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Book SynopsisWhen it comes to New York City hardcore, its community proudly boasts Lou and Pete Koller—brothers who have dominated the scene worldwide since 1986 with the aurally devastating Sick of It All as their vehicle.“One the best books ever written about hardcore, period…” —Decibel Magazine For Flushing, Queens natives Lou and Pete Koller, hardcore has become a lifestyle as well as an unlikely career. From the moment these siblings began applying their abilities to punk’s angrier, grimier sub-genre, they quickly became fifty percent of one of the most intense and compelling quartets to ever claim the movement—the legendary New York hardcore band, Sick of it All. Contrary to popular belief, Lou and Pete are proof positive that you don’t need to have lived a street life, or come from a fractured, chaotic home in order to produce world-class hardcore. If Agnostic Front are the godfathers of New York hardcore, then vocalist Lou and guitarist Pete are its grand masters. The Blood and the Sweat is the no-holds-barred autobiography of two brothers who have never wavered, as well as an unrelenting depiction of the American dream, and the drive and determination required to live it—regardless of whatever obstacles appear before you. Featuring commentary from family, friends, bandmates past and present, and their peers, including Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer), Kurt Brecht (D.R.I.), Barney Greenway (Napalm Death), and more…Trade Review"It's not that I didn't notice that Lou and Pete were different, I just didn't care. There was no, 'They don't have long hair, what's wrong with this picture?' They were just in a ferocious band. They were badass, and they're still badass." -- Gary Holt, Exodus, Slayer"When we took them on tour after their first album came out, those guys really got the crowd going with their New York Hardcore sound. They were young, but very professional. Eventually they took US on tour in Europe because they'd gotten so big there. I think they referred to D.R.I. as 'the band that taught them to thrash.'" -- Kurt Brecht, D.R.I."Whenever I spend time with those guys, there's always a smile. It's always light-hearted, yet I have this feeling that it's us against the world. Lou and Pete have a grasp on reality which, unfortunately, most guys don't have. They don't expect things to be handed to them. They've worked hard to gain the respect people have for them." -- Barney Greenway, Napalm Death

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Book SynopsisBring the joy of flowers into your home with 30 stunning projects for every season.From spring planters to summer floral crowns and autumn vase arrangements to winter wreaths; life is better with flowers all year round. With clear, step-by-step instructions, expert florist Ashlee Jane leads you through her inspirational ideas for floral designs to bring the calming presence of flowers and foliage into your home.There is something for every occasion here, from small place settings and everyday bouquets to show-stopping displays for a mantlepiece or staircase, and everything in between. Including styling tips, a directory of favourite flowers and gorgeous ideas on every page, you will be inspired to fill your home with flowers throughout the year.

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Book Synopsis'There is no one on earth quite so wonderful' STEPHEN FRY'As outrageously entertaining as you'd expect' Daily ExpressBAFTA-winning actor, voice of everything from Monkey to the Cadbury's Caramel Rabbit, creator of a myriad of unforgettable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, MIRIAM MARGOLYES, OBE, is the nation's favourite (and naughtiest) treasure. Now, at the age of 80, she has finally decided to tell her extraordinary life story - and it's well worth the wait.Find out how being conceived in an air-raid gave her curly hair; what pranks led to her being known as the naughtiest girl Oxford High School ever had; how she ended up posing nude for Augustus John as a teenager; why Bob Monkhouse was the best (male) kiss she's ever had; and what happened next after Warren Beatty asked 'Do you fuck?' From declaring her love to Vanessa Redgrave to being told to be quiet by the Queen, this book is packed with brilliant, hilarious stories. With a cast list stretching from Scorsese to Streisand, a cross-dressing Leonardo di Caprio to Isaiah Berlin, This Much Is True is as warm and honest, as full of life and surprises, as its inimitable author.Trade ReviewGleefully outspoken and bursting with hilarious anecdotes, gloriously larger than life . . . I pity every person that is not me right now, drinking in the glory of Margolyes at 80 -- Eva Wiseman * Observer *Startling, thrillingly outspoken, provocative, potty-mouthed and exhilarating . . . THIS MUCH IS TRUE is never boring. Her personality is so likeable she can only leave you wanting more -- Lynn Barber * Daily Telegraph *Reads like the Wife of Bath's memoirs -- Simon CallowWickedly honest . . . When I was reading this book on a train, a stranger asked if I was OK because I was crying with laughter -- Hadley Freeman * Guardian *An irreverent, straight-talking, riotous romp through an extraordinary life * Sunday Post *If there is a silver lining to last year's lockdown, it's the fact that Miriam Margolyes finally had time to write her life story . . . invigoratingly outspoken . . . gloriously shocking . . . and captures her force-of-nature personality. Buckle up, you're in for a wild ride -- Charlotte Heathcote * Daily Mirror *Now 80 - and no less outrageous and outspoken, the actress presents vignettes from her life that will induce guffaws as much as gasps * The i *Blisteringly honest and hugely entertaining * Daily Record *Ebullient and bosomy -- Roger Lewis * The Times *Stories galore . . . Miriam Margolyes has a life worth immortalising in print . . . An unapologetic account of a life well lived. As irrepressible as ever, Margolyes's warmth and wit shines through * Radio Times *Blisteringly honest and hugely entertaining * Daily Record *There's so much in the book; each chapter offering a tidbit of information both interesting and hilarious... It's full of life and vigour, as if you're conversing with a friend you've known for a long time * Irish Examiner *Brilliant stories abound in this memoir... which is honest, poignant and wildly indiscreet. * The Guardian *As compelling, forthright and irrepressible as its author * Choice Magazine *Miriam Margolyes' autobiography is crass, brash, rude, crude, funny and sad, and as delightful and surprising as Miriam herself * Good Housekeeping *As outrageously entertaining as you'd expect * Daily Express *Potty-mouthed and thrillingly candid, Margolyes's account of her career from teenage nudemodelling for Augustus John to sexy voiceover work for Ann Summers to playing Harry Potter's Professor Sprout is a riotous joy * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThe residents of Churchwood have never needed their bookshop, or its community, more. But when the bookshop comes under threat at the worst possible time, can Alice, Kate and Naomi pull together to keep spirits high?Kate has always found life on Brimbles Farm difficult, but now she is struggling more than ever to find time for the things that matter to her - particularly helping to save the village bookshop and seeing handsome pilot Leo Kinsella. Can two Land Girls help? Or will they be more trouble than they're worth?Naomi has found new friends and purpose through the bookshop and is devastated when its future is threatened. But when she begins to suspect her husband of being unfaithful, she finds her attention divided. With old insecurities rearing up, she needs to uncover the truth.Alice has a lot on her plate. Can she fight to save the bookshop while also looking for a job and worrying about her fiancé Daniel away fighting in the war?Land Girls at the Wartime Bookshop is the second novel in the uplifting Wartime Bookshop series, perfect for fans of Donna Douglas and Elaine Everest.**The fourth novel, Evacuees at the Wartime Bookshop, is available to pre-order now!**-------------------------------**Real readers are LOVING The Wartime Bookshop series**'BRILLIANT''Oh I loved this book... please carry on the good writing''Wow what a brilliant start to a new series''Outstandingly fabulous, warm and inviting... so glad there is going to be a follow-on''I was only two pages in when I knew this would be a 5 star read... I honestly can't put my excitement into words at the thought of reading the next one'Trade Review‘The ultimate feel good book … A must read for the summer' * Female First *'Heart-warming story of friendship, resilience and community in wartime Britain' * People's Friend magazine *Praise for The Wartime Bookshop series * :- *'A cosy winter read if ever there was one... a refreshingly comforting book telling the story of a little village, with some wonderful character developments in the process' * Anything Goes Lifestyle Magazine, Book of the Month *'A delightful wartime saga about a young girl making a difference in her new village... a story that illustrates how kindness and refusing to give up can change so much. It is also a sweet love story... Beautiful book and I loved it' * Rosie Clarke, author of the Mulberry Lane series *'If you enjoy wartime dramas such as Home Fires you'll love The Wartime Bookshop' * Yours Magazine *'Written by Lesley Eames, an author with romance at heart, The Wartime Bookshop is a wholesome novel questioning how friendship can be the answer. Snuggle up and experience her storytelling for yourself' * Chat Magazine, Book of the Month *'A pleasure to read for anyone who enjoys a good wartime saga' * Lizzie Lane, author of The Tobacco Girls *'A real cosy novel of women and friendship. I'm looking forward to seeing what this threesome gets up to next' * Bishop's Stortford Independent *'Heartwarming... an uplifting tale with well-drawn characters' * Candis Magazine *'Filled with a treasure trove of well-drawn characters that leap from the page, and a plot that's well paced, well written and brilliantly researched. I could spend hours in the company of Alice, Kate and Naomi who by the end felt like firm friends. The Wartime Bookshop is a must-read for all saga fans' * Fiona Ford, author of The Liberty Girls series *'A delight from start to finish - the perfect comfort read!' * Vicki Beeby, author of The Ops Girls series *

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Book SynopsisDiscover Mya-Rose Craig's moving and life-affirming memoir about family, searching for rare birds, and the power of our natural world.'Lyrical, poignant and insightful' MARGARET ATWOOD (on Twitter)'Filled with hope and energy' GuardianIn her memoir, Mya-Rose Craig and her family travel the world in search of rare birds and astonishing landscapes. But a shadow moves with them, too - her mother's deepening mental health crisis. In the face of this struggle, the Craigs turn to nature again and again, and every time it offers joy and stillness.On these journeys, Mya-Rose also witnesses the inequality and destruction we are inflicting on our fragile planet. And so, through the simple, mindful act of looking for birds, she becomes ever more determined to campaign for all our survival.'A delightful account of a young life devoted to birding - and the fight to save birds and the places they live' Stephen Moss* Winner of a Somerset Maugham Award ** Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing ** Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize *Trade ReviewLyrical, poignant and insightful. -- Margaret Atwood, author of THE HANDMAID'S TALEMya-Rose Craig has done more than anyone to promote birding and environmental issues to young people from all backgrounds - especially women of colour - and deserves our admiration and praise. -- Stephen Moss, author of THE ROBINMya-Rose's passion and dedication for the causes she believes in are testament to what we humans can achieve when we are at our best. -- Liz Bonnin, President of the Wildlife TrustCraig manages to capture so vividly what birds mean to her and her family... filled with hope and energy. * Guardian *Reads like a cross between a travel diary, an ornithologist's guide and a thriller. * The Times *

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Book SynopsisDiscover 365 Poems for Life, an uplifting poem-a-day collection from award-winning curator Allie Esiri.This nourishing poem-a-day collection offers readers a brief moment of escape from daily life through some of the warmest words in the English language. Whether you’re searching for wisdom or looking to boost your wellbeing, dip into this anthology to share with others or enjoy a quiet moment of calm every day of the year.Explore a wide range of poets, including Maya Angelou, Carol Ann Duffy, Kae Tempest, Dylan Thomas, Ocean Vuong and many more. The perfect gift for poetry lovers and newbies alike, this beautiful anthology brings a moment of solace every day of the year.Trade ReviewThis book will bring a little magic into your day and your heart. * Helena Bonham Carter on Allie Esiri's A Poem for Every Night of The Year *Verse from ancient times to the present to soothe the spirit at the end of a fractious day. * You Magazine on Allie Esiri's A Poem for Every Night of The Year *If you feel as though your life is lacking a little poetry, this is an excellent place to start. * Best Poetry Books of the Year, The Times on Allie Esiri's A Poet for Every Day of the Year *

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Book SynopsisCan you keep clean, eat healthily and be kind? Say it with us loudly . . . YES I CAN!A first book of about self-care – perfect for building confidence and self-esteem in very young children.Every morning, when we wake up, we try to be our very best selves. Our daddy likes to help us. He knows about the things that make us better people.Brimming with positivity, The Best Me! is a fun and empowering book to help little ones stand tall. Written by Marvyn Harrison (founder of Dope Black Dads) and with art by Rochelle Falconer, this upbeat book is perfect for sharing, easy to put into practice, and celebrates the very best in all of us!For more daily affirmations and empowerment for little ones, discover I Love Me!

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Book SynopsisBarbara Villiers was a woman so beautiful, so magnetic and so sexually attractive that she captured the hearts of many in Stuart-era Britain. Her beauty is legendary: she became the muse of artists such as Peter Lely, the inspiration of writers such as John Dryden and the lover of John Churchill, the future great military leader whom we also know as the 1st Duke of Marlborough. Her greatest amorous conquest was King Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with whom she had a tempestuous and passionate relationship for the better part of a decade. But this loveliest of Stuart-era ladies had a dark side. She hurt and humiliated her husband, Roger Palmer, for decades with her unashamedly adulterous lifestyle, she plotted the ruin of her enemies, constantly gambled away vast sums of money, is remembered for the destruction of the Tudor-era Nonsuch Palace, and was known to unleash terrible rages when crossed. Crassly lampooned by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and subject

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Book SynopsisGardens Illustrated Books of the Year 2022 A simple, stylish and complete guide for any houseplant owner Whether you have just one or many houseplants, this is the book they need you to read. It is a clear and practical toolkit on all aspects of plant care from how to choose a plant to tips for everyday care. Changes in your plant's appearance are often a cry for help and this book will help you understand their needs. Learn how to help your plants not only survive but thrive. Sarah, also known as @theplantrescuer, is a self-taught houseplant obsessive who firmly believes every plant deserves a happy life. Her determination to see beyond the ‘perfect plant’ and to rescue unloved plants makes her the go-to guide.

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Book Synopsis'A dazzlingly original picture of our relentlessly mobile species’ NAOMI KLEIN ‘Fascinating . . . Likely to prove prophetic in the coming months and years’ OBSERVER ‘A dazzling tour through 300 years of scientific history’ PROSPECT 'A hugely entertaining, life-affirming and hopeful hymn to the glorious adaptability of life on earth' SCOTSMAN __________________ We are surrounded by stories of people on the move. Wild species, too, are escaping warming seas and desiccated lands in a mass exodus. Politicians and the media present this upheaval of migration patterns as unprecedented, blaming it for the spread of disease and conflict, and spreading anxiety across the world as a result. But the science and history of migration in animals, plants, and humans tell a different story. Far from being a disruptive behaviour, migration is an ancient and lifesaving response to environmental change, a biological imperative as necessary as breathing. Climate changes triggered the first human migrations out of Africa. Falling sea levels allowed our passage across the Bering Sea. Unhampered by borders, migration allowed our ancestors to people the planet, into the highest reaches of the Himalayan Mountains and the most remote islands of the Pacific, disseminating the biological, cultural and social diversity that ecosystems and societies depend upon. In other words, migration is not the crisis – it is the solution. __________________ Tracking the history of misinformation from the 18th century through to today’s anti-immigration policies, The Next Great Migration makes the case for a future in which migration is not a source of fear, but of hope.Trade ReviewThis fascinating study debunks false narratives about immigration and finds that, in common with other species, the urge to move is written in our genes . . . This book – a wandering narrative about why people wander – is likely to prove equally prophetic in the coming months and years, since it asks two questions that are already shaping our geopolitics: what causes human beings to migrate? And is such mass movement beneficial to more settled communities and nations? -- Book of the Week * Observer *Shah [tackles] with compassion and insight a deeply complex and challenging subject . . . Shah effectively shows that understanding human migration is fundamentally an intersectional problem, incorporating race, ethnicity, religion, gender, class, economic inequality, politics, nationalism, colonialism and health, not to mention genetics, evolution, ecology, geography, climate, climate change and even plate tectonics . . . Her work addresses issues of fundamental importance to the survival and well-being of us all * New York Times Book Review *A deeply researched and counterintuitive history . . . [Anti-immigration] arguments may indeed be hollow but they spread their spores nonetheless: we need books such as this to expose them * Guardian *Sonia Shah’s life-affirming celebration of migration is an antidote to the naysayers . . . A hugely entertaining, life-affirming and hopeful hymn to the glorious adaptability of life on earth. Always, the argument is threaded through with delicious descriptions of the natural world and its endless mobility, from butterflies to hungry bears . . . [Shah’s] luminous love for this changing world is surely a far better guide, as we face an uncertain future, than the dreary fear-mongering and lies of those she condemns . . . A rich measure of gaiety, humour, and hope * Scotsman *A book that captivates on many levels . . . Part travel journal, part reportage, part investigative journalism, it’s a work impeccably researched but heartfelt and driven by eloquent descriptive storytelling . . . Shah takes the reader on a fascinating kaleidoscopic historical and geographical journey . . . Fascinating, and extremely well written, this is a book of our times * Herald *An examination of relocation in all its forms – human and wild – in the context of impending climate-related disruption. Shah delves into the origins of anti-immigrant rhetoric and unpicks the notion of a static world . . . It’s a dazzling tour through 300 years of scientific history . . . Engrossing * Prospect Magazine *Illuminating . . . This work's beguiling synergy of science, history, and contemporary politics is impressive enough, but it is this intuitive author's captivating narration that makes this such a bracingly intelligent and important title * Booklist *Shah convincingly argues that politicians against immigration distort and misuse data to create unnecessary and cruel barriers, [and that] we must face the inevitable: our social, political and ecological world is changing substantially. The altered communities that result won’t just be different, they’ll often be better adapted to thrive in our warming world * Nature *An incisive examination of migration, which she considers a phenomenon both biological and cultural . . . A scientifically sophisticated, well-considered contribution to the literature of movement and environmental change * Kirkus Reviews *In this striking look at a planet on the move, Sonia Shah provides a bold new way of looking at the ecological and political turbulence of our time - a vision that is as full of hope as it is of understanding -- Charles C. Mann, New York Times bestselling author of '1491'Could hardly be more timely . . . A lively, rigorously researched and highly informative read -- Praise for 'Pandemic' * Wall Street Journal *Grounded, bracingly intelligent . . . Lucidly layers history into a tour of transmission hotspots, from incubators of ‘spillover’ animal-borne illnesses such as China’s wild-animal markets to globalized transport and hyperdense cities -- Praise for 'Pandemic' * Nature *

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Book Synopsis_______________ AN INCREDIBLE 4-IN-1 COLLECTION OF THE FIRST FOUR FANTASTICALLY GREAT WOMEN BOOKS: Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World Fantastically Great Women Who Made History Fantastically Great Women Who Saved the Planet Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders _______________ 'Significantly more engaging and inspiring than the rival Rebel Girls' GUARDIAN 'It's hard to imagine any group of primary-aged children who wouldn't be inspired' BOOKSELLER 'An absolute must-have for every young person’s bookshelf' HUFFINGTON POST _______________ The perfect gift for curious children who want to learn all about the world's most FANTASTICALLY GREAT WOMEN! The complete collection of Kate Pankhurst's bestselling Fantastically Great Women series brought together in stunning hardback with gold foil and a cover that folds out into a FANTASTICALLY GREAT poster. Including the stories of 56 women from throughout history and around the world with new and original content for this special edition! No DREAM is too BIG if you just believe in yourself. And these strong, ambitious and FANTASTICALLY GREAT women prove it. They've conquered the tallest mountains, made game-changing discoveries, stood up for women's rights and protected our beautiful, fragile planet. Discover the inspirational lives of just some of the extraordinary women who have transformed people's expectations of what women can do in this stunning gift collection. Featuring illustrated timelines and all the women from Kate Pankhurst's adored picture books, from Frida Kahlo to Jane Goodall, and some new faces too. Get ready to meet courageous racing car driver Eliska Junkova who whizzed to victory and became the first woman to win a Grand Prix and the influential composer Chiquinha Gonzaga, the first woman conductor in Brazil. Perfect for reading at bedtime, these empowering stories will encourage you to BE BOLD, AIM HIGH and NEVER GIVE UP. How will YOU change the world?

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Book SynopsisLet the magic of J.K. Rowling’s classic Harry Potter series transport you to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This Hufflepuff House Edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix celebrates the noble character of the Hogwarts house famed for its dedication, patience and loyalty. Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts is packed with more great Hufflepuff moments and characters – not least the colourful Auror Nymphadora Tonks, whose powers as a Metamorphmagus make her an invaluable member of the Order of the Phoenix. Each Hufflepuff House Edition features vibrant sprayed edges and intricate silver foiling. The Order’s iconic phoenix symbol rises from the flames at the very centre of the front cover, framed by stunning iconography of that grand hive of industry, the Ministry of Magic. In addition to a bespoke introduction, the book also includes new illustrations by Kate Greenaway Medal winner Levi Pinfold, including an arresting portrait of Hufflepuff student Justin Finch-Fletchley. All seven books in the series will be issued in these highly collectable, beautifully crafted House Editions, designed to be treasured and read for years to come. A must-have for anyone who has ever imagined sitting under the Sorting Hat in the Great Hall at Hogwarts waiting to hear the words, ‘Better be HUFFLEPUFF!’

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Book SynopsisA RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Full of delightful nuggets' Guardian online 'Entertaining, informative and philosphical ... An essential read' All About History 'Extraordinary range ... All the world and more is here' Evening Standard 165 million years ago saw the birth of rhythm. 66 million years ago came the first melody. 40 thousand years ago Homo sapiens created the first musical instrument. Today music fills our lives. How we have created, performed and listened to music throughout history has defined what our species is and how we understand who we are. Yet it is an overlooked part of our origin story. The Musical Human takes us on an exhilarating journey across the ages – from Bach to BTS and back – to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. With insights from a wealth of disciplines, world-leading musicologist Michael Spitzer renders a global history of music on the widest possible canvas, from global history to our everyday lives, from insects to apes, humans to artificial intelligence. 'Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music' Daniel Levitin 'A thrilling exploration of what music has meant and means to humankind' Ian Bostridge Trade ReviewEntertaining, informative and philosophical ... An essential read * All About History Magazine *Extraordinary range ... All the world and more is here -- Evening Standard * Julian Glover *An ambitious and total history of music -- Charlotte Runcie * Daily Telegraph *Full of delightful nuggets ... sends the reader back to a world of musical examples time and time again * Guardian *Extraordinary ... Ranging from the Geissenklösterle caves to K-Pop, from the lost music of the Aztecs to the role of song in hunter-gatherer societies, and drawing on a vast array of specialisations, from archaeoacoustics to ornithology, Spitzer utilises a breath-taking variety of sources ... The Musical Human will make you think differently about music, about its place in your life and about its importance to human life tout court -- Mathew Lyons * Literary Review *Bold, compelling and ear-opening -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman *A hugely ambitions work, but never daunting, and there's something thought-provoking on every page ... With scholarship, wit and passion, this book demonstrates that there is truly a soundtrack to human lives -- Catherine Bott, Classic FMA thrilling exploration of what music has meant and means to humankind -- Ian BostridgeMusic changed my life. It changes my mood, my thoughts, my feelings and changes the way I move. Now I know why. This book has connected me to not only the language of love but the language of life. If you can just hum, whistle out of tune or shake a leg at a wedding then open the pages of this book and know why! A revelation -- Michael CashmanBlurring the lines between musical theory, anthropology, biology and history, Spitzer posits that music is one of our most defining achievements, fundamental to the human experience -- Rhiannon Thomas * Radio Times *An amazing book, tying together research in archaeology, anthropology, music history, and human origins to form a compelling and exciting account of the many ways music has developed across the world and across time. Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music -- Daniel Levitin

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Book SynopsisAs one of Entertainment Weekly’s “10 Best Comics,” BARBARIC - featuring Owen the Barbarian and his bloodthirsty companion Axe - begins again … back in blood and badder than ever with BARBARIC Vol. 4: Born in Blood!Voted as one of the best comics by Entertainment Weekly, Thrillist, and Screen Rant, bestselling BARBARIC is back and ready to spill some secrets - along with a lot of blood - in Barbaric Volume 4: Born in Blood! A new era of Barbaric begins! We did it! You know, the thing everyone says they’re doing, even when they’re lying through their teeth: a genuinely good jumping on point. How, you ask? Well, it all starts with a compelling new bad guy. Meet the new big bad: Orrick, the tortured barbarian now turned master torturer, will take us deep into Owen’s past, revealing secrets that should have stayed buried…like Axe in a chest cavity slurping up

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Book SynopsisWorld War I ushered in a renewed scramble for Africa. At its helm, Jan Smuts grabbed the opportunity to realise his ambition of a Greater South Africa. He set his sights upon the vast German colonies of South-West Africa and East Africa - the demise of which would end the Kaiser's grandiose schemes for Mittelafrika. As part of his strategy to shift South Africa's borders inexorably northward, Smuts even cast an eye toward Portuguese and Belgian African possessions.Smuts, his abilities as a general much denigrated by both his contemporary and then later modern historians, was no armchair soldier. This cabinet minister and statesman donned a uniform and led his men into battle. He learned his soldiery craft under General Koos De la Rey's tutelage, and another soldier-statesman, General Louis Botha during the South African War 1899-1902. He emerged from that war, immersed in the Boer manoeuvre doctrine he devastatingly waged in the guerrilla phase of that conflict. His daring and epic invasion of the Cape at the head of his commando remains legendary. The first phase of the German South West African campaign and the Afrikaner Rebellion in 1914 placed his abilities as a sound strategic thinker and a bold operational planner on display. Champing at the bit, he finally had the opportunity to command the Southern Forces in the second phase of the German South West African campaign.Placed in command of the Allied forces in East Africa in 1916, he led a mixed bag of South Africans and Imperial troops against the legendary Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his Shutztruppe. Using his penchant for Boer manoeuvre warfare together with mounted infantry led and manned by Boer Republican veterans, he proceeded to free the vast German territory from Lettow-Vorbeck's grip. Often leading from the front, his operational concepts were an enigma to the British under his command, remaining so to modern-day historians. Although unable to bring the elusive and wily Lettow-Vorbeck to a final decisive battle, Smuts conquered most of the territory by the end of his tenure in February 1917.General Jan Smuts and his Great War in Africa makes use of multiple archival sources and the official accounts of all the participants to provide a long-overdue reassessment of Smuts's generalship and his role in furthering the strategic aims of South Africa and the British Empire in Africa during World War I.Trade ReviewSmuts is usually portrayed as a great statesman but an indifferent military commander. He emerges from David Brock Katz’s account as a much more substantial general than many other historians believe. Katz’s argument about a distinctive South Africa style of warfare which clashed with the British approach is not wholly original … but it is an important idea which needs to be placed into the broader context of the history of the armies of the British Empire in the twentieth century. General Jan Smuts is a significant contribution to the military history of the Great War in Africa.”—Professor Gary Sheffield, Stand To * Stand To! *Table of ContentsIntroduction Acknowledgements 1: Smuts Emerges: From Scholar to Intellectual—From Adversity to Reconciliation (1870–1910) 2: South Africa’s entry into the First World War 1910–1914 3: The German South West African Campaign and The Afrikaner Rebellion 1914 4: The German South West African Campaign 1915 (Phase II) 5: Smuts and the Kilimanjaro Operation in East Africa March 1916 6: Smuts and the Kilimanjaro Operation in East Africa March 1916 Conclusion Endnotes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisMany believe that World War I was only fought "over there," as the popular 1917 song goes, in the trenches and muddy battlefields of Northern France and Belgium - they are wrong.There was a secret war fought in America; on remote railway bridges and waterways linking the United States and Canada, aboard burning and exploding ships in the Atlantic Ocean, in the smoldering ruins of America's bombed and burned-out factories, munitions plants and railway centers and waged in carefully disguised clandestine workshops where improvised explosive devices and deadly toxins were designed and manufactured. It was irregular warfare on a scale that caught the United States woefully unprepared.This is the true story of German secret agents engaged in a campaign of subversion and terror on the American homeland before and during World War I.Trade Review...excellently researched and gripping. […] A mix of stunning revelation, to those previously uninitiated, and expertly told detail that explains and enhances through a well-crafted and logical flow; this book’s appeal will range from period enthusiasts to those who are simply looking for an exciting and historically accurate account. * Liam FitzGerald-Finch QGM, Former British Army Ammunition Technical Officer 25/06/2021 *Table of ContentsChapter 1: The War Room Chapter 2: First Target: The Welland Canal Chapter 3: Bombing the Vanceboro Bridge Chapter 4: The Cigar Bomb Plot Chapter 5: A Gentleman Spy Chapter 6: The Detroit Cell Chapter 7: The Riverside Garage Chapter 8: Swindlers, Scoundrels, and Saboteurs Chapter 9: Bopp’s Gang Chapter 10: TNT Chapter 11: The American Front Chapter 12: The Hoboken Bunch Chapter 13: Black Tom Island Chapter 14: The Munitions of War Conspiracy Chapter 15: Dynamite Charlie Chapter 16: Kingsland Chapter 17: Declaration of War

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Book SynopsisA hilarious and reassuring gift for every mom: because we’re all doing the best we can, and the natural world is filled with moms worse than you!A mom giraffe is pretty nice until the fetus drops.She’ll birth a newborn baby calf, then kick him ’til he walks. Whenever you feel guilty that you haven’t cleaned the house:Sexton beetles raise their kids in a decomposing mouse. A koala mom will feed her kids her own poop. Yes, poop. Panda moms will abandon one twin because raising two is, well, just too much. And every now and then a cuddly little hamster mom will —yup— eat her newborn pups. These and other true facts from the animal kingdom offer a hilarious reality check on what constitutes “good parenting.” So, human mother, time to stop worrying about the job you're doing —because you’re a great mom.Trade Review“Glenn Boozan is a wickedly funny writer and this hilarious book is a gift to mediocre moms everywhere.” –Conan O'Brien “This book is clever and funny and silly, but also truly needed. Buy this book for the moms in your life, so they know that they’ve succeeded.” –Sarah Silverman “Society puts so much pressure on us to be perfect, and these hilariously horrible facts made me feel better about how much I suck. They even made me briefly reconsider my decision to not have kids!" –Adam Conover, creator and host of Adam Ruins Everything “I love this book! It sounds like a song when read out loud, and it's so funny and sweet that I almost want to have another baby. Almost.” –Laurie Kilmartin, author of Sh*tty Mom “Great news! You never have to figure out those confusing Babylist registries again because this is THE ONLY gift every new mom needs. It's laugh out loud funny, relatable, secretly educational, and made me feel a lot better about the time my toddler said ‘jesus f*ckin’ cwist’ in front of my mom.” –Laura Willcox, author of I Am Bride

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Book SynopsisEnjoy the wonders of nature in a book that's indestructible! Look up at the BIG BLUE sky. SPLISH in the water just like a fish. Take a walk and STRETCH like tall, tall trees.Indestructibles is the trusted series for easing little ones into story time. Beloved by babies and their parents, Indestructibles are built for the way babies "read" (i.e., with their hands and mouths) and are: * Rip Proof-made of ultra-durable tight-woven material * Waterproof-can be chewed on, drooled on, and washed! * Emergent Literacy Tool-bright pictures and few or no words encourage dialogic reading * Portable-lightweight books can go anywhere, perfect for the diaper bag and for travel * Safe for Baby-meets ASTM safety standards

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Book SynopsisDeveloping a cybernetic model of subjectivity and personhood that honors disability experiences to reconceptualize the category of the human Twentieth-century neuroscience fixed the brain as the basis of consciousness, the self, identity, individuality, even life itself, obscuring the fundamental relationships between bodies and the worlds that they inhabit. In Unraveling, Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer draws on narratives of family and individual experiences with neurological disorders, paired with texts by neuroscientists and psychiatrists, to decenter the brain and expose the ableist biases in the dominant thinking about personhood. Unraveling articulates a novel cybernetic theory of subjectivity in which the nervous system is connected to the world it inhabits rather than being walled off inside the body, moving beyond neuroscientific, symbolic, and materialist approaches to the self to focus instead on such concepts as animation, modularity, and facilitation. It does so through close readings of memoirs by individuals who lost their hearing or developed trauma-induced aphasia, as well as family members of people diagnosed as autistic—texts that rethink modes of subjectivity through experiences with communication, caregiving, and the demands of everyday life. Arguing for a radical antinormative bioethics, Unraveling shifts the discourse on neurological disorders from such value-laden concepts as “quality of life” to develop an inclusive model of personhood that honors disability experiences and reconceptualizes the category of the human in all of its social, technological, and environmental contexts.Trade Review"Unraveling is a work of cultural reimagination. Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer knits together neurological, psychiatric, and neuroscientific theories about ‘the brain’ in this broad-based inquiry into ‘communicative disorders.’ He insists that the many possibilities and blocked channels of communication depend on the interdependency of subject, personhood, family, community, and polity. He joins leading scholars in disability studies and feminist theory, illuminating the thoroughly social nature of all embodied communication and thus its ethical and political reliance on making a world where differences are welcome."—Rayna Rapp, New York University"This is a book for our times—a deep dive into the problematics of personhood in relationship to the neurological. This book, alluringly readable, vigorously challenges our conceptions of what makes a human being human and advocates for an anti-neoliberal vision of complex selfhood that is not dependent on predictable norms. While this subject could lend itself to predictable advocacy, Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer stays ahead of the reader's assumptions and provides a new and thoughtful way of conceiving big questions concerning the very definitions of life, thought, value, and ethics. A must read for anyone interested in neurodivergence and disability in general."—Lennard J. Davis, author of Obsession: A HistoryTable of ContentsContentsPreface: Blind-Man-and-WorldIntroduction: Let’s Build a New Nervous System1. Neurological Subjectivity: How Neuroscience Makes and Unmakes People through Neurological Disorder2. Symbolic Subjectivity: How Psychoanalysis and the Communication of Meaning Disable Individuals3. Materialist Subjectivity: How Technology and Material Environments Make Personhood Possible4. Cybernetic Subjectivity: The Fusion of Body, Symbol, and Environment in the Facilitated Person5. Facilitated Subjectivity, Affective Bioethics, and the Nervous SystemEpilogue: Living and Dying in the Nervous System AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisHow photography and a modernizing Berlin informed an urban image—and one another—in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city that once visually epitomized a divided Europe has thrived in the international spotlight as an image of reunified statehood and urbanity. Yet research on Berlin’s past has focused on the interwar years of the Weimar Republic or the Cold War era, with much less attention to the crucial Imperial years between 1871 and 1918. Constructing Imperial Berlin is the first book to critically assess, contextualize, and frame urban and architectural photographs of that era. Berlin, as it was pronounced Germany’s capital in 1871, was fraught with questions that had previously beset Paris and London. How was urban expansion and transformation to be absorbed? What was the city’s understanding of its comparably short history? Given this short history, how did it embody the idea of a capital? A key theme of this book is the close interrelation of the city’s rapid physical metamorphosis with repercussions on promotional and critical narratives, the emergence of groundbreaking photographic technologies, and novel forms of mass distribution. Providing a rare analysis of this significant formative era, Miriam Paeslack shows a city far more complex than the common clichés as a historical and aspiring place suggest. Imperial Berlin emerges as a modern metropolis, only half-heartedly inhibited by urban preservationist concerns and rather more akin to North American cities in their bold industrialization and competing urban expansions than to European counterparts.Trade Review"A late starter among European capitals, Imperial Berlin was eager to be recognized as a Weltstadt (‘World City’). Miriam Paeslack has carefully analyzed a trove of rarely seen images that perfectly document the city’s feverish development at the end of the nineteenth century and the parallel evolution of its self-conscious imagery. Taken together, the photographs present a compelling psychogram of the city on its way to becoming the 'Capital of the Twentieth Century'—the place where the dramatic tides of modernity and its traumatic conflicts would leave their most visible scars."—Dietrich Neumann, Brown University"Miriam Paeslack has written a compelling account of the multifarious ways in which photographers mediated in the construction of Berlin’s urban imaginary. She brilliantly demonstrates photography’s potency as Berlin contended with modernity by simultaneously promoting progress and inventing the past."—Nancy Stieber, University of Massachusetts, BostonTable of ContentsContentsIntroduction1. Crafting the Metropolis: Photo-Panoramas in the Illustrated Journal Berliner Leben2. Framing Progress: Ludwig Hoffmann, Ernst von Brauchitsch, and Berlin Architectural Photography 1902–19123. Tracing Transformation: Berlin’s Urban Palimpsest in Photogrammetry and “Rubble Photography”4. Inventing Tradition: Berlin’s Märkische Museum and Its Photo Survey Picturesque BerlinConclusionAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book Synopsis#1 New York Times Bestseller2014 National Book Award FinalistWinner of the inaugural 2014 Kirkus Prize in nonfictionWinner of the National Book Critics Circle Award Winner of the 2014 Books for a Better Life AwardWinner of the 2015 Reuben Award from National Cartoonists SocietyThe #1 New York Times bestselling award-winning graphic memoir by New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast about her parents' final years, now with the author''s celebrated new epilogue.In her first memoir, New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast's memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents. While the particulars are Chast-ian in their idiosyncrasies--an anxious father who had relied heavily on his wife for stability as he slipped into dementia and a former assistant principal mother whose overbearing personality had sidelined Roz for decades--the themes are universal: adult children accepting a parental role; aging and unstable parents leaving a family home for an institution; dealing with uncomfortable physical intimacies; and hiring strangers to provide the most personal care. An amazing portrait of two lives at their end and an only child coping as best she can, Can''t We Talk about Something More Pleasant shows the full range of Roz Chast's talent as cartoonist and storyteller.

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Book SynopsisCelebrate the 10-year anniversary of Chris Colfer's No.1 New York Times bestselling series The Land of Stories with this gorgeous illustrated anniversary edition!Alex and Conner Bailey's world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairy tales.The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.This special ten-year anniversary edition of the book that launched it all includes a new author's note and over 20 new full-colour, full-page illustrations from series illustrator Brandon Dorman, making this the perfect gift for both new and returning fans!

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Book SynopsisA Major BBC Series Starring Ben Whishaw. The multi-million copy bestseller and Book of the Year at The National Book Awards.‘Painfully funny. The pain and the funniness somehow add up to something entirely good, entirely noble and entirely loveable.' - Stephen FryWelcome to the life of a junior doctor: 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids, and the hospital parking meter earns more than you.Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, this diary is everything you wanted to know – and more than a few things you didn't – about life on and off the hospital ward.Sunday Times Number One Bestseller for over eight months and winner of a record FOUR National Book Awards: Book of the Year, Non-Fiction Book of the Year, New Writer of the Year and Zoe Ball Book Club Book of the Year.This edition includes extra diary entries and an afterword by the author.Trade ReviewI’d prescribe this book to anyone and everyone. It's laugh-out-loud funny, heartbreakingly sad and gives you the lowdown on what it’s like to be holding it together while serving on the front line of our beloved but beleaguered NHS. It’s wonderful -- Jonathan RossPainfully funny. The pain and the funniness somehow add up to something entirely good, entirely noble and entirely loveable. -- Stephen FrySo clinically funny and politically important for supporters of the NHS that it should be given out on prescription * Guardian *Finally a true picture of the harrowing, hilarious and ultimately chaotic life of the junior doctor in all its gory glory, dark comedy and unavoidable sadness. A blisteringly funny account shot through with harrowing detail, many pertinent truths and the humanity we all hope doctors conceal behind their unflappable exteriors -- Jo BrandAs hilarious as it is heartbreaking – and it IS heartbreaking (also hilarious) -- Charlie BrookerBlisteringly funny, politically enraging and often heartbreaking . . . hilarious . . . brimming not just with humour but with humanity . . . This should be a wake-up call to all who value the NHS -- Hannah Beckerman * Sunday Express *A funny, excoriatingly revealing, beautiful book -- Dawn FrenchHorrifyingly hilarious and hilariously horrifying -- Danny WallaceA ferociously funny book -- Mark WatsonSuperb -- Pam AyresAs a hypochondriac I was worried about reading Adam Kay’s book. Luckily it’s incredibly funny – so funny, in fact, that it gave me a hernia from laughing -- Joe LycettBy turns witty, gruesome, alarming, and touching. Always illuminating and searingly honest -- Jonathan DimblebyBrilliant -- Mark HaddonTable of ContentsIntroduction - i: Introduction Chapter - 1: House Officer Chapter - 2: Senior House Officer Post 1 Chapter - 3: Senior House Officer Post 2 Chapter - 4: Senior House Officer Post 3 Chapter - 5: Registrar Post 1 Chapter - 6: Registrar Post 2 Chapter - 7: Registrar Post 3 Chapter - 8: Registrar Post 4 Chapter - 9: Senior Registrar Chapter - 10: Aftermath Section - ii: An Open Letter to the Secretary of State for Health Acknowledgements - iii: Acknowledgements

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Book Synopsis'That word, "vacation," makes me sweat.' Coco Chanel on taking a break'You must do it irregardless, or it will eat its way out of you.' Zora Neale Hurston on writing'One has to choose between the Life and the Project.' Susan Sontag on choosing artFrom Vanessa Bell and Charlotte Brontë to Nina Simone and Jane Campion, here are over one hundred and forty female writers, painters, musicians, sculptors, poets, choreographers, and filmmakers on how they create and work.Barbara Hepworth sculpted outdoors and Janet Frame wore earmuffs as she worked to block out noise. Kate Chopin wrote with her six children ‘swarming around her’ whereas the artist Rosa Bonheur filled her bedroom with the sixty birds that inspired her work. Louisa May Alcott wrote so vigorously – skipping sleep and meals – that she had to learn to write with her left hand to give her cramped right hand a break.From Isak Dinesen subsisting on oysters, champagne and amphetamines, to Isabel Allende's insistence that she begins each new book on 8 January, here are the working routines of over 140 brilliant female painters, composers, sculptors, writers, filmmakers and performers.Filled with details of the large and small choices these women made, Mason Currey's Daily Rituals Women at Work is a source of fascination and inspiration.'An admirably succinct portrait of some distinctly uncommon lives' - Meryle SecrestTrade ReviewUtterly fascinating . . . This book is the ultimate retort to the flaneurs who dream about the novel/screenplay/painting they would create if only they had the time -- Daisy Goodwin, Sunday Times on Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration and Get to WorkI just can't recommend this book enough -- Lena Dunham on Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration and Get to WorkA trove of entertaining anecdote and thought-provoking comparison -- Daily Telegraph, on Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration and Get to WorkA chance to see what great lives look like when the triumphs, dramas, disruptions and divorces have been all but boiled away. It will fascinate anyone who wonders how a day might best be spent, especially those who have wondered of their artistic heroes, as a baffled Colette once did of George Sand: how the devil did they manage? -- Guardian, on Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration and Get to WorkMason Currey has carefully compiled the daily habits and personal foibles of 161 great writers, artists, scientists and thinkers, including one who stood on his head to cure creative block. By the end of this book, our carpet-glue habit looks normal -- DBC Pierre, Guardian, on Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration and Get to WorkA fascinating little book -- Financial Times on Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration and Get to Work

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Book SynopsisDiscover the magical properties, qualities, and symbolism of 100 basic ingredients so they can add magic to any meal—at any time and in any situation. Every house witch knows: the kitchen is an essential part of your magical practice. From preparing food to enjoying a meal, it’s important to honor the process of making a dish, to appreciate each individual ingredient, and to make magic from the recipes you already know and love. First, dive into the world of kitchen magic and spellwork; then go back to the basics to learn the magical properties, qualities, and symbolism of 100 essential everyday ingredients so that you can learn to add a little magic to every meal. You’ll learn: -That chocolate is associated with love, but different types of chocolate are connected with different types of love from romance to friendship -That figs promote safety while traveling, so you may want to incorporate figs into a dish before your next vacation -That you should choose your pasta wisely for different shapes are associated with different outcomes -That onion can be used for healing, and the tears the onion causes when you cut it can be just as important as the dish you make with it -And much more! Transform your favorite recipes into magical spells, use different ingredients to maximum advantage, and enhance your kitchen witchery with the help of The Kitchen Witch.

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Book SynopsisMake the most out of your Roblox experience with The Advanced Roblox Coding Book—now updated with new content, including updated avatar customization, movement and animation updates, and more! The Advanced Roblox Coding Book provides next-level, beginner-friendly guidance for middle-grade readers using Roblox Studio and Lua code to create interactive games. Players will learn where and how to use scripts, how to introduce variables and customize graphic elements, and then how to put these skills together into fun and interesting games and experiences. With examples, step-by-step instructions, and game creation walkthroughs, this book has everything a Roblox creator needs!Trade Review"Whether you're looking for a Father's Day gift for your gamer Dad, or just something to keep a Roblox fan occupied on a rainy summer day, these books are perfect choices for any Roblox loving member of your family." —Westman Reviews

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Book SynopsisTrain your intuition and embrace your psychic power with compelling activities and expert advice to get in touch with your connection to the universe.Everyone has the power to be a psychic: and psychic to the stars Mystic Michaela is here to help you learn how! With expert information about how intuition works, how to connect with your psychic senses, and how to prepare your body and mind to use your psychic abilities, along with forty exercises to put your skills to the test, The Psychic Workbook can help you connect with your intuition and hone your psychic skills. From scrying, to remote viewing, to looking for auras, these workbook exercises give you the chance to explore all aspects of your psychic power with accompanying journal prompts to help you record your experiences.

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Book SynopsisA rich collection of interviews, essays and full-colour illustrations from the testosterone-heavy 35-cent men's magazines that were created to help veterans confront the realities of the Cold War.

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Book SynopsisEvery volume of Science Comics offers a complete introduction to a particular topic - dinosaurs, coral reefs, the solar system, volcanoes, bats, flying machines, and more. These gorgeously illustrated graphic novels offer wildly entertaining views of their subjects. Whether you're a fourth grader doing a natural science unit at school or a thirty year old with a secret passion for airplanes, these books are for you! This volume: In PLAGUES, we get to know the critters behind history's worst diseases. We delve into the biology and mechanisms of infections, diseases, and immunity, and also the incredible effect that technology and medical science have had on humanity's ability to contain and treat disease.

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Book SynopsisNo matter what stage artists are in their careers, ?it?s necessary to look toward the future eager to learn and to be better every day,? writes artist and best-selling author Marcos Mateu-Mestre (Framed Ink, Framed Perspective Vol. 1 & 2) in his latest book, Framed Drawing Techniques, which is packed with opportunities to do just that. In exquisite and thoughtful detail, Mateu-Mestre lays out distinct approaches to drawing in the book?s chapters?The Ballpoint Pen, Graphite Pencil, The Digital Way, and The Gray Scale?outlining the benefits and challenges of each, and specific digital editing techniques that can be applied to one?s work in all the mediums to achieve the greatest results. Alongside his important technical lessons, on everything from depicting reflected light on a character?s hair to how to add rain to dramatize a scene, is Mateu-Mestre?s awe-inspiring artwork, which serves to educate and motivate artists of all levels to discover what incredible storytelling is possible with a single pen or pencil (or tablet).

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Book SynopsisWhat Pornography Knows offers a new history of pornography based on forgotten bawdy fiction of the eighteenth century, its nineteenth-century republication, and its appearance in 1960s paperbacks. Through close textual study, Lubey shows how these texts were edited across time to become what we think pornography is—a genre focused primarily on sex. Originally, they were far more variable, joining speculative philosophy and feminist theory to sexual description. Lubey's readings show that pornography always had a social consciousness—that it knew, long before anti-pornography feminists said it, that women and nonbinary people are disadvantaged by a society that grants sexual privilege to men. Rather than glorify this inequity, Lubey argues, the genre's central task has historically been to expose its artifice and envision social reform. Centering women's bodies, pornography refuses to divert its focus from genital action, forcing readers to connect sex with its social outcomes. Lubey offers a surprising take on a deeply misunderstood cultural form: pornography transforms sexual description into feminist commentary, revealing the genre's deep knowledge of how social inequities are perpetuated as well as its plans for how to rectify them.Trade Review"What if pornography built the body as we know it and can also help dismantle it? In What Pornography Knows, Kathleen Lubey tracks texts like a detective across centuries as they hide on secret library shelves, analyzes them with verve, and shows us, brilliantly, how pornography doesn't just celebrate endless sex but in fact constructed sex as we know it, and with more ambivalence than we'd realized. A masterful rethinking of the history of pornography."—Whitney Strub, author of Perversion for Profit: The Politics of Pornography and the Rise of the New Right"Kathleen Lubey's dazzling study makes available an astounding new history of pornographic narrative––or, rather, of pornographic dilation, since 'narrative' is among the categories of representation we will have to rethink in response to this landmark study, along with 'knowledge,' 'embodiment,' and 'sexuality.' This book will make a lasting impact in a number of scholarly fields––and it is sorely needed: a non-phobic, but characteristically skeptical, treatment of a pornography as a far more complex genre than hitherto perceived."—Grace Lavery, author of Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis"With analysis that is nothing short of astonishing, Lubey offers a dramatic, eloquent cultural history of pornography with an ingenious throughline in a single much-transformed text. What Pornography Knows offers significant new information about literary fields from the eighteenth century to the present and makes available new insights about the social hierarchies in which they participated."—Frances Ferguson, University of Chicago, author of Pornography, The Theory: What Utilitarianism Did To Action"Lubey's greater argument, that pornography places sex in a discursive whirl that assesses how culture and sex refract each other, remains useful for porn studies and histories of erotic literature. This monograph will feel especially interesting to researchers working on porn's reception history and the intersection of eighteenth century book history with spheres of erotic production."—Gabriel Ojeda-Sague, Critical Inquiry"What Pornography Knows is a rare achievement in that it balances serious archival acumen and book history with theoretical sophistication and, in the end, a consequential presentism which left me thinking differently about a period and topic that I have long researched. It is as much a virtuoso literary history as it is a roadmap for the exciting directions that eighteenth-century scholarship can take."—Jason S. Farr, Eighteenth-Century FictionTable of ContentsIntroduction: Pornography Without Sex 1. Genital Parts: Detachable Properties in the Eighteenth Century 2. Feminist Speculations: Penetration and Protest in Pornographic Fiction 3. The Victorian Eighteenth Century: Publishing an Erotics of Inequity 4. Uncoupling: Pornography and Feminism in the Countercultural Era Coda: A Mindful Pornography

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Book SynopsisThe Unsettled Plain studies agrarian life in the Ottoman Empire to understand the making of the modern world. Over the course of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the environmental transformation of the Ottoman countryside became intertwined with migration and displacement. Muslim refugees, mountain nomads, families deported in the Armenian Genocide, and seasonal workers from all over the empire endured hardship, exile, and dispossession. Their settlement and survival defined new societies forged in the provincial spaces of the late Ottoman frontier. Through these movements, Chris Gratien reconstructs the remaking of Çukurova, a region at the historical juncture of Anatolia and Syria, and illuminates radical changes brought by the modern state, capitalism, war, and technology. Drawing on both Ottoman Turkish and Armenian sources, Gratien brings rural populations into the momentous events of the period: Ottoman reform, Mediterranean capitalism, the First World War, and Turkish nation-building. Through the ecological perspectives of everyday people in Çukurova, he charts how familiar facets of quotidian life, like malaria, cotton cultivation, labor, and leisure, attained modern manifestations. As the history of this pivotal region hidden on the geopolitical map reveals, the remarkable ecological transformation of late Ottoman society configured the trajectory of the contemporary societies of the Middle East.Trade Review"The Unsettled Plain is environmental history at its finest: not just a history of rivers, mountains, and soils or climates and diseases, but all of those and something more. Chris Gratien tells the story of an empire, meticulously researched, exceptionally insightful—all grounded in the lives and lands of Çukurova."—Sam White, author of The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire"The Unsettled Plain is a pathbreaking book that takes Ottoman studies to a new level. Chris Gratien's vivid account of how the Çukurova region was settled tackles big questions about the state, capitalism, and environmental factors, without ever losing sight of the individuals who bore the brunt of the consequences."—Reşat Kasaba, author of A Moveable Empire: Ottoman Nomads, Migrants, and Refugees"Chris Gratien charts an important new path for critical environmental history with The Unsettled Plain, which reflects scrupulous research in at least eight countries and multiple languages. A must-read for anyone interested in the dizzyingly complex relations between real people and the environment of which they are part."—Diana Davis, author of The Arid Lands: History, Power, Knowledge"[The Unsettled Plain] is a wonderful contribution to our knowledge of Ottoman history. The author gets us thinking about change as experienced by the non-elite population, and allows us to ask to what extent non-urban populations are shaped by change itself, as well as the shapers of change."—Usman Butt, Middle East MonitorHistorians of the Ottoman Empire and environmental historians in general will certainly recognize the importance of The Unsettled Plain. But non-specialists interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the study of history also stand to benefit from it.... Indeed, Gratien's book is just the latest to demonstrate how sophisticated the field of Middle East environmental history has become."—Isacar A. Bolaños, Journal of Interdisciplinary History"The Unsettled Plain offers a model for writing environmental history, especially for anyone looking to write histories with rural and ordinary people at their center. Gratien brings together an impressively wide range of evidence, including folklore as well as archival sources in multiple languages, to highlight rural people and places, and the relationships between them.... I hope others will follow Gratien's lead in attending carefully to ordinary people in the countryside in writing histories of the Ottoman and post-Ottoman Middle East."—Camille Lyans Cole, International Journal of Middle East Studies"This study is a microhistory of modern Turkey focusing on Çukurova (Cilicia), a province in the southwest, and how it was transformed through official policies.... Gratien is an excellent historian who brings enviable biomedical knowledge to this study. Recommended."—A. J. Papalas, CHOICE"By consistently incorporating folk songs, laments, and oral accounts, Gratien not only eloquently displays pastoralists' forms of resistance and resilience against the Ottoman reform movement in Çukurova but also masterfully narrates perceptions and worldviews that have been silenced in the state archive. This use of a wide range of unconventional historical sources makesTheUnsettled Plainan innovative environmental history."—Zozan Pehlivan, H-EnvironmentTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Upland Empire: The Indigenous Ecology of Ottoman Cilicia 2. The Stench of Progress: Ecology and Settlement on the Ottoman Frontier, 1856–78 3. Second Nature in the Second Egypt: Capital, Ecology, and Intercommunality in Late Ottoman Cilicia, 1878–1914 4. Fallowed Years: War, Environment, and the End of Empire, 1914–23 5. A Modern Life of Transhumance: Change and Continuity in the Republic of Turkey, 1923–56

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Book SynopsisNotework begins with a striking insight: the writer's notebook is a genre in itself. Simon Reader pursues this argument in original readings of unpublished writing by prominent Victorians, offering an expansive approach to literary formalism for the twenty-first century. Neither drafts nor diaries, the notes of Charles Darwin, Oscar Wilde, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Vernon Lee, and George Gissing record ephemeral and nonlinear experiences, revealing each author's desire to leave their fragments scattered and unused. Presenting notes in terms of genre allows Reader to suggest inventive new accounts of key Victorian texts, including The Picture of Dorian Gray, On the Origin of Species, and Hopkins's devotional lyrics, and to reinterpret these works as meditations on the ethics of compiling and using data. In this way, Notework recasts information collection as a personal and expressive activity that comes into focus against large-scale systems of knowledge organization. Finding resonance between today's digital culture and its nineteenth-century precursors, Reader honors our most disposable, improvised, and fleeting written gestures. Trade Review"Encountering writers' notebooks on their own terms, Simon Reader carves out fresh and rewarding territory in the landscape of Victorian studies. Notework offers brilliant, wide-ranging commentary on little-studied archival materials in dialogue with, but not subordinated to, well-known works of the period."—Andrew Stauffer, University of Virginia"Written in an energetic, witty, and clear style, Notework is full of interest and fresh insight—an unexpected and provocative view on material that has wider implications for how we read."—Kathryn Sutherland, University of Oxford"Contrasting with the disjointed fragments he quotes, Reader's own fluent and energetic style guides us through discussions of formalism generally, and Formalism in particular, into the direct engagement that he promises."—Jacqueline Banerjee, Times Literary Supplement"Notework offers a major contribution to the genre theory and the history of reading because it makes valuable, really for the first time, an absolutely ubiquitous practice... Reader's approach can return us to the archive and attune us beyond the canon because it so profoundly values formal multiplicity."—Elisha Cohn, Modern Philology"Critics often view authorial notes as adjunct to the study of major works, and this purpose is still central. However, Reader contends, in addition to providing insight into the creative process, notes serve as a distinct body of literary work... Incidentally, his observations about the disconnected nature of communication in social media (think Twitter) lead one to wonder how these instances of "note work" might figure as a genre to future readers."—L. A. Brewer, CHOICE"As a study in how to interpret those primary sources that make up much of nineteenth-century literary history, Notework is an engaging reimagining of the Victorian information landscape and an important reconsideration of how literary studies treats ephemera in the nineteenth century and beyond.... Notework promises to be a cornerstone in the aesthetics of information and in the ongoing reassessment of the parts of the long nineteenth century that carry into our present."—Sierra Eckert, Modern Language Quarterly"Simon Reader's 'notework,' a new and happily-coined literary term, avoids the book in 'notebook' while evoking the dream in 'dreamwork' and the art in 'artwork.' In other words, the term itself does a lot of work for this excellent study of important noteworks in Victorian literature. By conceptualizing and naming it, Reader's term will generate further work on this novel genre."—Carolyn Williams, Prose Studies

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Book SynopsisA fascinating description of how utilizing the biochar embedded in terra preta, the recently rediscovered sacred soil of the pre-Columbian peoples of the Amazon rainforest, can cut our dependency on petrochemicals, restore the health of our soils, remove carbon from our overheating atmosphere, and restore the planet to pre-industrial levels of atmospheric carbon by 2050. The authors show that the rediscovery of terra preta is an opportunity to move beyond the West’s tradition of plunder and genocide of the native civilizations of the Americas by offering an invitation to embrace the deeper mystery of the indigenous methods of inquiry and to participate in an animate cosmos that gave rise to such a powerful soil technology. Sacred Soil, in recognizing the need for biocultural regeneration, takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the phenomenon of biochar soils, utilizing mythopoeic, historical, anthropological, and scientific perspectives to embrace the deep past, the vexed present, and the prospectus for our future. Coming at this crucial juncture in human history, the potential resting in biochar is also an open doorway into the indigenous ways of knowing that enabled the pre-Columbian Amazonian high civilizations to support a population of millions while leaving their lands more fertile than when they arose.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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