Michael Jones

When the German High Command encircled Leningrad it was a deliberate policy to eradicate the city's civilian population by starving them to death. As winter set in and food supplies dwindled, starvation and panic set in. A specialist in battle psychology and the vital role of morale in desperate circumstances, Michael Jones tells the human story of Leningrad. Drawing on newly available eyewitness accounts and diaries, he shows Leningrad in its every dimension including taboo truths, long-suppressed by the Soviets, such as looting, criminal gangs and cannibalism. But, for many ordinary citizens, Leningrad marked the triumph of the human spirit. They drew deeply on their inner resources to inspire, comfort and help one another. At the height of the siege an extraordinary live performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony profoundly strengthened the city's will to resist. When German troops heard it in their trenches one remarked: 'We began to understand we would never take Leningrad. Yet, Leningrad's self-defence came at a huge price. When the 900-day siege ended in 1944 almost a million people had died and those who survived would be permanently marked by what they had endured, as this superbly insightful and moving history shows.

"Second-Hand Stories: 15 Portraits of Louisville" is a compilation of articles by award-winning journalist Michael L. Jones. The book includes profiles of the indie band Rachel's, former James Brown trumpeter Richard "Kush" Griffith, sculptor Ed Hamilton, painter Bob Thompson, the seminal indie rock club Tewligan's and the history of Louisville Jug Bands.

"As an accomplished musician and composer, Michael Jones brings a unique sensibility to the subject of leadership. While other writers address style, process ands leadership issues, Michael illuminates the deep parallels between leadership and the creative process." Peter M Senge author of The 5th Discipline Founding Chair, SoL (The Society for Organizational Learning) Senior Lecturer, and MIT Sloan School of Management. In the future we need to envision a new leadership story - one that involves a transformation in awareness from performance to presence, from uniformity to uniqueness, from abstraction to beauty, from efficiency to improvisation and from instrumentality to the expressive power of story and voice. Together they awaken a commons of the imagination - a collective field of possibility that transforms our mechanistic view of the world to a more sustainable and transcendent vision that is creative, organic and whole. The primary purpose of Artful Leadership is to explore these fundamental shifts in awareness in the context of cultivating a mind that is more subtle, refined, undefinable, and free flowing - a mind that can perceive underlying patterns of meaning and therefore offer a portal for creating new understandings in an interconnected world. Michael Jones explores this journey of awakening in the form of a series of conversations with John, a successful senior leader who is searching for greater meaning and purpose in his work. As the conversation unfolds it becomes clear that this journey cannot be achieved alone. Instead leaders will need to come together to reclaim the commons - a space of wholeness and possibility in the personal and public imagination - in order to explore the less tangible dimensions of leadership as preparation for engaging a more complex and changeable world. In this original and thought - provoking book, Michael Jones foresees a renaissance in leadership practice, one based upon mindful attention, authentic inquiry, an aliveness to the artistic creation and an abundant curiosity for exploring whatever is fresh and new.

"Michael's stories have the same combination of clarity and intuitive richness as his music. A fine, contemplative guide to the artist's dedicated life." David Whyte poet, lecturer author of The Heart Aroused and Crossing the Unknown Sea Michael Jones' inspiring and award winning book about his life at the piano offers many rich insights to help the reader find this story for themselves. "Who will play your music if you don't?" He asks. "What is emerging at the periphery of your awareness now? When do you feel that you are fully living your own 'signature in creation' - a place to which you often long to return?" Too often we focus on building our careers, based upon an identity crafted from our trained skills and abilities - an identity that does not accurately reflect our primary strengths, wants or needs. Michael suggests an alternative - through personal narratives that burst with wonder and magic - he offers vivid portrayals of how, through seemingly ordinary people and events, we can discover clues for living a fulfilling and imaginative life. Each story builds upon another as Michael reveals his journey toward creating a life that feels whole and complete. Throughout he offers others an invitation to reconnect with the essence of who they truly are. To begin he suggests that we learn to trust that there is a dimension of life behind life, one that lives through us and brings with it a renewed sense of dignity and grace each time we do what we love, feel what we feel and simply be ourselves. Virtually every page of this truly beautiful book provides wise and wonderful clues for allowing the creative impulse within us to emerge. Throw out your books of creativity exercises and read this book instead

'Between France and England' characterises the role played by most rulers of the duchy of Brittany during the late Middle Ages, before it was finally united with Valois France. These essays (including three appearing for the first time in English) explore political and institutional aspects of the changing relationship between France and Brittany, within the context of Anglo-French relations, as well as social consequences of the development of a largely autonomous state within the larger French kingdom during a period dominated by war and economic crisis. The transformation of medieval France into an early modern state changed the traditional relationship between the king and his great feudal princes. But some princes reacted by imitating the crown, creating their own more advanced administrations and an ideological base for claims to exercise 'regal rights' within their lordships, often expressed in striking visual and symbolic form. These trends are evident in the late medieval duchy of Brittany where the Montfort dynasty all but succeeded in nullifying royal control.

This book draws upon a wide range of archaeological and literary material to provide a history of one of the most distinctive and individualistic regions of France and its people, from prehistoric times to the present. Focusing upon such themes as trade, settlement, agriclture, transport, population, religion, art and languages, the authors explore the characteristics of a society which has combined peoples from two different linguistic and cultural traditions in a long-enduring political union.

Sardinian Syntax presents the first comprehensive synchronic description of Sardinian syntax available in English. Michael Jones combines a detailed coverage of the language with a theoretical approach that draws on contemporary linguistic theory. The book provides an extensive reference grammar and an invaluable source of information for all linguists whose interests extend beyond the world's major languages.

Jones explores the human impulse to create, the necessity for having aesthetically satisfying experiences, and the craving for tradition. He also considers topics such as making chairs, remodelling houses, using and preserving soda-fountain slang, preparing and eating food, and sculpting lifelike figures out of cement.

Michael Jones is recognised on both sides of the Channel as an authority on late medieval Breton history. In this book he brings together much of his work on the subject, examining not only the administration of the duchy but also more intangible questions about the identity of a late medieval state.