History Books
Cornerstone Hiding The Elephant
Book SynopsisThis is the story of the Golden Age of magic and of the world''s most legendary magicians: the eccentric personalities who patented the first ghost and competed fiendishly in the race to make things materialize, levitate and disappear.We meet Harry Kellar, the ruthless thief of secrets who was the model for the Wizard of Oz, and PT Selbit, the first man to saw a woman in half on stage.We meet John Nevil Maskelyne, whose Egyptian Theatre was a London institution for sixty years. Hiding the Elephant is the masterwork of a man who has dedicated his life to magic, who knows the tricks inside out, and still believes.Trade ReviewAn extremely entertaining history of magic * Sunday Telegraph *Highly readable... fascinating... remarkable * The Mail *Steinmeyer's history of the golden age of stage magic was a dazzling read, and has given me a few ideas about how to keep the family entertained at Christmas -- Matthew Sweet * Independent *A highly entertaining study of magic's Golden Age * The Times *Highly readable ... fascinating ... A remarkable collection of strongly motivated egomaniacs and charlatans, all depicted in the boldest of colours * Marcus Berkman *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing London
Book SynopsisPeter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers London: The Biography, Thames: Sacred River and London Under; biographies of figures including Charles Dickens, William Blake, Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock; and a multi-volume history of England. He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature's William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the South Bank Prize for Literature. He holds a CBE for services to literature.Trade ReviewIt would be no exaggeration to say that Peter Ackroyd's 'biography' of our capital is the book about London. It contains a lifetime of reading and research-but this huge book is light and airy and playful-[He] leads us on a journey both historical and geographical, but also imaginative. Every street, alley and courtyard has a story, and Ackroyd brings it to life for us - marvellous -- A N Wilson * Daily Mail *Nothing can quite match the huge strange echo chamber of life-stories, folktales, and urban myths conjured up in Peter Ackroyd's epic vision of his native city. Sparkling, witty scholarship is constantly transformed into smoky mystical street-history, with dark hypnotic meditations on fog, fire, sewage, suicide and civic resurrection -- Richard Holmes * Daily Telegraph *Ackroyd is the most effortless guide. You wander by his side through the streets of the old city, savouring its bustle, colours and its smells, the stink of living. This is much more than history; it is a tapestry of inspiration and love. You will not find a better, more visionary book about a place we take for granted * Observer *It's this decade's finest work of non-fiction -- Jude Rogers * The Word *[London] may be several years old but it remains one of the leading narratives as he cleverly weaves through centuries of history to reveal to us the hundreds of different cities within a city -- Fiona Hamilton * The Times *
£24.00
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Tudor Executions
Book SynopsisThe Tudors as a dynasty executed many people, both high and low. But the nobility were the ones consistently involved in treason, either deliberately or unconsciously. Exploring the long sixteenth century under each of the Tudor monarchs gives a sense of how and why so many were executed for what was considered the worst possible crime and how the definition of treason changed over the period. This book examines how and why Tudor nobles like Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham; Queen Consort Anne Boleyn; Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey; and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, fell into the trap of treason and ended up on the block under the executioner's axe. Treason and the Tudor nobility seem to go hand in hand as, by the end of the sixteenth century and the advent of the Stuart dynasty, no dukes remained in England. How did this happen and why?
£18.70
Reaktion Books The English Table
Book SynopsisA mouth-watering glimpse into the flavours that shaped English culinary heritage.
£16.16
University of Wales Press The Trials of Edward Vaughan
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£18.99
Harvard University Press The Ancient Shore
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£32.26
The University of Chicago Press Sophocles I Antigone Oedipus the King Oedipus at
Book SynopsisOffers translations of Euripides' Medea, The Children of Heracles, Andromache, and Iphigenia among the Taurians, fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' The Trackers. In this title, introductions for each play offer information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond.
£12.00
Verso Books Disputing Disaster
Book SynopsisIn A Sextet on the Great War, Perry Anderson picks out from the highly charged historiography on the First World War one leading historian from each of the major powers that survived the conflagration: Fritz Fischer, famous historian of German war-guilt; Pierre Renouvin, a disabled serviceman and preeminent authority on the conflict in France; Luigi Albertini, the Italian newspaper tycoon who unlike any other scholar on the Grear War was himself a leading actor in pitching his country into it; Paul W. Schroeder, the American expert on the system of European interstate relations and its breakdown in 1914; Keith Wilson, the one radical deviant from a patriotic consensus in Britain about the country’s role in the outbreak of the fighting; and, from Australia (a dominion dragooned into the Great War by the British), Christopher Clark, acclaimed author of The Sleepwalkers and Revolutionary Spring. A Sextet on the Great War is a compelling analytical
£27.00
Ebury Publishing The Science of Discworld II
Book SynopsisIan Stewart (Author) Professor Ian Stewart is the author of many popular science books. He is the mathematics consultant for New Scientist and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick. He was awarded the Michael Faraday Prize for furthering the public understanding of science, and in 2001 became a Fellow of the Royal Society.Terry Pratchett (Author) Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of over fifty bestselling books which have sold over 100 million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood for services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any. www.terrypratchettbooks.comJack Cohen (Author) Dr Jack Cohen is an internationally-known reproductive biologist, and lives in Newent, Gloucestershire. Jack has a laboratory in his kitchen, helps couples get pregnant by referring them to colleagues, invents biologically realistic aliens for science fiction writers and, in his spare time, throws boomerangs. Jack, who has more letters to his name than can be repeated here, writes, lectures, talks and campaigns to promote public awareness of science, particularly biology. He is mostly retired.Trade ReviewSuperb, neatly fulfilling its goal of introducing science without being boring or didactic. This is a genuinely mind-expanding and very funny book. * Good Book Guide *Entertaining, instructive and illuminating * New Scientist *
£13.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC All She Lost
Book Synopsis''Poignant and compelling'' - Lindsey Hilsum''Essential and urgent'' - Kim GhattasLebanon and the wider Middle East is in crisis. Journalist Dalal Mawad weaves an extraordinary story of survival, corruption and impunity. On August 4 2020, a huge explosion in the heart of Beirut killed hundreds of people it is the apocalypse of a sequence of events that have led to Lebanon''s unprecedented collapse. Award-winning journalist Dalal Mawad was in Lebanon when the devastating blast occurred and was one of the first journalists to report on it. She set out to record the stories of those long discriminated against, mothers who lost their children, spouses who lost their partners, refugee women who have fled from the war in Syria and who now find themselves in another failing state. We hear from the Lebanese grandmother, bankrupted by the small nation''s collapse, who remembers Beirut''s glory days of the 1960s. Their personal st
£12.34
Wordwell Boyne and Beyond: Essays in appreciation of
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£16.99
Oxford University Press Oxford IB Diploma Programme Rights and Protest
Book SynopsisDrive critical, engaged learning. Helping learners more deeply understand historical concepts, the student-centred approach of this new Course Book enables broader, big picture understanding. Developed directly with the IB and fully supporting the new 2015 syllabus, the structured format helps you easily progress through the new course content.Table of Contents1. Case study 1: Apartheid South Africa (1948-1964) ; 1.1 Introduction to apartheid in South Africa ; 1.2 The nature and characteristics of discrimination ; 1.3 Protests and action ; 1.4 The role and significance of key individuals ; 2. Case Study 2: Civil Rights Movement in the United States (1954-1965) ; 2.1 Introduction to discrimination in the United States ; 2.2 Freedom Summer, 1964 ; 3. Internal Assessment ; 4. C
£39.99
Trine Day Barry The Boys
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£21.84
Oxford University Press Oxford IB Diploma Programme The Cold War
Book SynopsisDrive critical, engaged learning and advanced skills development. Enabling comprehensive, rounded understanding, the student-centred approach actively develops the sophisticated skills key to performance in Paper 2. Developed directly with the IB for the 2015 syllabus, this Course Book fully supports the new comparative approach to learning.Cover the new syllabus in the right level of depth, with rich, thorough subject contentDeveloped directly with the IB, with the most comprehensive support for the new syllabus with complete support for the comparative approachTruly engage learners with topical, relevant material that convincingly connects learning with the modern, global worldStreamline your planning, with a clear and thorough structure helping you logically progress through the syllabusBuild the advanced-level skills learners need for Paper 2, with the student-led approach driving active skills development and strengthening exam performanceIntegrate approaches to learning with ATLs like thinking, communication, research and social skills built directly into learningHelp learners think critically about improving performance with extensive examiner insight and samples based on the latest exam formatBuild an advanced level, thematic understanding with fully integrated Global Contexts, Key Concepts and TOK Also available as an Online Course BookTable of Contents1. Growth and tension - the origins of the Cold War 1943-1949 ; 1.1 The formation of the grand alliance to 1943 ; 1.2 The wartime conferences 1943-1945 ; 1.3 The emergence of superpower rivalry in Europe 1945-1949 ; 1.4 Cold War crisis in Europe ; 1.5 The atom bomb ; 1.6 The roles of the USA and the Soviet Union in the origins of the Cold War ; 1.7 Case Study 1: Yugoslavia under Tito ; 2. Global spread of the Cold War 1945-1962 ; 2.1 Emergence of superpower rivalry in Asia 1945-1949 ; 2.2 Communist success in China and its relations with the USSR and the USA 1946-1949 ; 2.3 North Korean invasion of South Korea 1950 ; 2.4 Origins of the Non-Aligned Movement ; 2.5 old War crisis in Europe - the Hungarian uprising ; 2.6 The Suez Crisis ; 2.7 Congo Crisis 1960-1964 ; 2.85 Berlin Crisis and the Berlin Wall ; 2.9 Sino-Soviet tensions, the Taiwan Strait crises and the split ; 2.10 Cuban Missile Crisis ; 2.11 Case Study 2: Guatemala during the Cold War ; 3. Reconciliation and renewed conflict 1963-1979 ; 3.1 The invasion of Czechoslovakia ; 3.2 Arms race and detente ; 3.3 Sino-US agreements ; 3.4 The election, presidency and overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile ; 3.5 Cold War crisis in Asia Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan 1979 ; 3.6 Case Study 3: Vietnam ; 4. The end of the Cold War ; 4.1 Eastern European dissent ; 4.2 Cold War crisis: The Able Archer crisis 1983 ; 4.3 Gorbachev's policies ; 4.4 The effect of Gorbachev's policies on Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War ; 4.5 The end of the USSR 1989-1991
£35.99
Reaktion Books Myths Muses and Mortals
Book SynopsisA lyrical introduction to a multitude of life experiences in ancient Greece.
£21.25
Little, Brown & Company Operation Nemesis
Book SynopsisIn 1921, a small group of self-appointed patriots set out to avenge the deaths of almost one million victims of the Armenian Genocide. They named their operation Nemesis after the Greek goddess of retribution. Over several years, the men tracked down and assassinated former Turkish leaders. The story of this secret operation has never been fully told until now.Eric Bogosian goes beyond simply telling the story of this cadre of Armenian assassins to set the killings in context by providing a summation of the Ottoman and Armenian history as well as the history of the genocide itself. Casting fresh light on one of the great crimes of the twentieth century and one of history''s most remarkable acts of political retribution, and drawing upon years of new research across multiple continents, OPERATION NEMESIS is both a riveting read and a profound examination of evil, revenge and the costs of violence.
£17.09
The History Press Ltd The Little History of England
Book SynopsisWhat did the Romans do for us?Did King Arthur really exist?Who was Bloody Mary?Why did Great Britain go to war with Napoleon?Formed out of a union of warring Germanic kingdoms in the tenth century ad, England rose to become the most powerful nation in the world and the operations room of an empire spanning a quarter of the world's land surface.The Little History of England tells the great story of English history as simply as possible. This fast-paced and comprehensive narrative takes the reader on a journey from the beginning of the world to the present day. Historian Jonathan McGovern brings an insider's perspective into play, explaining the real significance behind the tumultuous history of this remarkable country.
£13.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Union Army 186165 2
Book SynopsisThis book describes and illustrates the uniforms and personal equipment of the troops fielded by the Eastern and New England states that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. During 186165, the United States Army, pitted against the forces of the fledgling Confederacy, fought to defend the Union during five long years of bitter conflict. This volume, the second in a three-part study, chronicles the clothing, insignia and gear worn by the soldiers fielded by 12 of the states that fought to preserve the Union.While uniforms conforming to standard Union Army patterns were widely issued to these troops, some wore distinctive items of dress or insignia, and a wide variety of weapons were carried. Ron Field, an acknowledged authority on US military apparel, reveals how the Eastern and New England states clothed and equipped their regiments during the Civil War. Eight plates of original artwork showing officers and enlisted men of the Union Army are com
£11.69
Zondervan Herod Antipas
Book SynopsisOriginally published by Cambridge University Press in the Monograph Series of the Society for New Testament Studies, Dr. Hoehner's work has been widely acclaimed for its scholarly reconstruction of Herod Antipas' political career.
£16.19
Oxford University Press Inc The Strange Career of Jim Crow
Book SynopsisStrange Career offers a clear and illuminating analysis of the history of Jim Crow laws and American race relations. This book presented evidence that segregation in the South dated only to the 1880s. It''s publication in 1955, a year after the Supreme Court ordered schools be desegregated, helped counter arguments that the ruling would destoy a centuries-old way of life. The commemorative edition includes a special afterword by William S. McFeely, former Woodward student and winner of both the 1982 Pulitzer Prize and 1992 Lincoln Prize. As William McFeely describes in the new afterword, ''the slim volume''s social consequence far outstripped its importance to academia. The book became part of a revolution...The Civil Rights Movement had changed Woodward''s South and his slim, quietly insistent book...had contributed to that change.''Table of ContentsIntroductionI.: Old Regimes and Reconstructions II.: Forgotten Alternatives III.: Capitulation to Racism IV.: The Man on the Cliff V.: The Declining Years of Jim Crow VI.: The Career Becomes Stranger Afterword by William s. McFeely
£12.34
Oxford University Press Ancient Warfare
Book SynopsisExamines various aspects of ancient warfare from philosophy to the technical skills needed to fight. This work looks at war in a wider context and explores the ways in which ancient society thought about conflict: can a war be just? Why was siege warfare particularly bloody? What role did divine intervention play in the outcome of a battle?Trade ReviewThis is a little book which is jam-packed with ideas and insights. This book offers an interesting and invigorating read. * TLS *I am addicted to this series of pocket-portable introductory lectures - they provoke active and reactive thought. * The Guardian *Small but impressive * Soldier Magazine *Table of Contents1. 'On my command unleash hell!' The Western Way of War? ; 2. Thinking with war ; 3. War and Society ; 4. Thinking about war ; 5. Strategy, Campaigns, and Logistics ; 6. Fighting ; 7. 'Some people don't know when they are beaten.' Imagining war.
£9.49
State University of New York Press Brazilian Science Fiction Film
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£27.55
Cambridge University Press The Women Who Threw Corn
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£28.50
Oxford University Press Persians and Other Plays
Book SynopsisAeschylus is the first of the great Greek playwrights, and the four plays in this volume demonstrate the remarkable range of Greek tragedy. Persians is the only surviving tragedy to draw on contemporary history, the Greeks'' extraordinary victory over Persia in 480 BC. The Persians'' aggression is inhuman in scale, and offends the gods, but while celebrating the Greek triumph, Aeschylus also portrays the shock of the defeated with some compassion. In Seven Against Thebes a royal family is cursed with self-destruction, in a remorseless tragedy that anticipates the grandeur of the later Oresteia. Suppliants portrays the wretched plight of the daughters of Danaus, fleeing from enforced marriage; as refugees they seek protection, and must plead a moral and political case to gain it. And in Prometheus Bound, Prometheus is relentlessly persecuted by Zeus for benefitting mankind in defiance of the god.Christopher Collard''s highly readable new translation is accompanied by an introduction that sets the plays in their original context, and together with the notes considers theatrical and poetic issues, as well as details of content and language. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade ReviewExcellent...as scholarly and reliable as anyone could wish for...clear and judicious. * Mark Griffiths, Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Note on the Text ; Bibliography ; Chronology ; PERSIANS ; SEVEN AGAINST THEBES ; SUPPLIANTS ; PROMETHEUS BOUND ; Maps ; Explanatory Notes ; Index
£10.44
Oxford University Press Early Medieval Architecture
Book SynopsisThe early middle ages were an exciting period in the history of European architecture, culminating in the development of the Romanesque style. Major architectural innovations were made during this time including the medieval castle, the church spire, and the monastic cloister. By avoiding the traditional emphasis on chronological development, Roger Stalley provides a radically new approach to the subject, exploring issues and themes rather than sequences and dates. In addition to analysing the language of the Romanesque, the book examines the engineering achievements of the builders, and clearly how the great monuments of the age were designed and constructed. Ranging from Gotland to Apulia, the richness and variety of European architecture is explored in terms of the social and religious aspirations of the time. Symbolic meanings associated with architecture are also thoroughly investigated. Written with style and humour, the lively text includes many quotations from ancient sources, providing a fascinating insight into the way that medieval buildings were created, and in the process enlivening study of this period.Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Christian basilica ; 2. The Carolingian renaissance ; 3. Symbolic buildings ; 4. Architecture and pilgrimage ; 5. Architecture and monasticism ; 6. Diversity in the Romanesque era ; 7. The language of architecture ; 8. Secular architecture in the age of feudalism ; 9. Art and engineering ; 10. Patron and Builder ; Epilogue: the shadow of Rome ; Notes; List of Illustrations; Bibliographic Essay; Timeline; Index
£999.99
Oxford University Press The Islandman
Book SynopsisTomas O''Crohan was born on the Great Blasket Island in 1865 and died there in 1937, a great master of his native Irish. He shared to the full the perilous life of a primitive community, yet possessed a shrewd and humorous detachment that enabled him to observe and describe the world. His book is a valuable description of a new vanished way of life; his sole purpose in writing it was in his own words, ''to set down the character of the people about me so that some record of us might live after us, for the like of us will never be again''. The Blasket Islands are three miles off Irelands Dingle Peninsula. Until their evacuation just after the Second World War, the lives of the 150 or so Blasket Islanders had remained unchanged for centuries. A rich oral tradition of story-telling, poetry, and folktales kept alive the legends and history of the islands, and has made their literature famous throughout the world. The 7 Blasket Island books published by OUP contain memoirs and reminiscences from within this literary tradition, evoking a way of life which has now vanished.Trade ReviewPart of a unique and remarkable Irish literary archive ... compelling. * Neil Johnston, Belfast Telegraph, 24/6/00 *
£999.99
Oxford University Press An Old Womans Reflections
Book SynopsisStorytelling kept alive the myths, legends, and history of the Blasket Islands, which are three miles off Irelands Dingle Peninsula. In her old age, Peig Sayers, 'the Queen of Gaelic storytellers', recounted her life to her son, who recorded the tale in this book. She recalls the events of her life and her simple philosophy.
£7.99
Oxford University Press Twenty Years AGrowing
Book SynopsisMaurice O'Sullivan was born on the Great Blasket in 1904, and 'Twenty years A-Growing' tells the story of his youth and of a way of life which belonged to the Middle Ages. He wrote for his own pleasure and for the entertainment of his friends, without any thought of a wider public; his style is derived from folk-tales which he hear from his grandfather and sharpened by his own lively imagination.Trade ReviewI was fascinated by the language of the book, originally written in Irish: much of the idiom of that language had been retained in the English Translation * Paul Buttle - The Independent *Part of a unique and remarkable Irish literary archive ... compelling. * Neil Johnston, Belfast Telegraph, 24/6/00 *Table of Contents1. IN DINGLE; 2. MY FIRST JOURNEY HOME; 3. THE ISLAND; 4; A DAY'S HUNTING; 5. VENTRY RACES; 6. PIERCE'S CAVE; 7. A SHOAL OF MACKEREL; 8. HALLOWE'EN; 9. THE WHALE; 10. THE WAKE; 11. A NIGHT IN THE INISH; 12 THE WAR; 13. THE SHIPWRECK; 14. THE WANDERER; 15. THE LOBSTER SEASON; 16; MATCHMAKING; 17. THE WEDDING DAY; 18. AN AMERICAN WAKE; 19. THE STRANGER; 20 MY LAST JOURNEY TO THE INISH; 21; I LEAVE HOME; 22. FROM DINGLE EAST; 23. THE CITY OF DUBLIN; 24. THE CIVIC GUARD; 25. CONNEMARA; 26. CONCLUSION
£9.02
Edinburgh University Press Medieval Syria and the Onset of the Crusades
Book SynopsisSurveys a turbulent chapter of Syrian history from multiple perspectives, recalibrating the underlying power dynamics of the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries.
£22.49
Oxford University Press The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic
Book SynopsisA comprehensive view of the ancient Greek world, its history and its achievements. The legacy of the Hellenistic world is vast--it ranges from architecture to philosophy, literature, and the visual arts to military strategy and science. This authoritative study covers the period from the eighth century BC, which witnessed the emergence of the Greek city-states, to the conquests of Alexander the Great and the establishment of the Greek monarchies some five centuries later.Chapters dealing with political and social history are interspersed with chapters on philosophy and the arts, including Homer, Greek myth, Aristotle, and Plato, Greek dramatists such as Sophocles and Aristophanes, and the flourishing of the visual and plastic arts.This volume, first published as part of The Oxford History of the Classical World, includes illustrations, maps, a Chronology of Events, and suggestions for Further Reading.Trade ReviewFrom reviews of The Oxford History of the Classical World: the book is truly excellent the standard of the contributions is extraordinarily high * Observer *this book has no equal and would be difficult to better * Books and Bookmen *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. Greece: The History of the Archaic Period ; 2. Homer ; 3. Greek Myth and Hesiod ; 4. Lyric and Elegiac Poetry ; 5. Early Greek Philosophy ; 6. Greece: The History of the Classical Period ; 7. Greek Drama ; 8. Greek Historians ; 9. Life and Society in Classical Greece ; 10. Classical Greek Philosophy ; 11. Greek Religion ; 12. Greek Art and Architecture ; 13. The History of the Hellenistic Period ; 14. Hellenistic Culture and Literature ; 15. Hellenistic Philosophy and Science ; 16. Hellenistic and Graeco-Roman Art
£15.99
Edinburgh University Press Late Roman Italy
Book SynopsisExplores the major political, social, economic, religious and cultural changes impacting what was once the most important region of the Roman world.
£26.99
Penguin Books Ltd Elizabeth
Book SynopsisHistory has pictured Elizabeth I as Gloriana, an icon of strength and power -- and has focused on the early years of her reign. But in 1583, when Elizabeth is fifty, there is relentless plotting among her courtiers -- and still to come is the Spanish Armada and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. We have not, until now, had the full picture.This gripping and vivid portrait of her life and times -- often told in her own words (and including details such as her love of chess and marzipan) -- reveals a woman who was insecure, human (''You know I am no morning woman''), and unpopular even with the men who fought for her. This is the real Elizabeth, for the first time.Trade ReviewA beautifully rounded portrait of both the woman and the queen . . . This is a masterful biography. -- Amanda ForemanA gripping story of Queen Elizabeth's last years, authoritatively researched and engagingly recounted by the leading Tudor historian of our age -- James Shapiro, author of 1599 and 1606One of the very best historians we have in the country . . . It is brilliant, vigorous history, and a triumph of storytelling and scholarship -- Jessie Childs * Telegraph *Guy's careful work with documents known and unknown, scattered throughout Europe's archives, allows him to paint a novel portrait of a complex - maybe even unknowable - queen -- John Gallagher * Guardian *The best biography ever written of the Virgin Queen - a revisionist, sensitive, compelling, majestic masterwork that you can't put down -- Simon Sebag-Montefiore * Evening Standard *A gripping story of Queen Elizabeth's last years, authoritatively researched and engagingly recounted by the leading Tudor historian of our age. It will be of special interest to anyone interested in the political world in which Shakespeare's Elizabethan drama is steeped-from anxiety over royal succession to England's costly war in Ireland -- James Shapiro, author of 1599 and 1606John Guy's Elizabeth presents a beautifully rounded portrait of both the woman and the queen. Thanks to Guy's prodigious use of previously untapped material, we see, for the very first time, the full panoply of ambition and insecurity, plotting and deceit that marked the middle years of her reign. This is a masterful biography. -- Amanda ForemanAs you'd expect from John Guy, this is a very good read, a vivid and fascinating warts-and-all portrait of the ageing Elizabeth, backed by meticulous research -- Claire TomalinOne of the very best historians we have in the country. Guy is in his element prising off the myths that are barnacled to the queen. It is brilliant, vigorous history, and a triumph of storytelling and scholarship -- Jessie Childs * Telegraph *John Guy is arguably the world's leading expert on Tudor history. When he writes a book, especially this, his first on Elizabeth's life, it should be taken very seriously as having something new to say, and so it does ... a wonderful book and a magisterial account of the latter half of Elizabeth's reign that calmly reassesses every claim and myth by simply reading all the original manuscript correspondence. The result puts the record straight, but it also allows Guy to produce a pacy and compelling story -- Jerry Brotton * Sunday Times *Guy pored through 250,000 manuscripts in his quest to understand the ageing Elizabeth. Intimidated by that mountain of parchment, most historians have tended to recycle the myths of Gloriana and Good Queen Bess. Not Guy. Guy is no ordinary historian. Few can match his ruthless obsession for accuracy. Between every line comes whispered reassurance: "You can trust me; I touched those documents." Guy the scholar melds perfectly with Guy the storyteller. Small tales are used to illustrate big issues. Under the weight of Guy's scrutiny, familiar myths crumble. The weight of evidence suggests that he understands Elizabeth better than any historian has -- Gerald DeGroot * Book of the Week, The Times *[A] most excellent biography. It puts a cruel but clarifying lends on the vain monarch's twilight years. She has never been more exposed than in Guy's tome. A contender for history book of the year -- John Lewis-Stempel * Sunday Express *What emerges from the author's great efforts to mine the archives for a truer picture is a more flawed Elizabeth - but perhaps a more human one * The Economist *John Guy, as eminent a Tudor historian as they come, has set himself the explicit task of correcting Strachey's colourful narrative of Elizabeth's old age. The result is 400 pages of outstandingly documented scholarly detail ... scholarship that should earn the respect of popular and expert reader alike -- Kate Maltby * Spectator *Superb ... John Guy persuades us that pretty much everything we think we know about Elizabeth is wrong -- Andrew Roberts * Wall Street Journal *There is a lot to like about this book. Energetic [in] tone... Guy is a lively guide ... Guy is especially good when describing the political machinations of Burghley and Walsingham ... [and] Guy gives us a clean sense of a man [the Earl of Essex] who was brilliant, vain, petulant and self-serving in equal measure * History Today *Enthralling... the book is also beautifully illustrated * Editor's Choice, The Bookseller *Guy is exceptionally good on how various myths took root -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *Outstanding. This page-turning book is history, biography, scholarship personified, and a crystal-clear look at Elizabeth in the war years that erases the myths and presents the real woman. Absolutely one of the best biographies of Elizabeth ever * Kirkus (starred review) *With the remarkable advantage of access to long-buried and misfiled primary sources [...] the aging monarch receives a balanced treatment. [Gives] readers a fuller view of the confident, experienced, and adaptable queen * Publishers Weekly *The dean of living Tudor-era historians * Christian Science Monitor *Meticulously researched and highly readable revisionist biography. Recommended for lovers of British history and feminist biography * Library Journal *A fresh, thrilling portrait -- Stacy Schiff * New York Times *Oft portrayed as fierce, this reveals an Elizabeth I who is in fact fallible and insecure * New Day *Significant, forensic and myth-busting, John Guy inspires total confidence in a narrative which is at once pacy and rich in detail -- Anna Whitelock * Times Literary Supplement *The brilliance of Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years lies in the energy of its narrative, as well as in Guy's eye and ear for scene and conversation. To interweave all of this with the life of the queen is a formidable achievement. He has captured the complexity of contemporary politics. ... Most striking is Guy's portrait of Elizabeth -- Stephen Alford * London Review of Books *
£11.69
Random House USA Inc Japan 1941 Countdown to Infamy
Book SynopsisA Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the YearA groundbreaking history that considers the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective and is certain to revolutionize how we think of the war in the Pacific.When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a war they were almost certain to lose. In a groundbreaking history that considers Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective, certain to revolutionize how we think of the war in the Pacific, Eri Hotta poses essential questions overlooked for the last seventy years: Why did these men—military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor—put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start? Introducing us to the doubters, bluffers, and schemers who led their nation into this conflagration, Hotta brilliantly shows us a hidden Japan—eager to avoid war but fraugh
£14.39
Harvard University Press On the Nature of the Gods. Academics Academica
Book SynopsisWe know more of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC), lawyer, orator, politician and philosopher, than of any other Roman. Besides much else, his work conveys the turmoil of his time, and the part he played in a period that saw the rise and fall of Julius Caesar in a tottering republic.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Roman History Volume III Books 3640 Trans. Cary
Book SynopsisDio Cassius (Cassius Dio), ca. AD 150–235, was born in Bithynia. Dio’s work is a vital source for the last years of the Roman republic and the first four Roman emperors.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Odes and Epodes
Book SynopsisThe poetry of Horace (born 65 BC) is richly varied, its focus moving between public and private concerns, urban and rural settings, Stoic and Epicurean thought. His Odes cover a wide range of moods and topics. Love and political concerns are frequent themes of the Epodes.
£23.70
Harvard University Press Moralia Volume XIII Part I Platonic Essays
Book SynopsisPlutarch (ca. AD 45120) wrote on many subjects. His extant works other than the Parallel Lives are varied, about sixty in number, and known as the Moralia (Moral Essays). They reflect his philosophy about living a good life, and provide a treasury of information concerning Greco-Roman society, traditions, ideals, ethics, and religion.
£23.70
Penguin Books Ltd Tide
Book SynopsisA Sunday Times ''Must Read'' book.Described by the Sunday Times as a gently studious Bill Bryson crossed with an upbeat and relaxed WG Sebald, Tide is a superb book... a delight to read. It is profound and powerful, and should win prizes.From Cnut to D-Day, the history and science of the unceasing tide is explored for the first time.Half of the world''s population lives in coastal regions lapped by tidal waters. Yet how little most of us know about the tide - a key force on our planet that has altered the course of history and will transform our future.Our ability to predict and understand the tide depends on centuries of science, from the observations of Aristotle and the theories of Newton to today''s supercomputer calculations. This story is punctuated here by notable tidal episodes in history, from Caesar''s thwarted invasion of Britain to the catastrophic flooding of Venice, and interwoven with a rich folklore that continues to inspire art and literature today.With Aldersey-Williams as our guide to the most feared and celebrated tidal features on the planet, from the original maelstrøm in Scandinavia to the world''s highest tides in Nova Scotia to the crumbling coast of East Anglia, the importance of the tide, and the way it has shaped - and will continue to shape - our civilization, becomes startlingly clear.Trade ReviewA spring tide of colour and historical anecdote laps over the more austere mudflats of the actual science. So much so that I find myself looking forward to the next piece of technical exposition -- Tom Whipple * The Times *Imagine, if possible, a gently studious Bill Bryson crossed with an upbeat and relaxed WG Sebald. It is a superb book... a delight to read. It is profound and powerful, and should win prizes. -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *This fascinating book deftly explores the dramatic history, critical importance, and scientific wonder of the tides. Hugh Aldersey-Williams is a marvelous guide who takes the reader on a sweeping and thought-provoking adventure into the heart of one of the most captivating, mysterious, and elemental forces of nature -- Eric Jay Dolin, author of Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American LighthousePrepare for a voyage with the best of companions - Hugh Aldersey-Williams is a storyteller supreme, and he's found a subject worthy of his talents -- Edward Dolnick, author of The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern WorldScience writing at its best ... fascinating and beautiful -- Matt Ridley on 'Periodic Tales'Immensely engaging and continually makes one sit up in surprise -- Richard Cohen on 'Periodic Tales' * Sunday Times *Aldersey-Williams is full of good stories and he knows how to tell them well -- Graham Farmelo on 'Periodic Tales' * Sunday Telegraph *Engaging and thoughtful... Like some of the most compelling biographers, Aldersey-Williams partly inhabits his subject * Literary Review on The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century *Exposes new facts and ideas every other page -- Horatio Clare * Observer *Aldersey-Williams's corrective meshes a history of the science with tide-related technologies and tidally sculpted events. It's an eloquent ebb and flow * Nature *
£11.69
Princeton University Press The Machiavellian Moment
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1975, The Machiavellian Moment remains a landmark of historical and political thought. Celebrated historian J.G.A. Pocock looks at the consequences for modern historical and social consciousness arising from the ideal of the classical republic revived by Machiavelli and other thinkers of Renaissance Italy. Pocock shows thatTrade Review"The Machiavellian Moment reinterpreted the entire history of political ideology in early modern England and America."--T. H. Breen, New York TimesTable of ContentsIntroduction to the Princeton Classics edition vii Introduction xxiii Part One Particularity and Time: The Conceptual Background I The Problem and Its Modes A) Experience, Usage and Prudence 3 II The Problem and Its Modes B) Providence, Fortune and Virtue 31 III The Problem and Its Modes C) The Vita Activa and the Vivere Civile 49 Part Two The Republic and its Fortune: Florentine Political Thought from 1494 to 1530 IV From Bruni to Savonarola Fortune, Venice and Apocalypse 83 V The Medicean Restoration 114 A) Guicciardini and the Lesser Ottimati, 1512-1516 VI The Medicean Restoration 156 B) Machiavelli's Il Principe VII Rome and Venice A) Machiavelli's Discorsi and Arte della Guerra 183 VIII Rome and Venice B) Guicciardini's Dialogo and the Problem of Optimate Prudence 219 IX Giannotti and Contarini: Venice as Concept and as Myth 272 Part Three Value and History in the Prerevolutionary Atlantic X The Problem of English Machiavellism: Modes of Civic Consciousness before the Civil War 333 XI The Anglicization of the Republic A) Mixed Constitution, Saint and Citizen 361 XII The Anglicization of the Republic B) Court, Country, and Standing Army 401 XIII Neo-Machiavellian Political Economy The Augustan Debate over Land, Trade and Credit 423 XIV The Eighteenth-Century Debate: Virtue, Passion and Commerce 462 XV The Americanization of Virtue: Corruption, Constitution and Frontier 506 Afterword 553 Bibliography 585 Index 601
£999.99
Princeton University Press The Age of the Crisis of Man
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA Wall Street Journal Book of the Year for 2015 (selected by Adam Thirlwell) Winner of the 2015 Morris D. Forkosch Book Prize, Journal of the History of Ideas Winner of the 18th Annual (2016) Susanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship, Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M University A New Statesman Book of the Year for 2015 (selected by Robert Macfarlane) One of Flavorwire's 10 Must-Read Academic Books for 2015 One of the Slate Book Review's Overlooked Books of 2015 One of The Paris Review's Staff Picks for 2015 (selected by Lorin Stein) "An important book, a brilliant book, an exasperating book... In The Age of the Crisis of Man: Thought and Fiction in America, 1933-1973, the gifted essayist Mark Greif, who reveals himself to be also a skillful historian of ideas, charts the history of the 20th-century reckonings with the definition of 'man.'"--Leon Wieseltier, New York Times Book Review "In careful, thoughtful, and elegant prose reminiscent of Lionel Trilling and Edmund Wilson, Greif gives a brilliant exploration of the philosophical field that developed in the middle decades of the 20th century and echoes even up to our own time... Greif's dazzling, must read analysis offers luminous insights into midcentury American understandings of humanity and its relevance to the present."--Publishers Weekly, starred review "[A]n important new study of mid-century intellectual life."--Louis Menand, New Yorker "Bracingly ambitious... [He is] a stimulating literary critic."--Pankaj Mishra, London Review of Books "I will not insult [Mark] Greif by calling him a public intellectual. He is an intellectual, full-stop... An intellectual is not an academic who can write plain or a journalist who can write smart, but something else altogether... Greif's history turns out to be a prehistory--our prehistory."--William Deresiewicz, Harper's "[The Age of the Crisis of Man is] a brilliant contribution to the history of ideas, one of the rare books that reshapes the present by reinterpreting the past."--Adam Kirsch, Tablet "[E]xhilarating...By 'the discourse of man' Greif means the vast midcentury literature on human dignity, from Being and Nothingness, to the 'Family of Man' photo exhibition, to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights--a discourse that Greif interrogates with verve, erudition, sympathy, and suspicion, and that he follows into the fiction of our time."--Lorin Stein, Paris Review "It is encouraging to come across the work of a young scholar that offers clear-eyed insight into the origins of the current malaise, while also exemplifying what a fresh contribution to humanistic study might look like today... [A]mbitious and deeply researched."--Christopher Benfey, New York Review of Books "[W]ith this brilliant book Greif is restarting the project of 're-enlightenment,' pointing us toward ... the spiritual daylight of the present--where literary purposes and political agendas are moments on an intellectual continuum, not the terms of an either/or choice."--James Livingston, Bookforum "A striking construction, bringing together an array of thinkers and intellectual traditions whose synchronicity has gone largely unremarked."--David Simspon, New Left Review "Sometimes a work of cultural history surprises and enlightens simply by naming what we had not thought required a name. [Such is] Mark Greif's revelatory study of mid-20th -century humanism."--Brian Dillon, Guardian (UK) "A stunning intellectual history of the 20th century... [W]hat this book really offers is a new way of thinking about thinking, and the particular thinking that fiction can do."--Adam Thirlwell, Wall Street Journal "[O]ne of the most accessibly intelligent and provocative looks at a fascinating period in American intellectual life. Read it, if only for Greif's exploration of white Americans' appropriation of the phrase 'The Man.' But also read it for so much more; it will stay with you for a long time."--Kristin Iversen, Brooklyn Magazine "[G]reat detail, buttressed with deep research, presented with great analytic and synthetic skill... Unlike many scholars, he has a heart and isn't afraid to show it."--Alan Jacobs, Books & Culture (Christianity Today) "[E]xhilarating reading... Greif has written a work of real intellectual and moral force."--Anthony Domestico, Commonweal "The Age of the Crisis of Man is an unusual book. It stands out in part fo the grandiosity o f its ambitions: Greif tries to provide an expansive new framework for the midcentury trajectory of American ideas... A founding editor of n+1, he aims to mine the texts of an earlier generation for social philosophies that can serve the political needs of the present day."--Angus Burgin, Dissent "[I]lluminating of the intellectual situation Greif and all of us inhabit... Greif's conclusion: ... know your past, for sure; know that people have tried things that didn't pan out; know your way about contemporary theory, but wear that knowledge lightly; and, most of all, remain playful."--Kevin Mattson, Boston Review "The mastery on display here--the sheer diversity of thinkers explored--is staggering. Some of them will no doubt be familiar to you: Adorno, Jaspers, Foucault, Arendt. Others might prove a little fuzzier: Mortimer Adler, Shulamith Firestone, Sidney Hook. All are deftly woven into the fabric of crisis discourse--both the juicy rivalries and strange bedfellows--often with dazzling results... A tour de force."--Dustin Illingworth, Brooklyn Rail "Mark Greif's probing new book, The Age of the Crisis of Man, ... allows us to see intellectual culture repeating what are easy to identify, looking back, as hopelessly circular or reductive debates. Greif does a fine job, and a gentle one, describing this."--Christopher Nealon, Public Books "[A] learned exploration of an important debate, which still reverberates in many forms."--Francesca Wade, Prospect (UK) "[The Age of the Crisis of Man] works to uncover a major discourse in American letters, a largely postwar dialogue about the human (or posthuman) condition. It's a formidable project on Greif's part, one that could change the story we tell about intellectual politics in the 20th century."--Jonathan Sturgeon, Flavorwire "[A]n ambitious look at political thought in the 20th century, and how that thought was reflected in the work of several notable American writers... [W]hat emerges is a complex portrait of a literary culture, and the theories that informed it."--Tobias Carroll, Vol. 1 Brooklyn "[F]ascinating and rich... The strength of the book is that although I disagree with much of what he says about the general position his readings of the novelists are engaging, lucid, attractively fresh and critically astute. So if you disagree with my views you should still read the book, and if you agree with me you should too."--Richard Marshall, 3AM Magazine "After reading Greif, one begins to wonder how we could have overlooked what was hiding in plain sight... Greif's book shows just how engaging it can be to glimpse philosophy in its human setting and view fiction as an agent of thought."--Patrick Redding, Society for U.S. Intellectual History Blog "A welcome work that belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who is serious about understanding twentieth-century thought and culture."--Daniel Wickberg, Society for U.S. Intellectual History Blog "Essayistic in style, brimming with wit and erudition, the book is sui generis in its take on Anglo-American analytical philosophy and human science, demonstrating that ours is by no means a 'unique' nor a 'uniquely bad time.'"--Adriana Neagu, ABC Journal "Greif is undoubtedly right to suggest that 'crisis' was a key theme, and his deft analysis of that theme offers an important correction to the persistent notion that the mid-century was the golden age of technocracy... [O]ne finds in Greif's book spirited, smart, and often surprising explorations of the thought of the period."--Daniel Immerwahr, Modern Intellectual History "Mark Greif's hugely impressive The Age of the Crisis of Man ... is dense, original and authoritative."--Robert Macfarlane, New Statesman "Greif approaches what could be a dry historical subject with a fiction writer's flair for character and narrative pacing, and his inventiveness and sense of wonder never subside. It's a great work of criticism about the idea of greatness, and where we get such ideas."--Evan Kindley, Slate "A tour de force of riveting interdisciplinary history."--James Dawes, Journal of American History "Mark Greif's ambitious study offers a compellingly nuanced and nonetheless comprehensive historical narrative of the inception and ensuing evolution of a crisis discourse which has proven to be instrumental in shaping the intellectual landscape of the United States through several decades."--Peter Csato, Hungarian Journal of English and American StudiesTable of ContentsPreface ix PART I Genesis 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction The "Crisis of Man" as Obscurity and Re-enlightenment 3 CHAPTER 2 Currents through the War 27 CHAPTER 3 The End of the War and After 61 PART II Transmission 101 CHAPTER 4 Criticism and the Literary Crisis of Man 103 PART III Studies in Fiction 143 CHAPTER 5 Saul Bellow and Ralph Ellison Man and History, the Questions 145 CHAPTER 6 Ralph Ellison and Saul Bellow History and Man, the Answers 181 CHAPTER 7 Flannery O'Connor and Faith 204 CHAPTER 8 Thomas Pynchon and Technology 227 PART IV Transmutation 253 CHAPTER 9 The Sixties as Big Bang 255 CHAPTER 10 Universal Philosophy and Antihumanist Theory 281 CONCLUSION Moral History and the Twentieth Century 316 Notes 331 Acknowledgments 401 Index 405
£25.20
Little, Brown Book Group David Lloyd George
Book SynopsisA Welshman among the English, a nonconformist among Anglicans and a self-made man in the patrician corridors of power, David Lloyd George, the last Liberal Prime Minister of Great Britain, was the founding father of the Welfare State and was as great a peacetime leader as Churchill was in war. In this fascinating biography of an authentic radical, Roy Hattersley charts the great reforms - the first old age pension, sick pay and unemployment benefit - of which Lloyd George was architect, and also sheds light on the complexities of a man who was both a tireless champion of the poor, and a restless philanderer who was addicted to living dangerously.
£15.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Medieval Roads and Tracks
Book Synopsis
£8.99
The History Press Ltd Cars We Loved in the 1980s
Book SynopsisRelive everything car-related in Britain in the 1980s with Giles Chapman.
£9.99
The History Press Ltd Cars We Loved in the 1950s
Book SynopsisGiles Chapman investigates the fascinating motoring history of the 1950s
£11.69
Little, Brown Book Group Book Of Fire
Book Synopsis* A reissue of the vivid, compellingly researched biography of one of history's most celebrated martyrs - translator of the Bible William Tyndale, published to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible
£13.49
Cornerstone The Sign And The Seal
Book SynopsisGraham Hancock is the author of the major international bestsellers The Sign and the Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods and Heaven's Mirror. His books have sold more than five million copies worldwide and have been translated into 27 languages. He is an extremely successful investigative journalist, having been Editor of Condé Nast's Traveller magazine and East Africa Correspondent for the Economist. His public lectures and TV appearances, including the three-hour series Quest for the Lost Civilization, have put his religious and historical theories before audiences of tens of millions. He has become recognized as an unconventional thinker who raises legitimate questions about humanity's history, religion and prehistory and offers an increasingly popular challenge to the entrenched views of orthodox scholars.Trade ReviewHighly readable * Times *Hancock's book will probably be as popular as the Raider's film. Added to the Holy Grail excitement of his quest, he has invented a new genre: an intellectual whodunnit by a do-it-yourself sleuth * Guardian *It should cause widespread discussion and it deserves to * Daily Telegraph *
£10.44
Pan Macmillan Zulu Rising
Book SynopsisIan Knight is the leading authority on the Anglo-Zulu War and has written over thirty highly regarded publications on Zulu history, including the award-winning National Army Museum Book of the Zulu War. He has appeared in and written many television documentaries on the Zulus, and in 2008 was awarded the Anglo-Zulu War Historical Society's Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Award for a lifetime's contribution to the field.
£15.29
OUP USA The Peoples Republic of Amnesia
Book SynopsisOne of the best analyses of the impact of Tiananmen throughout China in the years since 1989. --The New York Times Book ReviewOn June 4, 1989, People''s Liberation Army soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians in Beijing, killing untold hundreds of people. A quarter-century later, this defining event remains buried in China''s modern history, successfully expunged from collective memory. In The People''s Republic of Amnesia, NPR correspondent Louisa Lim offers a much-needed response to the silence surrounding the events of June 4th, charting how deeply they affected China at the time and in the 25 years since.
£12.59
