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"Hard Times" by Charles Dickens is a powerful social commentary on the harsh realities of industrialization in 19th-century England. This podcast explores the struggles of factory workers, the stark class divisions, and the dehumanizing effects of utilitarianism. Join us as we dive into the lives of memorable characters like Thomas Gradgrind and Louisa Bounderby, reflecting on themes of education, empathy, and moral responsibility in a mechanized society.

Hard Times is Dickens's most political novel. Set in the industrial north of England, in Coketown, he examines the lives of working people, who are taught by the capitalists Gradgrind and Bounderby to think only of the facts of life and not to indulge in imagination. Gradgrind’s own children have been so educated and as a result are dysfunctional and disconnected from their feelings. Only the travelling circus company of Sleary seems to offer any hope of humanity in Coketown.

Hard Times is Dickens' scathing portrait of Victorian industrial society and its misapplied utilitarian philosophy. And Thomas Gradgrind is one of his most richly dimensional, memorable characters. Filled with the details and wonders of small-town life, Hard Times is also a daring novel of ideas---and ultimately a celebration of love, hope, and the limitless possibilities of the imagination.

'Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.' So says Thomas Gradgrind, a wealthy, utilitarian school board superintendent. Father to Tom and Louisa, he shapes the minds of all the young children, including his own, with the exception of only one: the circus-born Sissy Jupe.

Despite the title, Dickens's portrayal of early industrial society is less relentlessly grim than that in novels by contemporaries such as Elizabeth Gaskell or Charles Kingsley. Hard Times weaves the tale of Thomas Gradgrind, a hard-headed politician who raises his children Louisa and Tom without love and to have no empathy, their lives completely devoid of beauty, culture, or imagination. Only after a series of crises does their father realise that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives.

In the spare, no-nonsense Gradgrind household, Tom and Louisa are raised according to their father's unyielding guiding philosophy: facts - nothing but facts. But while a ban on imagination is mere policy for the Gradgrind children, lack of whimsy is a necessary survival skill in Coketown, the grimy and grim working-class burg devoted to nothing but the relentless advance of industry...

What does it mean to be a man in the modern world? Throughout history, being a man has meant different things. Maybe being a man was about being a good hunter, or a good soldier, a good businessman, or maybe good with women. Hard Times Create Strong Men examines what it means to be a man in the modern world relative to money, sex, religion, and politics. This audiobook examines what worked and what doesn’t work based on proven history instead of feelings.

One of Dicken’s best works appraising English society. Highlights the social and economic pressures of the times. A masterwork.

The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Timothy Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, he does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes.

Incremental improvement is no longer sufficient in helping organizations navigate the complexity, uncertainty, and volatility of today's world. In Change, authors John P. Kotter, Vanessa Akhtar, and Gaurav Gupta explore how to create non-linear, dramatic change in your organization. You'll discover the emerging science of change that teaches us about how to build organizations - from businesses to governments - that change and adapt rapidly.

Shaun Attwood was a millionaire day trader in Phoenix, Arizona, but his hedonistic lifestyle of drugs and parties came to an abrupt end in 2002 when a SWAT team broke down his door. Attwood found himself on remand in Maricopa Jail with a $750,000 cash bond and all of his assets seized. The nightmare was only just beginning as he was submerged in a jail in which rival gangs vied for control, crystal meth was freely available, and where breaking rules could result in beatings or death.

What secrets hide behind the razzle-dazzle of the entertainment industry? V.I. Warshawski is about to find out. Her friend, reporter Murray Ryerson, has just landed a plum job as host of a Global Entertainment network television show. On her way home from the party celebrating the event, V.I. stops to help a woman lying in the street. Her Good Samaritan act exposes dark truths, and suddenly V.I. finds herself playing a game she can only win by staying alive.

Even before I met them I knew they were trouble. It was supposed to be a simple prison transfer that ended up anything but. Hunter and Ryker were two hardened criminals that shouldn’t look as good as they do. As a police officer it was my job to follow the rules and that meant ignoring whatever feelings these men stirred in me. I read their files. Ryker likes to torture people to death. So when they kidnap me, I know my fate is sealed.

This collection of stories focuses on the thoughts, passions, hardships, and tragedies of often overlooked Americans: the average working people who toil in the margins of society. Readers may recognize many of the characters in these tales, whose storylines play out in every corner of the country.

The Time Police do not have problems. They have challenges. Idiots who want to change history have always proved 'challenging'. But now temporal tourism is on the rise - highly illegal but highly lucrative. If you're prepared to take the risk. To face down this threat the Time Police will despatch their toughest undercover agents. Which is fine until the unthinkable happens. Replacements are needed fast, and who better than three young officers who don't even look the part?

The Viet-Nam War for America began in 1964, and finally ended in 1975. Nearly 59,000 Americans died, over 300,000 were wounded, and in total, almost 3,000,000 served "in-country." Combat was usually short-lived skirmishes, ambushes, and some longer sustained battles such as Dak To, Khe Sanh, and the 1968 Tet Offensive. No matter where you were stationed, there were always potential hazards to be faced. Allied forces faced not only an armed guerrilla population, but many "natural" hazards to one's health. Every American who served in Viet-Nam and came home after the end of their tour brought...

Figuring out how to deal with today's critical economic problems is perhaps the great challenge of our time. Much greater than space travel or perhaps even the next revolutionary medical breakthrough, what is at stake is the whole idea of the good life as we have known it.

Greg Heffley and his family and friends are back in Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 8, the latest installment in the #1 best-selling series by Jeff Kinney and one of the most anticipated books of 2013. A global phenomenon, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has more than 85 million books around the world.

The rules of Blackheath: Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others....

Hard Times is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book surveys English society and satirizes the social and economic conditions of the era. Hard Times is unusual in several ways. It is by far the shortest of Dickens's novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it. Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London. Instead, the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown, a generic Northern English mill-town.