Unlock the powers of functional programming hidden within JavaScript to build smarter, cleaner, and more reliable web apps About This Book Write powerful code with the high-level functions that JavaScript offers Discover what functional programming is, why it's effective, and how it's used in JavaScript Understand and optimize JavaScript's hidden potential as a true functional language Who This Book Is For If you are a JavaScript developer interested in learning functional programming, looking for the quantum leap toward mastering the JavaScript language, or just want to become a better programmer in general, then this book is ideal for you. This guide is aimed at programmers, involved in developing reactive frontend apps, server-side apps that wrangle with reliability and concurrency, and everything in between. What You Will Learn Get a run through of the basic JavaScript language constructs Code using the powerful object-oriented feature in JavaScript Master DOM manipulation, cross-browser strategies, and ES6 Understand the basic concurrency constructs in Java* and best performance strategies Harness the power of patterns for tasks ranging from application building to code testing Build large-scale apps seamlessly with the help of reactive patterns Explore advanced design patterns, including dependency injection Develop more powerful applications with currying and function composition Create more reliable code with closures and immutable data In Detail JavaScript is a high-level, dynamic, untyped, lightweight, and interpreted programming language and functional programming is a style that emphasizes and enables smarter code that minimizes complexity and increases modularity. It's a way of writing cleaner code through clever ways of mutating, combining, and using functions. And JavaScript provides an excellent medium for this approach. By learning how to expose JavaScript's true identity as a functional language, we can implement web apps that are more powerful, easier to maintain and more reliable. The java *: Functional Programming for JavaScript Developers course will take you on a journey to show how functional programming when combined with other techniques makes JavaScript programming more efficient. The first module Mastering JavaScript, stress on practical aspects of Java* development like—Functions and Closures, Runtime debugging techniques, project layout, events and DOM processing, build tools, Object-oriented patterns, isomorphism—everything that a modern Java* project would need. The second module, Mastering JavaScript Design Patterns - Second Edition, will explore how design patterns can help you improve and organize your JavaScript code. You’ll get to grips with creational, structural, and behavioral patterns as you discover how to put them to work in different scenarios. This updated edition will also delve into reactive design patterns and microservices as they are a growing phenomenon in the world of web development. It will also show you some advanced patterns, including dependency injection and live post processing. The third module, Functional Programming in JavaScript, will help you to write real-world applications by utilizing a wide range of functional techniques and styles. It explores the core concepts of functional programming common to all functional languages, with examples of their use in JavaScript. Style and approach This course will begin with providing insights and practical tips on advanced JavaScript features to build highly scalable web and mobile system and move on to some design patterns with JavaScript. Finally, the course ends with presenting the functional programming techniques and styles in JavaScript.

Untangle the complexity of OpenStack clouds through this practical tutorial About This Book Navigate through the complex jungle of components in OpenStack using practical instructions This book helps administrators, cloud engineers, and even developers to consolidate and control pools of compute, networking, and storage resources Learn to use the centralized dashboard and administration panel to monitor large-scale deployments Who This Book Is For This book is perfect for administrators, cloud engineers, and operators who want to get started with OpenStack, solve basic problems encountered during deployment, and get up to speed with the latest release of OpenStack. Familiarity with the Linux command line and experience with Linux system administration is expected. What You Will Learn Brush up on the latest release, and how it affects the various components Install OpenStack using the Packstack and RDO Manager installation tool Learn to convert a computer node that supports Docker containers Implement Ceph Block Device images with OpenStack Create and allocate virtual networks, routers and IP addresses to OpenStack Tenants. Configuring and Launching a Docker container. In Detail OpenStack is a widely popular platform for cloud computing. Applications that are built for this platform are resilient to failure and convenient to scale. This book, an update to our extremely popular OpenStack Essentials (published in May 2015) will help you master not only the essential bits, but will also examine the new features of the latest OpenStack release - Mitaka; showcasing how to put them to work straight away. This book begins with the installation and demonstration of the architecture. This book will tech you the core 8 topics of OpenStack. They are Keystone for Identity Management, Glance for Image management, Neutron for network management, Nova for instance management, Cinder for Block storage, Swift for Object storage, Ceilometer for Telemetry and Heat for Orchestration. Further more you will learn about launching and configuring Docker containers and also about scaling them horizontally. You will also learn about monitoring and Troubleshooting OpenStack. Style and approach This book offers step-by-step practical instructions to help you quickly navigate through the complexities of OpenStack

Design, develop, and publish your own mobile apps for iOS and Android using C# and Xamarin Studio About This Book Explore the exciting features of Xamarin Studio while learning to develop your own applications Develop a complete application from conceptualization through to publishing it on the app store The book walks you through the basics of cross-platform development with Xamarin using examples and best practices and tips for cross platform solutions. Who This Book Is For If you want to develop your own applications and want to explore the features of Xamarin Studio, then this is the book for you. It is expected that you have a basic understanding of technologies in mobile development, but prior knowledge of Xamarin is not required. What You Will Learn Understand the software development lifecycle for mobile applications Use Xamarin Studio and its wide range of features to write your programs in C# Use different options to create multi-platform applications using Xamarin and develop a cross-platform extension method Work with Xamarin forms and various UI controls Integrate synchronous and asynchronous communication module within your app Render images to work with Android and iOS Link a third-party application to your solution In Detail The mobile app market is increasing exponentially every year. Xamarin Studio with its modern and powerful IDEs makes creating applications a lot easier by simplifying the development process. Xamarin will allow you and your team to create native applications by taking advantage of one of the most evolved programming language in the world: C#. This book will provide you with the basic skills you need to start developing mobile apps using C# and Xamarin. By working through the examples in each chapter, you will gain hands-on experience of creating a complete app that is fully functional by all means. Finally, you will learn to publish the app you created on the app market. Each project in this book will take you one step closer to becoming a professional app developer. Style and approach The step-by-guide will walk you through the process of creating an application of with the help of small projects that will teach you everything you need to know to build a complete application of your own.

Achieve scalability and high availability without compromising on performance About This Book See how to get 100 percent uptime with your Cassandra applications using this easy-follow guide Learn how to avoid common and not-so-common mistakes while working with Cassandra using this highly practical guide Get familiar with the intricacies of working with Cassandra for high availability in your work environment with this go-to-guide Who This Book Is For If you are a developer or DevOps engineer who has basic familiarity with Cassandra and you want to become an expert at creating highly available, fault tolerant systems using Cassandra, this book is for you. What You Will Learn Understand how the core architecture of Cassandra enables highly available applications Use replication and tunable consistency levels to balance consistency, availability, and performance Set up multiple data centers to enable failover, load balancing, and geographic distribution Add capacity to your cluster with zero downtime Take advantage of high availability features in the native driver Create data models that scale well and maximize availability Understand common anti-patterns so you can avoid them Keep your system working well even during failure scenarios In Detail Apache Cassandra is a massively scalable, peer-to-peer database designed for 100 percent uptime, with deployments in the tens of thousands of nodes, all supporting petabytes of data. This book offers a practical insight into building highly available, real-world applications using Apache Cassandra. The book starts with the fundamentals, helping you to understand how Apache Cassandra’s architecture allows it to achieve 100 percent uptime when other systems struggle to do so. You’ll get an excellent understanding of data distribution, replication, and Cassandra’s highly tunable consistency model. Then we take an in-depth look at Cassandra's robust support for multiple data centers, and you’ll see how to scale out a cluster. Next, the book explores the domain of application design, with chapters discussing the native driver and data modeling. Lastly, you’ll find out how to steer clear of common anti-patterns and take advantage of Cassandra’s ability to fail gracefully. Style and approach This practical guide will get you implementing Cassandra right from the design to creating highly available systems. Through a systematic, step-by-step approach, you will learn different aspects of building highly available Cassandra applications and all this with the help of easy-to-follow examples, tips, and tricks.

Master the art of testing and automating your SOA using SoapUI About This Book Design real-time test automation frameworks for Enterprise applications using SoapUI Learn how to solve test automation issues for complex systems A complete guide to understanding SOA automation from quality assurance to business assurance Who This Book Is For The book is intended for test architects, SOA test specialists, automation testers, test managers, and software developers who have a good understanding of SOA, web services, Groovy Scripting, and the SOAP UI tool. What You Will Learn Familiarize yourself with Test Web services from functional, nonfunctional, and security aspects Learn to test real-time service orchestrations Design test automation solutions for SOA-based Enterprise applications Learn multilayer test automation Selenium plus SoapUI under a single umbrella Integrate your SoapUI framework with Jenkins In Detail SoapUI is an open-source cross-platform testing application that provides complete test coverage and supports all the standard protocols and technologies. This book includes real-time examples of implementing SoapUI to achieve quality and business assurance. Starting with the features and functionalities of SoapUI, the book will then focus on functional testing, load testing, and security testing of web services. Furthermore, you will learn how to automate your services and then design data-driven, keyword-driven, and hybrid-driven frameworks in SoapUI. Then the book will show you how to test UIs and services using SoapUI with the help of Selenium. You will also learn how to integrate SoapUI with Jenkins for CI and SoapUI test with QC with backward- and forward-compatibility. The final part of the book will show you how to virtualize a service response in SoapUI using Service Mocking. You will finish the journey by discovering the best practices for SoapUI test automation and preparing yourself for the online certification of SoapUI. Style and approach Filled with real-time examples, this book will help readers take their knowledge to the next level. This book is a comprehensive guide that will cover the end-to-end life cycle of implementing SoapUI in various phases of software testing and the software development life cycle.

Learn and monitor your entire IT infrastructure to ensure your systems, applications, services, and business function effectively. About This Book Packed with tips, tricks and illustrations, the book will explain the configuration and monitoring concepts in a simplified manner Experience the scalability and flexibility of Nagios in a very practical and easy-to-understand approach. Unleash the power of Nagios Core and Nagios XI 5 to monitor and secure your infrastructure with ease. Who This Book Is For This book is targeted at System Administrators, both, who have no prior knowledge of Nagios as well as readers experienced with it. It not only covers the basics of Nagios but also the advanced features. What You Will Learn Set up and use the built-in Nagios web interface Upskill the additional interfaces available for Nagios to monitor your IT infrastructure Learn how to perform various checks using both, Nagios standard plugins and third-party plugins Explore the working of notifications and events in Nagios Familiarize yourself with SNMP and use it for monitoring devices such as routers, switches, modems and printers Discover how can be Nagios can be customized and tailored to your needs Get to know more about the entreprise version of Nagios, Nagios XI In Detail Nagios, a powerful and widely used IT monitoring and management software for problem -solving. It detects problems related to your organizations infrastructure and helps in resolving the issue before it impacts the business. Following the success of the previous edition, this book will continue to help you monitor the status of network devices and also notify the system administrators of network problems. Starting with the fundamentals, the book will teach you how to install and configure Nagios for your environment. The book helps you learn how to end downtimes, adding comments and generating reports using the built-in Web interface of Nagios. Moving on, you will be introduced to the third-party web interfaces and applications for checking the status and report specific information. As you progress further in Learning Nagios, you will focus on the standard set of Nagios plugins and also focus on teach you how to efficiently manage large configurations and using templates. Once you are up to speed with this, you will get to know the concept and working of notifications and events in Nagios. The book will then uncover the concept of passive check and shows how to use NRDP (Nagios Remote Data Processor). The focus then shifts to how Nagios checks can be run on remote machines and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) can be used from Nagios. Lastly, the book will demonstrate how to extend Nagios by creating custom check commands, custom ways of notifying users and showing how passive checks and NRDP can be used to integrate your solutions with Nagios. By the end of the book, you will be a competent system administrator who could monitor mid-size businesses or even large scale enterprises. Style and approach This will be a practical learning guide for system administrators which will teach them everything about Nagios along with implementing it for your organization and then ending with securing it.

Discover over 70 real-world examples to overcome the most complex concepts you will face developing with Visualforce About This Book This book provides an enhanced user experience with dynamically-generated, reactive pages Access data over additional channels via public web sites and mobile pages Packed with easy-to-follow recipes, including step-by-step instructions and Apex/Visualforce code downloads this title is the all in one package you need to get more from Visualforce. Who This Book Is For This book will be beneficial to developers who are already well-versed with the basics of Visualforce. An awareness of the standard component library and the purpose of controllers is expected. What You Will Learn Pass parameters between Visualforce pages Update attributes in component controllers Avoid validation errors with action regions Refresh record details from embedded Visualforce Create and develop a website template from scratch Get to know about the Salesforce Lightening Design system and use Visualforce in Salesforce1 Effectively tackle frequently-faced problems while developing Visualforce pages In Detail Visualforce is a framework that allows developers to build sophisticated, custom user interfaces that can be hosted natively on the Force.com platform. The Visualforce framework includes a tag-based markup language, similar to HTML that is used to write the Visualforce pages and a set of controllers that are used to write business logic to the Visualforce pages. Visualforce Development Cookbook provides solutions to a variety of challenges faced by Salesforce developers and demonstrates how easy it is to build rich, interactive pages using Visualforce. Whether you are looking to make a minor addition to the standard page functionality or override it completely, this book will provide you with the help you require throughout. You will start by learning about the simple utilities and will build up to more advanced techniques for data visualization and to reuse functionality. You will learn how to perform various tasks such as creating multiple records from a single page, visualizing data as charts, using JavaScript to enhance client-side functionality, building a public website, and making data available to a mobile device. With an interesting chapter on tackling common issues faced while developing Visualforce pages, the book provides lots of practical examples to enhance and extend your Salesforce user interface. Style and approach Following a cookbook structure, the book provides recipes on some essential technical scenarios and a few that focus on real-world development problems. This book is packed with illustrations and contains lots of code samples to improve your understanding.

Exploit the power of data in your business by building advanced predictive modeling applications with Python About This Book Master open source Python tools to build sophisticated predictive models Learn to identify the right machine learning algorithm for your problem with this forward-thinking guide Grasp the major methods of predictive modeling and move beyond the basics to a deeper level of understanding Who This Book Is For This book is designed for business analysts, BI analysts, data scientists, or junior level data analysts who are ready to move from a conceptual understanding of advanced analytics to an expert in designing and building advanced analytics solutions using Python. You’re expected to have basic development experience with Python. What You Will Learn Gain an insight into components and design decisions for an analytical application Master the use Python notebooks for exploratory data analysis and rapid prototyping Get to grips with applying regression, classification, clustering, and deep learning algorithms Discover the advanced methods to analyze structured and unstructured data Find out how to deploy a machine learning model in a production environment Visualize the performance of models and the insights they produce Scale your solutions as your data grows using Python Ensure the robustness of your analytic applications by mastering the best practices of predictive analysis In Detail The volume, diversity, and speed of data available has never been greater. Powerful machine learning methods can unlock the value in this information by finding complex relationships and unanticipated trends. Using the Python programming language, analysts can use these sophisticated methods to build scalable analytic applications to deliver insights that are of tremendous value to their organizations. In Mastering Predictive Analytics with Python, you will learn the process of turning raw data into powerful insights. Through case studies and code examples using popular open-source Python libraries, this book illustrates the complete development process for analytic applications and how to quickly apply these methods to your own data to create robust and scalable prediction services. Covering a wide range of algorithms for classification, regression, clustering, as well as cutting-edge techniques such as deep learning, this book illustrates not only how these methods work, but how to implement them in practice. You will learn to choose the right approach for your problem and how to develop engaging visualizations to bring the insights of predictive modeling to life Style and approach This book emphasizes on explaining methods through example data and code, showing you templates that you can quickly adapt to your own use cases. It focuses on both a practical application of sophisticated algorithms and the intuitive understanding necessary to apply the correct method to the problem at hand. Through visual examples, it also demonstrates how to convey insights through insightful charts and reporting.

Psychologist Madeline Levine brings together cutting-edge research and thirty years of clinical experience to explode once and for all the myth that good grades, high test scores, and college acceptances should define the parenting endgame.Parents, educators, and the media wring their hands about the plight of America's children and teens soaring rates of emotional problems, limited coping skills, disengagement from learning and yet there are ways to reverse these disheartening trends. Teach Your Children Well acknowledges that every parent wants successful children. However, until we are clearer about our core values and the parenting choices that are most likely to lead to authentic, and not superficial, success, we will continue to raise exhausted, externally driven, impaired children who believe they are only as good as their last performance. Real success is always an inside job, argues Levine, and is measured not by today's report card but by the people our children become fifteen or twenty years down the line.Refusing to be diverted by manufactured controversies such as "tiger moms versus coddling moms," Levine confronts the real issues behind the way we push some of our kids to the breaking point while dismissing the talents and interests of many others. She shows us how to shift our focus from the excesses of hyperparenting and the unhealthy reliance on our children for status and meaning to a parenting style that concentrates on both enabling academic success as well as developing a sense of purpose, well-being, connection, and meaning in our children's lives.Teach Your Children Well is a call to action. And while it takes courage to make the changes we believe in, the time has come, says Levine, to return our overwrought families to a healthier and saner version of themselves.

A stirring testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of music, Violins of Hope tells the remarkable stories of violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust and of the Israeli violinmaker dedicated to bringing these inspirational instruments back to life.The violin has formed an important aspect of Jewish culture for centuries, both as a popular instrument with Jewish classical musicians and as a central part of social life, as in the Klezmer tradition. But during the Holocaust, the violin assumed extraordinary roles within the Jewish community. For some musicians, the instrument was a liberator; for others, it was a savior that spared their lives. For many, the violin provided comfort in mankind's darkest hour, and, in at least one case, a violin helped avenge murdered family members. Above all, the violins of the Holocaust represented strength and optimism for the future.Today, these instruments serve as powerful reminders of an unimaginable experience they are memorials to those who perished and testaments to those who survived. In this spirit, renowned Israeli violinmaker Amnon Weinstein has devoted the past twenty years to restoring the violins of the Holocaust as a tribute to those who were lost, including four hundred of his own relatives. Behind each of these violins is a uniquely fascinating and inspiring story. Juxtaposing these narratives against one man's harrowing struggle to reconcile his own family's history and the history of his people, this insightful, moving, and achingly human book presents a new way of understanding the Holocaust.

In today's culture, the bonds of female friendship are taken as a given. But only a few centuries ago, the idea of female friendship was completely unacknowledged, even pooh-poohed. Dating back to the Greeks and the Romans, women were long considered weaker than men and constitutionally unsuited for friendship at the highest level. Only men, the reasoning went, had the emotional and intellectual depth to develop and sustain these meaningful relationships.Surveying history, literature, philosophy, religion, and pop culture, acclaimed author Marilyn Yalom and coauthor Theresa Donovan Brown demonstrate how women were able to co-opt the public face of friendship throughout the years. Chronicling shifting attitudes toward friendship both female and male from the Bible and the Romans to the Enlightenment, to the women's rights movements of the 1960s up to Sex and the City and Broad City, they reveal how the concept of female friendship has been inextricably linked to the larger social and cultural movements that have defined human history.With Yalom and Brown as our guides, we delve into the fascinating historical episodes and trends that illuminate the story of friendship between women: the literary salon as the original book club, the emergence of female professions and the working girl, the phenomenon of gossip, the advent of women's sports, and more.Lively, informative, and richly detailed, The Social Sex is a revelatory cultural history.

A highly successful, award-winning independent producer shares his funny, practical, and innovative approach to breaking into film or television, whether you want to direct, act, write, or produceIt doesn't take film school or expensive, high-tech equipment to make a brilliant and marketable movie today, says successful maverick producer Dean Silvers. For aspiring filmmakers, it's easier than ever to produce and sell their work. Secrets of Breaking into the Film and TV Business is packed with concrete, proven advice to help you follow in the footsteps of today's cinematic giants, many of whom broke out with runaway independent successes. Drawing from his own experience as a filmmaker, Silvers offers essential tips and a wealth of invaluable knowledge about every aspect of the moviemaking business, from Internet shorts to how to adapt, option, and collaborate on feature-length films (with shoestring budgets).

Colorfully written by two popular and respected sociologists, this volume shows how sociology has evolved, how it became divided from Christian faith, and how Christian sociologists can make sense of this branch of social science.

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Delinsky captures the magic and truth of love in this delightful tale, first published in 1983, of opposites attracting.A controversial Boston radio talk-show host, Monica Grant is a strong, willful, and independent woman. She wants an equally strong man. Someone like the heroes in the romance novels she's addicted to . . . someone like Michael Shaw.A cop with the heart of a poet, Michael is looking for that special someone, too an old-fashioned, feminine woman. And for some reason he thinks Monica just might be the one. By turns infuriatingly chauvinistic and irresistibly attractive, Michael demands something from Monica that she doesn't know if she can give or even wants to. With Michael, can she find the happy ending of her own love story?

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Delinsky enthralls millions of readers with emotionally powerful stories that vividly demonstrate the heart's, power to love. Here, first published in 1984, is an unforgettable story of a woman who must discover who she is before she can give herself to the man she loves.Although he'd already heard a great deal about Rachel Busek, nothing prepared Jim Guthrie for the beautiful flutist's gentle grace. A rough-hewn private investigator, Jim is nearly overwhelmed with the urge to love and protect her. And Rachel is both amazed and delighted at the ease with which Jim slips into her life. Yet as quick passion gives way to leisurely love, Rachel finds herself holding back. Troubling pieces of her past remain a mystery even to her, and keep her from trusting her heart. Now, she must either discover the truth about her past or risk losing the first man in her life worth keeping.

A soaring new translation of Sophocles' final masterpiece in which blind and homeless Oedipus reclaims his stature as Athenian drama's greatest heroProduced after his death, Oedipus at Kolonos is Sophocles' final play and the last play in the Oedipus cycle. In it he explores anew the meaning of guilt and innocence, family loyalty and love, Athens' greatness, a hero's value after death, and the power of inscrutable gods to enhance all aspects of human life, including a hero's dying moments.Oedipus finds his way, guided by his daughter Antigone, to the grove of the Furies near Athens, where Apollo has promised he will meet an extraordinary fate. As war brews in Thebes between his two sons, King Theseus befriends and welcomes Oedipus to Athens. Suddenly his daughter Ismene arrives with alarming news: the Thebans plan to abduct him. Treacherous Kreon tries just that. Then his desperate son Polyneikes, who earlier betrayed his father, begs Oedipus to bless him so he may defeat his brother and recapture Thebes. Oedipus and Theseus repulse both villains. The voice of Zeus then resoundingly summons Oedipus into the Furies' grove to meet his gentle and mysterious death, described by Sophocles in soaring and uncanny poetry.This compelling new translation by Robert Bagg, modern in idiom while faithful to the original, brings Sophocles to a new generation.

A serial killer has one obsession . . .Claire Lambert walked into a nightmare on a rainy night in Washington, D.C. Stumbling upon a killer in the midst of his latest bloody crime, she ran for her life -- but not before a head injury caused her to lose her memory, along with her purse and ID. Now a monster knows who Claire is . . . and where she lives.Waking up in a hospital room the day after being attacked -- her mind stripped of all memory of what happened to her -- Claire can only listen with horror to the scenario Detective Sean Richter unfolds before her. A law officer fiercely dedicated to ending the wave of brutal killings that has struck the city, Sean knows that this brave and beautiful woman holds the key to stopping the murderer before he can strike again. Claire is the only victim who has seen the killer's face and lived -- which is why Sean needs her help and will risk everything to protect her . . .And why a depraved, relentless animal is determined that Claire Lambert must die.

A classic work on the African-American experience is revised for the nineties with essays reflecting the concerns of black children from the last three decades and commentary from today's sports stars, politicians, and inner-city gang members.

Too many intelligent, attractive women these days find themselves trapped in destructive, unhealthy relationships, or simply settling for far less than they deserve.In Dump That Chump!, psychologist, author, columnist, and speaker Dr. Debra Mandel offers an essential nine-step program that will enable you to recognize the "red flags" and walk away from unhealthy relationships. Combining sensitivity with a positive "take charge" approach, Dr. Mandel provides checklists, quizzes, true stories, and exercises to help you restore your self-esteem and rid yourself of guilt and shame so you can Dump That Chump! once and for all, and turn your love life around.

A shy Louisiana librarian, Mary Warner fears she'll always be alone so she answers a personals ad from a rancher in Montana. Never before has she done anything so reckless, casting the only life she knows aside to travel to a strange place and marry a man she's never met. But something about this man calls to her and she knows this may be her very last chance at happiness.Tragedy made Travis Thompson the guardian of three orphaned children and determination leads him to do whatever it takes to keep the kids out of foster homes. When he decides to take a long shot on a personals ad, the results are surprising, and before he knows it, he has agreed to marry a mysterious Southern woman sight unseen.It could be the mistake of a lifetime. But Mary Warner may be exactly what this broken family needs. And with a little faith, a little trust, and a lot of love, two lonely hearts might just discover the true meaning of miracles.

From Santa Claus to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from Uncle Sam to Uncle Tom, here is a compelling, eye-opening, and endlessly entertaining compendium of fictional trendsetters and world-shakers who have helped shape our culture and our lives. The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived offers fascinating histories of our most beloved, hated, feared, and revered invented icons and the indelible marks they made on civilization, including:# 28: Rosie the Riveter, the buff, blue-collar factory worker who helped jump-start the Women's Liberation movement# 7: Siegfried, the legendary warrior-hero of Teutonic nationalism responsible for propelling Germany into two world wars# 80: Icarus, the headstrong high-flyer who inspired the Wright brothers and humankind's dreams of defying gravity . . . while demonstrating the pressing need for flight insurance# 58: Saint Valentine, the hapless, de-canonized loser who lost his heart and head at about the same time# 43: Barbie, the bodacious plastic babe who became a role model for millions of little girls, setting an impossible standard for beauty and style