History Books
Inner Traditions Bear and Company Ars Notoria: The Notory Art of Solomon: A
Book SynopsisThe 13th-century magical treatise Ars Notoria offers a secret account of the angel Pamphilius revealing the sacred magic to King Solomon by which he gained his famed wisdom and learning, thereby expanding upon the biblical narrative in which Solomon received a vision of God. Solomon’s writings were transmitted to the first-century philosopher, Apollonius of Tyana, who provided a commentary entitled the Golden Flowers (Flores Aurei), which is contained within Ars Notoria. The magical text presents a complete system of angelic magic consisting of prayers addressed to angels, using figures called notae, for the purpose of acquiring scholastic and heavenly knowledge. Due to its rising popularity among university students, the magical ritual was reworked time and again, producing five treatises, dating from the 13th to 15th centuries; The Work of Works (Opus Operum), the Book of Flowers of Heavenly Teaching composed by the French Benedictine monk named John of Morigny, The Short Art (Ars Brevis), the abridged version attributed to Thomas of Toledo, and The Pauline Art (Ars Paulina), thereby establishing an entire notorial art tradition. In this new and complete translation of Ars Notoria, based on Julien Veronese’s critical Latin edition, translator Matthias Castle presents the classic magical text, both short and long versions, including four of the later treatises. Castle explains how these theurgic ritual practices were performed, giving special attention to all the original pictorial figures (notae), and how the art of memory relates to angelic magic. Providing practical instruction, extensive commentary, and in-depth background research and annotations, Ars Notoria: The Notory Art of Solomon is an essential sourcebook on angelic magic for scholar and magician alike.Trade Review“This is one of the most important books on medieval magic to be published in many years. Enormously popular for decades, Ars Notoria was adapted and mutated into many versions, making it very challenging to understand. It is exciting to see an expert translation based on Véronèse’s reliable critical edition of the Latin versions and other primary texts. Matthias Castle’s tome is massive but worth every penny for its encyclopedic but lucid treatment of the many elements, such as the angelology, magical figures, rituals, art of memory, and liberal arts. Given the significant impact Ars Notoria had on later magical texts, including the Key of Solomon and Sworn Book of Honorius, Castle’s edition should be valuable to scholars and practitioners alike.” * Joseph H. Peterson, author, translator, and creator of the Esoteric Archives website *“One of the lost treasures of medieval occultism, the Ars Notoria is a system of Solomonic angelic magic used by students and scholars to attain knowledge of the arts and sciences. Matthias Castle has done an exemplary job in translating the original texts and setting out all the details of the notory art for today’s scholars and practitioners of magic.” * John Michael Greer, coauthor and cotranslator of The Complete Picatrix: The Occult Classic of Astrol *“This volume offers readers for the first time an English translation of this important work of image magic, based on the best available critical edition. Readers can count on a combination of readability and accuracy, and the book represents a substantial contribution by rendering this text accessible to a new audience of students and practitioners alike.” * David Porreca, Ph.D., associate professor and codirector of the medieval studies undergraduate progr *“Offers a methodical foundation for understanding and exploring the various manuscripts of the Ars Notoria tradition and its historical contexts. Richly illustrated with a wide evidentiary range of the Ars Notoria’s sacred diagrams, figures, sigils, and seals from across the manuscript corpus and presenting section-by-section close readings of the prayerful and conjurational texts in question, this book furnishes those enamored of the notory art a deeper understanding of its peculiar prayers and protocols. This work should provide all those interested in medieval angelology, manuscript illumination, grimoiric conjuration, and visual cultures of sacred art a valuable historical resource for understanding and engaging with these most pious and pedagogical of grimoiric traditions.” * Alexander Cummins, Ph.D., historian and coauthor of An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke *Table of ContentsA Note on the TranslationAcknowledgments The History, Art, Ritual, and Method of the Ars NotoriaBy Matthias CastleI The Mythical and Material Story of the Ars Notoria II Elements of the Ars Notoria III The Knowledge of the Ars Notoria IV The Art of Memory V Analysis of the Figures VI The Complete Ritual Procedures Ars Notoria Version A 1 Flores Aurei Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 2 [Fragmented Supplements] Ars Nova Novem Termini The Specials Addendum 3 Notae Supplement Version A Ars Notoria Version B 4 Glosses and Variations Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Ars Nova Novem Termini 5 Notae Supplement Version B Branches of the Ars Notoria Tradition6 Opus Operum (Work of Works) 7 Ars Brevis (Short Art) 8 Ars Notoria Abbreviata (Abridged Notory Art According to Thomas of Toledo) 9 Ars Paulina (Pauline Art [of Seven Figures]) AppendicesA1 Manuscripts and Editions A2 Magical Figures of the Ars Notoria A3 Authorship of the Ars Notoria A4 Medieval Computations of Time A5 The Enlightened Work from the Wisdom of Solomon A6 Works Attributed to Apollonius A7 Works Attributed to Solomon A8 Annotated Bibliography of Medieval Scholarship Bibliography Index of Prayers General Index
£144.50
Amberley Publishing Alfreds Dynasty
Book SynopsisA tale of scheming, power struggles, conflict and the birth of England as we know it today. W. B. Bartlett, author of Vikings, tells the story of Alfred the Great and his descendants, and reasserts their right to be regarded as one of history's great Royal dynasties.
£19.54
Arcturus Publishing Ltd The Way of the Samurai
Book SynopsisInazo Nitobe (1862-1933) was scholar and an educator. After studying at John Hopkins University he maintained his links with the US and tried through his academic career 'to become a bridge across the Pacific'. He wrote Bushido: The Soul of Japan, published here as The Way of the Samurai, in 1899 and the book established his reputation in the West.
£8.54
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Street Fight in Naples
Book SynopsisNaples is always a shock, flaunting beauty and squalor like nowhere else. It is the only city in Europe whose ancient past still lives in its irrepressible people. In 1503, Naples was the Mediterranean capital of Spain''s world empire and the base for the Christian struggle with Islam. It was a European metropolis matched only by Paris and Istanbul, an extraordinary concentration of military power, lavish consumption, poverty and desperation. It was to Naples in 1606 that Michelangelo Merisi fled after a fatal street fight, and there released a great age in European art - until everything erupted in a revolt by the dispossessed, and the people of an occupied city brought Europe into the modern world.Ranging across nearly three thousand years of Neapolitan life and art, from the first Greek landings in Italy to the author''s own, less auspicious, arrival thirty-something years ago, Street Fight in Naples brings vividly to life the tumultuous and, at times, tragic history of Naples.Trade ReviewRemarkable ... [an] atmospheric and erudite portrait of a fascinating city * Sunday Times *Finely crafted ... offers is a vivid sense of the infinite layers in a city older than Rome that was once the biggest in Western Europe * The Economist *Never fails to take one's breath away * Financial Times *Robb joyfully flouts the staid chronology of the conventional historian ... I have rarely read a more vivid account of the city's often menacing claims on a visitor * Times Literary Supplement *
£15.29
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Gardens of Mars: Madagascar, an Island Story
Book SynopsisA journey – both historical and contemporary – among the fantastical landscapes, resourceful inhabitants and isolated tribes of the world's fourth-largest island of enduring fascination for its rich biodiversity: Madagascar. 'A beautifully written depiction of the history of this beguiling island' Literary Review 'Courageous, exploratory, humane and with a wry sense of humour' Spectator 'A feat of journalism, observation and determination' Dr Alyson Hitch 'Wonderfully witty and wry' Benedict Allen We think we know Madagascar but it's too big, too eccentric, and too impenetrable to be truly understood. As well as visiting every corner of the island, John Gimlette journeys deep into Madagascar's past. Along the way, he meets politicians, sorcerers, gem prospectors, militiamen, rioters, lepers and the descendants of seventeenth-century pirates. Insightful and wryly humorous, here's an encounter with the people, landscapes, politics and history of one of the most remarkable places on Earth.Trade ReviewFew writers have delved into [Madagascar's] history and none as thoroughly and mercilessly as Gimlette... His descriptions of the everyday sights of Madagascar are wonderful... Enjoy the book as an evocation of this extraordinary island, in all its complexity and all its contradictions' * Literary Review *A beautifully written depiction of the people and history of this beguiling and perplexing island -- Edward PaiceCourageous, exploratory, humane and with a wry sense of humour * Spectator *Destined to scoop whatever travel book awards are still in existence these days * The Bay (Swansea) *The best English-language travel writer out there * Travel Mag *A fabulous new book * Timeless Travels *John Gimlette's latest thoughtful study sees him explore the relatively recent human history of the world's fourth largest island * Wanderlust *This is classic Gimlette – an utter delight. Here is the tale of an enchanted island, one enlivened by its spirited inhabitants and mysterious past. But what makes the book so readable is the author's unfailing eye for the quirky and unexpected. It's a wonderfully witty and wry book, the author's wanderings through Madagascar lit all along the way by his telling eye for detail and accustomed panache -- Benedict AllenIn this chronicle of the fascinating strangeness of Madagascar [...] incredulity, horror and amusement coalesce in Gimlette's customarily talented narration of the weird * Irish Times *Gimlette's 'walk-through history' is a tour de force, taking in slavery, Welsh missionaries, ancestor worship, French conquest, and forts whose ramparts are rendered in millions of egg whites * Telegraph *[Gimlette] takes us to the beautiful but extremely weird tropical island where everything – especially its history and fauna – is larger than life -- Andrew Roberts, Engelsberg Ideas
£10.44
Austin Macauley Publishers Crowning Glory
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£22.09
British Library Publishing A Silk Road Oasis
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£11.69
Verso Books How Race Survived US History: From Settlement and
Book SynopsisIn this absorbing chronicle of the role of race in US history, David R. Roediger explores how the idea of race was created and recreated from the 1600s to the present day. From the late seventeenth century-the era in which Du Bois located the emergence of "whiteness"-through the American revolution and the emancipatory Civil War, to the civil rights movement and the emergence of the American empire, How Race Survived US History reveals how race did far more than persist as an exception in a progressive national history. Roediger examines how race intersected all that was dynamic and progressive in US history, from democracy and economic development to migration and globalisation.Trade ReviewA pithy little book ... Remind[s] us that whiteness was built over centuries on a foundation of deceit and confusion and disguised political imperatives. -- Kelefa Sanneh * The New Yorker *Starred Review. This rousing, thought-provoking history illuminates the enveloping 400-year-old history of race in America, and the issues [Roediger] raises are as relevant as ever. * Publishers Weekly *Scholars and activists will be able to rely upon this book for much needed historical perspective. Based heavily on an acute reading and insightful interpretation of a vast array of the secondary literature, this book is a worthy addition to Roediger's formidable oeuvre. * Journal of African American History *How Race Survived US History synthesizes a vast secondary literature ... into a simple yet elegant analysis. -- Kornel Chang * Journal of American History *An extremely timely argument about the enduring significance of 'race' in American society, as well as a sophisticated polemic against the complacent assumption that the Obama phenomenon spells the end of American racism. -- Richard Seymour
£18.99
Halsgrove ROSAMUNDE PILCHERS CORNWALL
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Faber & Faber Battling the Gods
Book SynopsisHow new is atheism?Long before the Enlightenment sowed seeds of disbelief in a deeply Christian Europe, atheism was a matter of serious public debate in the Greek world. But history is written by those who prevail, so the lively free-thinking voices of antiquity were mostly suppressed. Tim Whitmarsh brings to life the origins of the secular values at the heart of the modern state, and reveals how atheism and doubt, far from being modern phenomena, have intrigued the human imagination for thousands of years.
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Chronicles of the Crusades Penguin Classics
Book SynopsisTwo famous, firsthand accounts of the holy war in the Middle Ages translated by Caroline Smith Originally composed in Old French, the two chronicles brought together here offer some of the most vivid and reliable accounts of the Crusades from a Western perspective. Villehardouin's Conquest of Constantinople, distinguished by its simplicity and lucidity, recounts the controversial Fourth Crusade, which descended into an all-out attack on the E astern Christians of Byzantium. In Life of Saint Louis, Joinville draws on his close attachment to King Louis IX of France to recall his campaigning in the Holy Land. Together these narratives comprise a fascinating window on events that, for all their remoteness, offer startling similarities to our own age.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the bes
£11.69
Books of Africa Ltd Uncovering the African Past The Ivan Van Sertima
Book SynopsisThis is the third in a trilogy by the well-known African-American scholar, Runoko Rashidi. In the first two volumes which have sold well, Black Star: The African Presence in Early Europe, and African Star over Asia: The African Presence in the East he interpreted the work of earlier scholars and provided new evidence of the important historical
£22.79
Scribe Publications Nature Culture and Inequality
Book SynopsisA Guardian book to look out for in 2024An insightful exploration of the nature of inequality by the internationally bestselling author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century. In his newest work, Thomas Piketty explores how social inequality manifests itself very differently depending on the society and epoch in which it arises. History and culture play a central role, inequality being strongly linked to various socio-economic, political, civilisational, and religious developments. So it is culture in the broadest sense that makes it possible to explain the diversity, extent, and structure of the social inequality that we observe every day. Piketty briefly and concisely presents a lively synthesis of his work, taking up such diverse topics as education, inheritance, taxes, and the climate crisis, and provides exciting food for thought for a highly topical debate: Does natural inequality exist?
£12.16
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Timber-framed Buildings
Book SynopsisTimber-framed buildings are a distinctive and treasured part of Britain’s heritage, with such noteworthy examples as Little Moreton Hall, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and Lavenham Guildhall. The oldest are medieval but their numbers peaked in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with a revival in the nineteenth. The majority of timber-framed buildings are houses, but wood was used in all kinds of other buildings, including shops, inns, churches, town halls and farm buildings. In this beautifully illustrated book, Richard Hayman outlines the history of timber-framed designs, and considers the techniques used in their construction, the regional variations in style that can be found, and how these buildings displayed social status. He also guides the reader in identifying structures now concealed behind later work and explores how these buildings have been treated in subsequent centuries.Table of ContentsIntroduction Timber and Wood Construction Methods Houses Other Building Types Restoration and Revival Further Reading Places to Visit Index
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz A Powerful True Story
Book SynopsisWe felt an urge to document what we had witnessed. If we who had experienced it, I reasoned, did not reveal the bitter truth, people simply would not believe the extent of the Nazis' evil. I wanted to share our life, the events and our struggle to survive.'Thomas Geve was just 15 years old when he was liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp on 11 April 1945. It was the third concentration camp he had survived. Upon arrival at Auschwitz- Birkenau, Thomas was separated from his mother and left to fend for himself in the men's camp of Auschwitz I, at the age of 13. During the 22 months he was imprisoned, he was subjected to, and forced to observe first-hand, the inhumane world of Nazi concentration camps.On his eventual release Thomas felt compelled to capture daily life in the death camps in more than eighty profoundly moving drawings. Infamous scenarios synonymous with this dark period of history were portrayed in poignant but simplistic detail with extraordinary accuracy.Despite tTrade Review‘A stunning and profoundly moving book.’James Holland, historian and bestselling author of Normandy ’ 44 ‘His [Thomas’s] powerful voice and the drawings that illuminate his experiences show what can be learned from tragedy, and how the future can be better than the past.’Esther Gilbert, Holocaust historian and Trustee of the Sir Martin Gilbert Learning Centre
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers The Closet
Book SynopsisThroughout his life, clothes have provided an outlet through which journalist Teo van den Broeke understands both himself and the world around him.From the blue princess dress he coveted as a child, that first led him to question whether he was normal', through to the Nike cap and Gucci loafers he wore to impress the men he first desired, fabric has long enveloped and shaped his formative moments.Using the wardrobe of his past as a lens through which to explore the myriad trials and tribulations of adolescence, The Closet charts Teo's growth from uncertainty to self-acceptance. Courageously recounting his sexual awakening, the all too familiar hesitancy around his adult future and his many, often tumultuous, relationships with family and friends Teo learns that it is only in celebrating our differences that we can learn to fully embrace the brilliance within ourselves.
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers English Journey The finest book ever written
Book SynopsisThe finest book ever written about England and the English' Stuart MaconieJ. B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th Century and it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius.' Dame Judi DenchThree years before George Orwell made his expedition to the far and frozen North in The Road to Wigan Pier, celebrated writer and broadcaster JB Priestley cast his net wider, in a book subtitled a Rambling but Truthful Account of What One Man Saw and Heard and Felt and Thought During a Journey Through England During the Autumn of the Year 1933.' Appearing first in 1934, it was a huge and immediate success. Today, it still stands as a timeless classic: warm-hearted, intensely patriotic and profound.An account of his journey through England from Southampton to the Black Country, to the North East and Newcastle, to Norwich and home English Journey is funny and tender. But it is also a forensic reading of a changing England and a call to arms as passionate as anything in Trade Review'A vastly talented and exceptionally versatile and wise writer.' Iris Murdoch 'Priestley was volcanic, fertile … and never dull.' Anthony Burgess ‘Priestley never wrote better than in these pages. They remain required reading for all of us.’ Dame Margaret Drabble ‘A marvellous writer.’ David Hockney ‘English Journey is one of the great travelogues of English literature. A work of bracing televisual intensity.’ Graham Robb, author of The Debatable Land ‘We all know his plays, now is the time to be re-introduced to his novels.’ Timothy West ‘He belongs in a great English realist tradition that includes Bennett and Galsworthy.’ Michael Billington ‘An important book that has a literary importance and social value that far exceeds the time it was written.’ Dame Beryl Bainbridge ‘Written in the elegant, simple language which was an essential part of Priestley’s brilliance. It is, in consequence, a masterpiece.’ Roy Hattersley
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Windrush 75 Years of Modern Britain
Book SynopsisThe oral history of Britain's first West Indian immigrants and their descendantsIn 1948 the former troop ship Windrush made the 30-day journey across the Atlantic from Jamaica. The arrival of its 500 passengers, the first generation of Caribbean migrants in the UK, was the initial step in the formation of a new identity: the black Briton.Fifty years later, Mike and Trevor Phillips spoke to those on the Windrush itself, as well as those who followed, to tell the story of Britain in the second half of the twentieth century through the eyes of the outsiders who became insiders.Now updated to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the ship's voyage and including reflections on its political and cultural legacy in 2023, Windrush is an essential record of this transformative era in British social history.
£11.69
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Population Control
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Wide-ranging. ... Will undoubtedly put the fear of God into [readers]." -- Kirkus "Phenomenal. ... Marrs is one of the last remaining true investigative journalists in America today." -- Natural News
£11.69
Ebury Publishing The Light In The Window
Book SynopsisJune Goulding worked as a midwife in a 'home' for unmarried mothers in 1951. She is the mother of seven children and lives in Cork. The Light in the Window is her first book.Trade Review"'I promised that I would one day write a book and tell the world about the home for unmarried mothers. I have at last kept my promise.'"
£13.49
Cornerstone Keeper Of Genesis
Book SynopsisAdrian Gilbert is the author and independent publishing consultant. In 1991 he set up Solos Press, a small publishers specialising in Christian Mysticism, Gnosticism and the Hermetic tradition of Egypt. He has been researching Ancient Egypt for over twenty years and regards the discoveries contained in The Orion Mystery as crucial to our understanding of the pyramid age.Robert Bauval was born in Egypt in 1948. A construction engineer, his interest in Egyptology is long standing, having lived in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East for much of his life. In the 1980s he developed a line of study linking the pyramids and the so-called Pyramid Texts with astronomy. He has published several papers on this subject and his findings have been presented at the British Museum. His is the co-author of three international bestsellers: The Orion Mystery and Keeper of Genesis and more recently The Secret Chamber.Trade ReviewThe book reads like a detective story, with the reader enthusiastically trying to outguess the writers * Literary Review *Keeper of Genesis is an exciting book, highly topical and deservedly a best-seller * Spectator *The trick is to keep reading. Start the book in the early evening and continue uninterrupted until you complete it in the small hours. The effect is wonderful... Your entire world view has been shifted a hundred yards to the right. You fall asleep thinking that nothing will ever be the same again * Sunday Telegraph *
£999.99
Cornerstone The Victorians
Book SynopsisPeople, not abstract ideas, make history, and nowhere is this more revealed than in A. N. Wilson''s superb portrait of the Victorians, in which hundreds of different lives have been pieced together to tell a story - one which is still unfinished in our own day. The ''global village'' is a Victorian village and many of the ideas we take for granted, for good or ill, originated with these extraordinary, self-confident people. What really animated their spirit, and how did they remake the world in their view? In an entertaining and often dramatic narrative, A. N. Wilson shows us remarkable people in the very act of creating the Victorian age.Trade ReviewThe best single-volume work on the Victorian age yet written -- Andrew Roberts * Evening Standard *Huge, entertaining volume of popular history * Sunday Times *A wonderful book * Sunday Telegraph *A masterpiece of popular history -- Frank McLynn * Independent *Wilson is incapable of writing a dull sentence... This is the history of a vanished world brought to vibrant life -- Beryl Bainbridge * Observer *
£13.49
Cornerstone The Origins of the Final Solution The Evolution
Book SynopsisThe Origins of the Final Solution is the most detailed, careful, and comprehensive analysis to date of the descent of the Nazi persecution of the Jews into mass murder: the Holocaust. Arguing that genocide was not a preconceived plan but rather a discovered possibility, Christopher Browning explains how Hitler''s decision to murder the Jews en masse emerged in stages and by a process of elimination that gradually foreclosed plans for their expulsion from Europe. Only in the interval between late September and late October 1941 did the desire to remove the Jews intersect with the discovery of acceptable means of killing them on a large scale and with the euphoria of expected victory in Russia, all of which followed on from two years of ''race war'' and ''racial imperialism'' in eastern Europe that prepared ''ordinary Germans'' for this fateful task.Trade ReviewSensitive and nuanced, this is a fine piece of synthesis and analysis * Sunday Times *Superb . . . [Browning] has created an eloquent, painstaking narrative of how the Final Solution evolved -- Joshua Rubenstein * Wall Street Journal *This is a book of exceptional quality - The work of a historian at the peak of his powers, a magisterial study, a profound analysis of how the darkest chapter in human history could come about -- Ian Kershaw, bestselling author of HitlerThis magisterial work... An unrivaled account of how the Nazi leadership ended up with a policy of industrialized mass murder of Jews - Probably no one is better qualified for this task than Christopher Browning. * Mark Mazower, New York Times *Browning is persuasive because he marshals his evidence with unrivalled skill and writes with awesome clarity. * Literary Review *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing The Big Oyster
Book SynopsisMark Kurlansky is the author of Cod: a Biography of the Fish that Changed the World (winner of the Glenfiddich Award for the Best Food Book in 1997), The Basque History of the World, Salt: A World History and Choice Cuts: A Miscellany of Food Writing. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.Trade ReviewKurlansky's great ability is to chose a single element as a prism through which to view the development or degeneration of culture; in this book he takes his readers from the 16th century to the present day, encompassing biology, commerce, the politics of race, history, literature, and, of course, gourmandise -- Erica Wagner * The Times *A diligent researcher and a terrific storyteller...quirky, engrossing narrative -- Jackie McGlone * Herald *A unique perspective -- Killian Fox * Observer *Fascinating... Kurlansky's portrait of that vanished age is absolutely engrossing -- Philip Hoare * Sunday Telegraph *Packed with interest * Independent *
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Vintage Publishing Voodoo Histories
Book Synopsis**AS FEATURED ON HOAXED PODCAST**This definitive book delves into why so many people are ready to believe in conspiracy theories, and the damage it can cause.Voodoo Histories entertainingly demolishes the absurd and sinister conspiracy theories of the last 100 years, such as:Did Neil Armstrong really set foot on the moon?Was the United States government responsible for the 11 September attacks?Should we doubt the accidental nature of Princess Diana''s death?David Aaronovitch reveals not only why people are so ready to believe in these stories but also the dangers of this credulity.''This book leaves us in no doubt that arriving at the truth is a vital matter - at times a matter of life and death'' Financial Times.Trade ReviewA handbook to be cherished by anyone who would rather have the unvarnished truth * Daily Mail *Superbly researched, wittily written and eminently sane -- Andrew Roberts * Literary Review *Gloriously readable * Independent *Dazzling debunkery * Scotland on Sunday *This book leaves us in no doubt that arriving at the truth is a vital matter - at times a matter of life and death -- John Lloyd * Financial Times *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing The Orientalist
Book SynopsisBorn in 1964, Tom Reiss is an American author and journalist who lives in New York. He is the author of The Orientalist, an acclaimed biography of Lev Nussimbaum (aka Kurban Said) which was shortlisted for the 2006 Samuel Johnson Prize; and The Black Count, a book about the real Count of Monte Christo.Trade ReviewWonderfully compelling... Deeply moving * Sunday Times *A wonderous tale, beautifully told...mesmerising, poignant and almost incredible * New York Times *Meticulous and fascinating... Inspiring reading * Spectator *Extraordinary on many counts... It has taken the tireless detective work of Tom Reiss to uncover the real Lev Nussimbaum * Sunday Times *A highly entertaining biography of a very unusual person * Literary Review *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing Comanches
Book SynopsisT. R. Fehrenbach was born in San Benito, Texas, in 1925 and graduated from Princeton University in 1947. He has been a contributor to many publications, including Esquire, The Atlantic, The Saturday Evening Post, and The New Republic. He is the author of the best-selling Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans and Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico, among other works. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife, Lillian.Trade ReviewFor a complete history of the Comanches, this book probably has no equal -- Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded KneeFehrenbach is a highly interpretive and original writer, whose work rests on solid scholarship. His book ranges grandly across the disciplines from folklore to anthropology to history * Southwestern Historical Quarterly *Marvellous * New York Times *A compelling account...Vivid, poignant and authoritative * The Herald *This is a very good book. Like virtually all good books about the American Indian, it tells a tragic story, but unlike many of them, it tells it well. The author has mastered an extensive and complex subject: he is flexible, well-organized, and sensitive -- Larry McMurtry
£13.49
Cornerstone The Founding Gardeners
Book SynopsisAndrea Wulf trained as a design historian at the Royal College of Art and is the co-author (with Emma Gieben-Gamal) of This Other Eden and The Brother Gardeners, which was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Award. She has written and reviewed for The Sunday Times, the Financial Times, The Garden, The Architects' Journal and the TLS.Trade ReviewEXCELLENT... Wulf writes enthrallingly. Wonderfully illuminating and readable * Daily Telegraph *ENGROSSING... excellent ... fascinating... a timely and passionate book * Guardian *SUPERB...this book will fascinate anyone interested in gardening, agriculture or American history. * Mail on Sunday *WONDERFULLY ENGAGING... Her knack for description is marvelous * Times Literary Supplement *A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT... Excellent [and] riveting * Country Life *
£10.44
Cornerstone Inside the Kingdom
Book SynopsisSaudi Arabia is a country defined by paradox: it sits atop some of the richest oil deposits in the world, and yet the country''s roiling disaffection produced sixteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers. It is a modern state, driven by contemporary technology, and yet its powerful religious establishment would have its customs and practices rolled back to match those of the Prophet Muhammed over a thousand years ago. In a world where events in the Middle East continue to have geopolitical consequences far beyond the region''s boundaries, an understanding of this complex nation is essential.With Inside the Kingdom, British journalist and bestselling author Robert Lacey has given us one of the most penetrating and insightful looks at Saudi Arabia ever produced. More than twenty years after he first moved to the country to write about the Saudis at the end of the oil boom, Lacey has returned to find out how the consequences of the boom produced a society at war with itself. Filled with stories told by a broad range of Saudis, from high princes and ambassadors to men and women on the street, Inside the Kingdom is in many ways the story of the Saudis in their own words.Trade ReviewBeautifully written and thought-provoking ... Robert Lacey has written a highly accomplished book which should go into the bags of anyone who has to travel to the kingdom * Literary Review *Compelling ... [I] know of no book that captures so convincingly the intimate connection between the kingdom and the rise of al-Qaeda and its jihadist ideology...What distinguishes Mr Lacey's account is his use of Saudi voices - many of them, even in this most reticent of cultures, on the record - to anatomise a deeply rooted culture of intolerance * Economist *Incisive ... The real triumph of this book ... is the way it peels away the layers of mystery that shroud a civil society of which we have almost no knowledge * Sunday Times *
£10.79
Vintage Publishing The Devonshires
Book SynopsisWilliam Cavendish, the father of the first Earl, dissolved monasteries for Henry VIII. Bess, his second wife, was gaoler-companion to Mary Queen of Scots during her long imprisonment in England. Arbella Stuart, their granddaughter, was a heartbeat away from the throne of England and their grandson, the Lord General of the North, fought to save the crown for Charles I.With the help of previously unpublished material from the Chatsworth archives, The Devonshires reveals how the dynasty made and lost fortunes, fought and fornicated, built great houses, patronised the arts and pioneered the railways, made great scientific discoveries, and, in the end, came to terms with changing times.Trade ReviewA vivid read, crowded with characters and colour -- Lucy Lethbridge * Observer *Jostling with the eccentric and engaging characters from a grand family, Hattersley deftly tells a jaunty story about Britishness through the ages -- Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *A seriously comfortable armchair, a magnificent old duffer of a book that deftly knits together a national story into the fabric of a family drama. It does this with all the warmth and affection for history that mark out a former statesman and a first-class storyteller -- Ian Kelly * The Times *A balanced look at a traditional tale of aristocratic power and prestige -- Hallie Rubenhold * BBC History Magazine *This jaunty magnificent book tells the history of Britain just as much as it does of one family * Daily Express *
£15.29
Cornerstone High Minds
Book SynopsisSimon Heffer''s new book forms an ambitious exploration of the making of the Victorian age and the Victorian mind.Britain in the 1840s was a country wracked by poverty, unrest and uncertainty, where there were attempts to assassinate the Queen and her prime minister, and the ruling class lived in fear of riot and revolution. By the 1880s it was a confident nation of progress and prosperity, transformed not just by industrialisation but by new attitudes to politics, education, women and the working class. That it should have changed so radically was very largely the work of an astonishingly dynamic and high-minded group of people politicians and philanthropists, writers and thinkers who in a matter of decades fundamentally remade the country, its institutions and its mindset, and laid the foundations for modern society. It traces the evolution of British democracy and shows how early laissez-faire attitudes to the lot of the less fortunate turned into campaigns to improve their lives and prospects. It analyses the birth of new attitudes to education, religion and science. And it shows how even such aesthetic issues as taste in architecture were swept in to broader debates about the direction that the country should take. In the process, Simon Heffer looks at the lives and deeds of major politicians, from the devout and principled Gladstone to the unscrupulous Disraeli; at the intellectual arguments that raged among writers and thinkers such as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, and Samuel Butler; and at the ''great projects'' of the age, from the Great Exhibition to the Albert Memorial. Drawing heavily on previously unpublished documents, he offers a superbly nuanced insight into life in an extraordinary era, populated by extraordinary people and how our forebears' pursuit of perfection gave birth to modern Britain.Trade ReviewHeffer has written a stunning overview of the great and the good – and the not-so-good – of Victorian society and of the changes which a largely benevolent capitalism brought about. * Sarah Bradford, The Literary Review *High Minds is worthy to the task: serious, scholarly, grand and determined...an excellent guide to the aesthetics of the age. * Tristram Hunt, New Statesman *[I]t is really a whole bookshelf of books. If you want a succinct volume on the Clarendon Commission and the debates on education, there is a not-so-slim volume embedded here. There is another on the desperate case of the formidable Caroline Norton and the battle to give women rights...another on the great philanthropists; another on crime and punishment; another (wonderfully detailed and compelling) on the Great Exhibition and the foundation of Albertopolis; another on the sewers; a terrific essay on the struggle between Gothic and Italianate architecture; and of course plenty of politics...This is a great sweeping, confident book, demonstrating the self-same energy and passion as do the Victorian heroes Heffer celebrates. It is a magnificent achievement. * William Waldegrave, The Times *[A] stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable book...[Heffer] is sometimes tendentious but never unreasonable, writes notably well and provides an admirable introduction to a period of history which many of us will think that we know quite well but have never considered from this point of view before. * Philip Ziegler, The Spectator *High Minds is partly social history, partly a history of ideas. It is the personalities involved that contribute such liveliness to this assured and magisterial narrative. * Matthew Dennison, The Sunday Telegraph *
£17.00
Vintage Publishing The Flame Trees Of Thika
Book SynopsisWhen Elspeth Huxley's pioneer father buys a remote plot of land in Kenya, the family sets off to discover their new home: five hundred acres of Kenyan scrubland, infested with ticks and white ants, and quavering with heat. What they lack in know-how they make up for in determination: building a grass house, employing local Kikuyu tribe members and painstakingly transforming their patch of wilderness into a working farm. Huxley's unforgettable childhood memoir is a sensitive account of settler life at the turn of the twentieth century and a love song to the harshness and beauty of East Africa.Trade ReviewAn enchantment and a joy to read * Books and Bookmen *She knows East Africa and she loves it - the people, black and white, and the wild beauty of its countryside - with a critical and understanding sympathy * The Times *An accomplished story-teller, she weaves anecdotes, character sketches, political history together without losing her thread or the reader's momentum * Sunday Times *What a marvellous writer...and what a Kenya it was * Financial Times *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing In America
Book SynopsisIn 1960 John Steinbeck and his dog Charley set out in their green pickup truck to rediscover the soul of America, visiting small towns and cities from New York to New Orleans.The trip became Travels With Charley, one of his best-loved books.Half a century on, Geert Mak sets off from Steinbeck’s home.Trade ReviewWhere Steinbeck generally avoided the hubbub of big cities, Mak balances descriptions of the rural plains and towns that symbolize the country's early origins with fascinating sections on urban growth and decay... An ambitious and enjoyable take on America's story * Times Literary Supplement *Rambling, thoughtful, often funny... Wonderful * Guardian *[A] smart, deep-rooted state of the nation report from Main Street, USA * The Times *Perfect for armchair travellers * Choice Magazine *The lyrical story of two journeys interwoven with a broad history and witty observations about the changes of place and people over the past 50 years -- Julia Richardson * Daily Mail *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing Hungry City
Book Synopsis*According to the Trussell Trust, food bank use between April and Sept 2018 was up 13% on the same period in 2017.* *Every year in the UK 18 million tonnes of food end up in landfill.*Why is this the case and what can we do about it?The relationship between food and cities is fundamental to our everyday lives. Food shapes cities and through them it moulds us - along with the countryside that feeds us. Yet few of us are conscious of the process and we rarely stop to wonder how food reaches our plates.Hungry City examines the way in which modern food production has damaged the balance of human existence, and reveals that we have yet to resolve a centuries-old dilemma - one which holds the key to a host of current problems, from obesity and the inexorable rise of the supermarkets, to the destruction of the natural world.Original, inspiring and written with infectious enthusiasm and belief, Hungry City illuminates an issue that is fundamental to us all.Trade ReviewExuberant, provocative... her desire that we understand better and think more about our food, how much we waste, how much energy it consumes and how we dispose of it... It is - in the real sense of the word - vital -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *Hungry City is a sinister real-life sequel to Animal Farm with the plot turned upside down by time in ways even George Orwell could not have foreseen * Observer *Lively, wide-ranging, endlessly inquisitive... Hungry City is a smorgasbord of a book: dip into it and you will emerge with something fascinating * Independent *Absolutely crammed with eye-opening facts and figures, a hugely readable account of the part we individually play in a global problem. Highly Recommended * Publishing News *She can précis her specialist sources briskly, and her own direct research (e.g. a mega kitchen for cooking ready meals) is lively -- Vera Rule * Guardian *
£13.49
Vintage Publishing The Time Travellers Guide to Restoration Britain
Book SynopsisThe past is a foreign country: this is your guidebook.If you could travel back in time, the period from 1660 to 1700 would make one of the most exciting destinations in history. It is the age of Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London; bawdy comedy and the libertine court of Charles II; Christopher Wren in architecture, Henry Purcell in music and Isaac Newton in science - the civil wars are over and a magnificent new era has begun.But what would it really be like to live in Restoration Britain? Where would you stay and what would you eat? What would you wear and where would you do your shopping? The third volume in the series of Ian Mortimer''s bestselling Time Traveller''s Guides answers the crucial questions that a prospective traveller to seventeenth-century Britain would ask.People''s lives are changing rapidly - from a world of superstition and religious explanation to rationalism and scientific calculation. In many respects the period sees the Trade ReviewIan Mortimer is among the best: a conjuror who is always bright, engaging and well-informed… Any tour of late 17th-century Britain is guaranteed to be exhilarating. And with Mortimer in charge, one always travels first class * Mail on Sunday *Ian Mortimer is a historical truffle hound… The Time Traveller’s Guide to Restoration Britain is just such fun to read… Mortimer writes with real freshness and enthusiasm,... His book is a delightful read. * Sunday Times *This entertaining tourist guide brings the late 17th century alive…The latest Time Traveller’s Guide will entertain and inform anyone with an interest in this extraordinary period * The Times *Thoroughly entertaining… It is crammed with insights, facts and enjoyable anecdotes, which create a sense of the experience of living in Britain between 1660 and 1700… This is a compelling book and one of considerable erudition… This is the book that will provide the most richly colourful account of Britain in this period * History Today *Everything you wanted to know about these fair isles between 1660 and 1700... Exciting times. * Sunday Express *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Highland Clearances
Book SynopsisIn the terrible aftermath of the moorland battle of Culloden, the Highlanders suffered at the hands of their own clan chiefs. Following his magnificent reconstruction of Culloden, John Prebble recounts how the Highlanders were deserted and then betrayed into famine and poverty. While their chiefs grew rich on meat and wool, the people died of cholera and starvation or, evicted from the glens to make way for sheep, were forced to emigrate to foreign lands. Mr Prebble tells a terrible story excellently. There is little need to search further to explain so much of the sadness and emptiness of the northern Highlands today' The Times.
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The History of England
Book SynopsisOne of the greatest figures of his age, Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-59) was widely admired throughout his life for his prose, poetry, political acumen and oratorical skills. Among the most successful and enthralling histories ever written, his History of England won instantaneous success following the publication of its first volumes in 1849, and was rapidly translated into most European languages. Beginning with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and concluding at the end of the reign of William III in 1702, it illuminates a time of deep struggle throughout Britain and Ireland in vivid and compelling prose. But while Macaulay offers a gripping narrative, and draws on a wide range of sources including historical accounts and creative literature, his enduring success also owes a great deal to his astonishing ability to grasp, and explain, the political reality that has always underpinned social change.
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Pragmatism and Other Writings
Book SynopsisThe writings of William James represent one of America''s most original contributions to the history of ideas. Ranging from philosophy and psychology to religion and politics, James composed the most engaging formulation of American pragmatism. ''Pragmatism'' grew out of a set of lectures and the full text is included here along with ''The Meaning of Truth'', ''Psychology'', ''The Will to Believe'', and ''Talks to Teachers on Psychology''.Table of ContentsIntroduction by Giles GunnSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextsPragmatism (1907)PrefaceLecture I: The Present Dilemma in PhilosophyLecture II: What Pragmatism MeansLecture III: Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically ConsideredLecture IV: The One and the ManyLecture V: Pragmatism and Common SenseLecture VI: Pragmatism's Conception of TruthLecture VII: Pragmatism and HumanismLecture VIII: Pragmatism and ReligionFrom The Meaning of Truth (1909)PrefaceThe Tigers in IndiaHumanism and TruthFrom Psychology: Briefer Course (1892)The Stream of ConsciousnessFrom The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)PrefaceThe Will to BelieveIs Life Worth Living?The Moral Philosopher and the Moral LifeFrom Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals (1899)II. On a Certain Blindness in Human BeingsIII. What Makes a Life SignificantMiscellaneous EssaysAddress at the Centenary of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1903)A World of Pure Experience (1904)Is Radical Empiricism Solipsistic? (1905)Notes
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Journey Through Wales and the Description of
Book SynopsisScholar, churchman, diplomat and theologian, Gerald of Wales was one of the most fascinating figures of the Middle Ages and The Journey Through Wales describes his eventful tour of the country as a missionary in 1188. In a style reminiscent of a diary, Gerald records the day-to-day events of the mission, alongside lively accounts of local miracles, folklore and religious relics such as Saint Patrick''s Horn, and eloquent descriptions of natural scenery that includes the rugged promontory of St David''s and the vast snow-covered panoramas of Snowdonia. The landscape is evoked in further detail in The Description, which chronicles the everyday lives of the Welsh people with skill and affection. Witty and gently humorous throughout, these works provide a unique view into the medieval world.Table of ContentsTranslated by Lewis ThorpeIntroduction:I. The Life of Gerald of WalesGeneaological table: the family of Gerald of WalesII. The Journey Through Wales1. The purpose of the journey and its achievements2. Gerald's role3. The route followed4. The three versions5. "...cum notabilibus suis"6. The editions7. The earlier translation8. This translationIII. The Description of Wales1. The shape and subject-matter2. The three versions3. The changes made in the second and third versions4. The editions5. The earlier translation6. This translationIV. Gerald the HistorianV. Gerald the ArtistVI. Short BibliographyVII. AcknowledgmentsVIII. List of Gerald's Extant WritingsMaps:1. Gerald's Journey Through Wales2. Wales in 1188THE JOURNEY THROUGH WALESFirst PrefaceSecond PrefaceList of Chapter-Headings: Book I; Book IITHE DESCRIPTION OF WALESFirst PrefaceSecond PrefaceList of Chapter-Headings: Book I; Book IIAppendix I: The additions made in Versions II and III of The Journey Through WalesAppendix II: The additions made in Versions II and III of The Description of WalesAppendix III: Gerald of Wales and King ArthurIndex
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Book of Contemplation Islam and the Crusades
Book SynopsisThe volume comprises lightly annotated translation of a key medieval Arabic text that bears directly on the Crusades and Crusader society and the Muslim experience of them.
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Lion of Jordan
Book SynopsisAvi Shlaim was born in Baghdad in 1945; grew up in Israel; and received his university education at Cambridge and the LSE. He is a Fellow of St. Antony's College, a member of the British Academy and a Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford. Previous books include Collusion Across the Jordan: King Abdullah, The Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (Winner of the Political Studies Association's WJM Mackenzie Prize, 1988), War and Peace in the Middle East: A Concise History (1995) and The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2000).
£17.09
Penguin Books Ltd Homo Britannicus
Book SynopsisChris Stringer''s Homo Britannicus is the epic history of life in Britain, from man''s very first footsteps through to the present day. When did the first people arrive here? What did they look like? How did they survive? Who were the Neanderthals? Chris Stringer takes us back to when it was so tropical we lived here alongside hippos, elephants and sabre-toothed tigers or to times so cold we hunted reindeer and mammoth, and to others even colder when we were forced to flee a wall of ice. Here is the incredible truth about our ancestors'' journey over millennia - and a glimpse of the future to see how it might continue. ''A beautiful book on a fascinating subject, written by a world authority'' Richard Dawkins ''Superlative ... Pure stimulation from beginning to end'' Bill Bryson ''Every chapter contains something new, and throws up a fresh location that deserves to become famous'' 
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The English Year
Book SynopsisTakes readers month-by-month, day-by-day, through the festivities of English life. This book explains how the festivities originated, what they mean and when they occur.
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd The Classical World
Book SynopsisRobin Lane Fox''s The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome is a comprehensive and enthralling introduction to Ancient civilization. The classical civilizations of Greece and Rome dominated the world for centuries and continue to intrigue and enlighten us with their inventions, whether philosophy, politics, theatre, athletics, celebrity, science or the pleasures of horse racing. Robin Lane Fox''s spellbinding history, spans almost a thousand years of change from the foundation of the world''s first democracy in Athens to the Roman Republic and the Empire under Hadrian. Bringing great figures such as Homer, Socrates, Cicero, Alexander, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Augustus and the first Christian martyrs to life, exploring freedom, justice and luxury, this wonderfully exciting tour brings the turbulent histories of Greece and Rome together in a masterly study. ''Epic in the true sense'' The Times BTrade ReviewThe Classical World is a more epic epic than any toga-clad celluloid epic to date... Mr Lane Fox's brilliant book, where soldiers, poets and orators fight for attention in a story that is never cluttered and always stimulating. * The Economist *witty, ferociously learned, enormously well read * Mary Beard, The Independent *an ambitious and exhilarating volume...The Classical World is so replete with insight and anecdote that I would love to see it in every school library. * Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday *we are in the hands of an author who knows that an epic can only be driven by big characters such as Pericles, Demosthenes, Philip, Cicero, Pompey, Caesar and Cleopatra...Here lies the author's mastery, matching a lifelong familiarity with his subject to the basic needs of a newly arrived apprentice * Nigel Spivey, FT *witty, ferociously learned, enormously well read * Mary Beard, The Independent *
£17.09
Penguin Books Ltd Witcraft
Book Synopsis''Astonishing ... enjoy its riches slowly, and savour every generous, erudite and undogmatic page'' Boyd Tonkin, Financial Times''We English men have wits,'' wrote the clergyman Ralph Lever in 1573, and, ''we have also framed unto ourselves a language.''Witcraft is a fresh and brilliant history of how philosophy became established in English. It presents a new form of philosophical storytelling and challenges what Jonathan Rée calls the ''condescending smugness'' of traditional histories of philosophy. Rée tells the story of philosophy as it was lived and practised, embedded in its time and place, by men and women from many walks of life, engaged with the debates and culture of their age. And, by focusing on the rich history of works in English, including translations, he shows them to be quite as colourful, diverse, inventive and cosmopolitan as their continental counterparts.Witcraft offers new and compelling intellectual portraits not only of celebrated British and American philosophers, such as Hume, Emerson, Mill and James, but also of the remarkable philosophical work of literary authors, such as William Hazlitt and George Eliot, as well as a carnival of overlooked characters - priests and poets, teachers, servants and crofters, thinking for themselves and reaching their own conclusions about religion, politics, art and everything else.The book adopts a novel structure, examining its subject at fifty-year intervals from the sixteenth century to the twentieth. Researched over decades and illuminated by quotations from extensive archival material, it is a book full of stories and personalities as well as ideas, and shows philosophy springing from the life around it. Witcraft overturns the established orthodoxies of the history of philosophy, and celebrates the diversity, vitality and inventiveness of philosophical thought.Trade ReviewRée spans a vast ocean of ideas. He introduces us to their shapers and breakers, and gently captains us in 50-year stretches across the seas of English-language thought with astonishing skill as both map-maker and way-finder ... enjoy its riches slowly, and savour every generous, erudite and undogmatic page -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times *Rée's book may well be the most fun we've ever had with anglophone philosophy -- Stuart Jeffries * Spectator *Dead philosophers, and indeed dead philosophies, here feel alive, and integrated with the rest of history -- Nakul Krishna * Daily Telegraph *Witcraft is the story of philosophy in English told in a new way, narrated with relish and considerable wit -- Jonathan Egid * Times Literary Supplement *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Golden Age
Book SynopsisMoving between Spanish conquest abroad and the court of the astute Charles V, Hugh Thomas''s The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V is the second volume in a planned trilogy on the Spanish Empire. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America in the sixteenth century, they swept across the continent in a blaze of imperial expansion and brutal savagery. Beginning with the return of the remnants of Magellan''s circumnavigation in 1522 and ending with Charles''s death in 1558, Hugh Thomas''s masterful work brilliantly brings to life one of the most extraordinary periods of the Renaissance, revealing how the Spaniards were able to conquer Guatemala, Yucatan, Columbia, Venezuela, Peru and Chile; how the audacious conquistador Francisco de Orellana sailed down the Amazon, why Cabeza de Vaca walked from Florida to Mexico and what drove Hernando de Soto to pursue worldly riches in Florida, Mississippi and Georgia. While adventurer
£16.99
Penguin Books Ltd Russias War
Book SynopsisIn Russia''s War: 1941-1945, Richard Overy re-creates the Soviet Union''s apocalyptic struggle against Nazi Germany, from the point of view both of the troops and of the ordinary civilians. In the course of human history there has probably been no more terrible place than Eastern Europe in 1941-45. Estimates of total Soviet military and civilian deaths in the period now stand at more than 25 million. Yet without the Soviet war effort, it is unlikely that Germany could have ever been defeated. Drawing on a recent wealth of evidence to account for the Soviet Union''s remarkable victory against invading forces, Richard Overy''s Russia''s War is a fascinating account of the epic struggle that turned the tide of the Second World War. ''Masterly ... a vivid account'' Robert Service, Independent ''A dramatic and exciting tale ... His set-piece descriptions of such visions of Hell as Stalingrad, the 900-day siege oTrade ReviewMasterly ... a vivid account -- Robert Service * Independent *A dramatic and exciting tale ... His set-piece descriptions of such visions of Hell as Stalingrad, the 900-day siege of Leningrad and the crucial battle of Kursk are as fascinating as they are horrifying -- Alan Judd * Sunday Times *Overy is a first-class military historian ... He writes concisely and says what he means to say ... Now, we have an authoritative British account that understands both sides, without illusions -- Norman Stone * Spectator *Excellent ... Overy tackles this huge, complex and multifaceted story with the vital gifts of clarity and brevity -- Antony Beevor * Literary Review *
£12.34
Penguin Books Ltd The Secret Pilgrim
Book SynopsisThe eighth of John le Carré''s espionage novels to feature his most enduring and well-loved character, George Smiley, and a gripping feat of narrative brilliance, The Secret Pilgrim is published in Penguin Modern Classics with an afterword by the author.The Cold War is over and Ned has been demoted to the training academy. He asks his old mentor, George Smiley, to address his passing-out class. There are no laundered reminiscences; Smiley speaks the truth - perhaps the last the students will ever hear. As they listen, Ned recalls his own painful triumphs and inglorious failures, in a career that took him from the Western Isles of Scotland to Hamburg and from Israel to Cambodia. He asks himself: Did it do any good? What did it do to me? And what will happen to us now? In this late Smiley novel, the great spy gives his own humane and unexpected answers.If you enjoyed The Secret Pilgrim, you might like le Carré''s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold,
£9.99
