y al dia siguiente padre e hijo comenzaron con la primera pelicula de la lista: Los cuatrocientos golpes de François Truffaut. A lo largo de tres años padre e hijo vieron todo tipo de peliculas, desde las consideradas joyas del cine hasta los grandes bodrios de todos los tiempos. Con el trasfondo de El padrino, Instinto basico, Showgirls, Ciudadano Kane o La ley del silencio, David y Jesse hablan de los principales directores de cine, de las escenas celebres y de los actores que las protagonizaron, y poco a poco sobre todo tipo de temas: chicas, musica, mal de amores, trabajo, drogas, talento, dinero, amor, amistad...Cineclub es un repaso personal de la historia del cine, un desafio a nuestras nociones de la educacion y, sobre todo, la historia real y conmovedora acerca de como un padre y un hijo sortearon una epoca muy especial en su relacion; en la que los hijos se encierran en si mismos y los padres pierden la oportunidad de llegar a ellos. Esta es la historia de una decision que lo cambio todo.Reseña: Al mismo tiempo que recorrian la senda cinematografica se detenian, casi sin pretenderlo, en la existencia misma.ABC