title: Tony Hawk's (series)

text: The PlayStation version of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. In the United States, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2"s computer version sold 320,000 copies and earned $8.0 million by August 2006, after its release in October 2000. It was the country's 58th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of all "Pro Skater" computer games released between January 2000 and August 2006 had reached 440,000 units in the United States by the latter date. Also in the United States, the game's Game Boy Advance version sold 680,000 copies and earned $24 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 38th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable in that country. The game's PlayStation version received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3" had sold 2.1 million copies and earned $77 million in the United States. "Next Generation" ranked it as the 14th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of "Tony Hawk" console games released in the 2000s reached 10.7 million units in the United States by July 2006. Its PlayStation 2 version also received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3" had sold 2.1 million copies and earned $77 million in the United States. "Next Generation" ranked it as the 14th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of "Tony Hawk" console games released in the 2000s reached 10.7 million units in the United States by July 2006. Its PlayStation 2 version also received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


title: Tony Hawk's (series)

text: In Europe, the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube versions of "Underground" were respectively the fifth, sixth, and eighth-best selling games for those consoles the week after the game's release. It would remain uninterrupted in the top twenty of every week until January 24, 2004, for the Xbox and GameCube and February 21 for the PlayStation 2, inclusive. As of December 2007, the PlayStation 2 edition of the game had sold 2.11 million copies in the United States. The GameCube version made Nintendo's Player's Choice list by selling 250,000 copies in the United States. Its PlayStation 2 version also received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. "Skate" outsold "Proving Ground" on a 2:1 ratio, resembling its lackluster reception.


title: Tony Hawk's (series)

text: In the first month of its U.S. release, "Tony Hawk: Ride" sold 114,000 copies. During its first week on sale in the United States, "" sold 3,000 copies; Due to this, former developer Chris Rausch described "Shred" as the game that had killed the series and stated he expected no new game to release in the foreseeable future.


title: Tony Hawk's (series)

text: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2" became the fastest selling game in the franchise according to Activision, selling 1 million copies within the first two weeks. In the United Kingdom the game was the biggest launch in the franchise since "Underground".


title: Tony Hawk's (series)

text: During a period of series inactivity caused by the lapse of Activision's contract with Hawk, the "Tony Hawk's" fanbase largely sustained itself through "THUG Pro", a fan-made total conversion mod of "Tony Hawk's Underground 2" for Microsoft Windows and macOS that features levels of every game in the series for use in online multiplayer.


title: Tony Hawk's (series)

text: In March 2017, a documentary about the "Pro Skater" series was announced by former Neversoft employee and producer of the series, Ralph D'Amato. The documentary, "Pretending I'm a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story", features interviews from former Neversoft employees as well as skaters featured throughout the series, including Hawk himself and is directed by Ludvig Gür. The documentary came about after D'Amato had taken Gür, who was visiting him in California in 2016, to meet Hawk briefly but which turned out to be several hours discussing the possibility of documentary, which was further developed after more online calls and emails. The documentary's name is based on the song "Superman" by the band Goldfinger which was featured on the first game's soundtrack. The film was released on August 18, 2020.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: Pound Ridge is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,104 at the 2010 census. The town is located toward the eastern end of the county, bordered to the north and east by the town of Lewisboro, by Stamford, Connecticut and New Canaan, Connecticut, to the south, Bedford, New York, and North Castle to the west.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: In the early seventeenth century Pound Ridge was inhabited by Native Americans who spoke the Munsee language and were members of the Wappinger Confederacy. The geographical boundaries of the tribes within the Confederacy are unclear. Pound Ridge has been variously listed as within the territory of the Kitchawong, Siwanoy, and Tankiteke bands.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: The Siwanoy are generally agreed to have lived along the north Long Island Sound Coast with a maximum range extending from Hell Gate to the Five Mile River separating today's Darien, Connecticut from Rowayton to its east. The Tankiteke appear to have occupied easternmost Westchester County above the coast but extending further west in the northern part of the county and into southern and eastern Putnam County, and eastward in Fairfield County to the Saugatuck River in Westport. The territory of the Kitchawong is thought to have extended from the Croton River to Anthony's Nose along the Hudson and some distance east from the river.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: The Wappinger Confederacy participated in Kieft's War which began in 1640 as a result of escalating tensions over land use, livestock control, trade and taxation between the Dutch West India Company colony of New Netherland and neighboring native peoples. In March 1644 a Wappinger Confederacy village in present-day Pound Ridge was attacked by a mixed force of 130 New Netherland soldiers under the command of John Underhill. This event is now known as the Pound Ridge Massacre. The soldiers surrounded and burnt the village in a night attack killing between 500 and 700 Indians. The dead included 25 members of the Wappinger tribe, with the remainder being either Tankiteke or Siwanoy or both. The New Netherland force lost one man killed and fifteen wounded. More casualties were suffered in this attack than in any other single incident in the war. Shortly after the battle four Wappinger Confederacy sachems arrived in the New England settlement of Stamford to sue for peace.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: The territory of modern Pound Ridge was first permanently settled by Europeans in 1718 in the present-day Long Ridge Road area. Long Ridge Road was originally an Indian path and had been used by the first settlers of Bedford, New York as they traveled to that destination from Stamford. Although the very first settlers were from Huntington on Long Island, most of the original settlers of Pound Ridge were from Stamford. A large portion of Pound Ridge was included in the town of North Castle when it was incorporated in 1721.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: Three thousand acres in the northern part of present-day Pound Ridge were included within the more than 86,000 acre Cortlandt Manor grant which extended from the Hudson River in the west twenty miles east to the Connecticut border. A member of the historically prominent Lockwood family first purchased land in Pound Ridge in 1737 and several members of the family settled in the town within the next six years. The Scofield family first settled in the area in 1745 and the first Fancher settled in the area in 1758. Roads in the modern town bear the name of each of these families. The first record of the term “Old Pound Ridge” to refer to the present-day town's territory is found in the North Castle records from 1737. “Old Pound Ridge” begins to appear in Stamford records in 1750. The name “Old Pound Ridge” is thought to have originated from the presence of an Indian game pound on a hill within the territory when the settlers first arrived.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: During the 1700s, the Boutonville area of Pound Ridge found itself at the center of a 50-year land dispute concerning overlapping grants of the Van Cortlandt Manor grant to Stephanus Van Cortlandt and to the Stamford patentees. After a lengthy legal battle, clear title to the 3,000 acres was finally given to Van Cortlandt heirs in 1788. Most of this land is now part of the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. Sometime after that, Pierre Van Cortlandt built a home there. In 1815, Samuel Piatt (Peatt) (1773–1850) purchased seven acres and an existing house from Gen. Philip Van Cortlandt. This home, since demolished, was on what now is Honey Hollow Road. The farmland in the Pound Ridge and Lewisboro sections (Ward Pound Ridge Reservation) were part of the Van Cortlandt Manor lands that were divided into “great lots” of about 3,000 acres each. These lots were further divided into 300-acre farms.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: Pound Ridge was the site of a battle during the American Revolutionary War. On July 2, 1779, a force of 300 American rebels was attacked by 200 British soldiers under the command of Banastre Tarleton. The raid was the first independent command for the 24-year-old Tarelton. The attack was planned as one of a series of raids on rebel forces in the region the purpose of which were to draw Washington's army away from the Hudson River. The rebels had been warned of an impending raid on the night of June 30 by the rebel spy Luther Kinnicutt. However, the spy was not able to discover the date of the attack. The American force consisted of 100 continental foot soldiers of the 6th Connecticut Regiment under Major Eli Leavenworth, 90 of Colonel Sheldon's 2nd Regiment of Light Horse, and about 100 militia under Major Lockwood. The light horse detachment had been under the temporary command of Major Benjamin Tallmadge until the day before the attack when Colonel Sheldon arrived. Benjamin Tallmadge had organized the Culper Spy Ring which operated in British-occupied New York. The British force consisted of 200 mounted light dragoons and infantry and included some Hessian Jagers. Tarleton left his base on the Bronx River near Yonkers on the night of July 1 in a heavy rain storm and rode until he reached North Castle early on July 2. He then decided to attack Pound Ridge by an indirect northern route. In this way he managed to avoid the force of continentals located on the southern road. A lookout spotted the British as they approached the town and warned Colonel Sheldon. The commander dispatched Major Tallmadge with a small group to find out if the arriving force were British or expected reinforcements under the command of Colonel Moylan. The force under Tallmadge withdrew upon contact with the British. The force of light horse and militia under Sheldon and Lockwood were scattered and withdrew to the south. Tarleton's force pursued them for a time before returning to the town. They were then fired upon by some militia from behind cover. The British burned the Presbyterian Church and the home of Major Lockwood before withdrawing with prisoners, cattle, arms, equipment and the battle standard of Sheldon's 2nd Regiment back along the northern road to Bedford. Tarleton had the Presbyterian Church in Bedford burned as well as the house of a patriot. The British abandoned the cattle in Bedford before returning to the Bronx River camp under pursuit by the Americans as far as North Castle. In the course of the raid the British had managed to capture some of Benjamin Tallmadge's papers including a letter from George Washington. These papers revealed information on the operations of the Culper Spy Ring. Reports on battle casualties are contradictory. One secondary source provides a figure of ten Americans wounded and eight captured along with two British killed and four captured. The nearby towns of Bedford and Norwalk were burned by the British on July 11. Throughout the Revolutionary War the region was witness to raids by both Patriots and Tories against opposing residents. A Tory raid in Pound Ridge in 1779 led to the death of a resident. Pound Ridge held a number of Tories as prisoners or under house arrest throughout the war. Later in the war Tories were denied freedom of speech, lost the use of the courts, were prevented from practicing their trades and had their property confiscated.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: Pound Ridge was officially incorporated in 1788. In 1782 the population was 707 which increased to 1062 by 1790 and 1256 by 1800. One slave is listed as a resident in the 1800 and 1820 federal censuses. In 1830 the population was 1437. The population remained between 1400 and 1500 through the census of 1860 after which the census indicates population decline. During this period Pound Ridge was an agricultural community in which families raised a variety of crops for their own consumption. Commercial beef and dairy farming were also practiced. The town was a center for shoemaking with almost 150 families listed as shoemakers. Shoe parts were acquired from factories in Long Ridge and New Canaan. Residents would then stitch, fit and attach the parts and return the completed shoes to the factories. This activity was greatest in the winter during which farmers had the time to pursue secondary occupations. This cottage industry declined as the shoemaking industry began to employ full-time workers around mid-century. As a result, a number of local shoemakers moved out of town to become factory workers. Pound Ridge became a center of basketmaking with 80 families employed in the trade at its peak. Basketmaking was concentrated in the present-day hamlet of Scotts Corners which was known as Basket Town. Baskets were used for a variety of purposes but were particularly important for the oyster industry along the Long Island Sound. This local industry reached its height in the 1860s, with basket prices falling thereafter. The decline of basketmaking in Pound Ridge was caused by a combination of competition from foreign and machine-made products as well as the collapse of the oyster industry in the Sound due to environmental pollution.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: Pound Ridge furnished 109 men to fight in the American Civil War. Of the 94 new recruits, 53 served in Connecticut regiments and 41 in New York Regiments. Seven men were killed in action, thirteen died of disease, three died in prison, seven were wounded and thirteen disabled. When conscription was enacted the town began to raise money to give to conscripts for their personal use or so that they could purchase substitutes. The money was raised through taxes, bonds and loans from the county. By the end of the war the town had 35,000 dollars in debts. A significant portion of the money was entrusted to Alsop Hunt Lockwood who served as the town supervisor from 1844 to 1853 and then county sheriff for three years before becoming supervisor again from 1856 to 1868. In the spring of 1868 the town attempted to audit the supervisor to determine how the war funds were disbursed. The supervisor resigned in the summer of 1868 and the town went to court against him to recover 9155.77 dollars in damages and costs. The case was apparently settled out of court. The former supervisor sold his Pound Ridge house in 1871 and moved to White Plains where he died three years later. Alsop was the sixth and last member of the Lockwood family to serve as town supervisor.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: In 1869 the Stamford Water Company purchased land for the construction of a dam and the creation of a reservoir for the use of the city of Stamford. Three ponds were joined together to create Trinity Lake which reached a capacity of 450 million gallons when the dam height was increased in 1895. In 1891 the Stamford Water Company purchased additional land and created Siscowit Reservoir with a capacity of 88 million gallons. Annual farmers’ picnics were held on the eastern shore of Trinity Lake for about twenty years from 1886 onwards. Up to 2000 people from the region would attend.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: The population of Pound Ridge declined from 1417 in 1860 to a low of 515 in 1920. During this period general farming was replaced by dairy farming. Forest grew back over land cleared during the previous two centuries. The town had lost all three of its post offices by 1903. In May 1911 a series of fires broke out that burned hundreds of acres. George Irving Ruscoe served as town supervisor from 1894 to 1927. He also served as a justice of the peace for 62 years until his retirement in 1945. In 1916 the Northern Westchester District Nursing Association requested permission to open a Polio hospital in Pound Ridge. Sentiment in the town was strongly against the proposal and the hospital was not approved. The town board passed a resolution requiring all outside children under the age of 17 to be examined by health officials before they would be allowed to visit the town. In 1917 Pound Ridge was caught up in a Polio epidemic.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: In 1925 Westchester County purchased over 4,000 acres of land in northern Pound Ridge and adjacent Lewisboro to create the Pound Ridge Reservation. The park was renamed the Ward-Pound Ridge Reservation in 1938 after the park planner and longtime Republican county leader William L. Ward. From 1933 to 1940 the Reservation was host to a Civilian Conservation Corp camp known variously as Camp SP-9, Camp No. 24 and Camp Merkel after the parks superintendent for Westchester County. The camp had about 200 enrollees at any one time. Workers improved roads and built bridges, planted trees and constructed shelters, picnic areas, walls, latrines and a museum.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which of the town is land and (2.90%) is water. The eastern and southern town lines are along the border with Connecticut.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 4,726 people, 1,699 households, and 1,406 families residing in the town. The population density was 207.3 people per square mile (80.0/km). There were 1,868 housing units at an average density of 81.9 per square mile (31.6/km). The racial makeup of the town was 95.54% White, 1.21% African American, 0.06% Native American, 1.65% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.32% from other races, and 1.21% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.45% of the population.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: There were 1,699 households, out of which 38.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.4% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.2% were non-families. Of all households 13.2% were made up of individuals, and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.03.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.1% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 32.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: The median income for a household in the town was $183,208, and the median income for a family was $191,439 (since 2008). Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $50,553 for females. The per capita income for the town was $74,914. About 0.9% of families and 1.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.6% of those under age 18 and 2.8% of those age 65 or over.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: The local school is the Pound Ridge Elementary School, one of five K-5 schools in the Bedford Central School District. Older children take the bus to the Fox Lane Campus in Bedford, where the middle and high schools are located.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: The Town of Pound Ridge has a staffed police department of 16 sworn officers and a civilian staff member. The police chief is David Ryan. The police station is located by the Pound Ridge Town House on Westchester Avenue. The police department receives aid from the New York State Police in its patrols.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: Emergency Medical Services to the town are provided by the Pound Ridge Lions Club Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The PRLVAC has two ambulances and transports patients to neighboring New York and Connecticut hospitals. The ambulance corps has around 20 members. The ambulance corps provides Basic Life Support (BLS) to the town of Pound Ridge. Advance Life Support can be brought in via an intercepting unit or via the expedient transport to a providing hospital. Additional medical support is received from Westchester Emergency Medical Services (WEMS), which provides fly cars to assist the Ambulance Corps. The fly car is staffed with a New York State licensed paramedic.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: Fire protection is covered by the Pound Ridge Volunteer Fire Department. The department was established in 1933 and has around 50 active members. The firehouse is located in Scott's Corners; the house has its own weight room and recreational room. All the members are completely volunteer and live or work in town. It is a single station fire district that covers an area of . The firehouse has six pieces of apparatus inside its doors. This includes two primary attack engines, one supply engine, a 3500-gallon tanker, one rescue/engine, and a brush truck. In addition to these pieces of apparatus, the department has three chief vehicles and a brush fire trailer that carries one of the two gators the department owns. The department runs about 300 calls annually. In addition to serving its own fire district, the department also provides mutual aid to numerous surrounding towns in New York and Connecticut.


title: Pound Ridge, New York

text: "The Record-Review", a weekly newspaper, reports on local issues in Pound Ridge and Bedford. The newspaper began publishing in 1995. The Record-Review web site is http://www.record-review.com.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Utopian and dystopian fiction are genres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to readers. Dystopian fiction offers the opposite: the portrayal of a setting that completely disagrees with the author's ethos. Some novels combine both genres, often as a metaphor for the different directions humility can take depending on its choices, ending up with one of two possible futures. Both utopias and dystopias are commonly found in science fiction and other types of speculative fiction.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: More than 400 utopian works in the English language were published prior to the year 1900, with more than a thousand others appearing during the 20th century. This increase is partially associated with the rise in popularity of genre fiction, science fiction and young adult fiction more generally, but also larger scale social change that brought awareness of larger societal or global issues, such as technology, climate change, and growing human population. Some of these trends have created distinct subgenres such as ecotopian fiction, climate fiction, young adult dystopian novels, and feminist dystopian novels.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: The word "utopia" was first used in direct context by Sir Thomas More in his 1516 work "Utopia". The word "utopia" resembles both the Greek words "outopos" ("no place"), and "eutopos" ("good place"). More's book, written in Latin, sets out a vision of an ideal society. As the title suggests, the work presents an ambiguous and ironic projection of the ideal state. The whimsical nature of the text can be confirmed by the narrator of "Utopia"'s second book, Raphael Hythloday. The Greek root of the name "Hythloday" suggests an 'expert in nonsense'.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: An earlier example of a Utopian work from classical antiquity is Plato's "The Republic", in which he outlines what he sees as the ideal society and its political system. Later, Tommaso Campanella was influenced by Plato's work and wrote "The City of the Sun" (1623), which describes a modern utopian society built on equality. Other examples include Samuel Johnson's "The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia" (1759) and Samuel Butler's "Erewhon" (1872), which uses an anagram of "nowhere" as its title. This, like much of utopian literature, can be seen as satire; Butler inverts illness and crime, with punishment for the former and treatment for the latter.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: One example of the utopian genre's meaning and purpose is described in Fredric Jameson's "Archeologies of the Future" (2005)"," which addresses many utopian varieties defined by their program or impulse.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: A dystopia is a society characterized by a focus on that which is contrary to the author's ethos, such as mass poverty, public mistrust and suspicion, a police state or oppression. Most authors of dystopian fiction explore at least one reason why things are that way, often as an analogy for similar issues in the real world. Dystopian literature serves to "provide fresh perspectives on problematic social and political practices that might otherwise be taken for granted or considered natural and inevitable".


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Some dystopias claim to be utopias. Samuel Butler's "Erewhon" can be seen as a dystopia because of the way sick people are punished as criminals while thieves are "cured" in hospitals, which the inhabitants of Erewhon see as natural and right, i.e., utopian (as mocked in Voltaire's "Candide").


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Dystopias usually extrapolate elements of contemporary society, and thus can be read as political warnings.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: The 1921 novel "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin portrays a post-apocalyptic future in which society is entirely based on logic and modeled after mechanical systems. George Orwell was influenced by "We" when he wrote "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949), a novel about Oceania, a state at perpetual war, its population controlled through propaganda. Big Brother and the daily Two Minutes Hate set the tone for an all-pervasive self-censorship. Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave New World" started as a parody of utopian fiction, and projected into the year 2540 industrial and social changes he perceived in 1931, leading to industrial success by a coercively persuaded population divided into five castes; the World State kills everyone 60 years old or older. Karin Boye's 1940 novel "Kallocain" is set in a totalitarian world state where a drug is used to control the individual's thoughts.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Anthony Burgess' 1962 novel "A Clockwork Orange" is set in a future England that has a subculture of extreme youth violence, and details the protagonist's experiences with the state intent on changing his character at their whim. Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" (1985) describes a future United States governed by a totalitarian theocracy, where women have no rights, and Stephen King's "The Long Walk" (1979) describes a similar totalitarian scenario, but depicting the participation of teenage boys in a deadly contest. Examples of young-adult dystopian fiction include (notably all published after 2000) "The Hunger Games" series by Suzanne Collins, the "Divergent" series by Veronica Roth, "The Power of Five" series by Anthony Horowitz, "The Maze Runner" series by James Dashner, and the "Uglies" series by Scott Westerfeld.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Video games often include dystopias as well; notable examples include the "Fallout" series, "BioShock", and the later games of the "Half-Life" series.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: The history of dystopian literature can be traced back to the reaction to the French Revolution of 1789 and the prospect that mob rule would produce dictatorship. Until the late 20th century, it was usually anti-collectivist. Dystopian fiction emerged as a response to the utopian. Its early history is traced in Gregory Claeys' "Dystopia: A Natural History" (Oxford University Press, 2017).


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: The beginning of technological dystopian fiction can be traced back to E. M. Forster's (1879–1970) "The Machine Stops." M Keith Booker states that "The Machine Stops," "We" and "Brave New World" are "the great defining texts of the genre of dystopian fiction, both in [the] vividness of their engagement with real-world social and political issues and in the scope of their critique of the societies on which they focus."


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Another important figure in dystopian literature is H.G. Wells, whose work "The Time Machine" (1895) is also widely seen as a prototype of dystopian literature. Wells' work draws on the social structure of the 19th century, providing a critique of the British class structure at the time. Post World War II, even more dystopian fiction was produced. These works of fiction were interwoven with political commentary: the end of World War II brought about fears of an impending Third World War and a consequent apocalypse.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Modern dystopian fiction draws not only on topics such as totalitarian governments and anarchism, but also pollution, global warming, climate change, health, the economy and technology. Modern dystopian themes are common in the young adult (YA) genre of literature.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Many works combine elements of both utopias and dystopias. Typically, an observer from our world will journey to another place or time and see one society the author considers ideal and another representing the worst possible outcome. Usually, the point is that our choices may lead to a better or worse potential future world. Ursula K. Le Guin's "Always Coming Home" fulfills this model, as does Marge Piercy's "Woman on the Edge of Time". In Starhawk's "The Fifth Sacred Thing" there is no time-travelling observer. However, her ideal society is invaded by a neighbouring power embodying evil repression. In Aldous Huxley's "Island", in many ways a counterpoint to his better-known "Brave New World", the fusion of the best parts of Buddhist philosophy and Western technology is threatened by the "invasion" of oil companies. As another example, in the "Unwanteds" series by Lisa McMann, a paradox occurs where the outcasts from a complete dystopia are treated to absolute utopia. They believe that those who were privileged in said dystopia were the unlucky ones.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: In another literary model, the imagined society journeys between elements of utopia and dystopia over the course of the novel or film. At the beginning of "The Giver" by Lois Lowry, the world is described as a utopia. However, as the book progresses, the world's dystopian aspects are revealed.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" is also sometimes linked with both utopian and dystopian literatures, because it shares the general preoccupation with ideas of good and bad societies. Of the countries Lemuel Gulliver visits, Brobdingnag and Country of the Houyhnhnms approach a utopia; the others have significant dystopian aspects.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: In "ecotopian fiction", the author posits either a utopian or dystopian world revolving around environmental conservation or destruction. Danny Bloom coined the term "cli fi" in 2006, with a Twitter boost from Margaret Atwood in 2011, to cover climate change-related fiction, but the theme has existed for decades. Novels dealing with overpopulation, such as Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!" (made into movie "Soylent Green"), were popular in the 1970s, reflecting the widespread concern with the effects of overpopulation on the environment. The novel "Nature's End" by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka (1986) posits a future in which overpopulation, pollution, climate change, and resulting superstorms, have led to a popular mass-suicide political movement. Some other examples of ecological dystopias are depictions of Earth in the films "Wall-E" and "Avatar".


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: While eco-dystopias are more common, a small number of works depicting what might be called eco-utopia, or eco-utopian trends, have also been influential. These include Ernest Callenbach's "Ecotopia", an important 20th century example of this genre. Kim Stanley Robinson has written several books dealing with environmental themes, including the Mars trilogy. Most notably, however, his "Three Californias Trilogy" contrasted an eco-dystopia with an eco-utopia and a sort of middling-future. Robinson has also edited an anthology of short ecotopian fiction, called "". Another impactful piece of Robinson's is "New York 2140" which focuses on the aftermath of society after a major flooding event, and can be seen through both a utopian and dystopian lens.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: There are a few dystopias that have an "anti-ecological" theme. These are often characterized by a government that is overprotective of nature or a society that has lost most modern technology and struggles for survival. A fine example of this is the novel "Riddley Walker".


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Another subgenre is "feminist utopias" and the overlapping category of feminist science fiction. According to the author Sally Miller Gearhart, “A feminist utopian novel is one which "a." contrasts the present with an envisioned idealized society (separated from the present by time or space), "b." offers a comprehensive critique of present values/conditions, "c." sees men or male institutions as a major cause of present social ills, "d." presents women as not only at least the equals of men but also as the sole arbiters of their reproductive functions.”


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Utopias have explored the ramification of gender being either a societal construct or a hard-wired imperative. In Mary Gentle's "Golden Witchbreed", gender is not chosen until maturity, and gender has no bearing on social roles. In contrast, Doris Lessing's "The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five" (1980) suggests that men's and women's values are inherent to the sexes and cannot be changed, making a compromise between them essential. In "My Own Utopia" (1961) by Elisabeth Mann Borgese, gender exists but is dependent upon age rather than sex — genderless children mature into women, some of whom eventually become men. Marge Piercy's novel "Woman on the Edge of Time" keeps human biology, but removes pregnancy and childbirth from the gender equation by resorting to assisted reproductive technology while allowing both women and men the nurturing experience of breastfeeding.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Utopic single-gender worlds or single-sex societies have long been one of the primary ways to explore implications of gender and gender-differences. One solution to gender oppression or social issues in feminist utopian fiction is to remove men, either showing isolated all-female societies as in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "Herland", or societies where men have died out or been replaced, as in Joanna Russ's "A Few Things I Know About Whileaway", where "the poisonous binary gender" has died off. In speculative fiction, female-only worlds have been imagined to come about by the action of disease that wipes out men, along with the development of a technological or mystical method that allows female parthenogenetic reproduction. The resulting society is often shown to be utopian by feminist writers. Many influential feminist utopias of this sort were written in the 1970s; the most often studied examples include Joanna Russ's "The Female Man and" Suzy McKee Charnas's "The Holdfast Chronicles". Such worlds have been portrayed most often by lesbian or feminist authors; their use of female-only worlds allows the exploration of female independence and freedom from patriarchy. The societies may not necessarily be lesbian, or sexual at all — "Herland" (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a famous early example of a sexless society. Charlene Ball writes in "Women's Studies Encyclopedia" that use of speculative fiction to explore gender roles has been more common in the United States than in Europe and elsewhere.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Utopias imagined by male authors have generally included equality between sexes rather than separation.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Feminist dystopias have become prevalent in young adult fiction, or YA, in recent years, focusing on the relationship between gender identity and the teenager. For instance, the "Birthmarked" trilogy by Caragh M. O'Brien focuses on a teenage midwife in a future post-apocalyptic world while the second novel in the series places the teenage heroine Gaia in a matriarchy.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Étienne Cabet's work "Travels in Icaria" caused a group of followers, the Icarians, to leave France in 1848, and travel to the United States to start a series of utopian settlements in Texas, Illinois, Iowa, California, and elsewhere. These groups lived in communal settings and lasted until 1898.


title: Utopian and dystopian fiction

text: Among the first decades of the 20th century in Russia, utopian science fiction literature popularity rose extremely due to the fact that the citizens wanted to fantasize about the future instead of just the fact that it was a new, up and coming genre of literature. During the Cold War, however, utopian science fiction became exceptionally prominent among Soviet leaders. Many citizens of the Soviet Russia became dependent on this type of literature because it represented an escape from the real world which was not ideal at the time. Utopian science fiction allowed them to fantasize about how satisfactory it would be to live in a "perfect" world. "The Red Star" by Alexander Bogdanov was a science fiction book written about a society on Mars. This novel was immensely criticized among Soviet leaders during the Cold War because the book allowed the workforce to dream about their escape from reality. The culture of the labor force was hated by Lenin, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time because he did not want them becoming emotionally attached to such a thing.


title: Rebecca Rigg

text: Rebecca Rigg is an Australian actress, best known for her roles in television and films including starting out as a child actor in "Fatty Finn" (1980) and also featured in films "Hunting" (1991) and "Spotswood" (1992) and short "Ellie Parker" (2001)


title: Rebecca Rigg

text: Her Australian television appearances include the television series "Rafferty's Rules" (in which she appeared as the daughter of the Magistrate, Michael Rafferty); and the ABC television movies "Joh's Jury", "Come In Spinner", and "Naked". As well as a starring role in the Australian comedy television series "Willing and Abel" (in which she appeared as "Angela Reddy"). As a young girl she was also in the Australian film "Fortress", which was about the kidnapping of a teacher (played by Rachel Ward) and a small class of students. She appeared in the television miniseries "".


title: Rebecca Rigg

text: She has made guest appearances in other Australian television series, including her brief recurring role of troubled teen Gabe in "A Country Practice, "The Flying Doctors", "G.P.", "Blue Heelers" and "Winners".


title: Rebecca Rigg

text: Rigg had a role as Nurse Amy as part of the Mr Bad storyline on hugely popular Australian soap "E Street", playing the girlfriend of her real-life boyfriend at the time, and future (ex) husband, Simon Baker.


title: Rebecca Rigg

text: After the birth of her youngest son, Rigg retired from acting to be at home with her children. She has then returned to acting to appear in the films "Ellie Parker" and "Fair Game" with Naomi Watts. She also guest starred alongside her husband in "The Mentalist" episode "A Dozen Red Roses".


title: Rebecca Rigg

text: Rigg married Simon Baker in 1998 after five years together, and they have three children, Stella, Claude, and Harry. They moved to Los Angeles in 1996, went to Sydney in 2005, but returned soon after to reside in the United States. Rigg and Baker separated in April 2020.


title: Roxana

text: Roxana (c. 340 BC – 310 BC, ; Old Iranian: "*Raṷxšnā-" "shining, radiant, brilliant"; sometimes Roxanne, Roxanna, Rukhsana, Roxandra and Roxane) was a Sogdian or a Bactrian princess whom Alexander the Great married after defeating Darius, ruler of the Achaemenid Empire, and invading Persia. The exact date of her birth is unknown, but she was probably in her late teens or early twenties at the time of her wedding to Alexander the Great.


title: Roxana

text: Roxana was born in c. 340 BC as the daughter of a Bactrian nobleman named Oxyartes who served Bessus, the satrap of Bactria and Sogdia. He was thus probably also involved in the murder of the last Achaemenid king Darius III. After Bessus was captured by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great, Oxyartes and his family continued to resist the Macedonians, and along with other notables such as the Sogdian warlord Spitamenes, took up a defensive position in a fortress known as the Sogdian Rock.


title: Roxana

text: They were eventually defeated by Alexander, who attended a celebration, and reportedly fell in love with Roxana on sight. Where the celebration took place, if in the Sogdian Rock or another fortress of Chorienes (also called Sisimithres by Quintus Rufus Curtius) during which Alexander met Roxana is disputed but according to the Metz Epitome it was in the house of Chorienes in which Roxana was introduced to Alexander as the daughter of Oxyartes. Curtius apparently misrepresented Roxana as a daughter of Chorienes and Arrian claims, Oxyartes surrendered to Alexander the Great when he became aware of the good reception Alexander awarded his daughter Roxana. A.B. Bosworth mentions the possibility of Roxana being captured at the Sogian Rock, but that the two married at the fortress of Chorienes. The marriage was in 327 BC, and accodring the majority of the sources it was in Macedonian rite not the Persian.


title: Roxana

text: Alexander married Roxana despite opposition from his companions who would have preferred a Macedonian or a Greek Queen. But the marriage was also of political advantage as it made the Sogdian army more loyal towards Alexander and less rebellious after their defeat. Alexander thereafter made an expedition into India and while there he appointed Oxyartes as the governor of the Hindu Kush region adjoining India. It is assumed that during this period, Roxana was in a safe place in Susa. When Alexander returned to Susa, he promoted a brother of Roxana to the elite cavalry. With the aim of a better acceptance of his government among the Persians, Alexander also married Stateira II, the daughter of the deposed Persian King Darius III.


title: Roxana

text: After Alexander's sudden death at Babylon in 323 BC, Roxana is believed to have murdered Alexander's other widow, Stateira II, and according to Plutarch also Stateira's sister, Drypetis with the consent of Perdiccas. Roxana's unborn child caused some discussions between Alexander's loyalists around Perdiccas and Ptolemy who suggested to await Alexander's child to be the next King and name either a caretaker regent or a council in his stead, and the Macedonian soldiers who opposed a so-called persianization of the Macedonian court. For the Macedonian succession a temporary compromise was found as Arrhidaeus was declared Macedonian King; if the unborn child was a son, he was to become a King as well. By 317 though, Roxana's son, called Alexander IV lost his right to be king due to intrigues started by the Philip Arrhidaeus' wife, Eurydice II. Afterwards Roxana and her son were protected by Alexander's mother, Olympias, in Macedonia. Following Olympias' assassination in 316 BC Cassander imprisoned Roxana and Alexander IV in the citadel of Amphipolis. Their detention was condemned by the Macedonian general Antigonus in 315 BC. In 311 BC a peace treaty between Antigonus and Cassander confirmed the Kingship of Alexander IV but also Cassander as his guardian, following which the Macedonians demanded his release. However, Cassander ordered Glaucias to kill Alexander and Roxana. It is assumed that they were murdered in spring 310 BC, but their death was concealed until the summer. The two were killed after Heracles, a son of Alexander the Great's mistress Barsine, was murdered, bringing the Argead dynasty to an end.


title: Luxury goods

text: In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to necessity goods, where demand increases proportionally less than income. "Luxury goods" is often used synonymously with "superior goods".


title: Luxury goods

text: The word "luxury" originated from the Latin word "luxuria", which means exuberance, excess, or abundance. A luxury good can be identified by comparing the demand for the good at one point in time against the demand for the good at a different point in time, at a different income level. When personal income increases, demand for luxury goods increases even more than income does.


title: Luxury goods

text: Conversely, when personal income decreases, demand for luxury goods drops even more than income does. For example, if income rises 1%, and the demand for a product rises 2%, then the product is a luxury good. This contrasts with "necessity goods", or "basic goods", for which demand stays the same or decreases only slightly as income decreases.


title: Luxury goods

text: With increasing accessibility to luxury goods, new product categories have been created within the luxury market, called "accessible luxury" or "mass luxury". These are meant specifically for the middle class, sometimes called the "aspiring class" in this context. Because luxury has now diffused into the masses, defining the word has become more difficult.


title: Luxury goods

text: "Superior goods" is the gradable antonym of "inferior goods". If the quantity of an item demanded increases with income, but not by enough to increase the share of the budget spent on it, then it is only a normal good and is not a superior good. Consumption of all normal goods increases as income increases. For example, if income increases by 50%, then consumption will increase (maybe by only 1%, maybe by 40%, maybe by 70%). A superior good is a normal good for which the proportional consumption increase exceeds the proportional income increase. So, if income increases by 50% then consumption of a superior good will increase by more than 50% (maybe 51%, maybe 70%).


title: Luxury goods

text: In economics terminology, all goods with an income elasticity of demand greater than zero are "normal", but only the subset having income elasticity of demand > 1 are "superior".


title: Luxury goods

text: Some texts on microeconomics use the term "superior-good" as the sole alternative to an "inferior good", making "superior goods" and "normal goods" synonymous. Where this is done, a product making up an increasing share of spending under income increases is often called an "ultra-superior good".


title: Luxury goods

text: Though often verging on the meaningless in modern marketing, "luxury" remains a legitimate and current technical term in art history for objects that are especially highly decorated to very high standards and use expensive materials. The term is especially used for medieval manuscripts to distinguish between practical working books for normal use, and fully illuminated manuscripts, that were often bound in treasure bindings with metalwork and jewels. These are often much larger, with less text on each page and many illustrations, and if liturgical texts were originally usually kept on the altar or sacristy rather any library that the church or monastery who owned them may have had. Secular luxury manuscripts were commissioned by the very wealthy and differed in the same ways from cheaper books.


title: Luxury goods

text: "Luxury" may be used for other applied arts where both utilitarian and luxury versions of the same types of objects were made. This might cover metalwork, ceramics, glass, arms and armor, and a wide range of objects. It is much less used for objects with no function beyond being an artwork: paintings, drawings, and sculpture, even though the disparity in cost between an expensive and cheap work may have been as large.


title: Luxury goods

text: Luxury goods have high income elasticity of demand: as people become wealthier, they will buy proportionately more luxury goods. This also means, however, that should there be a decline in income, its demand will drop more than proportionately. Income elasticity of demand is not constant with respect to income and may change signs at different levels of income. That is to say, a luxury good may become a necessity good or even an inferior good at different income levels.


title: Luxury goods

text: Some luxury products have been claimed to be examples of Veblen goods, with a positive price elasticity of demand: for example, making a perfume more expensive can increase its perceived value as a luxury good to such an extent that sales can go up, rather than down. However, Veblen goods are not synonymous with luxury goods.


title: Luxury goods

text: Although the technical term luxury good is independent of the goods' quality, they are generally considered to be goods at the highest end of the market in terms of quality and price. Many markets have a luxury segment including, for example, luxury versions of automobiles, yachts, wine, bottled water, coffee, tea, foods, watches, clothes, jewelry, and high fidelity sound equipment. Luxuries may be services. The hiring of full-time or live-in domestic servants is a luxury reflecting disparities of income. Some financial services, especially in some brokerage houses, can be considered luxury services by default because persons in lower-income brackets generally do not use them.


title: Luxury goods

text: Luxury goods often have special luxury packaging to differentiate the products from mainstream competitors.


title: Luxury goods

text: Originally, luxury goods were available only to the very wealthy and "aristocratic world of old money" that offered them a history of tradition, superior quality, along with a pampered buying experience. Luxury goods have been transformed by a shift from custom-made (bespoke) works with exclusive distribution practices by specialized, quality-minded family-run and small businesses to a mass production of specialty branded goods by profit-focused large corporations and marketers. The trend in modern luxury is simply a product or service that is marketed, packaged, and sold by global corporations that are focused "on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and, above all, profits." Increasingly, luxury logos now available to all consumers at a premium price across the world including online.


title: Luxury goods

text: Global consumer companies, such as Procter & Gamble, are also attracted to the industry, due to the difficulty of making a profit in the mass consumer goods market. The customer base for various luxury goods continue to be more culturally diversified, and this presents more unseen challenges and new opportunities to companies in this industry.


title: Luxury goods

text: The luxury goods market has been on an upward climb for many years. Apart from the setback caused by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the industry has performed well, particularly in 2000. In that year, the world luxury goods market was worth close to $170 billion and grew 7.9 percent. The United States has been the largest regional market for luxury goods and is estimated to continue to be the leading personal luxury goods market in 2013, with a value of 62.5 billion euros. The largest sector in this category was luxury drinks, including premium whisky, champagne, and cognac. This sector was the only one that suffered a decline in value (-0.9 percent). The watches and jewelry section showed the strongest performance, growing in value by 23.3 percent, while the clothing and accessories section grew 11.6 percent between 1996 and 2000, to $32.8 billion. The largest ten markets for luxury goods account for 83 percent of overall sales, and include Japan, China, United States, Russia, Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Brazil, Spain, and Switzerland.


title: Luxury goods

text: In 2012, China surpassed Japan as the world's largest luxury market. China's luxury consumption accounts for over 25% of the global market. According to the Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2020, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Singapore were four of the five most expensive cities for luxury goods in Asia. In 2014, the luxury sector was expected to grow over the following 10 years because of 440 million consumers spending a total of 880 billion euros, or $1.2 trillion.


title: Luxury goods

text: The advertising expenditure for the average luxury brand is 5-15% of sales revenue, or about 25% with the inclusion of other communications such as public relations, events and sponsorships.


title: Luxury goods

text: A rather small group in comparison, the wealthy tend to be extremely influential. Once a brand gets an "endorsement" from members of this group, then the brand can be defined as a true "luxury" brand. An example of different product lines in the same brand is found in the automotive industry, with "entry-level" cars marketed to younger, less wealthy consumers, and higher-cost models for older and more wealthy consumers.


title: Luxury goods

text: In Economics, superior goods or luxury goods make up a larger "proportion" of consumption as income rises, and therefore are a type of normal goods in consumer theory. Such a good must possess two economic characteristics: it must be scarce, and, along with that, it must have a high price. The scarcity of the good can be natural or artificial; however, the general population (i.e., consumers) must recognize the good as distinguishably "better". Possession of such a good usually signifies "superiority" in resources, and usually is accompanied by prestige.


title: Luxury goods

text: A Veblen good is a superior good with a prestige value so high that a price decline might "lower" demand.


title: Luxury goods

text: The income elasticity of a superior good is above one by definition, because it raises the expenditure share as income rises. A superior good also may be a luxury good that is not purchased at all below a certain level of income. Examples would include smoked salmon, caviar, and most other delicacies. On the other hand, superior goods may have a wide quality distribution, such as wine and holidays. However, though the "number" of such goods consumed may stay constant even with rising wealth, the level of spending will go up, to secure a better experience.


title: Luxury goods

text: Several manufactured products attain the status of "luxury goods" due to their design, quality, durability, or performance that are remarkably superior to the comparable substitutes.


title: Luxury goods

text: There are also goods that are perceived as luxurious by the public, simply because they play a role of status symbols, as such goods tend to signify the purchasing power of those who acquire them. These items, while not necessarily being better (in quality, performance, or appearance) than their less expensive substitutes, are purchased with the main purpose of displaying wealth or income of their owners. These kinds of goods are the objects of a socio-economic phenomenon called "conspicuous consumption" and commonly include luxury vehicles, watches, jewelry, designer clothing, yachts, private jets, corporate helicopters as well as large residences, urban mansions, and country houses.


title: Luxury goods

text: The idea of a luxury brand is not necessarily a product or a price point, but a mindset where core values that are expressed by a brand are directly connected to the producer's dedication and alignment to perceptions of quality with its customers' values and aspirations. Thus, it is these target customers, not the product, that make a luxury brand. Brands that are considered luxury connect with their customers by communicating that they are at the top of their class or considered the best in their field. Furthermore, these brands must deliver - in some meaningful way - measurably better performance. What consumers perceive as luxurious brands and products change over the years, but there appear to be three main drivers: (1) a high price, especially when compared to other brands within its segment; (2) limited supply, in that a brand may not need to be expensive, but it arguably should not be easily obtainable and contributing to the customers' feeling that they have something special; and (3) endorsement by celebrities, which can make a brand or particular products more appealing for consumers and thus more "luxurious" in their minds. Two additional elements of luxury brands include special packaging and personalization. These differentiating elements distance the brands from the mass market and thus provide them with a unique feeling and user experience as well as a special and memorable "luxury feel" for customers. However, the concept of a luxury brand is now so popular that it is used in almost every retail, manufacturing, and service sector. Moreover, new marketing concepts such as "mass-luxury" or "hyper luxury" further blur the definition of what is a luxury product, a luxury brand, or a luxury company.


title: Luxury goods

text: Examples include LVMH, the largest luxury good producer in the world with over fifty brands (including Louis Vuitton) and sales of €42.6 billion in 2017, Kering, which made €15.9 billion in revenue for a net income of €2.3 billion in 2019, and Richemont.


title: Luxury goods

text: Since the development of mass-market "luxury" brands in the 1800s. Extraordinary places will be the factor of development which can be achieved by enabling the conversion of items from the mass-market to the luxury market.


title: Luxury goods

text: Many innovative technologies are being added to mass-market products and then transformed into luxury items to be placed in department stores.


title: Luxury goods

text: Department stores dedicated to selling all major luxury brands have opened up in most major cities around the world. Le Bon Marché in Paris, France is credited as one of the first of its kind.


title: Luxury goods

text: In the United States, the development of luxury-oriented department stores not only changed the retail industry, but also ushered the idea of freedom through consumerism, and a new opportunity for middle- and upper-class women.


title: Luxury goods

text: Fashion brands within the luxury goods market tend to be concentrated in exclusive or affluent districts of cities around the world. These include:


title: Anne Hegerty

text: Anne Solway Hegerty (born 14 July 1958) is an English quizzer and television personality. Since 2010, she has been a "chaser" on the ITV game show "The Chase" as "The Governess", and was a contestant on the 2018 series of the ITV reality show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!"


title: Anne Hegerty

text: Anne Solway Hegerty was born in the Westminster area of London on 14 July 1958. She studied journalism at the University of Edinburgh. She started her journalistic career in the 1980s as a reporter and feature writer at the "South Wales Argus" in Newport, before moving to Manchester. She also worked as a ghostwriter and wrote two books for American children's author Richard Scarry, but she said that the books "were a bit rubbish and nobody bought them".


title: Anne Hegerty

text: Hegerty is one of the chasers on the ITV game show "The Chase", alongside Mark Labbett, Shaun Wallace, Paul Sinha, Jenny Ryan and Darragh Ennis. As well as being in the UK version, she is also a chaser on the Australian version of the show on the Seven Network with fellow UK chaser Labbett.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: Hegerty has made appearances on a number of other quiz shows, including "Mastermind", "Fifteen to One", "Today's the Day", "Are You an Egghead?" and "Brain of Britain". she was ranked 55th (and second among women) in the World Quizzing Championships. In November 2013 she competed in the Bolton Premier Quiz League to become Brain of Bolton for the second time.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: Hegerty appeared as the "phone a friend" for a competitor, Lisa Harman from Ecclesfield, on "Who Wants to be A Millionaire" in 2010; Harman won £75,000. Hegerty correctly answered the question about the author of "Twilight".


title: Anne Hegerty

text: In December 2014, Hegerty appeared in the pantomime "Cinderella" as the wicked stepmother at the Grange Theatre in Northwich. In December 2015 she appeared as Fleshcreep in the pantomime "Jack and the Beanstalk" at the Civic Hall, Ellesmere Port, which was also booked for performance at Heywood and Radcliffe. At Easter 2016, Hegerty appeared as the Enchantress in the pantomime "Beauty and the Beast", alongside Keith Chegwin and Basil Brush, at the Palace Theatre, Redditch, which sold out, and other venues.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: From 6 December 2016 to 1 January 2017, she appeared as Blackweed in the pantomime "Jack and the Beanstalk" at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, Portsmouth. From 8 to 31 December 2017, she appeared as The Empress of China in the pantomime "Aladdin" at the Princess Theatre (Torquay). From 18 December 2018 to 6 January 2019, she appeared as Queen Rat in the pantomime "Dick Whittington" at the Theatre Royal (Windsor); Anita Harris played the role until Hegerty returned from "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here". From 5 December 2019 to 5 January 2020, she appeared as Carabosse in the pantomime "Sleeping Beauty" at Middlesbrough Theatre.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: On 19 October 2017, Hegerty appeared alongside fellow chaser Mark Labbett on an episode of "Celebrity Juice". She also guested on an edition of BBC Radio 4's "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue", which was broadcast in December 2017.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: In November 2018, Hegerty participated in series 18 of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!", where she finished in 7th place.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: Outside of TV, she appeared in a special video on YouTube with her whispering fan fiction for an ASMR video.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: In 2018, she joined 26 other celebrities at Metropolis Studios to record an original Christmas song called "Rock With Rudolph", written and produced by Grahame and Jack Corbyn. The song was in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital. It was released digitally through independent record label Saga Entertainment in November 2018 under the artist name the Celebs. The music video debuted exclusively with "The Sun" on 29 November 2018 and had its first TV showing on "Good Morning Britain" on 30 November 2018.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Hegerty rejoined the Celebs, which now included Frank Bruno and "X Factor" winner Sam Bailey, to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society and Action for Children. They recorded a new rendition of "Merry Christmas Everyone" by Shakin' Stevens and it was released digitally on 11 December 2020 by Saga Entertainment. The music video debuted on "Good Morning Britain" the day before the song's release.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: In 2021, Hegerty rejoined the Celebs to record a cover of the Beatles classic "Let It Be", a song produced by Grahame and Jack Corbyn assisted by Stephen Large. The song was recorded at Metropolis Studios, in support of Mind, and released on 3 December 2021 by Saga Entertainment. Hegerty was part of a choir of celebrities including Georgia Hirst, Ivan Kaye and Eunice Olumide who were backing "EastEnders" star Shona McGarty.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: Hegerty lives in Manchester. She has Asperger syndrome, which was not diagnosed until 2003 when she was 45.


title: Anne Hegerty

text: In 2022 she featured on the ITV programme "DNA Journey", when it was revealed that she is of Scottish descent, and is both a descendant of Robert the Bruce and a distant relative of Elizabeth II.


title: Leah Williamson

text: Leah Cathrine Williamson (born 29 March 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays for Arsenal of the WSL and captains the England national team. A versatile player, she started playing as a midfielder before moving to central defence after a managerial change. She has spent her entire senior domestic career at Arsenal since her debut in 2014.


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson joined Rushden & Diamonds Centre of Excellence at the age of 6. On that period, Williamson said, "My coach at the time left to go to Arsenal. I went across with her and had a couple of trials and luckily they took me on and I never looked back from there. So I owe it all to my coach from when I was 9."


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson made her senior team debut when she came on as an 81st-minute substitution for Rachel Yankey in Arsenal's 0–2 defeat to Birmingham City in the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-final. She made her FA WSL debut on 16 April against Notts County. She won her first major title, the 2014 FA Women's Cup with Arsenal on 1 June in the final against Everton, in which she came on as a 76th-minute substitute for Jade Bailey. On 13 July, Williamson netted her first professional goal for Arsenal in a 4–0 win away against Millwall Lionesses in the League Cup. On 4 September, she scored her first league goal against Chelsea. She made 12 appearances in the 2014 FA Women's Super League. Williamson played in the 2014 League Cup final against Manchester City which Arsenal lost 1–0. At the end of the 2014 season, she was named the League Cup Player of the Year, ahead of Jess Clarke from Notts County, Ji So-yun from Chelsea and Toni Duggan from Manchester City.


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 8 January, Williamson won the England Women's Youth Player of the Year award. Before the start of the 2015 FA Women's Super League, on 31 March, Williamson signed her first professional contract with Arsenal. On 26 April, she was named the 2014–15 PFA Young Women's Player of the Year. Williamson scored her first goal of the season in a convincing 3–0 home victory over Watford in the League Cup on 23 July. Williamson was a key figure in the club's victorious League Cup campaign, after the quarter final win over holders Manchester City, who had beaten Arsenal in the final, Williamson said, "I think Arsenal as a football club have won a lot of trophies in the past and we wanted to keep winning silverware for the club. Even with the younger players in the squad we all thought we have got to win, the morale was certainly high before the game. Last year’s final was always in the back of our mind and we know how good a side City can be. After going 1–0 up it was all about defending which we managed to do and it was a great result for us. I think we can win the cup as we have won it three times but we have to keep on focusing on the next game."


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson helped her team reach the final of the FA Cup of 2016, which Arsenal won by a 1–0 margin over Chelsea.


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson was ever present in the 2017–18 FA WSL Cup as Arsenal ended as Champions beating the defending champions, Manchester City in the final. Arsenal's league campaign was more disappointing with Arsenal missing out a top two finish and Champions League qualification for the sixth consecutive edition of the WSL. She started the season in midfield but switched to central defence with the arrival of new manager Joe Montemurro in December 2017. On her change of position, Williamson said, "I’m not sure in the long term and I never want to shut the door on either position, because I know I can do both. But I’m enjoying playing as a centre back with the way we play. Under Joe we want to play out from the back and that suits my qualities. At the minute I am enjoying playing at centre half, but I’m open minded about what the future holds." Towards the end of the season, Williamson reflected on the season since Montemurro took over, "I feel like since Joe came in we’re back on a journey again, we had lost that a little bit. Despite today, I feel like we’re building something. But pretty much every game we have played since around November has been a must win game and that takes its toll emotionally. In every single game we have known no less than a win will do, in the league and in the cups."


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 14 October 2018, Arsenal laid down a marker in their title challenge with a 5–0 thrashing of champions Chelsea, inflicting a first home defeat on the champions since July 2016. Joe Montemurro began utilizing Williamson on the right of a back three and after a 4–0 win at Bristol City on 28 October, in which Williamson assisted Jordan Nobbs for one of the goals, he commented positively on her performance. Arsenal won their first nine games and went into the match with Manchester City six points clear of their title rivals; however, they lost 2–0 amid an injury crisis. Two games later, on Williamson's 100th Arsenal appearance, a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea allowed Manchester City to move a point clear albeit having played one game more.


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 23 February, Arsenal attempted to defend their title in the FA WSL Continental Cup but Manchester City won 4–2 on penalties; nevertheless, Montemurro praised Williamson after the match. In the league, Arsenal won four games in a row, and after a 5–1 victory at Liverpool on 24 March, England manager Phil Neville indicated his confidence that Williamson would one day captain the national team. The team won another four games in a row to clinch the title with a 4–0 defeat of Brighton at the Falmer Stadium on 28 April. During the season, the most common passes exchanged were between Williamson and Lisa Evans at right wing back. Williamson took the most touches out of any Arsenal player, with 1,501, and completed the most passes in the opposition’s half (591). She also made thirty interceptions, more than any other player in the squad.


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 13 September 2020 Williamson netted her first goal of the season in Arsenal's 9–1 victory over fellow London side West Ham United.


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 18 November 2020 Williamson made her 150th appearance in all competitions for Arsenal against Tottenham Hotspur in the Continental Cup a game which Arsenal would draw 2–2 but go on to win 5–4 on penalties.


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 16 June 2021, Arsenal announced that Williamson had signed a new one-year contract with the club until the end of the 2021–22 season.


title: Leah Williamson

text: Just seven months later, in January 2022, she agreed a prolonged contract with the club. Arsenal did not disclose the duration of the new commitment, but coach Jonas Eidevall stated that Leah Williamson is "a player for us to build Arsenal around".


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson has represented England since 2010 at youth levels. She captained the England under 17 side in the 2014 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship held in England in November and December 2013, where they eventually finished fourth after being beaten by Italy in the third place play-off, losing 3–4 in the penalty shootout. She was also part of the England women's national under-20 football team to compete in the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Canada in August 2014. Williamson started in the starting lineup in every England's match. The tournament, however, was a disappointment for the team as they were not able to progress through to the quarter finals, finishing third in their group with only two draws against South Korea and Mexico respectively, and a defeat to Nigeria.


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 9 April 2015, Williamson scored a penalty for her team in a qualifying match against Norway for the 2015 UEFA under-19 championship, which had been ordered to be retaken five days after the original contest. In an unprecedented decision, UEFA had ordered the match to be restarted from the 96th minute.


title: Leah Williamson

text: Previously, on 4 April, Williamson's successful penalty for England was disallowed for player encroachment (by substitute Rosella Ayane, who had won the penalty and scored a goal in her brief cameo from the bench). The laws of the game state that in such a situation, the penalty should be retaken, but the German referee, Marija Kurtes instead awarded Norway a free kick. After protests from the England camp, the European governing body agreed that the match should be replayed from the time of the incident.


title: Leah Williamson

text: The players returned to finish the last two minutes of their match after each had played what was scheduled to be their last qualifying matches for the tournament. With the scores standing at 2–1 to Norway, Williamson equalised and, in doing so, booked her team's place in the tournament finals.


title: Leah Williamson

text: In November 2017, Williamson was called up the senior England squad. She made her debut for the senior team with six minutes left in a 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier against Russia in the team's 3–1 win. Williamson was part of the squad who won a 2–0 victory over Denmark at Banks’s Stadium in Walsall for one of their final friendly preparation matches for the World Cup.


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson was involved in the England squad that won in the 2019 SheBelieves Cup in USA, playing the final game, a 3–0 win over Japan.


title: Leah Williamson

text: In May 2019, Ian Wright announced on social media that Williamson had been selected for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup squad and would be on the plane to France. On being selected for the squad, Williamson said, "After the World Cup in Canada four years ago that’s what I set my sights on and all I’ve ever wanted to do is be a part of this team. I can’t be more thankful because I think I’m the luckiest girl in the world." Williamson made her World Cup debut from the bench in the Round of 16 match against Cameroon on 23 June 2019 in Valenciennes. Then-manager Phil Neville felt he did not use Williamson as much as he could have during the qualifiers and World Cup, putting in more experienced defenders and considering Keira Walsh crucial to the defensive midfield instead.


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson scored her first England goal, an 86th-minute winner, in a 3–2 friendly win against the Czech Republic on 12 November 2019.


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 17 September 2021, Williamson was named England captain for the FIFA World Cup qualifier against North Macedonia at St Mary's Stadium, Southampton. On 5 April 2022, she was appointed permanent England captain. Williamson was included, as captain, in the England squad which won the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. Williamson also showed support for LGBTQ+ rights by wearing a rainbow captain's armband throughout the Euro 2022 tournament.


title: Leah Williamson

text: On 31 July 2022, Williamson captained the Lionesses against Germany in the Euro 2022 final - winning 2–1 in extra time. The English captain made the most ball recoveries in the tournament, with 56. Williamson became the first captain in the men or women's senior teams to lead England to a European trophy, with it being 56 years since England had won a major trophy.


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson was born on 29 March 1997 in Milton Keynes and grew up in Newport Pagnell on the northern edge of the urban area, attending Portfields School for primary education and Ousedale School for secondary. She comes from a divided footballing family, with her brother and father fans of North London team Tottenham Hotspur. She is a lifelong Arsenal fan. In 2006, she was selected as the mascot to the Arsenal men's team in a league cup match at the Hawthorns against West Bromwich Albion.


title: Leah Williamson

text: She is training to be an accountant. After watching long jumper Greg Rutherford, who also comes from Milton Keynes, at the 2012 Summer Olympics she briefly considered switching her athletic focus to track and field as she had previously participated in some local competitions and wished to become an Olympic athlete.


title: Leah Williamson

text: She is close friends with former Arsenal teammate Alex Scott, and international teammate and Barcelona midfielder Keira Walsh. Williamson and Walsh went through all the junior ranks together and received their first senior call up on the same day in 2017; in 2019, Williamson commented that whenever England teams were announced "the first thing you do, you check for your name on the list and then you check for Keira's." Walsh also reflected that there was "nobody [she] would rather have shared this journey with".


title: Leah Williamson

text: Williamson was one of the legends of football featured in Nike's "The Football Verse" ad spot for the (men's) 2022 FIFA World Cup. She has been announced to guest write on the England men's football team at this tournament for "The Athletic", though told the BBC that while she will "support the boys [she has not] got any interest in it as a fan really this year, which is sad."


title: Mark Levin

text: Mark Reed Levin (; born September 21, 1957) is an American lawyer, author, and radio personality. He is the host of syndicated radio show "The Mark Levin Show", as well as "Life, Liberty & Levin" on Fox News. Levin worked in the administration of President Ronald Reagan and was a chief of staff for Attorney General Edwin Meese. He is the former president of the Landmark Legal Foundation, a "New York Times" best-selling author of seven books, and contributes commentary to media outlets such as "National Review Online". Since 2015, Levin has been editor-in-chief of the "Conservative Review" and is known for his incendiary commentary.


title: Mark Levin

text: He has been described as "right-wing" by "The New York Times", CNN, NPR, and "Politico". He is known for his strident criticisms of Democrats and encouragement of primary challenges to congressional Republicans that he considers to be "Republican In Name Only" (RINO). He endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and declared himself "Never Trump", but reluctantly endorsed Donald Trump after Trump won the Republican nomination. Since the start of the Trump presidency, Levin's commentary has become strongly pro-Trump.


title: Mark Levin

text: Mark Reed Levin, one of three boys, was born in Philadelphia to a Jewish family, and grew up in Erdenheim as well as Elkins Park. His father, Jack E. Levin (1925–2018), authored several books. He graduated from Cheltenham High School after three years, in 1974. Skipping his senior year of high school, Levin enrolled at Temple University Ambler and graduated "magna cum laude" and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Political Science in 1977 at age 19. Later in 1977, Levin won election to the Cheltenham school board on a platform of reducing property taxes. In 1980, Levin earned a J.D. from Temple University School of Law.


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin worked for Texas Instruments after law school. Beginning in 1981, Levin worked in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. Levin began at ACTION, the federal agency that oversaw VISTA and other volunteer agencies, before serving as deputy assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the U.S. Department of Education and deputy solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior. He ultimately became chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese.


title: Mark Levin

text: After leaving the Reagan administration, Levin practiced law in the private sector. In 1991, Levin joined public interest law firm Landmark Legal Foundation. At Landmark, Levin served as director of legal policy and the foundation's Washington-based Center for Civil Rights before becoming president in 1997. Under Levin's presidency, Landmark Legal filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in 2000 alleging that the National Education Association, the largest teachers' union in the U.S., did not disclose spending on political activity in Internal Revenue Service documentation. Landmark Legal also filed similar complaints with the United States Department of Labor in 2002 regarding NEA and political activity; by 2006, the NEA and smaller American Federation of Teachers had filed new documents with the Labor Department revealing over $100 million combined in political action spending.


title: Mark Levin

text: Following Freedom of Information Act requests in August 2012 of documents that would show if Environmental Protection Agency officials sought to delay regulations until after the 2012 presidential election, federal judge Royce Lamberth ruled in 2015 that although Landmark Legal did not establish that the EPA acted in bad faith, the EPA either carelessly or intentionally neglected Landmark's FOIA request. Lamberth previously ruled in 2013 that the EPA might have attempted to evade Landmark's FOIA request.


title: Mark Levin

text: In 2001, the American Conservative Union awarded Levin its Ronald Reagan Award for his work with Landmark Legal.


title: Mark Levin

text: "Politico" reported in 2014 that Levin received a salary of more than $300,000 per year as president of the non-profit Landmark Legal Foundation, whose donors include the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and ExxonMobil. In 2018, Levin stepped down as president of Landmark Legal but remained on its board of directors.


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin began his broadcasting career as a guest on conservative talk radio programs. For many years, he was a contributor of legal opinions to "The Rush Limbaugh Show", appearing more regularly as the Monica Lewinsky scandal developed. About this time, Sean Hannity became aware of him, and he began to feature in Hannity's radio show. Eventually, Levin gained a radio slot of his own on WABC, initially on Sundays beginning in 2002, then in the timeslot following Hannity's program in 2003. Cumulus Media Networks began syndicating "The Mark Levin Show" nationally in 2006.


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin has participated in Freedom Concerts, an annual benefit concert to aid families of fallen soldiers, and uses his radio program to promote aid to military families. Levin is also involved with Move America Forward, a charity that sends care packages to soldiers serving overseas.


title: Mark Levin

text: On February 11, 2016, Levin signed a ten-year contract extension with Westwood One, which will take his show through 2025, its 19th year.


title: Mark Levin

text: Since 2014, Levin has been the founding editor-in-chief of Conservative Review, a multi-platform online television network that later merged with Glenn Beck's terrestrial network TheBlaze in 2018 to form Blaze Media. Programs airing on the network include "Levin", "Roaming Millennial", "Truth Be Told", "Allie", "In the Woods with Phil", "Kibbe on Liberty", "Louder with Crowder", "America Bolling", and more.


title: Mark Levin

text: In November 2017, Fox News announced that it had signed Levin for a weekend show titled "Life, Liberty & Levin" to air on Sunday nights beginning in February 2018. According to a pre-debut network news release, the program's intention was to explore "the fundamental values and principles undergirding American society, culture, politics, and current events, and their relevance to the nation's future and everyday lives of citizens." Episodes feature one or two guests for the hour-long program discussing political events, news, and history.


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin wrote the 2005 book "Men In Black: How The Supreme Court Is Destroying America", in which he advanced his thesis that activist judges on the Supreme Court (from all parts of the political spectrum) have "legislated from the bench". "Commentary" magazine's Dan Seligman wrote that Levin asks readers "to identify with 'originalists' who look to the text of the Constitution and the intent of its framers, and to reject the 'activists' who construe the Constitution broadly and are more concerned with getting to their own 'desired outcomes'". "Slate" magazine's Dahlia Lithwick wrote that "no serious scholar of the court or the Constitution, on the ideological left or right, is going to waste their time engaging Levin's arguments once they've read this book".


title: Mark Levin

text: "" is a non-fiction work written by Levin in 2007 about his experience of rescuing a dog named Sprite from a local animal shelter.


title: Mark Levin

text: "Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto" was released in 2009, and became a #1 "New York Times" best seller for eleven of twelve weeks, as well as No. 1 on Nielsen BookScan and No. 2 on Amazon.com's list of bestselling books of 2009. The book includes discussion of issues Levin believes need to be addressed in the United States. In "Liberty and Tyranny" Levin repudiates the use of the term "progressive" to describe "modern Liberals", and argues that "statist" would instead be a proper term. "Liberty and Tyranny" has sold over one million copies according to Threshold Editions, the book's publisher. Andrew C. McCarthy, in "The New Criterion", wrote, "Levin offers not so much a defense as a plan of attack" against "America's Leftist ascendancy". Other reviewers critiqued the book as "analysis utterly useless in understanding more than half of the American political landscape" while opining that "Levin resorts to the same old misinformation to sell his brand of conservatism".


title: Mark Levin

text: "Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America" was issued in 2012. In "Ameritopia", Levin discusses the origins and development of both the modern day conservative and liberal political philosophies, the latter of which he refers to as "statist", through the works of some of the leading figures in American history. Included are commentaries on works by Plato, Sir Thomas More, Thomas Hobbes, Karl Marx, John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu and Alexis de Tocqueville. Conor Friedersdorf's review, published in "The Atlantic", criticized the text's argument that statism is based on utopianism, and Carlin Romano, in "The Chronicle of Higher Education", wrote that ""Ameritopia" is really "Ameritastrophe". It's disastrously bad from beginning to end."


title: Mark Levin

text: In Levin's 2013 book "" he suggests eleven new Constitutional amendments. The book debuted at #1 on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. Hans A. von Spakovsky of "National Review Online" called the book "required reading for conservative bloggers". Ana Marie Cox, writing in "The Guardian", said the book "contains some radical notions about a complete overhaul of the US constitution, but to debate the specifics of their merits is to ignore the larger insanity of the project" while noting "the ludicrousness of his specific 'fixes' and the near-impossibility of achieving them". Also in "The Washington Times", Richard W. Rahn wrote, "If "The Liberty Amendments" can help foster a national debate about which corrective actions, including constitutional amendments, are needed to increase liberty and prosperity, Mr. Levin will have performed a great national service". Hoover Institution fellow David Davenport wrote in "Forbes" that Levin's book used "weak arguments".


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin's "Plunder and Deceit: Big Government's Exploitation of Young People and the Future" was published in 2015, and "Rediscovering Americanism and the Tyranny of Progressivism" in 2017.


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin's "Unfreedom of the Press", which was released on May 21, 2019, became the number one best-selling book on Amazon.com three days before its official release, as a result of pre-order sales. "Unfreedom of the Press" also became a "New York Times" #1 best-seller on June 6, 2019, in the combined print & e-book nonfiction and hardcover nonfiction categories. Lloyd Green was critical of the book in "The Guardian" writing that the book "is not exactly fan fiction but it can get ahead of itself when discussing the special counsel's conclusions, ending up sounding like the 'fake news' the author and Trump both purport to abhor." Annalisa Quinn, writing for NPR, stated: "the book is largely filler. Quotations and paraphrasing make up the majority of the book's central chapters. Lengthy and irrelevant block quotes from historians about, say, colonial printing practices... give the book the air of a padded student essay." Quinn also wrote, "[Levin] conducts no interviews, presents no original research, and visits no newsrooms", and "When Levin does offer his own analysis, it can approach parody." On June 8, 2019, Levin appeared on C-SPAN2's "Book TV" to discuss "Unfreedom of the Press", "in which he argued that the press has lowered its standards in providing objective and trustworthy journalism."


title: Mark Levin

text: In 2021, Levin published "American Marxism", a book written in reaction to the events that have transpired so far in 2021 and also seeks to characterize the Marxist attributes of the American Left. As of November 14, 2021, the book had spent 16 weeks on the "New York Times" Bestseller List for nonfiction.


title: Mark Levin

text: A 2016 study which sought to measure incendiary discourse on talk radio and TV found that Levin scored highest on its measure of "outrage". The study looked at 10 prominent radio and television programs, known for incendiary discourse on political matters, and scored content on the basis of whether it used "emotional display", "misrepresentative exaggeration", "mockery", "conflagration", "slippery slope", "insulting" or "obscene language", and other factors, finding that Levin was the radio host who engaged in the most outrage. The study found that he utilized "outrage speech or behavior at a rate of more than one instance per minute." In "How Democracies Die", Harvard University political scientists Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky write that Mark Levin was among the popular right-wing talk radio hosts who "helped to legitimate the use of uncivil discourse" in American politics, and contribute to the erosion of democratic norms. According to "Politico", Levin has a "penchant for hysteria."


title: Mark Levin

text: According to "The Guardian", "constant attacks on Democrats and the left are important components" of Levin's "modus operandi." According to "Politico" in May 2009, Levin pronounced "almost daily" that Obama "was a failure, a liar, and a 'statist' who is trying to destroy individual freedom." According to Rutgers University political scientist Stephen Eric Bronner, Levin tends to use "socialism" as a "catch-all term to condemn any policy that strengthens the social welfare function of the state." In July 2014, he called Jon Stewart "a knee-jerk idiot", and suggested that Stewart was a self-hating Jew. He has stated that "Nancy Pelosi's politics comes as close to a form of modern-day fascism as I've ever seen". In January 2019, he said Pelosi was "America's first fascist. And that's a fact". Levin said the new Congressional Speaker had "hijacked" the federal government by deciding to block the financing of President Trump's border wall. Levin has also mocked how Pelosi looks, referred to Beto O'Rourke as a "weak man", and called Dick Blumenthal a "pathetic, loathsome liar".


title: Mark Levin

text: He has criticized Republicans – including Paul Ryan, Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Mitch McConnell – with whom he disagrees. He sometimes refers to such individuals as RINOs. Levin endorsed Orrin Hatch when he faced a primary challenge in 2012, but later apologized for his endorsement when Hatch said that he would be willing to support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Since then, he endorsed a number of Republican primary challengers to incumbent Republican senators. Levin supported the Tea Party Patriots' campaign to "fire" House Speaker John Boehner. Earlier in 2010, Levin criticized Glenn Beck for his criticism of congressional Republicans. He has referred to Mitt Romney as an "ass" and called CNN host Brian Stelter a "creep".


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin supported U.S. Representative Mo Brooks in his campaign in the 2017 Alabama special election against incumbent Luther Strange, who had received a temporary appointment earlier that year.


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin strongly defended former EPA head Scott Pruitt while he was under a dozen separate ethics investigations. Levin said Pruitt's "policies on the whole have been outstanding," and "I don't throw good people under the bus because the left targets them."


title: Mark Levin

text: During the 2012 election cycle, Levin's show was paid at least $757,000 in sponsorship by the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity to run ads for the group, a deal which began in the summer of 2010. After the sponsorship ended, Levin began making ads for the Tea Party Patriots. The Senate Conservatives Fund paid Simon & Schuster at least $427,000 for copies of Levin's "Liberty or Tyranny" in September and October 2013. During the same period, on his radio show and Facebook page, Levin frequently promoted the group, which has funded primary challengers of Senate Republicans. Levin did not disclose that the group had made $427,000 of purchases of his book.


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin endorsed Orrin Hatch when Levin was being sponsored by Americans for Prosperity (AFP) which also endorsed Hatch. Levin withdrew his endorsement of Hatch when Levin was being sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. Levin dismissed the allegations that he engages in "pay-to-play".


title: Mark Levin

text: In 2009, Levin described as "absolutely right" the statement by Sarah Palin that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) includes death panels to decide whether elderly people or sick children were worthy of medical care. In 2011, a caller to Levin's show, claiming to be a neurosurgeon, said that the Department of Health and Human Services had issued a document saying that people over age 70 would not be allowed to receive medical treatments. Levin said to the caller, "so Sarah Palin was right." The call was later revealed to be a hoax and the death panel claims were revealed to be false. In late 2013, Levin said there were similarities between a gathering of "hand-picked" supporters of the Affordable Care Act chosen by the Obama administration to Nazi "Sturmabteilung" or "Brownshirts" drawing comparisons of the propaganda techniques of the two groups.


title: Mark Levin

text: Levin stated in 2013 that "the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our government" and described President Obama as a Muslim Brotherhood "sympathizer". He speculated in November 2014 that, after the 2014 mid-term elections, Obama might go "full Mussolini".


title: Mark Levin

text: In February 2015, Levin stated that President Obama was "seeking to destroy Israel" because "Obama has an affinity for Islam far more than Christianity or Judaism." He blamed Obama for the Ebola crisis: "the political policies of this administration which opens the door wide to people from the poorest parts of the world. We don't know who they are, we don't know if they have diseases."


title: Mark Levin

text: In 2014, Levin claimed that the Bush administration's original WMD rationale for the Iraq War had been vindicated by citing reports of U.S. soldiers in Iraq that were wounded by the decayed remnants of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons arsenal. The remnants in question were degraded and unusable chemical weapons shells from the 1980s. Levin faulted the Bush administration for not doing more to publicize these remnants of Iraq's former WMD program.


title: Mark Levin

text: In March 2016, Levin endorsed Ted Cruz for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Over a month after Donald Trump was nominated, in September 2016, Levin stated on this radio program that he would vote for Trump in the presidential election, following his declaration earlier that year that he was in the "Never Trump" camp and would never vote for Trump. He qualified his support by stating: "I take no responsibility for the dumb things he says or the dumb things his surrogates say."