A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency.
Robert Merle was a French novelist.
Jacques Heath Futrelle was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as "The Thinking Machine" for his use of logic. He died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
"The Cask of Amontillado" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. The story, set in an unnamed Italian city at carnival time in an unspecified year, is about a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative revolves around a person being buried alive – in this case, by immurement. As in "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart", Poe conveys the story from the murderer's perspective.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus. Various adventures and misadventures befall Pym, including shipwreck, mutiny, and cannibalism, before he is saved by the crew of the Jane Guy. Aboard this vessel, Pym and a sailor named Dirk Peters continue their adventures farther south. Docking on land, they encounter hostile black-skinned natives before escaping back to the ocean. The novel ends abruptly as Pym and Peters continue toward the South Pole.
Pankaj Mishra FRSL is an Indian essayist and novelist. He was awarded the Windham–Campbell Prize for non-fiction in 2014.
The Massie Trial, for what was known as the Massie Affair, was a 1932 criminal trial that took place in Honolulu, Hawaii Territory. Socialite Grace Fortescue, along with several accomplices, was charged with the murder of the well-known local prizefighter Joseph Kahahawai. Fortescue was the mother of Thalia Massie, who had brought charges that Kahahawai was one of a group of men who had raped her.
Augustus was the first emperor of ancient Rome.
Mahaut of Artois also known as Mathilda, ruled as Countess of Artois from 1302 to 1329. She was furthermore regent of the County of Burgundy from 1303 to 1315 during the minority and the absence of her daughter, Joan II, Countess of Burgundy.
Allan Johnstone Massie is a Scottish journalist, columnist, sports writer and novelist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has lived in the Scottish Borders for the last 25 years, and now lives in Selkirk.
Robert Kinloch "Bob" Massie IV is an American activist, author, and politician who works on issues of global leadership and corporate accountability, social justice, and climate change. He has created or led several organizations, including Ceres, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Investor Network on Climate Risk, and the New Economy Coalition. His early activism centered on opposition to South Africa's apartheid regime, writing the about the relationship between the US and South Africa in the apartheid era.
Paul Massie was a Canadian actor and academic. He later became a theater professor at the University of South Florida in the 1970s. He remained on faculty until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1996.
Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp was a member of the German House of Holstein-Gottorp, a princess consort of Anhalt-Zerbst by marriage, and the regent of Anhalt-Zerbst from 1747 to 1752 on behalf of her minor son, Frederick Augustus. She is best known as the mother of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia.
Alex Massie is a Scottish freelance journalist commentator based in Edinburgh. He is Scotland editor for The Spectator, and writes a political column for The Times and The Sunday Times. He is also a regular contributor to ITV Border, BBC Television and BBC Radio.
Hugh Ferns McLeod OBE was a Scottish rugby union player, who played forty times for Scotland between 1954 and 1962. He played 14 times for the Barbarians between 1954 and 1959, scoring only once, a try in their 1958 match against East Africa in Nairobi on 28 May 1958. His home team was Hawick RFC. giving rise to his nickname, the Hawick Hardman. Allan Massie describes him as "Hawick through and through, and is indeed now President of the Club".
Thomas Harold Massie is an American politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party, Massie has been the United States representative for Kentucky's 4th congressional district since 2012, when he defeated Bill Adkins in the special and general elections. The district covers much of northeastern Kentucky, but is dominated by the Kentucky side of the Cincinnati area and Louisville's eastern suburbs.
The Fault in Our Stars is a novel by John Green. It is his fourth solo novel, and sixth novel overall. It was published on January 10, 2012. The title is inspired by Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, in which the nobleman Cassius says to Brutus: "Men at some time were masters of their fates, / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." The story is narrated by Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl with thyroid cancer that has affected her lungs. Hazel is forced by her parents to attend a support group where she subsequently meets and falls in love with 17-year-old Augustus Waters, an ex-basketball player, amputee, and survivor of osteosarcoma.
Now All Roads Lead To France is a 2011 non-fiction book by Matthew Hollis. It details the life of Edward Thomas, a seminal poet in the history of British literature known for his work exploring the notions of disconnection and unsettledness. Reviews praising the book ran in publications such as The Guardian, The Independent, and The Wall Street Journal. The book won the 2011 Costa Book Award for 'Best Biography', with the judges calling it "brilliant", as well as the 2011 H. W. Fisher Best First Biography Prize.
Fortune de France is a sequence of 13 historical novels by French author Robert Merle, published between 1977 and 2003. The series is about 16th and 17th century France through the eyes of a fictitious Huguenot doctor-turned-spy Pierre de Siorac. It made Merle a household name in France, with the author repeatedly called the Alexandre Dumas of the 20th century. As of 2014, Fortune de France had sold over five million copies in France.
Tiberius is a 1991 historical novel by Scottish writer Allan Massie, about the Roman Emperor Tiberius. It is the second in the series of novels Massie wrote about the early Roman Emperors.
