Search results for ""author city"
McGill-Queen's University Press Local Government and Metropolitan Regions in Federal Countries: Volume 6
While local government is found in all federal countries, its place and role in the governance of these countries varies considerably. In some countries, local government is considered an essential part of the federal nature of the state and recognized in the constitution as such, whereas in others it is simply a creature of the subnational states/provinces. When referring to local government it is more correct to refer to local governments (plural), as these institutions come in all shapes and sizes, performing widely divergent functions. They range from metropolitan municipalities of mega-cities to counties, small town councils, and villages. Their focus is either multi-purpose in the case of municipalities or single purpose in the case of special districts and school districts. What unites these institutions of state is that there is no level of government below them. That is also their strength and the source of their democratic claim - they are the government closest to the people. Political science experts from across the globe examine local governments by drawing on case studies of Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, and United States. Contributors include Martin Burgi (Ruhr-University Bochum), Luis Cesar de Queiroz Ribeiro (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), Jaap de Visser (University of Western Cape), Habu Galadima (University of Jos), Sol Garson (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) Boris Graizbord (National College of Mexico), Rakesh Hooja (HCM Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration, India), Andreas Kiefer (European Affairs Office of the Land Salzburg), Andreas Ladner (Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration), George Mathew (Institute of Social Sciences, India), Mike Pagano (University of Illinois at Chicago), Graham Sansom (University of Technology Sydney), Franz Schausberger (Salzburg University), Nico Steytler (University of Western Cape), Francisco Velasco Caballero (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid), and Robert Young (University of Western Ontario).
£81.90
HarperCollins Publishers Conspiracy (Giordano Bruno, Book 5)
The No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling series The fifth book in S. J. Parris’s bestselling, critically acclaimed series following Giordano Bruno, set at the time of Queen Elizabeth I Perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom and Hilary Mantel PARIS, 1585 A KING WITHOUT AN HEIR Heretic-turned-spy Giordano Bruno arrives in Paris to find a city on the edge of catastrophe. King Henri III lives in fear of a coup by the Duke of Guise and his fanatical Catholic League, and another massacre on the streets. A COURT AT WAR WITH GOD When Bruno’s old rival, Father Paul Lefèvre is found murdered, Bruno is drawn into a dangerous web of religious politics and court intrigue. And watching over his shoulder is the King’s mother, Catherine de Medici, with her harem of beautiful spies. A DEADLY CONSPIRACY IN PLAY When murder strikes at the heart of the Palace, Bruno finds himself on the trail of a killer who is protecting a terrible secret. With the royal houses of France and England under threat, Bruno must expose the truth – or be silenced for good… Praise for S. J. Parris ‘A delicious blend of history and thriller’ The Times ‘An omnipresent sense of danger’ Daily Mail ‘Colourful characters, fast-moving plots and a world where one false step in religion or politics can mean a grisly death’ Sunday Times ‘Pacy, intricate, and thrilling’ Observer ‘Vivid, sprawling … Well-crafted, exuberant’ Financial Times ‘Impossible to resist’ Daily Telegraph ‘Twists and turns like a corkscrew of venomous snakes’ Stuart MacBride ‘It has everything – intrigue, mystery and excellent history’ Kate Mosse ‘The period is incredibly vivid and the story utterly gripping’ Conn Iggulden ‘A brilliantly unusual glimpse at the intrigues surrounding Queen Elizabeth I’ Andrew Taylor
£9.99
Transworld Publishers Ltd From My Sisters' Lips
Covered from head to toe with only her eyes visible, the sight of a Muslim woman on a western city street rarely fails to provoke a strong reaction. Feelings of shock, horror, repulsion, pity or even fear are not uncommon. But have you ever wondered who it is behind the veil and what makes her tick? Ever wondered what her life is really like and whether her dreams, hopes and aspirations differ from yours? From My Sisters' Lips offers a rare glimpse into the lives of a community of women, most of whom are converts to Islam, and invites you to share their joys, sorrows, convictions and faith.When Na'ima B Robert abandoned her western lifestyle and embraced Islam six years ago, it was not a decision taken lightly. Yet soon after she took her first tentative steps towards covering, she felt empowered; no longer judged on physical appearances alone, no longer seeking the approval to feel beautiful - or using her looks to wield power over men - the experience effected her greatly. Before long she grew in confidence and courage. As she says, 'Something just clicked. I thought, "Good, don't look; don't compare me with your latest squeeze, don't try and guess my measurements - my body is my own business!"'From My Sisters' Lips offers a glimpse into the lives of just some of the extraordinary women who, like herself, have chosen to live behind the veil. What emerges is a vivid and intimate portrait of a sisterhood; as they speak candidly and with conviction on a diverse range of subjects ranging from marriage to motherhood, stereotypes, submission and self-image, we hear the strong, proud voices of those who are seldom heard.
£10.99
Island Press Next Generation Infrastructure: Principles for Post-Industrial Public Works
The 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis-St. Paul quickly became symbolic of the debilitated interstate highway system, and of what many critics see as America's disinvestment in its infrastructure. The extreme vulnerability of single-purpose, ageing infrastructure was highlighted once again when Hurricane Sandy churned its way across the northeast United States. Inundating New York City's vital arteries, floodwaters overwhelmed tunnels and sewers; closed bridges; shut down mass transit; curtailed gas supplies; and destroyed streets, buildings, and whole neighbourhoods. Next Generation Infrastructure takes a critical but ultimately hopeful look at how our infrastructure networks can be made more efficient, less environmentally damaging, and more resilient. Brown argues that, if we're to chart a course for global sustainability, we must begin to design, regulate, and finance infrastructure that decouples carbon-intensive and ecologically harmful technologies from critical infrastructure systems, namely the essential systems for contemporary society: water, wastewater, power, solid waste, transportation, and communication. The book highlights hopeful examples from around the world, ranging from the Mount Poso cogeneration plant in California to urban rainwater harvesting in Seoul, South Korea, to the multi-purpose Marina Barrage project in Singapore. Brown encourages us to envision infrastructure within a larger economic, environmental, and social context, and to share resources across systems, reducing costs and extending benefits. This is a must read for professionals and students interested in a more resilient urban future including urban designers, architects, urban planners, urban policymakers, landscape architects, and engineers.
£30.23
Little, Brown Book Group A Death in Rembrandt Square
Guilty until proven innocent . . .It's hard for anyone to have their work scrutinised in public. For Amsterdam-based detective Lotte Meerman, listening to the Right to Justice podcast as they dissect one of her old cases is made even more harrowing as every episode makes fresh accusations of a bungled operation.As the podcast reveals hidden facts about the arrest of Ruud Klaver, the one thing Lotte is still convinced of is that it was Ruud who was guilty of the murder of a student near Rembrandt Square ten years earlier. However, when Ruud Klaver then dies in suspicious circumstances, only hours after the final podcast proving his innocence is broadcast, Lotte has to accept that maybe she was wrong.With the dead man's family passionately against her inclusion in the investigation into his death, the only way for Lotte to discover who killed him is by finding out where she went wrong all those years ago - if indeed she did go wrong. As Lotte digs deeper and involves colleagues from her past, it starts to look like the murder in Rembrandt Square was part of an even bigger deception . . .Praise for Anja de Jager'Captures the feel of Amsterdam . . . entirely convincing' Daily Mail'. . . a novel brilliantly evoking the isolation of a woman with an unbearable weight on her conscience'Sunday Times'The book succeeds as a portrait of both a city and, in its heroine, a delightfully dysfunctional personality'Sunday Express'An impressive debut . . . De Jager is as good on dodgy family relations as she is on police procedure'The Times'Detective Lotte Meerman is damaged by her past and tortured by the dreadful mistake she's made at work . . . Amsterdam in the vicious grip of a bitter winter is the other star here, beautiful and deadly' Cath Staincliffe
£8.99
Beta-Plus Seeking Sanctuary: Private Residences for True Relaxation
According to New York based interior designer, life coach and meditation teacher Joshua Smith, “When your home is your sanctuary, there’s a big exhale when you walk through that front door. It nourishes your spirit, inspires your mind, and enhances your connection to yourself, your loved ones and the divine, however you might define that” (in Homes & Gardens, January 2023). For Shelby Deering, designer of the tranquil spaces of The Well (with locations in New York City, Washington, Miami, Costa Rica and Mexico), "Over the last few years, our homes have become more important than ever. Throughout the pandemic, we saw them function as offices, gyms, schools, restaurants — and, of course, our own little corners of the world where we were able to find relief from daily pressures and anxiety. Because of this shift, it’s no wonder that people have made efforts to refresh their living quarters to focus more on health, wellness and self-care. After all, when the environment around you feels like a calming refuge, those peaceful vibes can directly impact how you feel.” The 15 private residences presented in this beautiful book can all be called “sanctuaries” because they all seek to support and protect the well-being of their owners, families and guests. Everyone needs a happy place, a space to relax, unwind, and let the worries of everyday life melt away. Some may dream of white-sand beaches, while others may prefer cozy mountain chalets, or a meditative, decluttered wabi sabi interior in a cosmopolitan setting. Whether in Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, Crete, St. Barts, Spain or in Belgium - all over the world, people are searching for the ultimate comfort, safety and happiness in their own cocoon, their own protective environment.
£78.30
Ebury Publishing Unbound: A Woman’s Guide To Power
Stop being a servant of the life you’re living and become a creator of the world you want. Electrifying lessons in power, influence and persuasion to equalise women in an unequal world.Why do so many women feel they're too much yet not enough? How can you feel ‘good and mad’ yet reluctant to speak up in a meeting or difficult conversation? What causes women to freeze at critical moments?Kasia Urbaniak spent 17 years studying to become a Taoist nun. To foot the bill for her studies, she worked as a high-paid (and extremely successful) dominatrix in dungeons around New York City. What she learned in these two wildly different settings has turned into her life’s work. UNBOUND brings Urbaniak’s unique teachings for women on speaking power, persuading others and navigating conflict to a mainstream audience for the first time. Part polemic, part practical, it opens women’s eyes to why they frequently find it so difficult – personally, professionally and socially – to raise their voices, why they freeze in challenging circumstances and what they can do to change this. Too often women find themselves in the role of ‘sub’ when they need to be more ‘dom’ – in short they are paralysed by their Good Girl Syndrome and a deep-seated need to please everyone and anyone except themselves. UNBOUND offers precise, practical instruction in how to stand in your power, find your voice and use it well. Part manual, part manifesto, it will help you cut through layers of self-censoring and self-doubt to go after what you truly want, and live your wildest, best and most satisfying life.
£16.99
Fraenkel Gallery,US Lee Friedlander: Mannequin
Lee Friedlander is one of the few artists in any medium to have sustained a body of influential work over five decades. To make the photographs in Mannequin, he returned to the hand-held, 35-mm camera that he used in the earliest decades of his career. Over the past three years, Friedlander has roamed the sidewalks of New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, focusing on storefront windows and reflections that conjure marketplace notions of sex, fashion and consumerism, while recalling Atget’s surreal photographs of Parisian windows made 100 years earlier. Thoroughly straightforward, their unsettling and radical new compositions suggest photographs that have been torn up and pasted back together again in near-random ways. Lee Friedlander (born 1934) first came to public attention in the landmark exhibition New Documents, at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1967. The range of his work since then—including portraits, nudes, still lifes and studies of people at work—is anchored in a uniquely vivid and far-reaching vision of the american scene. More than 40 books about his work have been published since the early 1970s, including Self-Portrait, Sticks and Stones, Cherry Blossom Time in Japan, Family, America by Car, People at Work and The New Cars 1964. His career was the focus of a major traveling retrospective organized by The Museum of Modern Art in 2005. His work can be found in depth in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art, among many others.
£44.99
Octopus Publishing Group Philip's Britain and Ireland Road Map
'THE BEST OF ITS KIND, WITH QUICK EASY-TO-USE INFORMATION' Fleet WeekPhilip's super-clear road map of Britain and Ireland, fully updated with the latest route-planning, tourist and driving information. Whether you are planning a road trip of the British Isles or just ensuring you take the best roads from A to B, this map will take you where you wish to go.The bestselling fold-out road map for navigating in Britain and Ireland has been completely updated for all those wanting to go places in the British Isles - England, Scotland, Wales and all of Ireland. Whether driving through the most spectacular scenic routes each country has to offer, working out which county boundary applies, or planning your trip from Edinburgh to London, this handy map has all you need.- Super-clear mapping scale 1:830,000 (13 miles to 1 inch)- Key driving information: motorways (toll, pre-pay and free), mountain routes, railways, canals, road numbers, plus distances between towns- All County Boundaries and Local Councils clearly marked- Fully revised and up-to-date with the latest tourist and leisure information- Scenic routes clearly highlighted from coastal to mountainous- Places of interest: from castles, heritage sites, beaches and national parks to theme parks, places of worship and ancient monuments- Includes the Channel Islands and Isle of Man- Double-sided maps - more for your money and easier to use- Detailed city plans: London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Dublin and Belfast- Full index of place names In fact, everything you need for going places in Britain and Ireland
£7.15
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Raven Banner
'FAST-PACED, DETAILED AND BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN [FOR] FANS OF BERNARD CORNWELL, GEORGE R.R. MARTIN AND THEODORE BRUN' HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY. Einar Unnsson will be a great warrior, whether he wants it or not. AD 935 - Late Winter, City of Jorvik. Einar Unnsson is destined to be a great Icelandic warrior. He has already defeated the men sent to kill him by his notorious father, Jarl Thorfinn, the 'Skull Cleaver' of Orkney. He has a gift that makes him lethal in battle. Yet he has cast it all off to be a bard. When three men attack him, Einar's poetry provides little protection. Luckily, the skilled archer and Norse-Irish princess Affreca saves him. She'd assumed Einar had left to raise an army, challenge Thorfinn and seize the Jarldom of Orkney. Now she's determined to set him back onto his rightful path. Einar soon finds himself entangled on Affreca's own mission. She's seeking the Raven Banner for King Eirik. Legend has it that the banner is imbued with powerful magic. That it was a gift from the Norse God Odin and any army that marches behind it will be victorious. The quest sets events in motion that are beyond Einar's control. Einar has no choice but to face his fate and swing his sword once more... 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
Simon & Schuster What the Taliban Told Me
A powerful, timely memoir of a young Air Force linguist coming-of-age in a war that is lost.When Ian Fritz joined the Air Force at eighteen, he did so out of necessity. He hadn’t been accepted into college thanks to an indifferent high school career. He’d too often slept through his classes as he worked long hours at a Chinese restaurant to help pay the bills for his trailer-dwelling family in Lake City, Florida. But the Air Force recognizes his potential and sends him to the elite Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, to learn Dari and Pashto, the main languages of Afghanistan. By 2011, Fritz was an airborne cryptologic linguist and one of only a tiny number of people in the world trained to do this job on low-flying gunships. He monitors communications on the ground and determines in real time which Afghans are Taliban and which are innocent civilians. This eavesdropping is critical to supporting Special Forces units on the ground, but there is no training to counter the emotional complexity that develops as you listen to people’s most intimate conversations. Over the course of two tours, Fritz listens to the Taliban for hundreds of hours, all over the country night and day, in moments of peace and in the middle of battle. What he hears teaches him about the people of Afghanistan—Taliban and otherwise—the war, and himself. Fritz’s fluency is his greatest asset to the military, yet it becomes the greatest liability to his own commitment to the cause. Both proud of his service and in despair that he is instrumental in destroying the voices that he hears, What the Taliban Told Me is a brilliant, intimate coming-of-age memoir and a reckoning with our twenty years of war in Afghanistan.
£17.09
New York University Press Archiving an Epidemic: Art, AIDS, and the Queer Chicanx Avant-Garde
Honorable Mention, 2021 Latinx Studies Section Outstanding Book Award, given by the Latin American Studies Association Winner, 2020 Latino Book Awards in the LGBTQ+ Themed Section Finalist, 2019 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Studies Critically reimagines Chicanx art, unmasking its queer afterlife Emboldened by the boom in art, fashion, music, and retail culture in 1980s Los Angeles, the iconoclasts of queer Aztlán—as Robb Hernández terms the group of artists who emerged from East LA, Orange County, and other parts of Southern California during this period—developed a new vernacular with which to read the city in bloom. Tracing this important but understudied body of work, Archiving an Epidemic catalogs a queer retelling of the Chicana and Chicano art movement, from its origins in the 1960s, to the AIDS crisis and the destruction it wrought in the 1980s, and onto the remnants and legacies of these artists in the current moment. Hernández offers a vocabulary for this multi-modal avant-garde—one that contests the heteromasculinity and ocular surveillance visited upon it by the larger Chicanx community, as well as the formally straight conditions of traditional archive-building, museum institutions, and the art world writ large. With a focus on works by Mundo Meza (1955–85), Teddy Sandoval (1949–1995), and Joey Terrill (1955– ), and with appearances by Laura Aguilar, David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, and even Eddie Murphy, Archiving an Epidemic composes a complex picture of queer Chicanx avant-gardisms. With over sixty images—many of which are published here for the first time—Hernández’s work excavates this archive to question not what Chicanx art is, but what it could have been.
£24.99
Scholastic A Christmas Carol
A beautiful edition of the classic tale, A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge is a miserly and mean-spirited old man. He treats family, coworkers, and strangers alike with distaste. But on Christmas Eve he receives a visit from the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley warns Scrooge that unless he learns to be less greedy and self-serving that Scrooge will be condemned to wander Earth weighed down with heavy chains, as Marley has been. Marley tells Scrooge that three spirits will visit him. First, the Ghost of Christmas Past visits and shows Scrooge his own Christmases past, including the Christmas when his fiancé left him for being obsessed with money. Second, the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge all the happiness occurring at the various Christmas festivities around the city. Finally, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge what will happen after his own death, and Scrooge is horrified to find that everyone will celebrate it. Distraught, Scrooge begs for another chance, and suddenly wakes in his own bed. Forever after he honours the spirit of Christmas with kindness, generosity and warmth. a classic Christmas story which will be read over each year Studying this for GSCE? - check out Scholastic's revision flashcards (9781407183541), study guide (9781407182650) and guidebook for writing the best answers possible (9781407183985). SCHOLASTIC "INK DOT" CLASSICS - Collect them all! A Christmas Carol Black Beauty Five Children and It Frankenstein Jane Eyre Macbeth Oliver Twist Romeo and Juliet Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Treasure Island What Katy Did
£7.01
Great Northern Books Ltd On The Tracks Of The Thames-Clyde Express
There was nothing quite like the Thames-Clyde Express. Covering well over 400 miles, its route stretched from the dreaming spires of London’s St Pancras via the Shires of England, the legendary Settle-Carlisle line, Walter Scott’s Border Country and finally into Glasgow – the Second City of Empire. It never offered the quickest journey between England and Scotland, but it was undoubtedly the most scenic. A former signalman on the tracks of the Thames-Clyde Express, David Pendleton has written what he terms ‘a love letter’ to this famous named train. Rather than a text ending on the sad day in 1975 when the last train reached its destination, he instead views its history and the route it traversed from a present-day perspective. Here is a rich mix of anecdotes and observations, including attractions and oddities either visible from today’s train services or within easy reach of principle stations Gavin Morrison, one of Britain’s most experienced railway photographers, has compiled more than 60 books and has gained the highest reputation for the quality of his work. He is able to capture the Thames-Clyde Express in its glory days and portray both steam and diesel locomotives on the complete route from London to Glasgow in its many moods. The result is a superb array of images taken during a lengthy period of well over 60 years between 1955 and 2022. Collectively this book is a journey in both words and pictures that is highly informative and richly illustrated. It is to be enjoyed as a record of recent times as well as evoking memories of years long past
£19.99
Canelo Change of Heart: An uplifting and escapist love story
Two families at war and Alice finds herself caught in the middle. Can she re-write a story as old as time?When cutbacks force Alice out of her assistant manager role at a Devonshire stately home, she turns her sights elsewhere: the picturesque hills above the historic city of Parma. An aristocratic Italian family are looking to open their medieval castle to the public, and Alice is just the woman for the job.Four years ago, a life-changing accident pushed Alice into depression, but the beauty and charm of the Italian countryside works its magic in brightening her days. Especially when she keeps bumping into handsome Luca… But rivalries run deep in the town, and Alice’s work – not to mention her potential love life – are caught in the middle of a long-standing feud between two families.With her job and future happiness in peril, can Alice save the future of the castle, and bring two warring families together?A gorgeous and uplifting romance, for fans of Rosanna Ley, Sue Moorcroft and Lucy Coleman.Praise for Change of Heart ‘The characters are strong, well developed, and truly relatable. The plot moved along quickly and the description of the setting once again left me with a desire to go back to Italy.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘I loved the character of Luca and I could picture the beautiful scenery with the turn of each page. A great read!’⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘I loved the strong and clever heroine. The plot is lovely, fast-paced and made me root for the characters. A well plotted, poignant, and compelling story that I strongly recommend.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review
£8.99
Hodder & Stoughton The Red Monarch: The Brontë sisters take on the underworld of London in this exciting and gripping sequel
'Teeming with details of the Brontës, of the times and the city, this is such a pleasurable read' - NB Magazine 'Captivating' - Crime Monthly'Filled with twists, turns and Gothic touches, and a strong feminist streak' - Bradford TelegraphThe Brontë sisters' first poetry collection has just been published, potentially marking an end to their careers as amateur detectors, when Anne receives a letter from her former pupil Lydia Robinson.Lydia has eloped with a young actor, Harry Roxby, and following her disinheritance, the couple been living in poverty in London. Harry has become embroiled with a criminal gang and is in terrible danger after allegedly losing something very valuable that he was meant to deliver to their leader. The desperate and heavily pregnant Lydia has a week to return what her husband supposedly stole, or he will be killed. She knows there are few people who she can turn to in this time of need, but the sisters agree to help Lydia, beginning a race against time to save Harry's life.In doing so, our intrepid sisters come face to face with a terrifying adversary whom even the toughest of the slum-dwellers are afraid of . . . The Red Monarch.Praise for Bella Ellis and the series:'Evocative and utterly enchanting' Sarah Hilary'Bella Ellis is a very special talent' Angela Clarke'Brilliantly entertaining and original' C.L. Taylor'More heart-warming than blood-chilling' Sunday Express'Ellis's writing flows beautifully' Yorkshire Magazine'Elegant, witty and compulsively readable - I think the Brontë sisters would have been delighted' Rosie Walsh'A breath-taking concept . . . Fun, charming and intriguing' Araminta Hall'A delight' Wall Street Journal
£9.99
Ebury Publishing The Girl and the Goddess
*BRITISH BOOK OF THE YEAR* EasternEyePicked as as one of STYLIST'S *BEST AUTUMN READS OF 2020* 'A much-needed escape into a lyrical world'Let her be a little less human, a little more divineGive her heart armour so it doesn't break as easily as mineOne girl's wild journey of strength, beauty and growth as she discovers who she really is.Lyrical wonder, spiritual revelation and revolution meet with epic mythical landscapes in this deeply intimate coming-of-age story, one that teaches us all, no matter how small we feel, to become the masters of our own destiny.Meet Paro. A girl with a strong will, a full heart and much to learn. Born into a family reeling from the ruptures of Partition, follow her as she crosses the precarious lines between childhood, teenage discovery and realising her adult self.Nikita Gill's masterful poetry and beautiful illustrations conjure up jasmine-scented voices and smiles inhabited by ancestor's souls, rain dancing in a new city and the painful caverns in our hearts. We are taken on a journey of deity wisdom, fragmented family, and love lost and gained. We see power in belief, healing from trauma and hope after conflict. Undercurrents of the Trimurti - the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer - run deep, as Paro must confront fear, desire and the darkest parts of herself in the search for meaning and, ultimately, empowerment.Navigating different cultures, religions and identities, The Girl and the Goddess is a mesmerising poetic tale of where we come from, how we grow and how we become who we are.'A moving, layered story' The Irish Times'One of the best books of the year ... a spiritually enriching experience' EasternEye
£12.99
Orion Publishing Co Under Occupation
THE TIMES '100 BEST SUMMER READS''Magnificent' Sunday Times'Gripping... the twists and intrigue keep coming' Observer 'As ever, Furst vividly evokes a sense of time and place' Mail on Sunday (Must-Read Books of the Year)Occupied Paris, 1942. In the dark, treacherous city, the German occupying forces are everywhere-and so are French resistance fighters, working secretly to defeat Hitler.Just before he dies, a man being chased by the Gestapo hands off a strange-looking document to the unsuspecting novelist Paul Ricard. It looks like a blueprint of a part for a military weapon - one that might have important information for the Allied forces - and Ricard realizes he must try to get it into the hands of members of the resistance network. As he finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into anti-German efforts, Ricard travels deep into enemy territory and along the escape routes of underground resistance safe houses, spying on Nazi maneuvers. And when he meets the mysterious and beautiful Leila, a professional spy, they begin to work together to get crucial information out of France and into the hands of the Allied forces in London. ALAN FURST - The master of the historical spy novel 'Alan Furst is in a class of his own' William Boyd'Furst is an addiction' The Times'If you are a John le Carre' fan, this is definitely for you' James Patterson 'Furst's ability to recreate the terrors of espionage is matchless' Robert Harris'America's preeminent spy novelist' New York Times'Furst never stops astounding me' Tom Hanks'How I envy anybody who has not yet discovered Furst's writing' Telegraph
£9.04
Bradt Travel Guides St Helena
This fully revised fourth edition of Bradt's St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha remains the only guide to these three British Overseas Territories, tiny volcanic islands that are virtual specks in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and which thanks to the opening of a new airport in 2017 are more accessible than ever before. Rugged, volcanic and very remote, as Napoleon's place of exile following the Battle of Waterloo, St Helena has gained a notoriety that assures its place in the travel lexicon. This fully revised edition includes all the most recent information, from the latest details of how to get there to expanded practical information on the airport, more detail on several of the Post Box walks and the mountain bike trail, and more in-depth information about what to do and where to go in Ascension. Also covered are details of the 2021 Napoleon Bicentenary, plus dedicated sections on what to do in the islands' two gateway cities: 48 hours in Johannesburg and 48 hours in Cape Town. Wildlife enthusiasts, nature lovers, hikers, and travellers interested in history and heritage are all catered for. The endemic flora and fauna is one of the islands' chief attractions, with 1,000 species of birds observed on St Helena alone. Also covered are the inspiring Millennium Forest project, where visitors give something back by planting an endemic tree, and sea safaris for spotting the area's abundant marine life, including whale sharks, dolphins and humpback whales, as well as fish and seabirds. Boat trips, which can include snorkelling and diving, are increasingly popular. How to visit Jonathan the Tortoise is included, too: hatched circa 1832, he is the oldest living land animal on the planet. Despite increased accessibility, these three islands are likely to preserve their reputation amongst the most unspoiled destinations in the world. With Bradt's St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, be one of the intrepid few to visit.
£18.99
Tate Publishing Tate Photography: Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen
‘Before I ever thought of a project, I began photographing whatever struck me as beautiful, amazing, worth telling about … In all of my work, testimonies have been an important element of the projects.’ Born in Finland, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen studied in London, founding the Amber Film & Photography Collective with her fellow students, and then moved to North East England in the 1960s. She has been based in Newcastle ever since, deeply rooted in the local community. Focusing on two of her photographic series – Byker (1969–83) and Writing in the Sand (1978–98) – this book captures a working class neighbourhood and reveals the devastating impact that the redevelopment of Newcastle’s East End had on the community, but also the moments of joy of the group outings to the beach. Konttinen’s love for this part of the world is at the heart of these moving but never sentimental pictures. Her photographs and Amber’s films were inscribed in the British section of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2011. The Tate Photography Series is a celebration of international photography in the Tate collection and an introduction to some of the greatest photographers at work today. With the direct involvement of living photographers in collaboration with photography curators, these books showcase the best and most notable images taken across the globe, from city streets to seashores, moving across landscapes and through subcultures, in a visual travelogue of our world. Each book contains a new conversation between curator and photographer and is prefaced with a short introduction. The theme for the first four titles is Community and Solidarity. Also available in this series are: Liz Johnson Artur (978-1-84976-801-6) Sabelo Mlangeni (978-1-84976-802-3) Sheba Chhachhi (978-1-84976-803-0)
£12.00
Oxford University Press Inc Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny
Misogyny is a hot topic, yet it's often misunderstood. What is misogyny, exactly? Who deserves to be called a misogynist? How does misogyny contrast with sexism, and why is it prone to persist - or increase - even when sexist gender roles are waning? This book is an exploration of misogyny in public life and politics, by the moral philosopher and writer Kate Manne. It argues that misogyny should not be understood primarily in terms of the hatred or hostility some men feel toward all or most women. Rather, it's primarily about controlling, policing, punishing, and exiling the "bad" women who challenge male dominance. And it's compatible with rewarding "the good ones," and singling out other women to serve as warnings to those who are out of order. It's also common for women to serve as scapegoats, be burned as witches, and treated as pariahs. Manne examines recent and current events such as the Isla Vista killings by Elliot Rodger, the case of the convicted serial rapist Daniel Holtzclaw, who preyed on African-American women as a police officer in Oklahoma City, Rush Limbaugh's diatribe against Sandra Fluke, and the "misogyny speech" of Julia Gillard, then Prime Minister of Australia, which went viral on YouTube. The book shows how these events, among others, set the stage for the 2016 US presidential election. Not only was the misogyny leveled against Hillary Clinton predictable in both quantity and quality, Manne argues it was predictable that many people would be prepared to forgive and forget regarding Donald Trump's history of sexual assault and harassment. For this, Manne argues, is misogyny's oft-overlooked and equally pernicious underbelly: exonerating or showing "himpathy" for the comparatively privileged men who dominate, threaten, and silence women.
£28.51
John Murray Press The Perfect Summer
'As page-turning as a novel' Joanna TrollopeOne summer of nearly a hundred years ago saw one of the high sunlit meadows of English history. A new king was crowned; audiences swarmed to Covent Garden to see the Ballet Russes and Nijinskys gravity-defying leaps. The aristocracy was at play, bounding from house party to the next; the socialite Lady Michelham travelled with her nineteen yards of pearls. Rupert Brooke (a 23-year-old poet in love with love, Keats, marrons glaces and truth) swam in the river at Grantchester. But perfection was over-reaching itself. The rumble of thunder from the summer's storms presaged not only the bloody war years ahead: the country was brought to near standstill by industrial strikes, and unrest exposed the chasm between privileged and poor; as if the heat was torturing those imprisoned in society's straitjacket and stifled by the city smog. Children, seeking relief from the scorching sun, drowned in village ponds. What the protagonists could not have known is that they were playing out the backdrop to WWI; in a few years time the world, let alone England, would never be the same again. Through the eyes of a series of exceptional individuals; a debutante, a suffragette, a politician, a trade unionist, a butler and the Queen; Juliet Nicolson illuminates a turning point in history. With the gifts of a great storyteller she rekindles a vision of a time when the sun shone but its shadows fell on all.'Juliet Nicolson has taken this 'perfect summer' as the backdrop for an ambitious work of multiple biography, which sets the extravagance of the upper classes against the increasingly desperate lives of the poor' Observer'Evoke[s] the full vivid richness of how it smelt, looked, sounded, tasted and felt to be alive in England during the months of such a summer' Lady
£14.99
Orion Publishing Co When in Rome
A city of love, food, music and passion - this is a novel for anyone who fell in love with LA DOLCE VITA.Rome in the 1950s, there's nowhere quite like it. The narrow stone streets, the fountains and piazzas full of life in the heat of the day, the cafes and bars full of music and desire by night...This is where Serafina calls home. Having grown up with her sisters in a tiny apartment tucked in the top of a tumbledown building, she has watched her mother get by on next to nothing, and turn herself beautiful with a sweep of eyeliner and a hand-sewn dress. When her mother goes out, Serafina and her sisters go singing in the nearest piazza, busking for spare change and cinema tickets. The girls long to meet their matinee idols and Serafina daydreams of Mario Lanza and his spellbinding voice. But the sisters will grow up quickly and for Serafina, a choice opens between the world she knows and the life she dreams of.Readers are loving Nicky Pellegrino!'I could smell the fresh pasta, feel the sunshine, smell the sea breeze and feel my worries wash away. It was lovely to stumble down the cobbled paths and stroll along the beautiful scenery''Through Italy, through food, through heartbreak, through love, through family. Add in a pinch of karmic justice and you have the perfect read with a joyful ending!''Once again Nicky Pellegrino had me captivated with this amazing story. It made me laugh, made me cry. I read it in one afternoon''I will say that if you are a woman on the cusp of discovering who you are and what your heart desires...then you will devour this book as I did''Such a great escapism read, full of emotions and family drama with love'
£9.99
Island Press Over the Seawall: Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, and the Delusion of Controlling Nature
In March 2011, people in a coastal Japanese city stood atop a seawall watching the approach of the tsunami that would kill them. They believed—naively—that the huge concrete barrier would save them. Instead, they perished, betrayed by the very thing built to protect them. Erratic weather, blistering drought, rising seas, and ecosystem collapse now affect every inch of the globe. Increasingly, we no longer look to stop climate change, choosing instead to adapt to it. Never have so many undertaken such a widespread, hurried attempt to remake the world. Predictably, our hubris has led to unintended—and sometimes disastrous—consequences. Academics call it maladaptation; in simple terms, it’s about solutions that backfire. Over the Seawall tells us the stories behind these unintended consequences and about the fixes that can do more harm than good. From seawalls in coastal Japan, to the re-engineered waters in the Ganges River Delta, to the artificial ribbon of water supporting both farms and urban centres in parched Arizona, Stephen Robert Miller traces the histories of engineering marvels that were once deemed too smart and too big to fail. In each he takes us into the land and culture, seeking out locals and experts to better understand how complicated, grandiose schemes led instead to failure, and to find answers to the technologic holes we’ve dug ourselves into. Over the Seawall urges us to take a hard look at the fortifications we build and how they’ve fared in the past. It embraces humanity’s penchant for problem-solving, but argues that if we are to adapt successfully to climate change, we must recognize that working with nature is not surrender but the only way to assure a secure future.
£26.00
University of Minnesota Press Turkish Berlin: Integration Policy and Urban Space
The integration of immigrants into a larger society begins at the local level. Turkish Berlin reveals how integration has been experienced by second-generation Turkish immigrant women in two neighborhoods in Berlin, Germany. While the neighborhoods are similar demographically, the lived experience of the residents is surprisingly different. Informed by first-person interviews with both public officials and immigrants, Annika Marlen Hinze makes clear that local integration policies—often created by officials who have little or no contact with immigrants—have significant effects on the assimilation of outsiders into a community and a society. Focusing on the Turkish neighborhoods of Kreuzberg and Neukölln, Hinze shows how a combination of local policy making and grassroots organizing have contributed to one neighborhood earning a reputation as a hip, multicultural success story and the other as a rougher neighborhood featuring problem schools and high rates of unemployment. Aided by her interviews, she describes how policy makers draw from their imaginations of urban space, immigrants, and integration to develop policies that do not always take social realities into consideration. She offers useful examples of how official policies can actually exacerbate the problems they are trying to help solve and demonstrates that a powerful history of grassroots organizing and resistance can have an equally strong impact on political outcomes.Employing spatial theory as a tool for understanding the complex processes of integration, Hinze asks two related questions: How do immigrants perceive themselves and their experiences in a new culture? And how are immigrants conceived of by politicians and policy makers? Although her research highlights the German–Turk experience in Berlin, her answers have implications that resonate far beyond the city’s limits.
£23.99
Little, Brown Book Group Children Of The Mind: Book 4 of the Ender Saga
Achieves and delivers more than almost anything else within the science fiction genre, Ender's Game is a contemporary classic - New York Times'Card's prose is powerful here, as is his consideration of mystical and quasi-religious themes. Though billed as the final Ender novel, this story leaves enough mysteries unexplored to justify another entry; and Card fans should find that possibility, like this novel, very welcome indeed.' - Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Children of the MindThe planet Lusitania is home to three sentient species: the Pequeninos; a large colony of humans; and the Hive Queen, brought there by Ender. But once again the human race has grown fearful; the Starways Congress has gathered a fleet to destroy Lusitania.Jane, the evolved computer intelligence, can save the three sentient races of Lusitania. She has learned how to move ships outside the universe, and then instantly back to a different world, abolishing the light-speed limit. But it takes all the processing power available to her, and the Starways Congress is shutting down the Net, world by world. Soon Jane will not be able to move the ships. Ender's children must save her if they are to save themselves.The dazzling Ender series, which has changed the face of science fiction, concludes.Books by Orson Scott Card:Alvin Maker novelsSeventh SonRed ProphetPrentice AlvinAlvin JourneymanHeartfireThe Crystal CityEnder Wiggin SagaEnder's GameSpeaker for the DeadXenocideChildren of the MindEnder in Exile HomecomingThe Memory of the EarthThe Call of the EarthThe Ships of the EarthEarthfallEarthbornFirst Formic War (with Aaron Johnston)Earth UnawareEarth AfireEarth Awakens
£9.99
Flame Tree Publishing Hidden Realms Short Stories
With new stories by modern writers and classic tales from many traditions, Hidden Realms Short Stories delves into the secret corridors, the hidden doors at the end of the alley, the hole in the trunk of an ancient oak. This new collection of fantasy stories continues the bestselling Gothic Fantasy series by mixing open submissions and classic literature (from Alice in Wonderland to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and tales of the hidden city of Telassar) exploring the adventures of hidden places, secret gardens, and shadow lands in forests and mountains, in the swamps and wild places of our world, and beyond. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Florence Adongo Bull, Monica Butler, Sam Dawson, Kat François, Evelyn Freeling, Sandra M. Grayson, Deanne Heron, Liam Hogan, Jennifer Hudak, Zoe Kaplan, E.E. King, Amanda Cecelia Lang, Karima Leslie, Susan L. Lin, Briana Una McGuckin, David McVey, Ville Meriläinen, Eric Montag, Marshall J. Moore, Michelle Muenzler, Chiamaka Muoneke, Aimee Ogden, Takbir Rahman, Lance Schonberg, Anna Taborska, Kanishk Tantia, Brian Trent, William H. Wandless, J. Weintraub, and Ramez Yoakeim. These feature alongside classic stories by the likes of Lewis Carroll, Lord Dunsany, George MacDonald, Mary de Morgan and Edith Nesbit. The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.
£18.00
Headline Publishing Group Summer at Primrose Tower: The perfect holiday read for 2022
Perfect for fans of Josie Silver and Katie Fforde, this is a joyful summer read about finding yourself and starting over with the help of great friends. 'It gets five big, shiny stars from me. If you want community, friendship and love, this is the perfect read' Sue Moorcroft'Uplifting, romantic and fun, guaranteed to leave you smiling!' Holly Martin'A blooming lovely story! A delightful cast of characters and a good dose of friendship, love and challenges along the way. A perfect tonic to real life' Kate Frost ___________A fresh start gives love a second chance to bloom...When florist Jennie lands a job in Primrose Hill, it's the perfect chance for her to follow her dreams in the city. But when a wealthy client gets her fired, Jennie takes a leap of faith, setting up a flower business of her own.Moving into Primrose Tower with new friend Kat, Jennie meets a group of strong women who she must call on when she lands the biggest wedding of her career. But it's hard to stay focussed when James, a charming doctor, keeps distracting her.With a little help from her new friends, can Jennie juggle her difficult ex, saving her career and pulling off the wedding of the year?And will love blossom for Jennie and James, this Summer at Primrose Tower? ___________PRAISE FOR ANNIE ROBERTSON: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The perfect summer read'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A wonderful escapist tale about friendship, family, love and new beginnings'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A fab read, really enjoyed it'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Laughs and tears galore with a gorgeous, heart-warming ending'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I couldn't stop reading it'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'It was such a wonderful escape'
£9.04
Catalyst Books Ndima Ndima
From debut Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Mapepa comes the saga of the four Taha sisters, and the indomitable matriarch who carried her daughters—and her community—through times of drought and violence in their Harare neighborhood. From the red soil of her garden in Southgate 1, a crowded suburb of Harare, Nyeredzi watches the world. She knows not to venture beyond the grasses that fence them off from the bush, where the city’s violent criminals and young lovers claim the night. But on this red soil, she is sovereign. It is here where she learns how to kill snakes, how to fight off a man, and how to take what she is due. It is here where Nyeredzi and her three older sisters are raised, and where they will each find a different destiny.Decades prior, a young woman abandons a position of great power to seek justice in the second Chimurenga War, only to return to find her world in shambles. So Zuva Mutongi sets off to build a world of her own, raising four daughters—Nyeredzi, Hannah, Abigail, and Ruth—and defending them from the evils beyond their small Harare home. But when a letter from her long-estranged brother calls her back to a past life, Zuva must reconcile with her duty and heal the broken community she left behind.Tsitsi Mapepa’s vibrant debut is the history of a new Zimbabwe, with resilient women and men who raised a nation from its ashes. It is the chronicle of an L-shaped house, long awaited and much beloved, and the guests, welcome and unwelcome, who cross its threshold. It is the coming-of-age of four sisters, who will discover the secrets of womanhood on the volatile streets of Harare. But above all, it is a love song to one woman—a soldier, healer, chief, and mother—whose fierce devotion to her people is a testament to the bonds of blood that bind us all.
£14.99
Goose Lane Editions A Sharp Tooth in the Fur
The thirteen provocative stories in A Sharp Tooth in the Fur, Darryl Whetter's first collection, offer lots of sex, a bit of violence, and a wickedly clever exploration of human nature.Backed into emotional corners, Darryl Whetter's men are creatures of feckless energy and intermittent idealism. Their fragile relationships break up easily, and men who don't retreat into pot-fuelled lethargy revert to ambitious self-destruction. Excellent as he is at capturing his characters' essence, Darryl Whetter is mature enough to view the men in particular, but also the women, with considerable irony. Whetter's "heroes" are often men in their twenties or thirties, men with little self-knowledge but boundless self-centredness and sexual appetite.The event that propels several stories is the break-up of a marriage, a love affair, or a liaison of convenience. When separation doesn't inspire pot-induced lethargy, it goads these men to frenzy. Backed into emotional corners, they revert to self-destruction. Sometimes, as in the hilarious "Profanity Issues," valiantly suppressed rage, shame, and terror erupt at a weird angle, and blind loyalty to an impulsive misjudgement snowballs into weeks of public humiliation. "Non-Violent, Not OK" is an insider's view of the 2001 Quebec City riot. The central character, Chuck, is encouraged in an abstract sort of way by his lazily liberal prof, equipped by a father who thinks money fixes everything, and armed with pop-psych instructions from a bloodless riot manager. Innocent of ideology, he wanders aimlessly around in the tear gas, offering his Maalox-based eye-spray to friend and foe alike. In "A Sharp Tooth in the Fur," an ex-couple acts out a highly original sexual fantasy that's as hilarious as it is shocking. From the classroom to the laundromat, from Paris to the mosquito-infested Ontario bush, Whetter dissects a portion of human experience that has never been so deftly explored, revealing the psyche of the 20-something male.
£15.99
Skyhorse Publishing Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival
“We were invisible. We had to be. We took an oath of absolute secrecy. We never even told our immediate families who we were. We went about our lives in New York City. Just like you. We were your accountants, money managers, lawyers, executive recruiters, doctors. We owned your child’s private school and sold you your brownstone. But you’d never guess our secret lives, how we lived in a kind of silent terror and fervor. There were hundreds of us.” Right under the noses of neighbors, clients, spouses, children, and friends, a secret society, simply called School—a cult of snared Manhattan professionals—has been led by the charismatic, sociopathic and dangerous leader Sharon Gans for decades. Spencer Schneider was recruited in the eighties and he stayed for more than twenty-three years as his life disintegrated, his self-esteem eroded, and he lined the pockets of Gans and her cult.Cult members met twice weekly, though they never acknowledged one another outside of meetings or gatherings. In the name of inner development, they endured the horrors of mental, sexual, and physical abuse, forced labor, arranged marriages, swindled inheritances and savings, and systematic terrorizing. Some of them broke the law. All for Gans.“During those years,” Schneider writes, “my world was School. That’s what it’s like when you’re in a cult, even one that preys on and caters to New York’s educated elite. This is my story of how I got entangled in School and how I got out.” At its core, Manhattan Cult Story is a cautionary tale of how hundreds of well-educated, savvy, and prosperous New Yorkers became fervent followers of a brilliant but demented cult leader who posed as a teacher of ancient knowledge. It’s about double-lives, the power of group psychology, and how easy it is to be radicalized—all too relevant in today's atmosphere of conspiracy and ideologue worship.
£18.00
Murdoch Books Australian Food
The long-awaited new cookbook from the king of relaxed Australian cafe style food'Every city has one cafe that becomes the poster child for its inner spirit, and for Sydney, it is bills. Bill has a way of synthesising market produce + eggs + sunshine + freshness into something you didn't know you wanted, but you wanted it bad.' TERRY DURACK'Bill Granger [is] the restaurateur who is most responsible for the Australian cafe's global reach.' AMELIA LESTER, The New Yorker In the 20 years since Bill Granger published his first book of recipes, Sydney Food, the world has fallen in love with the joyfully casual Australian way of eating. As a self-taught cook, straight out of art school, Bill furnished his first street-corner eatery in minimalist style, serving a small but perfectly formed menu of domestic dishes around a central communal table. He captured the hearts of Sydneysiders and visitors alike, while setting an exciting new standard for cafe dining. Since then, Bill has been crowned the 'egg master of Sydney' (New York Times 2002), the 'king of breakfast' (The Telegraph Magazine, 2016), the 'creator of avocado toast' (Washington Post 2016) and 'the restaurateur most responsible for the Australian cafe's global reach' (The New Yorker 2018).Nowadays, from Sydney to Tokyo, and London to Seoul, queues form to enjoy ricotta hotcakes ('Sydney's most iconic dish' Good Food 2019), fluffy scrambled eggs, lively salads and punchy curries. It is a bright picture of Australian food that has travelled across the globe, packed with fresh flavours and local produce, healthy but never preachy, whose main ingredient seems to be sunshine itself. The plates at any of Bill's restaurants are more sophisticated today, reflecting decades of global experience and culinary creativity - but the warmth of atmosphere and joy of eating remain the same.
£22.50
Amber Books Ltd Afghanistan
“The United States of America will use all our resources to conquer this enemy. We will rally the world. We will be patient. We’ll be focused, and we will be steadfast in our determination.” – President George W. Bush, September 12, 2001 On September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorists hijacked four airliners, crashing them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and near the White House, killing nearly 3,000 people. Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network quickly claimed responsibility for the outrage. The aftermath still reverberates around the world today, with President Bush declaring a “War on Terror” against al-Qaeda and its allies. By October, the US military was carrying out air strikes against al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, and US ground forces were deployed against bin Laden’s protectors, the incumbent Taliban regime. By June 2002 the Taliban had been ousted and a US-friendly government established in the capital, Kabul. But the campaign didn’t end there, as American and allied NATO forces became bogged down for the next two decades. Afghanistan provides a photographic exploration of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, from the first deployment of US special forces in October 2001 to the final withdrawal of US forces in August 2021. In between, the book offers a compact overview of the operations fought by the US and NATO forces against the Taliban/al- Qaeda insurgency, including the bombing of the Tora Bora cave complex, Operation Anaconda, President Obama’s deployment surge, the Navy SEAL’s assassination of Osama bin Laden in neighbouring Pakistan, the development of a local Afghan army, police force and government, the eventual withdrawal of US forces and the collapse of the Afghan administration amidst renewed Taliban pressure. Afghanistan offers a concise pictorial history of the war that came to define US policy in Central Asia and the Middle East in the 21st century.
£17.99
Tuttle Publishing Tagalog Stories for Language Learners: Folktales and Stories in Filipino and English (Free Online Audio)
The most enjoyable way to learn about a new culture is through its stories—especially when they're told in two languages!This book introduces 40 stories from the Philippines through bilingual Tagalog and English texts presented on facing pages. Paired with cultural notes, vocabulary lists, exercises, comprehension questions and free online audio recordings, Tagalog Stories for Language Learners is an excellent resource for intermediate language learners, or those who wish to pick up a bit of Phlippine cultural knowledge.This compilation includes a mix of traditional folktales retold for a modern audience, as well as several well-known works of contemporary Philippine literature. Along the way, you will meet fabulous mythological characters like the Bagobo goddess Mebuyan and the shape-shifting Aswang. Other characters cope with day-to-day issues, such as the domestic worker who cannot find her keys and a beauty queen who leaves behind her comfortable city life in order to help peasants in the countryside.Four of the stories are by well-known Filipino writers and are presented in complete or partially condensed form. These include: Estrangheritis by Inigo Ed. Regalado (1907) — The writer is critical of Filipinos who exalt all things foreign while, in fact, benefitting from their own land but unappreciative of their national culture. Desire by Paz Latorena (1928) — The story of a Filipino woman who has to deal with the narrow-mindedness of a foreigner who is far more interested in her body than in her personality. Greta Garbo by Deogracia Rosaro (1930) — Monina, who looks like Greta Garbo, plans a weekend getaway with her beau, only to be left at the station waiting, and later discovers he has gone on a honeymoon! Maria Elena Paterno's Sampaguita (1991) —Two popular legends about the Sampaguita (Philippine jasmine flower) which touch on the themes of courage and forbidden love.
£14.39
Penguin Books Ltd Americana
His first novel, Don DeLillo's Americana passionately articulates the neurotic landscape of contemporary American life through a disintegrating embodiment of the American dream.Prosperous, good-looking and empty inside, 28-year-old advertising executive David Bell appears on the surface to have everything. But he is a man on the brink of losing his sanity. Trapped in a Manhattan office with soulless sycophants as his only company, he makes an abrupt decision to leave New York for America's mid-west. His plan: to film the small-town lives of ordinary people and make contact with the true heart of his homeland. But as Bell puts his films together in his hotel room, he grows increasingly convinced that there is no heart to find. Modern America has become a land that has reached the end of its reel...Don DeLillo (b.1936) was born and raised in New York City. Americana (1971), his first novel, announced the arrival of a major literary talent, and the novels that followed confirmed his reputation as one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in late-twentieth-century American fiction. DeLillo's comic gifts come to the fore in White Noise (1985), which won the National Book Award, Underworld (1997), hailed by Martin Amis as 'the ascension of a great writer', Cosmopolis (2003), adapted into a film by David Cronenberg, due to be released later this year, and Falling Man (2007), a novel about the aftereffects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.If you enjoyed Americana, you might like DeLillo's Libra, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'He's a writer who, once you read him, makes you want to read everything he's done'Martin Amis, Sunday Times'Witty, clever and incisive ... a marvellously realized plot'Time Out'Nearly every sentence of Americana rings true ... DeLillo is a man of frightening perception'Joyce Carol Oates
£9.99
Vintage Publishing Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot
**Sunday Times Bestseller****Book of the Week on Radio 4**'A beautiful book about a part of the modern world which remains genuinely magical’ Mark Haddon'One of the most constantly fascinating, but consistently under-appreciated aspects of modern life is the business of flying. Mark Vanhoenacker has written the ideal book on the subject: a description of what it’s like to fly by a commercial pilot who is also a master prose stylist and a deeply sensitive human being. This is a man who is at once a technical expert – he flies 747s across continents – and a poet of the skies. This couldn’t be more highly recommended.' Alain de BottonThink back to when you first flew. When you first left the Earth, and travelled high and fast above its turning arc. When you looked down on a new world, captured simply and perfectly through a window fringed with ice. When you descended towards a city, and arrived from the sky as effortlessly as daybreak.In Skyfaring, airline pilot and flight romantic Mark Vanhoenacker shares his irrepressible love of flying, on a journey from day to night, from new ways of mapmaking and the poetry of physics to the names of winds and the nature of clouds. Here, anew, is the simple wonder that remains at the heart of an experience which modern travellers, armchair and otherwise, all too easily take for granted: the transcendent joy of motion, and the remarkable new perspectives that height and distance bestow on everything we love.‘A beautiful, contemplative book… What Skyfaring gives is something we need: elevation; another perspective… Normally when I find a volume where prose style and subject matter fuse so pleasingly, I tear through it in a day. Here, I found myself pausing on almost every page, as I absorbed its detail or phrasing.’ Nicholas Lezard, Guardian**A 2015 Book of the Year – The Economist, The New York Times, GQ and more**
£10.99
Cornerstone Grave Secrets: (Temperance Brennan 5)
___________________________________The gripping Temperance Brennan novel from world-class forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs, the international #1 bestselling crime thriller writer and the inspiration behind the hit TV series Bones.In the searing heat of Guatemala, Dr Temperance Brennan must harden herself against the horrors she excavates.And then four young girls go missing from Guatemala City.When a skeleton is found at the back of a rundown hotel, only someone with Tempe's expertise can deduce the identity and cause of death. But as she searches for answers, her path is blocked at every turn. It is clear that some people will stop at nothing to keep Guatemala's secrets buried.___________________________________ Dr Kathy Reichs is a professional forensic anthropologist. She has worked for decades with chief medical examiners, the FBI, and even a United Nations Tribunal on Genocide. However, she is best known for her internationally bestselling Temperance Brennan novels, which draw on her remarkable experience to create the most vividly authentic, true-to-life crime thrillers on the market and which are the inspiration for the hit TV series Bones. ___________________________________ Many of the world's greatest thriller writers are huge fans of her work: 'Kathy Reichs writes smart – no, make that brilliant – mysteries that are as realistic as nonfiction and as fast-paced as the best thrillers about Jack Reacher, or Alex Cross.' JAMES PATTERSON 'One of my favourite writers.' KARIN SLAUGHTER 'I love Kathy Reichs? – always scary, always suspenseful, and I always learn something.' LEE CHILD 'Nobody does forensics thrillers like Kathy Reichs. She’s the real deal.' DAVID BALDACCI 'Each book in Kathy Reichs’s fantastic Temperance Brennan series is better than the last. They’re filled with riveting twists and turns – and no matter how many books she writes, I just can’t get enough!' LISA SCOTTOLINE 'Nobody writes a more imaginative thriller than Kathy Reichs.' CLIVE CUSSLER
£9.99
Cornerstone Coal: A Human History
The fascinating, often surprising story of how a simple black rock altered the course of history, perfect for fans of Mark Kurlansky's Salt and Jeremy Paxman's Black Gold. 'A passionate plea for a more considered way of treating the earth, its resources and its inhabitants' DAILY TELEGRAPH____________________________________________________________Coal has transformed societies, fueled economies, and expanded frontiers. It made China a twelfth-century superpower, inspired the writing of the Communist Manifesto, and helped the northern states win the American Civil War. Yet the mundane mineral that built our global economy has also caused death, disease, and environmental destruction. In this remarkable book, Barbara Freese takes us on a rich historical journey that begins three hundred million years ago and spans the globe. From the 'Great Stinking Fogs' of London to the rat-infested coal mines of Pennsylvania, from the impoverished slums of Manchester to the toxic city streets of Beijing, Coal is a captivating narrative about the simple black rock that helped build our modern world, but now endangers our future. ____________________________________________________________'Elegant and engaging . . . No subject is more important for understanding the recent past, and preparing for the future.' SUNDAY TIMES'The incredible story of Britain's black goal.' DAILY MAIL'Eloquent . . . unsparing . . . The relation between carbon and climate change has seldom been so clearly and readably explained.' SCOTSMAN'As much about the growing scientific evidence of the damage coal causes to the environment as it is about the social history of the Industrial Revolution.' FINANCIAL TIMES'Freese wants readers to be clear about just how vital coal has been to our era of human development because she hopes to persuade us that it's time to enter a new one.' NEW YORK TIMES 'An absorbing book that never loses its grip.' NEW SCIENTIST'Fascinating . . . It lingers hauntingly in the mind.' NEW STATESMAN'As this human history of coal makes clear, there are no easy answers. . . A welcome contribution to the search for a sustainable energy economy.' NATURAL HISTORY
£12.99
University Museum Publications The Roman Peasant Project 2009-2014: Excavating the Roman Rural Poor
This book presents the results of the first systematic archaeological study of Roman peasants. It examines the spaces, architecture, diet, agriculture, market interactions, and movement habitus of non-elite rural dwellers in a region of southern Tuscany, Italy, during the Roman period. Volume 1 presents the excavation data from eight non-elite rural sites including a farm, a peasant house, animal stall/work huts, a ceramics factory, field drains, and a site of uncertain function, here framed as individual chapters complete with finds analysis. Volume 2 examines this data synthetically in thematic chapters addressing land use, agriculture, diet, markets, and movement. The results suggest a different, more sophisticated Roman peasant than heretofore assumed. The data suggests that Roman peasants particularly in the first century BC/AD built specialized sites distributed throughout the landscape to maximize use of diverse land parcels. This has important implications for the interpretation of field survey data, the estimate of rural demographics from that survey, and assumptions about the long-term changes to human settlement. It also points to an important moment of agricultural intensification in this period, a contention beginning to be supported by other studies. The project also identified sophisticated systems of land use, including crop rotation and an important investment in animal agriculture. This work presents the first systematic data from Roman Italy for rural consumption, tracking the fine wares made at a production site to local sites nearby. This supports the largely theoretical problematizing of the so-called consumer city model and suggests the potential importance of rural aggregate demand. Movement studies, based on finds from the sites themselves, describe a more mobile population than anticipated, engaged in quotidian and long-distance movement patterns, supported by the small but steady stream of imports and exports into and out of this seemingly liminal region. The book concludes by addressing the implications of this new data for major questions in Roman social and economic history.
£101.00
Simon & Schuster No One Tells You This: A Memoir
Featured in multiple “must-read” lists, No One Tells You This is “sharp, intimate…A funny, frank, and fearless memoir…and a refreshing view of the possibilities—and pitfalls—personal freedom can offer modern women” (Kirkus Reviews).If the story doesn’t end with marriage or a child, what then? This question plagued Glynnis MacNicol on the eve of her fortieth birthday. Despite a successful career as a writer, and an exciting life in New York City, Glynnis was constantly reminded she had neither of the things the world expected of a woman her age: a partner or a baby. She knew she was supposed to feel bad about this. After all, single women and those without children are often seen as objects of pity or indulgent spoiled creatures who think only of themselves. Glynnis refused to be cast into either of those roles, and yet the question remained: What now? There was no good blueprint for how to be a woman alone in the world. It was time to create one. Over the course of her fortieth year, which this “beguiling” (The Washington Post) memoir chronicles, Glynnis embarks on a revealing journey of self-discovery that continually contradicts everything she’d been led to expect. Through the trials of family illness and turmoil, and the thrills of far-flung travel and adventures with men, young and old (and sometimes wearing cowboy hats), she wrestles with her biggest hopes and fears about love, death, sex, friendship, and loneliness. In doing so, she discovers that holding the power to determine her own fate requires a resilience and courage that no one talks about, and is more rewarding than anyone imagines. “Amid the raft of motherhood memoirs out this summer, it’s refreshing to read a book unapologetically dedicated to the fulfillment of single life” (Vogue). No One Tells You This is an “honest” (Huffington Post) reckoning with modern womanhood and “a perfect balance between edgy and poignant” (People)—an exhilarating journey that will resonate with anyone determined to live by their own rules.
£13.28
Great Northern Books Ltd Piercing The Pennines: Heroic railways linking Lancashire and Yorkshire
Lancashire and Yorkshire led Britain and the world into the industrial revolution, yet were long cut off by the Pennine chain. The railway age finally brought the two counties together and ensured the continued growth of Manchester as Britain's second city. It was linked to Leeds and Sheffield by a series of heroic railway tunnels, three of which were successively the longest in the world when completed in the 1840s. Often taken for granted, this book portrays them as extraordinary achievements against seemingly insuperable odds that deserve the fullest recognition. These pages look not just at the tunnels and the men who created them but also at how lines built through them connected key stations either side of the Pennines. They step back further in history to show how canals paved the way for the railways and also look forward to the future with its brave talk of HS3 achieving journey times that seem unimaginable. There is a remarkable collection of illustrations ranging from period lithographs through to present-day photographs. The many varied themes in this book include: * The vision of George Stephenson - 'Father of Railways' * Navvies left to fend for themselves in huts thrown together with loose stones and thatch * Drunken riots following pay day * Death and chronic illness at Woodhead tunnel on top of the Pennines * Enginemen coming close to suffocation when working heavy freights through the tunnels * Early travellers who preferred to get off and walk rather than travel through a tunnel behind a 'steam monster' * Branwell Bronte, errant brother of the literary sisters, dismissed for constant carelessness at a Calder Valley station * The magnificent Huddersfield station - a stately home with trains * The Midland Railway with almost eight miles of tunnel between Sheffield and Manchester * Inferno in a tunnel when a derailed tanker train caught fire and temperatures reached 1,500 degrees C. * The superb new Woodhead tunnel with its electric services that closed to passengers after only 16 years
£19.99
Headline Publishing Group The Stranger Next Door: The completely unputdownable thriller with a jaw-dropping twist
SHE WAS THE PERFECT NEIGHBOUR. UNTIL SHE WASN'T.'A brilliant, twisty, read, that kept me reading late into the night' SUE WATSON'All the very best ingredients for a perfect thriller! I thoroughly recommend it' SAMANTHA HAYES'A fascinating and unputdownable thriller with a devious twist' JOHN MARRS'So many twists and turns. I never saw the ending coming' RACHEL ABBOTT'I read it over two nights' PATRICIA GIBNEY_________________When Matt and Imogen move out of the city, they're hoping for a much-needed fresh start. Matt throws himself into his new job, but Imogen struggles to adjust to life in the suburbs. She's grateful for the kind welcome from new neighbour Nancy, and they soon become close friends.So when Nancy makes a shocking accusation, Imogen doesn't know who to trust. This isn't the first time Matt has found himself on the wrong end of a false accusation. . . but is Nancy hiding secrets of her own?As simmering tensions threaten to boil over, Imogen is in more danger than she realises. Can she uncover the truth before she loses everything?A completely gripping and nail-biting thriller with a jaw-dropping twist, perfect for anyone who loved The Couple at No. 9, The Family Upstairs, Here to Stay or An Unwanted Guest._________________READERS LOVE THE STRANGER NEXT DOOR:'So sinister and so much simmering tension - and that final twist! I'm usually good at foreseeing a twist but not this time...' JACKIE KABLER'Twisty, compelling and incredibly pacy, The Stranger Next Door will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last' PHOEBE MORGAN'I tore through this perfectly plotted tale of secrets and lies' VICTORIA SELMAN'A superb domestic drama that smolders the whole way through' JAMES DELARGY'It was completely addictive! . . . the twist at the end was genuinely (and I don't get to say this all that often) unexpected' ELLE CROFT
£10.04
Pen & Sword Books Ltd RMS Queen Mary: The World's Favourite Liner
Probably the most famous, and certainly one of the best-loved ships in the world, the Cunard transatlantic liner RMS Queen Mary has now been preserved at Long Beach, California as a floating hotel and tourist attraction for more than fifty years, comfortably longer than her 31-year career as an ocean liner. Laid down in 1930, Queen Mary's construction was severely delayed by the Great Depression. Eventually completed in 1936, the ship was an instant success, capturing the famous Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic later that year, and regaining it in 1938\. During the Second World War she served as a troop ship, carrying a total of 810,730 troops and also setting the record for the most individuals carried in a single voyage - 16,683 - which stands to this day. By the time she ceased passenger service in 1967, superseded by the airliner as the preferred mode for international travel, Queen Mary had carried nearly three million people, from royalty, politicians and film stars to emigrants and cruise passengers. After her sale to the city of Long Beach she underwent a major conversion for her new life as a visitor attraction, a role she has continued ever since. During this time however, her story has been far from straightforward, with controversies over management, funding and even the structural integrity of the very ship itself. She now remains the only 1930s superliner left in the world. The original edition of RMS Queen Mary, the World's Favourite Liner was published in 1994\. This new and expanded edition has been completely revised and brought up to date to describe the ship's last twenty-five years, and it incorporates a wealth of new photography. Lavishly produced and stunningly illustrated throughout with views of the ship under construction, at sea in her heyday and at rest in Long Beach, it will appeal to all ocean liner enthusiasts and those more general readers fascinated by the heyday of transatlantic travel.
£36.00
Transworld Publishers Ltd Generation Kill
Generation Kill is about the young men sent to fight their nation's first open-ended war since Vietnam. Despite the flurry of media images to come of the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, you have never really met any of these people, who serve as front-line troops. For whatever reason, the media simply doesn't get them. As we all know, news accounts of the last two wars focused almost exclusively on battlefield imagery of high-tech weapons wreaking astounding destruction, comply with analysis from retired army grandees and other experts, punctuated by the odd heart-warming patriotic sound-bite. The troops themselves play a role in the media's presentation of recent wars rather like extras in The Triumph of the Will. They are everywhere yet somehow invisible. When they speak you get the sense that what they are saying has been carefully scripted. Now Generation Kill tells the soldiers' story in their own words.The narrative focuses on a platoon of 23 marines, many of them veterans of Afghanistan, whose elite reconnaissance unit spearheaded the blitzkrieg on Iraq. This is the story of young men that have been trained to become ruthless killers. It's about surviving death. It's about taking part in a war many questioned before it even began.Evan Wright was the only reporter with First Recon, which operated well ahead of most other forces, usually behind enemy lines. They were among the first marines sent into the fight and one of the last units still engaged on the outskirts of Iraq, even after the city centre fell. Generation Kill is not just a combat chronicle but an inside look at how people fighting in war actually experience it. It is both an action narrative like Black Hawk Down and a detailed portrait of a generation at war along the lines of Band of Brothers. It is not a book you are going to forget in a hurry...
£10.99
Little, Brown Book Group Empire: A sweeping epic saga of Ancient Rome
In the international bestseller Roma, Steven Saylor told the story of the first thousand years of Rome by following the descendants of a single bloodline. Now, in Empire, Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the Pinarius family, from the reign of the first emperor, Augustus, to the glorious height of Rome's empire under Hadrian. Through the eyes of the Pinarii, we witness the machinations of Tiberius, the madness of Caligula, the cruel escapades of Nero, and the chaos of the Year of Four Emperors in 69 A.D. The deadly paranoia of Domitian is followed by the Golden Age of Trajan and Hadrian-but even the most enlightened emperors wield the power to inflict death and destruction on a whim. Empire is strewn with spectacular scenes, including the Great Fire of 64 A.D. that ravaged the city, Nero's terrifying persecution of the Christians, and the mind-blowing opening games of the Colosseum. But at the novel's heart are the wrenching choices and seductive temptations faced by each new generation of the Pinarii. One unwittingly becomes the sexual plaything of the notorious Messalina. One enters into a clandestine affair with a Vestal virgin. One falls under the charismatic spell of Nero, while another is drawn into the strange new cult of those who deny the gods and call themselves Christians. However diverse their destinies and desires, all the Pinarii are united by one thing: the mysterious golden talisman called the fascinum handed down from a time before Rome existed. As it passes from generation to generation, the fascinum seems to exercise a power not only over those who wear it, but over the very fate of the empire. Praise for Steven Saylor: 'Saylor expertly weaves the true history of Rome with the lives and loves of its fictional citizens.' Daily Express 'Saylor's scholarship is breathtaking and his writing enthrals' Ruth Rendell 'With the scalpel-like deftness of a Hollywood director, Saylor puts his finger on the very essence of Roman history.' Times Literary Supplement 'Readers will find his work wonderfully (and gracefully) researched...this is entertainment of the first order.' Washington Post
£10.99
Headline Publishing Group The Devil's Assassin: Battle of Khoosh-Ab, 1857
JACK LARK: SOLDIER, LEADER, IMPOSTER.The third book in the gripping military adventure series for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Matthew Harffy and Simon Scarrow. 'Paul Collard has become one of the most readable figures in Historical Fiction' Parmenion Books 'Paul Fraser Collard commands the genre of historical action adventure with as much aplomb as Jack Lark commands his troops' Matthew Harffy 'If you loved Bernard Cornwell, then you'll love this' The Founding FieldsBombay, 1857. Jack Lark is living precariously as an officer when his heroic but fraudulent past is discovered by the Devil - Major Ballard, the army's intelligence officer. Ballard is gathering a web of information to defend the British Empire, and he needs a man like Jack on his side. Not far away, in Persia, the Shah is moving against British territory and, with the Russians whispering in his ear, seeks to conquer the crucial city of Herat. The Empire's strength is under threat and the army must fight back. As the British march to war, Jack learns that secrets crucial to the campaign's success are leaking into their enemies' hands. Ballard has brought him to the battlefield to end a spy's deceit. But who is the traitor? THE DEVIL'S ASSASSIN sweeps Jack Lark through a thrilling tale of explosive action as the British face the Persian army in the inky darkness of the desert night.THE DEVIL'S ASSASSIN: JACK LARK BOOK 3 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ READERS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF JACK LARK: 'The Devil's Assassin is yet another win from a writer at the top of his game.' 'Life and death on the frontline is so viscerally described that you can smell and taste the blood and powder' 'Everything you need in an historical military novel. Intrigue, deception, the horror of combat, revenge...' 'Jack Lark is a hero I'll happily follow' 'Jack Lark is one of my favourite literary creations of the modern swathe of historical fiction.'
£9.99
University of Texas Press Roman Military Law
Rome was the law-giver for much of the modern world. She was also the greatest military power of antiquity, operating her military organization with remarkable efficiency and effectiveness throughout most of the then-known world. In view of the importance of both the legal and military aspects of the Roman Empire, an account of their combination in a system of disciplinary control for the Roman armies is of considerable significance to historians in both fields—and, in fact, to scholars in general. In Roman Military Law, C. E. Brand describes this system of control. Since a characterization of such a system can be made most meaningful only against a background of Roman constitutional government and in the light of ideologies current at the time, Brand follows his initial “Note on Sources” with a sketch of the contemporary Roman scene. This first section includes a discussion of the Roman constitution and an examination of Roman criminal law. The history of Rome, as a republic, principate, and empire, extended over a period of a thousand years, so any attempt to represent a generalized picture must be essentially a matter of extraction and condensation from the voluminous literature of the whole era. Nevertheless, from the fantastic evolution that is the history of Rome, Brand has been able to construct a more or less static historical mosaic that may be considered typically “Roman.” This comes into sharpest focus during the period of the Punic Wars, when the city and its people were most intensely Roman. The picture of the Roman armies is set into this basic framework, in chapters dealing with military organization, disciplinary organization, religion and discipline, and offenses and punishments. The final section of the book considers briefly the vast changes in Roman institutions that came about under the armies of the Empire, and then concludes with the Latin text and an English translation of the only known code of Roman military justice, promulgated sometime during the later Empire, preserved in Byzantine literature, and handed down to medieval times in Latin translations of Byzantine Greek law, which it has heretofore been confused.
£21.99
Everyman Marco Polo Travels
Marco Polo set off on his travels from Venice as a young man in 1271, and returned home in 1295 after spending 24 years away, 17 of them in China. He isone of the few early adventurers whose name nearly everyone knows. His book was one of the best-loved works of the Middle Ages, and has remained popular ever since. At a time when China is again assuming global importance, his account of China under the Mongol emperor Khubilai Khan - the dazzlingly splendid capital in Beijing, the great southern metropolis of Hangzhou - is a classic reminder of the antiquity of Chinese power and civilization.Marco Polo also portrays countries and cities all along the trade route from the Mediterranean to Mongolia. He reminds us that Iraq's present suffering is not unique by relating the story of the attack on Baghdad by Mongol forces in 1258. He conveys the daunting prospect of the deserts of central Asia and the distant charms of Yunnan. And he reminds us of the huge merchant ships dominating China's trade with foreign countries, ships that far outstripped their European counterparts. He even writes about Japan, the first European to do so. His book was often thought of as a book of marvels, but one of its striking features to a contemporary reader is its clarity, realism and tolerance. As this new edition shows, he sometimes exaggerates, but his reputation for making things up is quite unfair, as Colin Thubron makes clear in his introduction. The original manuscript of Marco Polo's book is lost, and in the many later versions names and other details have become so garbled that it has been said that his itineraries are impossible to follow. This new Everyman edition shows this need not be so. It explains clearly all the references in the book, and shows in detail with new maps the routes described from Venice to Beijing, from Beijing to Burma, and from Beijing to south-east China. It also provides an up-to-date history of the book and the controversies surrounding it.
£15.99