Search results for ""forge""
SparkPress A Letter in the Wall: A Novel
It’s 1971, and Joan Dumann fears her former business partner wants her dead—but her anxiety is less about dying than it is about feeling disrespected and invalidated. As she constructs a letter about her predicament, she revisits her past. Born into a prominent Philadelphia Quaker family in 1915 and raised with privilege and opportunity, Joan wrestles with her turbulent thoughts and unfulfilled desires—an internal battle that often results in self-destructive tendencies. When she attempts to push against the norms for women of her time in order to forge her own identity, she is met with resistance. Yet she might also be her own worst enemy, often alienating those who care deeply for her. Both manipulative and vulnerable, naive and conniving, Joan is, like many people, complex and misunderstood. Inspired by a letter written by the real Joan, found hidden in the wall of a Pennsylvania home more than half a century later, this story is a fictionalized imagining of who she was and what motivated her. Moving through several decades and events—from the 1918 influenza pandemic to Prohibition to the Great Depression to Vietnam—A Letter in the Wall examines the internal and external factors that influence one woman’s journey toward independence and empowerment.Great for fans of Benilde Little’s Who Does She Think She Is?, Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, and Leslye Walton’s The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender.
£13.60
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Hadrian's Wall: Creating Division
Over its venerable history, Hadrian’s Wall has had an undeniable influence in shaping the British landscape, both literally and figuratively. Once thought to be a soft border, recent research has implicated it in the collapse of a farming civilisation centuries in the making, and in fuelling an insurgency characterised by violent upheaval. Examining the everyday impact of the Wall over the three centuries it was in operation, Matthew Symonds sheds new light on its underexplored human story by discussing how the evidence speaks of a hard border scything through a previously open landscape and bringing dramatic change in its wake. The Roman soldiers posted to Hadrian’s Wall were overwhelmingly recruits from the empire’s occupied territories, and for them the frontier could be a place of fear and magic where supernatural protection was invoked during spells of guard duty. Since antiquity, the Wall has been exploited by powers craving the legitimacy that came with being accepted as the heirs of Rome: it helped forge notions of English and Scottish nationhood, and even provided a model of selfless cultural collaboration when the British Empire needed reassurance. It has also inspired creatives for centuries, appearing in a more or less recognisable guise in works ranging from Rudyard Kipling’s Puck of Pook’s Hill to George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. Combining an archaeological analysis of the monument itself and an examination of its rich legacy and contemporary relevance, this volume presents a reliable, modern perspective on the Wall.
£20.31
Hodder & Stoughton The Heiress: The untold story of Pride & Prejudice's Miss Anne de Bourgh
'With stunningly lyrical writing, Greeley elevates Austen-inspired fiction onto a whole new plane.' - Natalie Jenner, author of The Jane Austen SocietyAs a fussy baby, Anne was prescribed laudanum to quiet her and has been given the opium-heavy syrup ever since on account of her continuing ill health. While her mother is outraged when Darcy chooses not to marry Anne, as has been long planned, Anne can barely raise her head to acknowledge the fact. But little by little, she comes to see that what she has always been told is an affliction of nature might in fact be one of nurture - and one, therefore, that she can beat. In a frenzy of desperation, she throws away her laudanum and seeks refuge at the London home of her cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Suddenly wide awake to the world but utterly unprepared, Anne must forge a new identity among those who have never seen the real her - including herself. With its wit, sensuality and deep compassion for the human heart, The Heiress is a sparklingly rebellious novel that takes a shadowy figure from the background of Pride & Prejudice, one of the world's most beloved books, and throws her into the light.'Haunting. The Heiress has all the hallmarks of nineteenth-century Gothic, which doesn't shy away from "modern" ills, such as the opiate crisis, Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and homophobia. Highly recommended.' - Finola Austin, author of Bronte's Mistress
£9.99
Ohio University Press Wanted—Correspondence: Women’s Letters to a Union Soldier
A unique collection of more than 150 letters written to an Ohio serviceman during the American Civil War that offers glimpses of women’s lives as they waited, worked, and wrote from the Ohio home front. The letters reveal fascinating details of the lives of mostly young, single women—friends, acquaintances, love interests, and strangers who responded to one Union soldier’s advertisement for correspondents. Almost all of the women who responded to Lieutenant Edwin Lewis Lybarger’s lonely-hearts newspaper advertisement lived in Ohio and supported the Union. Lybarger carried the collection of letters throughout three years of military service, preserved them through his life, and left them to be discovered in an attic trunk more than a century after Lee’s surrender. Women’s letter writing functioned as a form of “war work” that bolstered the spirits of enlisted men and “kinship work” that helped forge romantic relationships and sustain community bonds across the miles. While men’s letters and diaries abound in Civil War history, less readily available are comprehensive collections of letters from middle-class and rural women that survived the weathering of marches, camp life, and battles to emerge unscathed from men’s knapsacks at war’s end. The collection is accompanied by a detailed editorial introduction that highlights significant themes in the letters. Together, they contribute to the still-unfolding historical knowledge concerning Northern women’s lives and experiences during this significant period in American history.
£23.39
Siglio Press Ray Johnson: The Paper Snake
A sumptuous facsimile of a vertiginous artist's book from the founder of the mail-art movement Long out of print and unavailable to wider audiences, The Paper Snake is an essential work in Ray Johnson’s oeuvre and the second title published by Dick Higgins’ Something Else Press, in 1965. Johnson describes the book as "all my writings, rubbings, plays, things that I had mailed to [Higgins] or brought to him in cardboard boxes or shoved under his door, or left in his sink, or whatever, over a period of years." A vertiginous, mind-bending artist’s book, The Paper Snake was far ahead of its time. In his essay "The Hatching of the Paper Snake," Higgins says: "I was fascinated by the way that the small works which Ray Johnson used to send through the mail seemed so rooted in their moment and their context and yet somehow they seemed to acquire new and larger meaning as time went along ... Since a book is a more permanent body than a mailing piece or even than our own physical ones, I could not help wondering what it would be like to make a new body for Johnson’s ideas as a sort of love letter or time capsule for the future." A collection of letters, little plays, tid-bits, collages and drawings, The Paper Snake connects disparate elements to unbed fixed relationships and forge new systems of meaning by means of scissors, paste and the American postal system.
£27.00
Hay House UK Ltd Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing (10th Anniversary Edition)
A new edition of the inspirational memoir that touched thousands - one woman's journey from cancer and near-death to ultimate healing, spiritual freedom and inner power.Since its initial publication, Anita Moorjani’s memoir of her near-death experience has sold over a million copies worldwide in 45 languages. This 10th Anniversary Edition includes a new afterword that describes how Anita’s life has dramatically changed since the book’s original publication, including the discovery of empathic abilities that gave her a profound new perspective on her near-death experience. Anita shares how after fighting cancer for almost four years, her body began shutting down. As her organs failed, she entered into an extraordinary near-death experience where she would realize her inherent worth and the actual cause of her disease. Upon regaining consciousness, Anita found that her condition had improved so rapidly that she was able to be released from the hospital within weeks… without a trace of cancer in her body! After years of struggling to forge her own path while trying to meet everyone else’s expectations, she had the realization – as a result of her epiphany on the other side – that she had the power to heal herself… and that there are miracles in the Universe that she had never even imagined. In Dying to Be Me, Anita shares all she has learned about illness, healing, fear, ‘being love’, and the true magnificence of each and every human being!
£13.49
Columbia University Press A New German Idealism: Hegel, Žižek, and Dialectical Materialism
In 2012, philosopher and public intellectual Slavoj Žižek published what arguably is his magnum opus, the one-thousand-page tome Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. A sizable sequel appeared in 2014, Absolute Recoil: Towards a New Foundation of Dialectical Materialism. In these two books, Žižek returns to the German idealist G. W. F. Hegel in order to forge a new materialism for the twenty-first century. Žižek’s reinvention of Hegelian dialectics explores perennial and contemporary concerns: humanity’s relations with nature, the place of human freedom, the limits of rationality, the roles of spirituality and religion, and the prospects for radical sociopolitical change.In A New German Idealism, Adrian Johnston offers a first-of-its-kind sustained critical response to Less Than Nothing and Absolute Recoil. Johnston, a leading authority on and interlocutor of Žižek, assesses the recent return to Hegel against the backdrop of Kantian and post-Kantian German idealism. He also presents alternate reconstructions of Hegel’s positions that differ in important respects from Žižek’s version of dialectical materialism. In particular, Johnston criticizes Žižek’s deviations from the secular naturalism and Enlightenment optimism of his chosen sources of inspiration: not only Hegel, but Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud too. In response, Johnston develops what he calls transcendental materialism, an antireductive and leftist materialism capable of preserving and advancing the core legacies of the Hegelian, Marxian, and Freudian traditions central to Žižek.
£22.50
HarperCollins Publishers Still Life
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Over 500,000 copies sold internationally A BBC Between the Covers Book Club Pick A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime Winner of Dymocks Book of the Year ‘Sheer joy' GRAHAM NORTON ‘Utterly beautiful … filled with hope’ JOANNA CANNON ‘A gorgeous, generous story of kind hearts and kindred spirits’ DAILY MIRROR From the author of When God was a Rabbit and Tin Man, Still Life is a big-hearted story of the families we forge and the friendships that make us. 1944, Italy. As bombs fall around them, two strangers meet in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa and share an extraordinary evening. Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner a 64-year-old art historian living life on her own terms. She has come to salvage paintings from the wreckage of war and relive memories of her youth when her heart was stolen by an Italian maid in a particular room with a view. Ulysses’ chance encounter with Evelyn will transform his life – and all those who love him back home in London – forever. Uplifting, sweeping and full of unforgettable characters, Still Life is a novel about beauty, love, family and friendship. ‘THE most beautiful book … it will stay with me a long time’ SARA COX, BBC TWO’S BETWEEN THE COVERS ‘Extraordinary . . . my book of the year’ LIZ NUGENT ‘Moving, wise, poetic and funny’ DAILY MAIL ‘Winman’s pages teem with boisterous, exuberant life’ SUNDAY TIMES
£8.99
Amazon Publishing Plenty: A Memoir of Food and Family
A moving reflection on motherhood, friendship, and women making their mark on the world of food from the author of Feast. Food writer Hannah Howard is at a pivotal moment in her life when she begins searching out her fellow food people—women who’ve carved a place for themselves in a punishing, male-dominated industry. Women whose journeys have inspired and informed Hannah’s own foodie quests. On trips that take her from Milan to Bordeaux to Oslo and then always back again to her home in New York City, Hannah spends time with these influential women, learning about the intimate paths that led them each toward fulfilling careers. Each chef, entrepreneur, barista, cheesemaker, barge captain, and culinary instructor expands our long-held beliefs about how the worldwide network of food professionals and enthusiasts works. But amid her travels, Hannah finds herself on a heart-wrenching private path. Her plans to embark on motherhood bring her through devastating lows and unimaginable highs. Hannah grapples with personal joy, loss, and a lifelong obsession with food that is laced with insecurity and darker compulsions. Looking to her food heroes for solace, companionship, and inspiration, she discovers new ways to appreciate her body and nourish her life. At its heart, this lovely and candid memoir explores food as a point of passion and connection and as a powerful way to create community, forge friendships, and make a family.
£12.06
Headline Publishing Group The Raven's Head: A gothic tale of secrets and alchemy in the Dark Ages
A gothic delight from Karen Maitland, author of the bestselling and much-loved Company of Liars, that will enchant readers of Kate Mosse's The Burning Chambers or fans of Deborah Harkness seeking a new, dark fix. 'An atmospheric and dark story' The TimesNever trust your secrets to a Raven when you are not its true master...1224. Langley Manor, Norfolk. Lord Sylvain has been practising alchemy in hiding for years and now only the Apothecary's niece can help him with final preparations to forge the Philosopher's Stone.Alchemy calls for symbols - and victims - and when a man in possession of an intricately carved raven's head arrives at the Manor in a clumsy attempt at blackmail, Sylvain has both symbol and victim within easy reach.But the White Canons in nearby Langley Abbey are concealing a crucial, missing ingredient... Regulus, a small boy with a large destiny.What readers are saying about The Raven's Head:'An intriguing and exciting dark tale about power and intrigue in politics, but most of all about the power and fear of the main ingredient of the book - almighty alchemy!' 'Full of stories, witchcraft, alchemy, suspicion and suspense. Fantastic book''As well as being a suspenseful tale that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, the book illustrates that the Middle Ages had a dark edge. The writing is beautiful, and the novel is crafted in a masterful way'
£10.99
Baker Publishing Group After the Shadows
A brighter future awaits--if she can escape the shadows of the past Emily Leland sheds no tears when her abusive husband is killed in a bar fight, but what awaits her back home in Sweetwater Crossing is far from the welcome and comfort she expected. First she discovers her father has died under mysterious circumstances. Then the house where the new schoolteacher and his son are supposed to board burns, leaving them homeless. When Emily proposes turning the family home into a boardinghouse, her sister is so incensed that she leaves town. Alone and broke, her family name sullied by controversy, Emily is determined to solve the mystery of her father's death--and to aid Craig Ferguson, despite her fears of men. The widowed schoolmaster proves to be a devoted father, an innovative teacher, and an unexpected ally. Together they must work to unmask a killer and escape the shadows of their own pasts in order to forge a brighter future. Bestselling author Amanda Cabot transports you to 1880s Texas Hill Country for a brand-new series that will have you flipping pages to solve the mystery and get to the happily-ever-after you long for. *** "Cabot is becoming a must-buy. Her sensitivity and realistic portrayal of characters often on the margins of history really shine in this new historical series."--Library Journal starred review "Cabot skillfully links diverse plotlines in a tightly woven narrative, putting forth an uplifting message about the value of all human life that's moving without detracting from the plot's suspense."--Publishers Weekly
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Odin's Game
'FAST-PACED, DETAILED AND BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN [FOR] FANS OF BERNARD CORNWELL, GEORGE R.R. MARTIN AND THEODORE BRUN' HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY. Not everyone will survive, but who will conquer all in Odin's game? AD 916. In the Orkney Isles, a young woman flees her home to save the life of her unborn child. Eighteen years later, a witch foretells that evil from her past is reaching out again to threaten her son. Outlawed from his home in Iceland, Einar Unnsson is thrown on the mercy of his Uncle, the infamous Jarl Thorfinn 'Skull Cleaver' of Orkney. He joins forces with a Norse-Irish princess and a company of wolfskin-clad warriors to become a player in a deadly game for control of the Irish sea, where warriors are the pawns of kings and Jarls and the powerful are themselves mere game pieces on the tafl board of the Gods. Together they embark on a quest where Einar must fight unimaginable foes, forge new friendships, and discover what it truly means to be a warrior. As the clouds of war gather, betrayal follows betrayal and Einar realises the only person he can really trust is himself. Praise for Tim Hodkinson: 'An excellently written page-turner, with a feel for the period which invites you into the era and keeps you there' Historical Writers Association. 'A gripping action adventure like the sagas of old; and once finished, you just want to go back and read it all over again' Melisende's Library.
£8.99
Titan Books Ltd Empress Game: The Empress Game Trilogy Book 1
Power, grace, deadliness defined. Always cunning, endlessly victorious...'One seat on the intergalactic Sakien Empire's supreme ruling body, the Council of Seven, remains unfilled: that of the Empress Apparent. The seat isn't won by votes or marriage. It's won in a tournament of ritualized combat. Now the tournament, the Empress Game, has been called and the women of the empire will stop at nothing to secure political domination for their homeworlds. Kayla Reunimon, a supreme fighter, is called by a mysterious stranger to battle it out in the arena. The battle for political power isn't contained by the tournament's ring, however. The empire's elite gather to forge, strengthen or betray alliances in a dance that will determine the fate of the empire for a generation. With the empire wracked by a rising nanovirus plague and stretched thin by an ill-advised planet-wide occupation of Ordoch in enemy territory, everything rests on the woman who rises to the top. "Mason delivers an old fashioned space opera-passion, politics, and the fate of Empires hanging on the strength and courage of a single woman. You'll want to reach immediately for book two." Tanya Huff, author of a Confederation of Valor"Fast, smart, complex, and fun as hell...one of the best books I've read this year. A near-perfect blend of romance, action, and interstellar politics in a well-thought-out and original universe, with a tough-as-nails heroine you can't help but root for." Rachel Bach, author of Fortune's Pawn
£8.23
Pegasus Books Our Symphony with Animals: On Health, Empathy, and Our Shared Destinies
A leader in the fields of animal ethics and neurology, Dr. Aysha Akhtar examines the rich human-animal connection and how interspecies empathy enriches our well-being.Deftly combining medicine, social history and personal experience, Our Symphony with Animals is the first book by a physician to show how deeply the well-being of humans and animals are entwined. Interwoven throughout is Dr. Akhtar’s own story of being a young girl who was bullied in school and sexually abused by her uncle. Feeling abandoned by humanity, it was only when she met Sylvester, a dog who had also been abused, that she found strength for both of them. Against the backdrop of her inspiring story, Dr. Akhtar asks, what do we gain when we recognize our kinship with animals? She travels around the country to tell the stories of a varied cast of characters—including a former mobster, an industrial chicken farmer, a Marine veteran—and comes face to face with a serial killer. Through storytelling that is entertaining, profound, and touching, Dr. Akhtar reveals what happens when we both break and forge bonds with animals. She demonstrates how humans are neurologically designed to empathize with animals, and how violence against them goes against our nature. In equal measure, the love and friendship we give to other species biologically reverberates back to us. Humanity’s compassion for animals is the next step in our species’ moral evolution and a vital component of our own health. Our Symphony with Animals is the definitive account for why our relationships with animals matter.
£11.69
Prometheus Books The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning
Winner of the 2017 Nautilus Silver Award! This fresh perspective on crucial questions of history identifies the root metaphors that cultures have used to construct meaning in their world. It offers a glimpse into the minds of a vast range of different peoples: early hunter-gatherers and farmers, ancient Egyptians, traditional Chinese sages, the founders of Christianity, trail-blazers of the Scientific Revolution, and those who constructed our modern consumer society. Taking the reader on an archaeological exploration of the mind, the author, an entrepreneur and sustainability leader, uses recent findings in cognitive science and systems theory to reveal the hidden layers of values that form today's cultural norms. Uprooting the tired cliches of the science-religion debate, he shows how medieval Christian rationalism acted as an incubator for scientific thought, which in turn shaped our modern vision of the conquest of nature. The author probes our current crisis of unsustainability and argues that it is not an inevitable result of human nature, but is culturally driven: a product of particular mental patterns that could conceivably be reshaped. By shining a light on our possible futures, the book foresees a coming struggle between two contrasting views of humanity: one driving to a technological endgame of artificially enhanced humans, the other enabling a sustainable future arising from our intrinsic connectedness with each other and the natural world. This struggle, it concludes, is one in which each of us will play a role through the meaning we choose to forge from the lives we lead.
£19.99
Ebury Publishing The Art of Winning: Ten Lessons in Leadership, Purpose and Potential
**Instant Sunday Times bestseller**Ten timeless truths on leadership, purpose and potential - from the unique culture of the All Blacks, and the mind of a living legend.You might think success at the highest level insulates you from self-doubt.But nothing could be further from the truth.In this book, I take you inside a journey that has forced me to look inwardly in a way I've never had to before. It's been challenging, frustrating, rewarding and left me full of gratitude. Whether you're a leader on a steep learning curve, a person navigating change in their life or just someone of any age trying to get that little bit better every day, I hope that my experience can spur you on to greater heights.For the first time, sporting legend Dan Carter distils his two decades at the frontiers of high-performance into his 'perfect ten' lessons.You won't find conventional wisdom here, but hard-learned truths, including:- Why great leaders are made, not born, and why they must constantly evolve- How to forge a winning team culture- Why embracing your past can be every bit as important as looking towards your future- Why empowering others leads to the best decisions- Why confidence and self-belief are nothing without humility and a beginner's mindsetHonest, surprising and inspiring, The Art of Winning converts a legendary career into timeless lessons for readers in any walk of life. Step inside the unique culture of the All Blacks - and inside the mind of a legend.
£14.99
Simon & Schuster Ltd Dressed For War: The Story of Audrey Withers, Vogue editor extraordinaire from the Blitz to the Swinging Sixties
'Magnificent ... Dressed for War works on many levels: as an evocation of an uncommon time; as a celebration of an uncommon woman; as pure, unalloyed fun.' Lucy Davies, Daily TelegraphDressed For War: The Story of Audrey Withers, Vogue editor extraordinaire from the Blitz to the Swinging Sixties is the untold story of our most iconic fashion magazine in its most formative years, in the Second World War. It was an era when wartime exigencies gave its editor, Audrey Withers, the chance to forge an identity for it that went far beyond stylish clothes. In doing so, she set herself against the style and preoccupations of Vogue’s mothership in New York, and her often sticky relationship with its formidable editor, Edna Woolman Chase, became a strong dynamic in the Vogue story. But Vogue had a good war, with great writers and top-flight photographers including Lee Miller and Cecil Beaton – who loathed each other – sending images and reports from Europe and much further afield – detailing the plight of the countries and people living amid war-torn Europe. Audrey Withers’ deft handling of her star contributors and the importance she placed on reflecting people’s lives at home give this slice of literary history a real edge. With official and personal correspondence researched from the magazine’s archives in London and in New York, Dressed For War tells the marvellous story of the titanic struggle between the personalities that shaped the magazine for the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond.
£9.99
Ebury Publishing The Art of Winning: Ten Lessons in Leadership, Purpose and Potential
**Instant Sunday Times bestseller**Ten timeless truths on leadership, purpose and potential - from the unique culture of the All Blacks, and the mind of a living legend.You might think success at the highest level insulates you from self-doubt.But nothing could be further from the truth.In this book, I take you inside a journey that has forced me to look inwardly in a way I've never had to before. It's been challenging, frustrating, rewarding and left me full of gratitude. Whether you're a leader on a steep learning curve, a person navigating change in their life or just someone of any age trying to get that little bit better every day, I hope that my experience can spur you on to greater heights.For the first time, sporting legend Dan Carter distils his two decades at the frontiers of high-performance into his 'perfect ten' lessons.You won't find conventional wisdom here, but hard-learned truths, including:- Why great leaders are made, not born, and why they must constantly evolve- How to forge a winning team culture- Why embracing your past can be every bit as important as looking towards your future- Why empowering others leads to the best decisions- Why confidence and self-belief are nothing without humility and a beginner's mindsetHonest, surprising and inspiring, The Art of Winning converts a legendary career into timeless lessons for readers in any walk of life. Step inside the unique culture of the All Blacks - and inside the mind of a legend.
£19.80
Oxford University Press Inc Nature That Makes Us Human: Why We Keep Destroying Nature and How We Can Stop Doing So
Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, resource depletion, new emerging diseases: scientists have raised awareness on the ecological and societal consequences of the unbridled development of human activities for a long time. Why do we keep destroying nature when science makes it clear that in doing so we risk our own destruction? How can we stop destroying our life-support system and reach some kind of harmony between humans and nature? This book seeks to answer these questions. It describes the inability of modern society to fundamentally modify its relationship with nature, instead engaging in collective fictions such as subject-object duality, matter-mind duality, the primacy of rationality, and the superiority of the human species over all other life. Subsequent chapters identify avenues which could allow human societies to break the current deadlock and forge a relationship with the natural world. This path is rooted in a simple observation: humans have a nature that defines them as a unique species beyond their cultural differences, and at the foundation of this nature we share a set of fundamental needs. The expression and satisfaction of these needs provide an opportunity to reconnect humans with nature in all its forms. Nature That Makes Us Human combines recent scientific discoveries in biology and psychology with deep philosophical inquiry--in addition to economic, political, and historical considerations--to understand what motivates us to keep destroying nature today and how we can engage in a new relationship with nature tomorrow. This book is for anyone interested in understanding and overcoming the current ecological crisis.
£24.86
Oxford University Press Democracy without Shortcuts: A Participatory Conception of Deliberative Democracy
This book articulates a participatory conception of deliberative democracy that takes the democratic ideal of self-government seriously. It aims to improve citizens' democratic control and vindicate the value of citizens' participation against conceptions that threaten to undermine it. The book critically analyzes deep pluralist, epistocratic, and lottocratic conceptions of democracy. Their defenders propose various institutional ''shortcuts'' to help solve problems of democratic governance such as overcoming disagreements, citizens' political ignorance, or poor-quality deliberation. However, all these shortcut proposals require citizens to blindly defer to actors over whose decisions they cannot exercise control. Implementing such proposals would therefore undermine democracy. Moreover, it seems naive to assume that a community can reach better outcomes 'faster' if it bypasses the beliefs and attitudes of its citizens. Unfortunately, there are no 'shortcuts' to make a community better than its members. The only road to better outcomes is the long, participatory road that is taken when citizens forge a collective will by changing one another's hearts and minds. However difficult the process of justifying political decisions to one another may be, skipping it cannot get us any closer to the democratic ideal. Starting from this conviction, the book defends a conception of democracy ''without shortcuts''. This conception sheds new light on long-standing debates about the proper scope of public reason, the role of religion in politics, and the democratic legitimacy of judicial review. It also proposes new ways to unleash the democratic potential of institutional innovations such as deliberative minipublics.
£23.98
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Emotional Intelligence: Managing Emotions to Make a Positive Impact on Your Life and Career
From the author of the bestselling Mindfulness: Be Mindful. Live in the Moment. Emotional Intelligence is fast becoming the skill to master that will unlock your true potential. You've probably noticed that it's not the smartest people that are the most successful or the most fulfilled in life; being clever, talented or skilled is not enough. It's your ability to manage your feelings, other people and your interactions with them that makes the difference. We're all born with this ability - emotional intelligence is a skill and we all have the capacity to develop this skill. This book will show you how. It will change the way you think about emotions. Instead of thinking of emotions as being positive or negative, you will learn that all emotions have a positive intent – all emotions have our best interests in mind. Improve your emotional intelligence and you improve your ability to understand and manage emotions. You can think clearly and creatively, manage stress and challenges, communicate well with others and display trust, empathy and confidence. You will be in a better position to handle situations, events and other people that in the past you've found difficult or stressful. Emotional Intelligence will show you how to heighten your EQ and improve your personal and work life, including how to be more assertive and confident express how you feel, what you want and don't want understand what others are feeling and forge stronger relationships manage office politics and navigate the social complexities of the workplace manage anxiety, anger and disappointment deal with bullying motivate and inspire others
£12.99
ibidem-Verlag, Jessica Haunschild u Christian Schon The New Third Rome: Readings of a Russian Nationalist Myth
This in-depth analysis discloses the sources, contents, and implications of post-Soviet Russian messianism. Since its rediscovery 150 years ago, writers ranging from Western critics of Moscow's foreign policy to ardent Russian imperialists have used the concept of Moscow as the Third Rome as 'evidence' of Russia's particularism and expansionism. But for the original author of the formula of the Third Rome, the Orthodox monk Filofei of Pskov, it was a religious concept he referred to when criticizing what he saw as the apostasy of his time. This book is the first to look beyond this dichotomy. Drawing on theories of political myth and concepts of nationalism, �stbø develops a novel analytical perspective. Rather than dismissing political uses of the religious, medieval idea as 'wrong', the author analyzes the modern content and ideological function of the myth of the Third Rome. Through case studies of four prominent nationalist intellectuals, Vadim Tsymburskii, Aleksandr Dugin, Nataliia Narochnitskaia and Egor Kholmogorov, the author shows how this messianic myth is used to 'reinvent' Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These writers use their own constructed image of the Russian nation to demonstrate what Russia 'should be' and its allegedly rightful place in the world. Existing in radically diverging versions, the myth of the Third Rome routinely conveys rabid anti-Westernism. At 'best', it is employed to forge a self-image of the Russians as an essentially isolationist civilization. At worst, it is used to 'explain' how the Russians are divinely elected to be the rulers of a world empire.
£26.09
Harvard Business Review Press The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business
Are you at risk of being trapped in an uncompetitive business? Chances are the strategies that worked well for you even a few years ago no longer deliver the results you need. Dramatic changes in business have unearthed a major gap between traditional approaches to strategy and the way the real world works now. In short, strategy is stuck. Most leaders are using frameworks that were designed for a different era of business and based on a single dominant idea--that the purpose of strategy is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Once the premise on which all strategies were built, this idea is increasingly irrelevant. Now, Columbia Business School professor and globally recognized strategy expert Rita Gunther McGrath argues that it's time to go beyond the very concept of sustainable competitive advantage. Instead, organizations need to forge a new path to winning: capturing opportunities fast, exploiting them decisively, and moving on even before they are exhausted. She shows how to do this with a new set of practices based on the notion of transient competitive advantage. This book serves as a new playbook for strategy, one based on updated assumptions about how the world works, and shows how some of the world's most successful companies use this method to compete and win today. Filled with compelling examples from "growth outlier" firms such as Fujifilm, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Infosys, Yahoo! Japan, and Atmos Energy, The End of Competitive Advantage is your guide to renewed success and profitable growth in an economy increasingly defined by transient advantage.
£22.00
Princeton University Press The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism: A Short History
The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism tells the gripping story of perhaps the most significant political force of our time through the lives and careers of six leading figures at the heart of the movement. David Farber traces the history of modern conservatism from its revolt against New Deal liberalism, to its breathtaking resurgence under Ronald Reagan, to its spectacular defeat with the election of Barack Obama. Farber paints vivid portraits of Robert Taft, William F. Buckley Jr., Barry Goldwater, Phyllis Schlafly, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. He shows how these outspoken, charismatic, and frequently controversial conservative leaders were united by a shared insistence on the primacy of social order, national security, and economic liberty. Farber demonstrates how they built a versatile movement capable of gaining and holding power, from Taft's opposition to the New Deal to Buckley's founding of the National Review as the intellectual standard-bearer of modern conservatism; from Goldwater's crusade against leftist politics and his failed 1964 bid for the presidency to Schlafly's rejection of feminism in favor of traditional gender roles and family values; and from Reagan's city upon a hill to conservatism's downfall with Bush's ambitious presidency. The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism provides rare insight into how conservatives captured the American political imagination by claiming moral superiority, downplaying economic inequality, relishing bellicosity, and embracing nationalism. This concise and accessible history reveals how these conservative leaders discovered a winning formula that enabled them to forge a powerful and formidable political majority.
£22.25
Titan Books Ltd The Four Pillars - Pillar of Ash
Yske, a healer and daughter of the warrior priestess Hessa, holds the balance of power in a world--shattering war of the gods, in this thrilling, mythical and emotional epic fantasy saga. The enthralling conclusion to the HALL OF SMOKE saga, perfect for fans of Ragnaroek, Claire LeGrand, Margaret Owen, V. E. Schwab and Melissa Caruso. Yske, daughter of the legendary warrior priestess Hessa, has dedicated her life to medicine and pacifism in service to Aita, the Great Healer. When her twin brother Berin, hungry for glory, gathers a party to investigate rumours of strange sightings in the Unmade - shadows in the darkness at the end of the world - Yske joins the mission, to keep him safe. Their journey east takes them through primal forests, walking paths last trod when gods were at war and ancient, powerful beasts were defeated and bound. And the closer they get to the Unmade, the more strange and terrible things haunt them from the shadows, corruptions in nature and monstrous creatures of moss and bone. Earning the respect of Berin and his warriors, Yske must forge a place for mercy and healing in a world of violence and sacrifice. She must survive murderous ambushes and brutal sieges and take her place at the centre of the oldest war of all. Thrust into a desperate conflict of survival, Yske and Berin will wage the final war with the gods - in the shadow of a vast and ancient tree, the fate of creation is about to be decided.
£8.99
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Not Just in Time: The Story of Kronos Incorporated, from Concept to Global Entity
How a tiny start-up slayed an industry giant before redefining the way workers are managed around the globe. This book recounts a success story rooted in one individual's desire to embrace his entrepreneurial spirit and forge his own company. Mark Ain led Kronos Incorporated from concept to the basements and garages of its early core team to a soot-filled ironworks foundry, and from there to its eventual role as a multi-billion-dollar global leader in an industry it refined, then redefined, and ultimately led. The story of Mark Ain and Kronos holds inspiration and insight for any aspiring entrepreneur. The tale starts not in a boardroom, but with Mark's early upbringing, where his adventurous spirit and fearless nature readied him to be both a risk-taking business pioneer and a leader who recognized the need to take a nontraditional approach to team building, prioritizing fit over resumes and potential over past accomplishments. The result was a company that could and would truly stand the test of time. His guiding philosophy of "If it isn't broke, fix it anyway!" applied in equal measure to the products and solutions Kronos provided to its ever-expanding customer base and to the way the company was structured and operated to consistently reinvest in its employees. Kronos, today known as the Ultimate Kronos Group, is now a multi-billion-dollar global organization of almost 13,000 employees. And Mark, the epitome of a triumphant business creator, has decided the time is right to share his own experiences to inspire a next generation of like-minded visionaries.
£24.99
Quarto Publishing PLC Lore of the Land: Folklore & Wisdom from the Wild Earth: Volume 2
Unearth the secrets of our natural world with The Lore of the Land, a richly illustrated compendium of folklore and wisdom from the land, skies and seas. From thundering rivers to shady groves, flickering marshes to lightless caves, and from snow-capped mountains to the depths of the ocean, discover the folklore of Earth's wildest places. Stories and spirits abound in these land- and seascapes, where traditional wisdom and mysterious magics have intertwined over centuries. Each of the six chapters covers a different natural landscape, revealing the worldwide folklore surrounding Woodlands, Seas & Oceans, Wetlands, Mountains, Rivers & Streams and Hills & Caves. Beginning with tales from cultures spanning the globe, each chapter then dives into the legends of how these places were formed, their place in the human imagination and their natural and otherworldly denizens. Learn how the forests hold up the sky in Māori tradition; how in Ireland, seaweed was once thought to predict the weather; and that the ancient Greeks believed Mount Etna housed the fiery forge of the gods. All this and more is accompanied by beautiful artwork based on real folklore, uncovering the secrets of our natural world as never before. A treasury of fascinating tales and ancient wisdom, The Lore of the Land is sure to fire the imaginations of young nature-lovers, and delight anyone who has ever wondered whether there is more to our natural world than meets the eye.Also in the series:The Lore of the Wild: Folklore and Wisdom from Nature
£13.49
Princeton University Press From Peoples into Nations: A History of Eastern Europe
A sweeping narrative history of Eastern Europe from the late eighteenth century to todayIn the 1780s, the Habsburg monarch Joseph II decreed that henceforth German would be the language of his realm. His intention was to forge a unified state from his vast and disparate possessions, but his action had the opposite effect, catalyzing the emergence of competing nationalisms among his Hungarian, Czech, and other subjects, who feared that their languages and cultures would be lost. In this sweeping narrative history of Eastern Europe since the late eighteenth century, John Connelly connects the stories of the region's diverse peoples, telling how, at a profound level, they have a shared understanding of the past.An ancient history of invasion and migration made the region into a cultural landscape of extraordinary variety, a patchwork in which Slovaks, Bosnians, and countless others live shoulder to shoulder and where calls for national autonomy often have had bloody effects among the interwoven ethnicities. Connelly traces the rise of nationalism in Polish, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman lands; the creation of new states after the First World War and their later absorption by the Nazi Reich and the Soviet Bloc; the reemergence of democracy and separatist movements after the collapse of communism; and the recent surge of populist politics throughout the region.Because of this common experience of upheaval, East Europeans are people with an acute feeling for the precariousness of history: they know that nations are not eternal, but come and go; sometimes they disappear. From Peoples into Nations tells their story.
£22.00
Princeton University Press The Underwater Eye: How the Movie Camera Opened the Depths and Unleashed New Realms of Fantasy
A rich history of underwater filmmaking and how it has profoundly influenced the aesthetics of movies and public perception of the oceansIn The Underwater Eye, Margaret Cohen tells the fascinating story of how the development of modern diving equipment and movie camera technology has allowed documentary and narrative filmmakers to take human vision into the depths, creating new imagery of the seas and the underwater realm, and expanding the scope of popular imagination. Innovating on the most challenging film set on earth, filmmakers have tapped the emotional power of the underwater environment to forge new visions of horror, tragedy, adventure, beauty, and surrealism, entertaining the public and shaping its perception of ocean reality.Examining works by filmmakers ranging from J. E. Williamson, inventor of the first undersea film technology in 1914, to Wes Anderson, who filmed the underwater scenes of his 2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou entirely in a pool, The Underwater Eye traces how the radically alien qualities of underwater optics have shaped liquid fantasies for more than a century. Richly illustrated, the book explores documentaries by Jacques Cousteau, Louis Malle, and Hans Hass, art films by Man Ray and Jean Vigo, and popular movies and television shows such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Sea Hunt, the Bond films, Jaws, The Abyss, and Titanic. In exploring the cultural impact of underwater filmmaking, the book also asks compelling questions about the role film plays in engaging the public with the remote ocean, a frontline of climate change.
£30.00
Atlantic Books The British Dream: Successes and Failures of Post-war Immigration
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2014SHORTLISTED FOR THE PADDY POWER POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS 2014 In The British Dream, David Goodhart tells the story of post-war immigration and charts a course for its future. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with people from all over the country and a wealth of statistical evidence, he paints a striking picture of how Britain has been transformed by immigration and examines the progress of its ethnic minorities - projected to be around 25 per cent of the population by the early 2020s. Britain today is a more open society for minorities than ever before, but it is also a more fragmented one. Goodhart argues that an overzealous multiculturalism has exacerbated this problem by reinforcing difference instead of promoting a common life. The multi-ethnic success of Team GB at the 2012 Olympics and a taste for chicken tikka masala are not, he suggests, sufficient to forge common bonds; Britain needs a political culture of integration. Goodhart concludes that if Britain is to avoid a narrowing of the public realm and sharply segregated cities, as in many parts of the US, its politicians and opinion leaders must do two things. Firstly, as advocated by the centre right, they need to bring immigration down to more moderate and sustainable levels. Secondly, as advocated by the centre left, they need to shape a progressive national story about openness and opportunity - one that captures how people of different traditions are coming together to make the British dream.
£21.60
Amazon Publishing One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow: A Novel
From the bestselling author of The Ragged Edge of Night comes a powerful and poetic novel of survival and sacrifice on the American frontier. Wyoming, 1876. For as long as they have lived on the frontier, the Bemis and Webber families have relied on each other. With no other settlers for miles, it is a matter of survival. But when Ernest Bemis finds his wife, Cora, in a compromising situation with their neighbor, he doesn’t think of survival. In one impulsive moment, a man is dead, Ernest is off to prison, and the women left behind are divided by rage and remorse. Losing her husband to Cora’s indiscretion is another hardship for stoic Nettie Mae. But as a brutal Wyoming winter bears down, Cora and Nettie Mae have no choice but to come together as one family—to share the duties of working the land and raising their children. There’s Nettie Mae’s son, Clyde—no longer a boy, but not yet a man—who must navigate the road to adulthood without a father to guide him, and Cora’s daughter, Beulah, who is as wild and untamable as her prairie home. Bound by the uncommon threads in their lives and the challenges that lie ahead, Cora and Nettie Mae begin to forge an unexpected sisterhood. But when a love blossoms between Clyde and Beulah, bonds are once again tested, and these two resilient women must finally decide whether they can learn to trust each other—or else risk losing everything they hold dear.
£9.15
Vintage Publishing Dirty Laundry: Why adults with ADHD are so ashamed and what we can do to help - THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'Made us giggle and helped us forge a much deeper connection with our friends and family with ADHD. A godsend!' - Davina McCall & Michael Douglas_____________________________________If you have ADHD - or love somebody who does - DIRTY LAUNDRY will change your life, and your relationships.Do you feel crippling shame because you struggle with cleaning, personal hygiene, or time-keeping? Do you always feel misunderstood by the people close to you and find that they get frustrated by your behaviour?DIRTY LAUNDRY is an unfiltered look into the chaos of real life with ADHD. It will transform your self-hatred into self-acceptance, with simple tips that actually work for your brain. It will also help to educate partners, parents and friends, to help them move from frustration to patience, understanding - and love.Learn how to:- Stop believing you are fundamentally broken- Stop judging yourself by the standards of a neurotypical world- Communicate your struggles to those who love you- Support someone with ADHD in ways that work for them- Be compassionate rather than judgemental ...and much more.From the husband-and-wife team behind social media phenomenon @ADHD_Love, whose viral videos have been viewed more than 200 million times, comes a fearless, often outrageously funny, account of life, learning, and growing with ADHD. They share the strategies they have used to reduce shame, improve communication, and find happiness in their neurodivergent household.Filled with heartbreak and humour in equal measure, DIRTY LAUNDRY is an invaluable resource both for neurodivergents and the people who love them.
£14.99
WW Norton & Co The Life She Wished to Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling
Washington, DC, born and Wisconsin educated, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was an unlikely author of a coming-of-age novel about a poor central Florida child and his pet fawn—much less one that has become synonymous with Florida literature writ large. Rawlings was a tough, ambitious, and independent woman who refused the conventions of her early-twentieth-century upbringing. Determined to forge a literary career beyond those limitations, she found her voice in the remote, hardscrabble life of Cross Creek, Florida. There, Rawlings purchased a commercial orange grove and discovered a fascinating world out of which to write—and a dialect of the poor, swampland community that the literary world had yet to hear. She employed her sensitive eye, sharp ear for dialogue, and philosophical spirit to bring to life this unknown corner of America in vivid, tender detail, a feat that earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1938. Her accomplishments came at a price: a failed first marriage, financial instability, a contentious libel suit, alcoholism, and physical and emotional upheaval. With intimate access to Rawlings’s correspondence and revealing early writings, Ann McCutchan uncovers a larger-than-life woman who writes passionately and with verve, whose emotions change on a dime, and who drinks to excess, smokes, swears, and even occasionally joins in on an alligator hunt. The Life She Wished to Live paints a lively portrait of Rawlings, her contemporaries—including her legendary editor, Maxwell Perkins, and friends Zora Neale Hurston, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald—and the Florida landscape and people that inspired her.
£16.07
Oxford University Press Inc Vaughan Williams
A new biography of which paints the most well-rounded and factually accurate portrait of the composer to date Ralph Vaughan Williams ranks among the most versatile, influential, and enduringly popular British musicians of his era. Throughout his wide-ranging career-as composer, conductor, editor, scholar, folksong collector, teacher, author, administrator, and philanthropist-Vaughan Williams worked tirelessly to improve the standards and quality of British musical life. His dedicated work ethic and fastidious attention to musical detail helped him forge a compelling and original expressive idiom grounded in a profound understanding of musical history and tradition, popularized in concert staples like the Tallis Fantasia, The Lark Ascending, A London Symphony, the Songs of Travel, and the Serenade to Music. Drawing upon both recent scholarship and newly accessible scores and correspondence, author Eric Saylor interweaves in Vaughan Williams an exploration of the composer's life - including new insights about his early career, military service in the Great War, and relationships with the women he loved and married - with chapters surveying his enormous body of music, spanning hymn tunes to operas, keyboard etudes to solo concerti, wind band music for amateurs to perhaps the finest symphonic cycle of the twentieth century. The resulting portrait reveals Vaughan Williams's complex artistry and dynamic personality, a portrayal often at odds with the avuncular persona of "Uncle Ralph" familiar to the public. This contemporary reassessment of the composer's life and works provides a concise and engaging overview of both, positioning Vaughan Williams as an artist of rare skill, sensitivity, and human insight.
£31.88
Penguin Books Ltd The Persuaders: Winning Hearts and Minds in a Divided Age
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN AND THE IRISH TIMES'Illuminating and entertaining . . . while the world seems to counsel despair, The Persuaders is animated by a sense of possibility' The New York TimesThe lifeblood of any free society is persuasion: changing other people's minds to enable real change. But America is suffering a crisis of faith in persuasion that is putting its democracy and the planet itself at risk. People increasingly write each other off instead of seeking to win each other over. Debates are framed in moralistic terms, with enemies battling the righteous. Movements for justice build barriers to entry, instead of on-ramps. Political parties focus on mobilizing the faithful rather than wooing the sceptical. And leaders who seek to forge coalition are labelled sell-outs.In The Persuaders best-selling author Anand Giridharadas takes us inside these movements and battles, seeking out the dissenters who continue to champion persuasion in an age of polarization. We meet a co-founder of Black Lives Matter; a leader of the feminist resistance to Trumpism; white parents at a seminar on raising adopted children of colour; Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; a team of door knockers with an uncanny formula for changing minds on immigration; and an ex-cult member turned QAnon deprogrammer.As they grapple with how to "call out" threats and injustices while "calling in" those who don't agree with them but just might one day, they point a way to healing, and changing, a broken society.
£10.99
Titan Books Ltd Blade Runner Black Lotus: Leaving L.A.
Based on the all-new acclaimed Anime series: Black Lotus. This officially sanctioned graphic novel heralds an all-new saga in the Blade Runner franchise, one whose ramifications will ripple throughout the Blade Runner universe. It's 2032, just after the events seen in "Blade Runner: Black Lotus" and Elle, aka The Black Lotus Killer, is still wanted for murder by the LAPD, as well as even more powerful and dangerous interests in Los Angeles. Escaping Los Angeles on a homebuilt Spinner-bike, Elle heads out for parts unknown like a cyberpunk Easy Rider, hoping to forge a new life free of the cruelty, violence and false memories that have so far defined and guided her reality and find answers to her mysterious origin. After she is bushwacked by bandits, Elle finds herself waylaid in the desert settlement of Frack Town, her Spinner Bike seriously damaged and in desperate need of repair. Still trying to adjust to a world that feels alien and unreal to her and eager to turn her back on her own violent tendencies, Elle finds herself drawn into a deadly dispute between two warring factions who struggle to co-exist in the desolate industrial town. On one hand there's the Boss Barnes, the de facto mayor and leader of the Frackers, and on the others there's Miguel leader of a "restorationist" colony trying to turn its back on the evils that have brought the world to environmental. Their struggle will bring Elle face to face with the one person she is trying to escape from. Nia Wallace.
£13.49
Island Press Building Community Food Webs
Our current food system has decimated rural communities and confined the choices of urban consumers. Even while America continues to ramp up farm production to astounding levels, net farm income is now lower than at the onset of the Great Depression, and one out of every eight Americans faces hunger. But a healthier and more equitable food system is possible. In Building Community Food Webs, Ken Meter shows how grassroots food and farming leaders across the U.S. are tackling these challenges by constructing civic networks. Overturning extractive economic structures, these inspired leaders are engaging low-income residents, farmers, and local organisations in their quest to build stronger communities. Community food webs strive to build health, wealth, capacity, and connection. Their essential element is building greater respect and mutual trust, so community members can more effectively empower themselves and address local challenges. Farmers and researchers may convene to improve farming practices collaboratively. Health clinics help clients grow food for themselves and attain better health. Food banks engage their customers to challenge the root causes of poverty. Municipalities invest large sums to protect farmland from development. Developers forge links among local businesses to strengthen economic trade. Leaders in communities marginalised by our current food system are charting a new path forward. Building Community Food Webs captures the essence of these efforts, underway in diverse places including Montana, Hawai‘i, Vermont, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, and Minnesota. Addressing challenges as well as opportunities, Meter offers pragmatic insights for community food leaders and other grassroots activists alike.
£28.00
Cornerstone Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Road to Neverwinter
Discover the thrilling origin stories of the bard Edgin, the barbarian Holga, and their whole adventuring party in this official prequel to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.Edgin Darvis' life is a mess. All that he has left are his lute, his dashing good looks, and...not much else. After a chance encounter with badass bruiser Holga, Edgin is forced to take a hard look at his bad choices. But the road to redemption is long, and paved with unforeseen expenses. Fortunately, the world is full of rich fools begging to be parted from their money.And so Edgin and Holga do what any sensible entrepreneurs would do - they form a crew.Joined by a charming rogue, Forge Fitzwilliam, and Simon, a sorcerer with an intense inferiority complex, the team sets out to line their pockets with both well-earned and ill-gotten gold. Together, Edgin's crew battles monsters across the realms: gnoll raiders, fey witches, and more fall beneath their sharp weapons and sharper wit. But when they encounter a new, more sophisticated villain, keen blades and piercing blue eyes may not be enough.Their target? Torlinn Shrake, a wealthy eccentric known for abusing his servants and hosting lavish parties.The plan? Play dress-up, sneak into the Shrake estate, and fill their pockets with as much loot as they can carry.The catch? Shrake is hiding a terrible secret: one that could endanger the lives of everyone Edgin has come to care for - even if the loot is too good to pass up.
£20.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Furious Heaven
The second book in The Sun Chronicles trilogy, a galactic-scale, gender-swapped space opera series inspired by the life of Alexander the Great. Shrewd, brutal, relentless and patient, Queen-Marshal Eirene has led the Republic of Chaonia from the brink of annihilation to the edge of victory. One by one, her enemies have fallen in defeat, and now she is ready to push her battle-hardened fleets into territories long controlled by the mighty Phene Empire. But her victories are not without cost. The Republic has endured decades of conflict, with factions simmering beneath the surface, waiting for their chance to boil. The Phene know this. While they might not be able to defeat the Queen-Marshal in open battle, there are other ways to strike back. And on the eve of Eirene’s attack on the rich and populous Karnos System, they will. In the aftermath, Eirene’s daughter, Princess Sun, will face her greatest challenge yet. Can she escape her mother’s shadow and forge her own legend, despite all that’s arrayed against her? Reviews for the Sun Chronicles: 'Epic starship battles, court intrigue and Machiavellian betrayals' Guardian 'Enthralling, edge-of-your-seat stuff hurtling along at warp speed' Kirkus 'Not only is this action-packed with fascinating women characters, there is very inventive world-building and twisty turny political scheming' Book Riot 'Non-stop action! Space battles! Intrigue! This is the kind of space opera that I love best – but Elliott does it even better' Ann Leckie 'Breathtaking and mindblowingly good' Aliette de Bodard
£10.99
Cornerstone Star Wars Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade
When the Jedi Order falls, an Inquisitor Rises.Padawan Iskat Akaris has dedicated her life to traveling the galaxy alongside her master, learning the ways of the Force to become a good Jedi. Despite Iskat's dedication, peace and control have remained elusive, and with each setback, she feels her fellow Jedi grow more distrustful of her. Already uncertain about her future in the Jedi Order, Iskat faces tragedy when her master is killed and the Clone Wars engulf the galaxy in chaos.Now a general on the front lines contributing to that chaos, she is often reminded: Trust in your training. Trust in the wisdom of the Council. Trust in the Force. Yet as the shadows of doubt take hold, Iskat begins to ask questions that no Jedi is supposed to ask: Questions about her own unknown past. Questions the Jedi Masters would consider dangerous.As the years pass and the war endures, Iskat's faith in the Jedi wanes. If they would grant her more freedom, she is certain she could do more to protect the galaxy. If they would trust her with more knowledge, she could finally cast aside the shadows that have begun to consume her. When the Jedi Order finally falls, Iskat seizes the chance to forge a path of her own. She embraces the salvation of Order 66.As an Inquisitor, Iskat finds the freedom she has always craved: to question, to want. And with each strike of her red blade, Iskat moves closer to claiming her new destiny in the Force-whatever the cost.
£19.80
Fox Chapel Publishing The Home Blacksmith: Tools, Techniques, and 40 Practical Projects for the Blacksmith Hobbyist
As more and more people join the do-it-yourself revolution, they are breathing new life into many time-honored skills and crafts. Blacksmithing is among the trades that are enjoying a resurgence for both practical and artistic uses, yet there is not an abundance of readily accessible information available to beginning blacksmiths to help them get started and understand the craft. Author Ryan Ridgway, a veterinarian and blacksmith with more than fifteen years of metalworking experience, hopes to fill that void with this comprehensive volume geared toward answering the many questions that new blacksmiths often have. By explaining the physics of moving metal, the different styles of anvils and forges, and alternative fuel sources, Ridgway sets his book apart from less detailed volumes. Forty practical, easy-to-follow projects are presented, showing aspiring blacksmiths how to make tools, such as hammers and chisels; farm implements, such as gate latches and hoof picks; and items for home use, including drawer pulls and candle holders. Inside The Home Blacksmith: The evolution of blacksmithing around the world and the differences between the tools specific to each region The behavior of heated metal and the science of metalworking Setting up a shop safely and economically The heart of your shop--the anvil and forge--and the other essential tools Working with different types of steel, including how to salvage steel for different uses Techniques from beginning to advanced Step-by-step instructions for forty blacksmithing projects: tools and other implements as well as decorative pieces for personal use or sale
£13.49
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Shadow Wand
The New York Times bestselling series!Her world-altering secret can't be hidden much longer. Prepare to be spellbound by the third book in The Black Witch Chronicles by critically acclaimed fantasy author Laurie Forest.Elloren Gardner hides the most powerful secret in all Erthia—she is the Black Witch of Prophecy, and destined to triumph…or be used as the ultimate weapon of destruction.Separated from everyone she loves, isolated and hunted, Elloren must turn to the last person she can trust—her fastmate, Commander Lukas Grey. With the Mage forces of Gardneria poised to conquer all of Erthia, Elloren has no choice but to ally with Lukas and combine their power to keep herself out of the hands of Gardnerian leader Marcus Vogel…the holder of the all-consuming Shadow Wand.With just weeks to train to become a warrior, and no control over her magic, Elloren finds unexpected allies among those under orders to kill her. It’s time to step up. To fight back. And to forge onward through the most devastating loss yet.Critics are raving about Laurie Forest’s incredible debut, The Black Witch:“Forest uses a richly imagined magical world to offer an uncompromising condemnation of prejudice and injustice.” —Booklist, starred review“A noteworthy debut.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review“Briskly paced, tightly plotted.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewBooks in The Black Witch Chronicles: The Black Witch The Iron Flower The Shadow Wand The Demon Tide The Dryad Storm Wandfasted (ebook novella)* Light Mage (ebook novella)* * Also available in print in The Rebel Mages anthology
£8.99
Cornerstone Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Road to Neverwinter
Discover the thrilling origin stories of the bard Edgin, the barbarian Holga, and their whole adventuring party in this official prequel to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.Edgin Darvis' life is a mess. All that he has left are his lute, his dashing good looks, and...not much else. After a chance encounter with badass bruiser Holga, Edgin is forced to take a hard look at his bad choices. But the road to redemption is long, and paved with unforeseen expenses. Fortunately, the world is full of rich fools begging to be parted from their money.And so Edgin and Holga do what any sensible entrepreneurs would do - they form a crew.Joined by a charming rogue, Forge Fitzwilliam, and Simon, a sorcerer with an intense inferiority complex, the team sets out to line their pockets with both well-earned and ill-gotten gold. Together, Edgin's crew battles monsters across the realms: gnoll raiders, fey witches, and more fall beneath their sharp weapons and sharper wit. But when they encounter a new, more sophisticated villain, keen blades and piercing blue eyes may not be enough.Their target? Torlinn Shrake, a wealthy eccentric known for abusing his servants and hosting lavish parties.The plan? Play dress-up, sneak into the Shrake estate, and fill their pockets with as much loot as they can carry.The catch? Shrake is hiding a terrible secret: one that could endanger the lives of everyone Edgin has come to care for - even if the loot is too good to pass up.
£9.99
Amazon Publishing One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow: A Novel
From the bestselling author of The Ragged Edge of Night comes a powerful and poetic novel of survival and sacrifice on the American frontier. Wyoming, 1876. For as long as they have lived on the frontier, the Bemis and Webber families have relied on each other. With no other settlers for miles, it is a matter of survival. But when Ernest Bemis finds his wife, Cora, in a compromising situation with their neighbor, he doesn’t think of survival. In one impulsive moment, a man is dead, Ernest is off to prison, and the women left behind are divided by rage and remorse. Losing her husband to Cora’s indiscretion is another hardship for stoic Nettie Mae. But as a brutal Wyoming winter bears down, Cora and Nettie Mae have no choice but to come together as one family—to share the duties of working the land and raising their children. There’s Nettie Mae’s son, Clyde—no longer a boy, but not yet a man—who must navigate the road to adulthood without a father to guide him, and Cora’s daughter, Beulah, who is as wild and untamable as her prairie home. Bound by the uncommon threads in their lives and the challenges that lie ahead, Cora and Nettie Mae begin to forge an unexpected sisterhood. But when a love blossoms between Clyde and Beulah, bonds are once again tested, and these two resilient women must finally decide whether they can learn to trust each other—or else risk losing everything they hold dear.
£19.99
Biteback Publishing White Flag?: An Examination of the UK's Defence Capability
Britain is at a crossroads. As we leave the EU, we face a great challenge and also the opportunity to forge a new identity in an increasingly uncertain world. Our Armed Forces will be critical to our power and prosperity. For centuries, they have been the envy of the world. Now barely a day passes without reports of diminishing prowess. The number of Navy workhorse ships has been halved and the Army reduced to its smallest size since the Napoleonic war. Our spectacular new aircraft carriers and the F-35 fighter jet programme are mired in controversy. Meanwhile, the Armed Forces face questions about their purpose. The bitter experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan have undermined the concept of the military as a `force for good.' Voters are now sceptical of discretionary wars in faraway places. Aside from sporadic jihadi attacks, few believe there is any real threat to our way of life. Thus defence spending is no longer a public priority. Politicians know that there are more votes in schools and hospitals, even while they are deploy our troops onto the streets after suicide bombings or, more recently, a nerve agent attack. In what feels like peacetime, no wonder top brass have to justify big budgets. Yet this country faces an array of new and escalating threats, while Brexit and Donald Trump raise difficult questions over the future of our most important alliances. Have we become dangerously complacent? Are we still masters of our own destiny, or have we run up the white flag?
£18.00
Columbia University Press The Generation of Postmemory: Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaust
Can we remember other people's memories? The Generation of Postmemory argues we can: that memories of traumatic events live on to mark the lives of those who were not there to experience them. Children of survivors and their contemporaries inherit catastrophic histories not through direct recollection but through haunting postmemories--multiply mediated images, objects, stories, behaviors, and affects passed down within the family and the culture at large. In these new and revised critical readings of the literary and visual legacies of the Holocaust and other, related sites of memory, Marianne Hirsch builds on her influential concept of postmemory. The book's chapters, two of which were written collaboratively with the historian Leo Spitzer, engage the work of postgeneration artists and writers such as Art Spiegelman, W.G. Sebald, Eva Hoffman, Tatana Kellner, Muriel Hasbun, Anne Karpff, Lily Brett, Lorie Novak, David Levinthal, Nancy Spero and Susan Meiselas. Grappling with the ethics of empathy and identification, these artists attempt to forge a creative postmemorial aesthetic that reanimates the past without appropriating it. In her analyses of their fractured texts, Hirsch locates the roots of the familial and affiliative practices of postmemory in feminism and other movements for social change. Using feminist critical strategies to connect past and present, words and images, and memory and gender, she brings the entangled strands of disparate traumatic histories into more intimate contact. With more than fifty illustrations, her text enables a multifaceted encounter with foundational and cutting edge theories in memory, trauma, gender, and visual culture, eliciting a new understanding of history and our place in it.
£25.20
GMC Publications Silver Clay Workshop: Getting Started in Silver Clay Jewellery
If you love silver jewellery but don't have the time or patience to learn traditional silversmithing techniques, then the exciting medium of silver clay will open up a whole new range of possibilities to your jewellery making. Boasting all the same properties as modelling clay, it is 99.9 per cent pure silver meaning you can make high-quality jewellery using the easiest of techniques. This handy new book is perfect for anyone taking their first steps with this rewarding craft. Get stuck in to the varied series of 22 projects that show perfectly the versatility of silver clay. Shape, roll, cut, mould and indent your way through them, learning the techniques as you go. From pendants and bracelets to rings and statement beads, there will be something for everyone. AUTHOR: Melanie Blaikie's love of all things sparkly began when she trained as a diamond valuer for De Beers. She went on to forge a successful career as a jewellery designer working for many of the biggest names in the industry, including Garrard, Asprey and Tiffany. After studying traditional silversmithing techniques, Melanie discovered silver clay and fell in love with this amazing medium. She is now one of the foremost tutors of silver clay work in the UK and has contributed to Beads and Beyond magazine. SELLING POINTS: . Each project has a difficulty rating to show how you can progress from beginner to learning more advanced skills . Jargon-free expensive specialist tools and equipment . No need for expensive specialist tools and equipment . 22 quick and simple projects 436 colour photographs
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd The Tuscan Contessa: A heartbreaking new novel set in wartime Tuscany
ONE WAR. TWO WOMEN. WILL THEY BE ABLE TO SAVE THE ONES THEY LOVE?A sweeping new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling authorIn 1943, Contessa Sofia de' Corsi's peaceful Tuscan villa among the olive groves is upturned by the sudden arrival of German soldiers. Desperate to fight back, she agrees to shelter a wounded British radio engineer in her home, keeping him hidden from her husband Lorenzo - knowing that she is putting all of their lives at risk.When Maxine, an Italian-American working for the resistance, arrives on Sofia's doorstep, the pair forge an uneasy alliance. Feisty, independent Maxine promised herself never to fall in love. But when she meets a handsome partisan named Marco, she realizes it's a promise she can't keep...Before long, the two women find themselves entangled in a dangerous game with the Nazis. Will they be discovered? And will they both be able to save the ones they love?'Dinah Jefferies has a remarkable gift for conjuring up another time and place with lush descriptions, full of power and intensity' Kate Furnivall'A stunning story of love and loyalty in wartime' Rachel Hore'Beautiful writing, wonderful characters, gripping story, and such a gorgeously evoked Tuscan setting - how I loved this! Such a perfect, immersive summer read!' Jenny Ashcroft'A lush, fast-moving, gripping story that will keep you guessing till the last pages. A perfect summer read' Gill Paul'It's so rich & the historical details so transporting. Reading this novel is like being swept into a wonderful movie' Eve Chase
£8.42