Search results for ""rebellion""
Penguin Putnam Inc A Grain of Wheat
Barack Obama, via Facebook: “A compelling story of how the transformative events of history weigh on individual lives and relationships.”The Nobel Prize–nominated Kenyan writer’s best-known novel, featuring an introduction by Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak GurnahSet in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya's independence from Britain, A Grain of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have been transformed by the 1952–1960 Emergency. At the center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village's chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret. As we learn of the villagers' tangled histories in a narrative interwoven with myth and peppered with allusions to real-life leaders, including Jomo Kenyatta, a masterly story unfolds in which compromises are forced, friendships are betrayed, and loves are tested.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
£13.68
University College Dublin Press John Mitchel
John Mitchel (1815-75) was born at Camnish, near Dungiven, Co. Derry, the son of a Presbyterian minister. After qualifying as a solicitor, he became a leading contributor to the Nation newspaper and the most militant of the Young Irelanders. Sentenced to 14 years' transportation for attempting to incite rebellion in Ireland in 1848, in captivity he wrote his famous "Jail Journal", which starkly expressed his hatred of the British empire and had an immense influence on later nationalists. Escaping to America after five years, he became a strong supporter of slavery and the Confederate States, and two of his sons died fighting for the South.The harshness of his views, especially his violent hatred of Britain and support for slavery, does much to explain Mitchel's neglect in recent decades. He was, however, one of the most powerful polemical journalists of the nineteenth century and a central figure in the revival of militant Irish nationalism. His portrayal of the famine as deliberate genocide became central to nationalist orthodoxy, and his hatred of British rule and contempt for parliamentary politics did much to inspire Fenianism.This new biography attempts to discover the origins of Mitchel's views, to examine their influence, and to place his anglophobia in a more general critique of the age in which he lived.
£14.39
Stanford University Press Civil War in Guangxi: The Cultural Revolution on China's Southern Periphery
Guangxi, a region on China's southern border with Vietnam, has a large population of ethnic minorities and a history of rebellion and intergroup conflict. In the summer of 1968, during the high tide of the Cultural Revolution, it became notorious as the site of the most severe and extensive violence observed anywhere in China during that period of upheaval. Several cities saw urban combat resembling civil war, while waves of mass killings in rural communities generated enormous death tolls. More than one hundred thousand died in a few short months. These events have been chronicled in sensational accounts that include horrific descriptions of gruesome murders, sexual violence, and even cannibalism. Only recently have scholars tried to explain why Guangxi was so much more violent than other regions. With evidence from a vast collection of classified materials compiled during an investigation by the Chinese government in the 1980s, this book reconsiders explanations that draw parallels with ethnic cleansing in Rwanda, Bosnia, and other settings. It reveals mass killings as the byproduct of an intense top-down mobilization of rural militia against a stubborn factional insurgency, resembling brutal counterinsurgency campaigns in a variety of settings. Moving methodically through the evidence, Andrew Walder provides a groundbreaking new analysis of one the most shocking chapters of the Cultural Revolution.
£23.39
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Winner's Curse
THE FIRST BOOK IN THE HEART-STOPPING WINNER’S TRILOGY: an irresistible story of forbidden romance and class warfare ‘Every line in The Winner's Curse is beautifully written. The story is masterfully plotted. The characters' dilemmas fascinated me and tore at my heart… I loved it. I want more.’ Kristin Cashore, author of the Graceling Realm books Winning what you want may cost you everything you love. As a general's daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. Kestrel has other ideas. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in Arin, a young slave up for auction. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him - and for a sensational price that sets the society gossips talking. It's not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for him is much higher than she ever could have imagined. The first novel in a stunning trilogy, The Winner’s Curse is a story of romance, rumours and rebellion, where dirty secrets and careless alliances can be deadly – and everything is at stake.
£8.99
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken
“A heartbreaking and bittersweet novel about the need for queer joy even in the midst of the horrors of war. The ending had me in tears.”—Malinda Lo, New York Times bestselling and National Book Award–winning author of Last Night at the Telegraph ClubFor fans of Ruta Sepetys and Malinda Lo, a heart-wrenching queer historical YA romance set in the Swing Youth movement of World War II BerlinCharlotte Kraus would follow Angelika Haas anywhere. Which is how she finds herself in an underground club one Friday night the summer before World War II, dancing to contraband American jazz and swing music, suddenly feeling that anything might be possible.Unable to resist the allure of sharing this secret with Geli, Charlie returns to the club again and again, despite the dangers of breaking the Nazi Party’s rules. Soon, terrified by the tightening vise of Hitler’s power, Charlie and the other Swingjugend are drawn to larger and larger acts of rebellion. But the war will test how much they are willing to risk—and to lose.From the critically acclaimed author of Who I Was with Her, this beautifully told story of hope, love, and resistance will captivate readers of Girl in the Blue Coat and Last Night at the Telegraph Club.
£8.99
Verso Books A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance
Enslaved West Indian women had few opportunities to record their stories for posterity. Yet from their dusty footprints and the umpteen small clues they left for us to unravel, there's no question that they earned their place in history. Pick any Caribbean island and you'll find race, skin colour and rank interacting with gender in a unique and often volatile way. In A Kick in the Belly, Stella Dadzie follows the evidence, and finds women played a distinctly female role in the development of a culture of slave resistance - a role that was not just central, but downright dynamic.From the coffle-line to the Great House, enslaved women found ways of fighting back that beggar belief. Whether responding to the horrendous conditions of plantation life, the sadistic vagaries of their captors or the 'peculiar burdens of their sex', their collective sanity relied on a highly subversive adaptation of the values and cultures they smuggled with them naked from different parts of Africa. By sustaining or adapting remembered cultural practices, they ensured that the lives of chattel slaves retained both meaning and purpose. A Kick in the Belly makes clear that their subtle acts of insubordination and their conscious acts of rebellion came to undermine the very fabric and survival of West Indian slavery.
£14.99
Greenhill Books The Mafia at War: Allied Collusion with the Mob
'An engrossing history that reads like a thriller. The Godfather meets Band of Brothers.' - Andrew Roberts 'Newark tells an extraordinary tale with pace and conviction, and impressively unravels what really happened from the pervasive myths.' - History Today 'A fascinating and compelling work on three of the most evil movements of the 20th century. It ought to be required reading for anyone looking for insights into the period.' - Richard Hammer The Mafia is the most powerful criminal organisation the world has ever known. This book tells the epic story of how the Mafia was nearly destroyed by Mussolini, prospered in the US, struck a secret wartime deal with the US government, and then backed a bloody rebellion that nearly turned Sicily into an independent Mafia realm. It shows how Lucky Luciano won his freedom thanks to mobster help in World War II; how Jewish gangsters clashed with Nazis on the streets of New York; how Mafiosi nearly issued contracts to kill top Nazis including Hitler; how British bobbies patrolled the deadly streets of Palermo; and how Mafia-backed bandits conducted a guerrilla war for Sicilian independence. The Mafia at War is a provocative account of how a criminal organisation exploited the grim realities of World War II to revive its fortunes and dominate global crime.
£16.99
Amazon Publishing The Blunder: A Novel
From a bold voice in African fiction comes a satirical and unputdownable reimagining of an overlooked episode in Cameroon’s colonial past. Cameroon, 1929. As colonial powers fight for influence in Africa, French military surgeon Eugène Jamot is dispatched to Cameroon to lead the fight against sleeping sickness there. But despite his humanitarian intentions, the worst comes to pass: seven hundred local villagers are left blind as a result of medical malpractice by a doctor under Jamot’s watch. Damienne Bourdin, a young white woman, ventures to Cameroon to assist in the treatment effort. Reeling from the loss of her child, she’s desperate to redeem herself and save her reputation. But the tides of rebellion are churning in Cameroon, and soon after Damienne’s arrival, she is enlisted in a wild plot to staunch the damage caused by the blunder and forestall tribal warfare. Together with Ndongo, a Pygmy guide, she must cross the country on foot in search of Edoa, a Cameroonian princess and nurse who has gone missing since the medical blunder was discovered. As Damienne races through the Cameroonian forest on a farcical adventure that unsettles her sense of France’s “civilizing mission,” she begins to question her initial sense of who needed saving and who would save the day.
£7.87
Quercus Publishing The Watermen
In the dark and slimy streets of Wapping a prostitute is beaten half to death, a not uncommon fate in late 18th century London. So begins this gripping tale set in 1798 in the Port of London: a cruel villain holds sway over the underworld. His name is Boylin. His face is scarred by lime and his back by the two hundred lashes he received following a naval court martial. He holds Captain Tom Pascoe responsible for his suffering. They meet again when Pascoe becomes River Surveyor for the newly formed marine police. They've had orders to investigate a sudden fall in government revenue that is affecting the nation's ability to fight the war against Napoleon and stem the rising tide of Irish rebellion. Pascoe knows that Boylin is behind it, but he can't prove anything, yet. THE WATERMEN follows these two adversaries across London as they try to outwit one another. Working alongside Pascoe is Sam Hart, a Jewish immigrant with his own agenda, Pascoe throws the rule-book out the window, scouring East London and the docklands in search of information. But fate takes a cruel twist when the two men find themselves involved with the same woman - there's much more at stake than the fate of the nation.
£9.99
Transworld Publishers Ltd Night Watch: (Discworld Novel 29)
'The best Discworld book in the whole world ever. Until next time.' SFXThe Discworld is very much like our own - if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is . . . 'Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come round again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes.'For a policeman, there can be few things worse than a serial killer loose in your city. Except, perhaps, a serial killer who targets coppers, and a city on the brink of bloody revolution.For Commander Sam Vimes, it all feels horribly familiar. Caught on the roof of a very magical building during a storm, he's found himself back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck. Living in the past is hard, especially when your time travel companion is a serial killer who knows where you live. But he must survive, because he has a job to do: track down the murderer and change the outcome of the rebellion.The problem is: if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future...
£10.99
Hodder & Stoughton Gentlemen of the Road
A spellbinding yarn set a thousand years ago along the ancient Silk Road, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay'It's been a while since I had such fun reading a book' Daily Telegraph'Readers might feel they have reached the book equivalent of the Promised Land' The TimesGENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD is set in the Kingdom of Arran, in the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, A.D. 950. It tells the tale of two wandering adventurers and unlikely soulmates, variously plying their trades as swords for hire, horse thieves and con artists - until fortune entangles them in the myriad schemes and battles that follow a bloody coup in the medieval Jewish empire of the Khazars. Hired as escorts for a fugitive prince, they quickly find themselves half-willing generals in a mad rebellion, struggling to restore the prince's family to the throne. As their increasingly outrageous exploits unfold, they encounter a wondrous elephant, wily Rhadanite tradesmen, whores, thieves, soldiers, an emperor, and discover the truth about their young royal charge.Beautifully illustrated throughout, this is a novel brimming with raucous humour and cliff-hanging suspense, combining the spirit of The Arabian Nights with the action of The Three Musketeers.
£9.99
Hodder & Stoughton Arrows of Fury: Empire II
'A master of the genre' The TimesThe Battle of the Lost Eagle saved Hadrian's Wall, but the new Roman governor of Britannia must stamp out the rebellion of the northern tribes or risk losing the province. Rampaging south with sword and flame under the command of their murderous chieftain Calgus, they have stretched his forces to the limit.For Marcus - now simply Centurion Corvus of the 1st Tungrian cohort - the campaign has become doubly dangerous. As reinforcements flood into Britannia he is surrounded by new officers with no reason to protect him from the emperor's henchmen. Death could result from a careless word as easily as from an enemy spearWorse, one of them is close on his heels. While Marcus is training two centuries of Syrian archers to survive a barbarian charge and then take the fight back to their enemy, the new prefect of the 2nd Tungrians has discovered his secret. Only a miracle can save Marcus and the men who protect him from disgrace and death . . .Anthony Riches once again brings meticulous research together with brilliant storytelling to capture the authentic feel of what life was like for the Roman Army in a brutal war with a remorseless enemy.
£9.99
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Anglo-Norman Studies XXXII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2009
A series which is a model of its kind EDMUND KING, HISTORY This latest collection reflects the full range and vitality of the current work on the Anglo-Norman period. It opens with the R. Allen Brown Memorial Lecture for 2009, a wide-ranging reflection by the distinguished French historian Dominique Barthélemy on the Peace of God and the role of bishops in the long eleventh century. Economic history is prominent in papers on the urban transformation in England between 900 and 1100, on the roots of the royal forestin England, and on trade links between England and Lower Normandy. A close study of the Surrey manor of Mortlake brings in topography, another aspect of which appears in an article on the representation of outdoor space by Normanand Anglo-Norman chroniclers. Social history is treated in papers dealing with the upbringing of the children of the Angevin counts and with the developing ideas of knighthood and chivalry in the works of Dudo of Saint-Quentin and Benoît of Sainte-Maure. Finally, political ideas are examined through careful reading of texts in papers on writing the rebellion of Earl Waltheof in the twelfth century and on the use of royal titles and prayers for the king inAnglo-Norman charters. Contributors: Dominique Barthélemy, Kathryn Dutton, Leonie Hicks, Richard Holt, Joanna Huntington, Laurence Jean-Marie, Dolly Jorgensen, Max Lieberman, Stephen Marritt, Pamela Taylor
£75.00
Europa Editions (UK) Ltd Brotherhood
WINNER of the French Voices Grand Prize, Prix Ahmadou Kourouma, and Grand Prix du Roman Métis Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s searing and thought-provoking debut novel, Brotherhood takes place in the imaginary town of Kalep, where a fundamentalist Islamist government has spread its brutal authority. Under the regime of the so-called Brotherhood, two young people are publicly executed for having loved each other. In response, their mothers begin a secret correspondence, their only outlet for the grief they share and each woman’s personal reckoning with a leadership that would take her beloved child’s life. At the same time, spurred on by their indignation at what seems to be an escalation of The Brotherhood’s brutality, a band of intellectuals and free-thinkers seeks to awaken the conscience of the cowed populace and foment rebellion by publishing an underground newspaper. While they grapple with the implications of what they have done, the regime’s brutal leader begins a personal crusade to find the responsible parties, and bring them to his own sense of justice. In this brilliant analysis of tyranny and brutality, Mbougar Sarr explores the ways in which resistance and heroism can often give way to cowardice, all while giving voice to the moral ambiguities and personal struggles involved in each of his characters’ search to impose the values they hold most dear.
£12.99
Pan Macmillan Jupiter War
In the cold reaches of space, are they sowing the seeds of battle?Alan Saul is now part human and part machine, and our solar system isn't big enough to hold him. He craves the stars, but can't leave yet. His sister Var is trapped on Mars, on the wrong side of a rebellion. And Saul's human side won't let her die. He must leave Argus Station to stage a dangerous rescue – but mutiny is brewing on board.Serene Galahad is the earth’s latest dictator, with its full powers at her disposal – and she’ll do anything to prevent Saul from escaping her grasp. So she musters new warships, ready to unleash a terrifying display of interstellar violence. The previous ship sent to end Saul failed, and is now limping back to earth. One survivor is Clay Ruger, who is holding to ransom humanity’s greatest asset – seeds to rebuild a dying Earth. He’ll give them up if Galahad gives up her life. But will Galahad pay the price, to ensure humanity’s future?Jupiter War is the final book in the Owner trilogy by Neal Asher.‘This dizzying and unusually thoughtful space opera . . . The result is a challenging, extremely satisfying read' – Publishers Weekly‘Expertly ratchets up the narrative tension and excitement with high-tech mayhem and technological razzle-dazzle' – Kirkus Reviews
£9.99
Hodder & Stoughton Venomous Lumpsucker: WINNER of the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2023
*SUNDAY TIMES SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL OF THE YEAR*'A novel that delights, dazzles and moves in equal measure' Financial Times 'Brutally satirical and grimly hilarious' Daily Mail The irresistible new novel by the Booker-longlisted author Ned Beauman - a darkly funny and incisive zoological thriller for the age of Extinction Rebellion. The venomous lumpsucker is the most intelligent fish on the planet. Or maybe it was the most intelligent fish on the planet. Because it might already be extinct. Nobody knows. And nobody cares. Except for two people. Mining executive Mark Halyard has a prison cell waiting for him if that fish has gone for good. And biologist Karin Resaint needs it for her own darker purposes. They don't trust each other, but they're left with no choice but to team up, pursuing the lumpsucker across the strange landscapes of near-future Europe. On the way, they are drawn into a conspiracy far bigger than one ugly little fish. Gripping and singular, Venomous Lumpsucker is a comedy about environmental devastation that asks: do we have it in us to avert the tragedy of mass extinction? And also: do we really need to bother? 'A hilarious, terrifying novel in which Ned Beauman captures brilliantly the contradictory blend of urgency, paralysis, panic and resignation the climate emergency and its attendant mass extinctions inspire' Chris Power
£15.29
Johns Hopkins University Press The Second Seminole War and the Limits of American Aggression
A major study of a costly and influential Jacksonian-era war.The Second Seminole War (1835–1842) was the last major conflict fought on American soil before the Civil War. The early battlefield success of the Seminoles unnerved US generals, who worried it would spark a rebellion among Indians newly displaced by President Andrew Jackson's removal policies. The presence of black warriors among the Seminoles also agitated southerners wary of slave revolt. A lack of decisive victories and a series of bad decisions—among them the capture of Seminole leader Osceola while under the white flag of truce—damaged the US Army's reputation at home and abroad. Desertion was rampant as troops contended with the subtropical Florida wilderness. And losses for the Seminoles were devastating; by the war's end, only a few hundred remained in Florida.In this ambitious study, C. S. Monaco explores the far-reaching repercussions of this bloody, expensive campaign. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Monaco not only places this protracted conflict within a military context but also engages the various environmental, medical, and social aspects to uncover the war's true significance and complexity.By examining the Second Seminole War through the lenses of race, Jacksonian democracy, media and public opinion, American expansion, and military strategy, Monaco offers an original perspective on a misunderstood and often-neglected chapter in our history.
£35.00
University of Nebraska Press The Yamasee War: A Study of Culture, Economy, and Conflict in the Colonial South
William L. Ramsey provides a thorough reappraisal of the Yamasee War, an event that stands alongside King Philip’s War in New England and Pontiac’s Rebellion as one of the three major “Indian wars” of the colonial era. By arguing that the Yamasee War may be the definitive watershed in the formation of the Old South, Ramsey challenges traditional arguments about the war’s origins and positions the prewar concerns of Native Americans within the context of recent studies of the Indian slave trade and the Atlantic economy. The Yamasee War was a violent and bloody conflict between southeastern American Indian tribes and English colonists in South Carolina from 1715 to 1718. Ramsey’s discussion of the war itself goes far beyond the coastal conflicts between Yamasees and Carolinians, however, and evaluates the regional diplomatic issues that drew Indian nations as far distant as the Choctaws in modern-day Mississippi into a far-flung anti-English alliance. In tracing the decline of Indian slavery within South Carolina during and after the war, the book reveals the shift in white racial ideology that responded to wartime concerns, including anxieties about a “black majority,” which shaped efforts to revive Anglo-Indian trade relations, control the slave population, and defend the southern frontier. In assessing the causes and consequences of this pivotal conflict, The Yamasee War situates it in the broader context of southern history.
£26.21
Pan Macmillan Bloodwitch
The brilliantly imagined coming-of-age fantasy series, Witchlands, continues with Bloodwitch. 'Susan Dennard has worldbuilding after my own heart. It’s so good it’s intimidating' – Victoria Aveyard, author of Red Queen.Here, loyalties will be tested as never before . . .The Bloodwitch Aeduan and Iseult the Threadwitch race for safety, desperate to evade the Raider King. His attempts to subdue the Witchlands are gaining momentum, as his forces sow terror in the mountains, slaughtering innocents. Despite differing goals, Aeduan and Iseult have grown to trust one another in the fight to survive. Yet trust is a tenuous bond . . .When Merik sacrifices himself to save his friends, he’s captured by the Fury. However, Merik isn’t one to give up easily, and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect those he loves. Then, in Marstok, Safi the Truthwitch is helping their empress uncover a rebellion. But those implicated are killed and Safi becomes desperate for freedom.Perhaps if Safi and Iseult were united, their powers could bring peace. However, chaos is not easily tamed and war has come once more to the Witchlands. Fate’s knife will come for them all, and the Bloodwitch Aeduan can no longer hide from his past.Bloodwitch is the third book in the Witchlands fantasy series, following Truthwitch and Windwitch. Continue the adventure with Witchshadow.'Epic fantasy, epic adventure, epic friendship' – Kate Elliot on Truthwitch
£9.78
Princeton University Press Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia
How do ordinary Muslims deal with and influence the increasingly pervasive Islamic norms set by institutions of the state and religion? Becoming Better Muslims offers an innovative account of the dynamic interactions between individual Muslims, religious authorities, and the state in Aceh, Indonesia. Relying on extensive historical and ethnographic research, David Kloos offers a detailed analysis of religious life in Aceh and an investigation into today's personal processes of ethical formation. Aceh is known for its history of rebellion and its recent implementation of Islamic law. Debunking the stereotypical image of the Acehnese as inherently pious or fanatical, Kloos shows how Acehnese Muslims reflect consciously on their faith and often frame their religious lives in terms of gradual ethical improvement. Revealing that most Muslims view their lives through the prism of uncertainty, doubt, and imperfection, he argues that these senses of failure contribute strongly to how individuals try to become better Muslims. He also demonstrates that while religious authorities have encroached on believers and local communities, constraining them in their beliefs and practices, the same process has enabled ordinary Muslims to reflect on moral choices and dilemmas, and to shape the ways religious norms are enforced. Arguing that Islamic norms are carried out through daily negotiations and contestations rather than blind conformity, Becoming Better Muslims examines how ordinary people develop and exercise their religious agency.
£25.20
HarperCollins Publishers Her Heart for a Compass
The Top 10 Sunday Times bestseller ‘An immersive, romantic historical saga’ Hello Magazine ‘Congratulations, you are now officially out in society.’ The words made her spirits plummet. Out in society. On the market. And firmly set on a well-worn path that had only one destination. Marriage. London 1865 When one act of rebellion costs Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott her place in society, her life is swept onto a new course. One that will test her courage and resilience. From the drawing rooms of Victoria’s court to the grand country houses of Ireland, and the bustling streets of New York City; Margaret embarks on a journey of self-discovery where she will meet like-minded, and equally spirited, companions who shape her world. But as she navigates the challenges of forging her own path in life, will she find the greatest courage of all, to follow her heart against all odds…? Praise for Her Heart for a Compass: ‘A tale of daring and determination.’Sir Julian Fellowes creator of Downton Abbey ‘Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York has looked deep into her own generous impulsive heart to write a compelling story of a young woman who rebels against the restrictive Victorian conventions of her time to find self-fulfilment and love.’Internationally bestselling author Jeffrey Archer
£8.99
HarperCollins Publishers Josiah the Great: The True Story of The Man Who Would Be King
The amazing tale of a resourceful and unscrupulous early-19th-century American adventurer who forges his own kingdom in the wilds of Afghanistan. In the year 1838, a young adventurer, surrounded by his native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush and declared himself Prince of Ghor, the heir to Alexander the Great. Josiah Harlan, the first American to set foot in Afghanistan, would become the model for Kipling’s ‘The Man Who Would be King’, but the true story of his life is stranger than fiction. A soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist and writer, Harlan set off into the wilds of Central Asia after a failed love affair in 1820. Following a brief stint as a surgeon in the East India Company’s army, he joined the court of the deposed Afghan monarch Shah Shujah, and then slipped into Kabul disguised as a Muslim priest to foment rebellion. For the next two decades he would play a pivotal role in the bloody politics of the region. Using a trove of newly discovered documents, including Harlan’s long-lost journals, Ben Macintyre has followed Harlan’s footsteps to uncover an astonishing, untold chapter in the history of the Great Game. If you enjoyed William Dalrymple’s ‘Return of a King’, ‘Josiah the Great’ should be on your reading list.
£12.99
Bloodaxe Books Ltd The Big Bumper Book of Troy
The northern word for hometown, ‘toon’, flickers in meaning between ‘tune’ and ‘cartoon’. In Bill Herbert’s big bumper book, the title toon is Troy: the first lost home. Exiled to a lighthouse on the River Tyne, the wily Scots maestro has written a book in love with lost and difficult things. Sometimes reflective, sometimes subversively mischievous, he registers or rails against displacement and resettlement, lamenting the passing of relatives, cities, furniture, and the odd lemur. Plugged in to the poetry zeitgeist as ever, Herbert has revived a medieval publishing craze: the Troybook. Painstaking excavation of old comics establishes that the original site of Troytoon is Dundee. Or Madrid. Or possibly St Petersburg. The search for traces of Troy leads to Donegal, Crete, and, at the heart of his grand tour, a vivid verse journal set in post-perestroika Moscow. Dust off your highest brow and fasten your seatbelt, we’re flying Economy to Byzantium. The Big Bumper Book of Troy is driven by sudden shifts of register – English to Scots, free verse to antique stanza, page to performance, narrative to lyric. Everything has become a dialect, yet – cheekily borrowing the Russian composer Schnittke’s term – Herbert aims at a disrespectful polystylist unity. It is his most unorthodox rebellion yet against the dictatorship of the slim volume. A riot of colourful humour, a revolution in poetic taste.
£12.99
Oxford University Press Marcel Proust
A witty, refreshing, and fun book on the experience of reading Marcel Proust. What would the world be like without this work, where would we be if it hadn't happened? This is how Michael Wood found himself writing about Proust's work as an event and about events in relation to that work itself. The event that created the figure we know as Proust did not take a whole lifetime, we can date it to within certain months, perhaps certain weeks, of a certain year, 1908. That was when Proust the interesting occasional writer and full-time socialite, turned into an ostensible hermit and a real novelist. This short book says something about the event as a lifetime affair, and shows what the sudden change of 1908 looks like. It explores the work of Marcel Proust as an event in the world, something that happened to literature and culture and our understanding of history. This event has more aspects than we can count, but this book offers detailed critical snapshots of seven of them: the birth of Proust as a novelist; what he teaches us about the mythology of beginnings; about metaphor as a kind of rebellion; about love as a permanent anxiety attack; about the Dreyfus Affair; about the concept of justice; about the mythology of endings.
£20.04
Amberley Publishing Cornwall's Military Heritage
The county of Cornwall in the far south-west of England is surrounded by sea on three sides. Resisting Roman and Anglo-Saxon invaders, it retained its Celtic independence and remained separate from the rest of England into the Middle Ages. Cornwall has a rich military history that stretches back through centuries, and evidence of this military heritage can be seen throughout the county with numerous buildings and other structures still standing today. Cornwall’s Military Heritage explores the history of the county – not only the battles that took place on its soil and the measures that were taken to defend it, but also the heritage of the military units that were nurtured there and sent to fight in conflicts abroad. Cornwall was home to two uprisings in 1497, followed by the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549 and the Spanish raiding of 1595. In the English Civil War, Cornwall was a Royalist stronghold in the predominantly Parliamentarian South West, and Pendennis Castle was besieged alongside the strategic Isles of Scilly, contested by both sides. Author Andrew Powell-Thomas explores the conflicts surrounding an array of historic monuments, including castles, forts, airfields and military bases, noting how the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and its antecedents fought through two world wars to maintain the survival of this most remarkable county.
£15.99
Orion Publishing Co The Night Falling
The international bestselling author of THE LEGACY and THE UNSEEN returns with a searing novel of secrets and feudsItaly, 1921. When Leandro Cardetta returns to Puglia from America a rich man, he is determined to make his mark. But how did he get so wealthy?Boyd, a quiet English architect, is hired to build Leandro's dreams. But why is he so afraid of Leandro, and what really happened between them years before?When Boyd's wife, Clare, is summoned to Puglia, she is instantly desperate to leave, but soon finds a compelling reason to stay.And Ettore, starving, poor and grieving for his lost fiancée, is too proud to ask his Uncle Leandro for help. Until events conspire to force his hand.Tensions are high as poverty leads veterans of the Great War to the brink of rebellion. And under the burning sky, a reckless love and a violent enmity will bring brutal truths to light . . .Your favourite authors love Katherine Webb's sweeping historical dramas: 'An enormously talented writer' Santa Montefiore 'Webb have a true gift for uncovering the mysteries of the human heart and exploring the truth of love' Kate Williams 'Katherine Webb's writing is beautiful' Elizabeth Fremantle 'A truly gifted writer of historical fiction' Lucinda Riley 'Katherine's writing is rich, vivid and evocative' Iona Grey
£7.19
Boydell & Brewer Ltd The Contemporary English Chronicles of the Wars of the Roses
The first modern edition of eight contemporary chronicles covering the Wars of the Roses up to the return of Edward IV in 1471. The eight chronicles edited here are the principal surviving historical narratives of the Wars of the Roses written in English by men who lived through those wars. These are the best accounts by commoners (and one lord) written for their fellow Englishmen, produced within a few years of the events they describe, and have a particular immediacy. Five of these chronicles recount in detail particular events: The First Battle of St Albans (21-23 May 1455) and The Siege of Bamburgh Castle (June-July 1464) (batttles);The Rebellion in Lincolnshire (March 1470), and The History of the Arrival of King Edward IV (March-May 1471) (campaigns); and The Manner and Guiding of the Earl ofWarwick (22-30 July 1470) (negotiations). The remaining three describe the development of the larger conflict over extended periods: the Continuation of Gregory's Chronicle (1450-69), Howard's Chronicle (1461-70), and Warkworth's Chronicle (1461-74).They do not cover the last stages of the Wars of the Roses, since by the end of May 1471, it must have looked as if the conflict was permanently resolved. These accounts, although contemporary, have to be treated with caution. All of them are narratives of public events intended for public consumption. They remain, however, vibrant and immediate accounts of the events they describe in a systematic, modern edition.
£95.00
Pan Macmillan Fury of a Demon
Fury of a Demon is the thrilling conclusion to the Dragons of Terra trilogy by Brian Naslund.‘Part Game of Thrones, part superhero epic . . . a cinematic fantasy whirlwind’ Sebastien de Castell on Blood of an ExileThe land is in chaos as a hero heads for war.Commanding a devastating army of skyships, Osyrus Ward has conquered most of Terra. And to finish the task, he’s building a machine of unparalleled power. With it, he’d be unstoppable – and dragons would be wiped from the face of the earth.Bershad and Ashlyn are leading a desperate rebellion, but they’ve been trapped within the Dainwood by Ward’s relentless mercenaries. The rebels pray Ashlyn’s dark magic will give them an edge, but her powers are well-known to their enemies as they draw ever nearer. Out of options, Ashlyn must embark on a dangerous mission to save her fledgling army – or be crushed by Ward’s soldiers.Bershad was once invincible in battle, but this very power may prove his undoing. Now, with every new wound, his humanity is slipping further away. Bershad seems to be Terra’s last and best hope against terrifying forces. But to save the world, will he become the nightmare?‘Exciting, epic and wonderfully told, full of subtle humour and laugh-out-loud lines’ Angus Watson on Blood of an ExileFury of a Demon follows Blood of an Exile and Sorcery of a Queen.
£18.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC House of Flame and Shadow: The INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER and the SMOULDERING third instalment in the Crescent City series
The third book in the EPIC Crescent City series from multi-million and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas. Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan - Time Think Game of Thrones meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a drizzle of E.L. James – Telegraph Spiced with slick plotting and atmospheric world-building ... a page-turning delight – Guardian Sarah J. Maas does not disappoint … To be devoured with relish – Mail ****** A WORLD IN DARKNESS. A BURNING SPARK. A BLAZE OF STARS. Bryce Quinlan is stranded in a strange new world. She’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again and return to everything she loves. But that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust. Meanwhile, Hunt Athalar is back in the Asteri’s dungeons. Stripped of his freedom and the happiness he’d fought so hard for, he’s without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. Hunt is desperate to help his mate, but until he can escape the Asteri’s chains, his hands are quite literally tied. In this breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Midgard is brought to the brink of collapse, and the fate of the world rests on the hope of rebellion. But the fight for survival, freedom, and love may cost everything Bryce and Hunt have. House of Flame and Shadow was ranked #1 in UK TCM charts week ending 6/2/2024
£16.99
University of Minnesota Press A Voice but No Power: Organizing for Social Justice in Minneapolis
Examining the work of social justice groups in Minneapolis following the 2008 recession Since the Great Recession, even as protest and rebellion have occurred with growing frequency, many social justice organizers continue to displace as much as empower popular struggles for egalitarian and emancipatory change. In A Voice but No Power, David Forrest explains why this is the case and explores how these organizers might better reach their potential as advocates for the abolition of exploitation, discrimination, and other unjust conditions.Through an in-depth study of post-2008 Minneapolis—a center of progressive activism—Forrest argues that social justice organizers so often fall short of their potential largely because of challenges they face in building what he calls “contentious identities,” the public identities they use to represent their constituents and counteract stigmatizing images such as the “welfare queen” or “the underclass.” In the process of assembling, publicizing, and legitimating contentious identities, he shows, these organizers encounter a series of political hazards, each of which pushes them to make choices that weaken movements for equality and freedom. Forrest demonstrates that organizers can achieve better outcomes, however, by steadily working to remake their hazardous political terrain.The book’s conclusion reflects on the 2020 uprising that followed the police killing of George Floyd, assessing what it means for the future of social justice activism. Ultimately, Forrest’s detailed analysis contributes to leading theories about organizing and social movements and charts possibilities for further emboldening grassroots struggles for a fairer society.
£90.00
Duke University Press Mobility without Mayhem: Safety, Cars, and Citizenship
While Americans prize the ability to get behind the wheel and hit the open road, they have not always agreed on what constitutes safe, decorous driving or who is capable of it. Mobility without Mayhem is a lively cultural history of America’s fear of and fascination with driving, from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Jeremy Packer analyzes how driving has been understood by experts, imagined by citizens, regulated by traffic laws, governed through education and propaganda, and represented in films, television, magazines, and newspapers. Whether considering motorcycles as symbols of rebellion and angst, or the role of CB radio in regulating driving and in truckers’ evasions of those regulations, Packer shows that ideas about safe versus risky driving often have had less to do with real dangers than with drivers’ identities.Packer focuses on cultural figures that have been singled out as particularly dangerous. Women drivers, hot-rodders, bikers, hitchhikers, truckers, those who “drive while black,” and road ragers have all been targets of fear. As Packer debunks claims about the dangers posed by each figure, he exposes biases against marginalized populations, anxieties about social change, and commercial and political desires to profit by fomenting fear. Certain populations have been labeled as dangerous or deviant, he argues, to legitimize monitoring and regulation and, ultimately, to curtail access to automotive mobility. Packer reveals how the boundary between personal freedom and social constraint is continually renegotiated in discussions about safe, proper driving.
£23.39
University Press of Florida The Timucuan Chiefdoms of Spanish Florida: Volume I: Assimilation
This first volume of John Worth's substantial two-volume work studies the assimilation and eventual destruction of the indigenous Timucuan societies of interior Spanish Florida near St. Augustine, shedding new light on the nature and function of La Florida's entire mission system.Beginning in this volume with analysis of the late prehistoric chiefdoms, Worth traces the effects of European exploration and colonization in the late 1500s and describes the expansion of the mission frontier before 1630. As a framework for understanding the Timucuan rebellion of 1654 and its pacification, he explores the internal political and economic structure of the colonial system. In volume 2, he shows that after the geographic and political restructuring of the Timucua mission province, the interior of Florida became a populated chain of way-stations along the royal road between St. Augustine and the Apalachee province. Finally, he describes rampant demographic collapse in the missions, followed by English-sponsored raids, setting a stage for their final years in Florida during the mid-1700s.The culmination of nearly a decade of original research, these books incorporate many previously unknown or little-used Spanish documentary sources. As an analysis of both the Timucuan chiefdoms and their integration into the colonial system, they offer important discussion of the colonial experience for indigenous groups across the nation and the rest of the Americas.A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series
£30.43
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Beyond Neoliberalism
Today neoliberals argue that we should let ourselves be guided by market forces and that there is little we can do to stem the flow of economic globalization. On the other hand, thinkers on the left continue to denounce domination and claim to speak in the name of victims who are powerless to change the circumstances of their lives. Despite the differences between these two political positions, they suffer from a common weakness: they underestimate the role of autonomous social actors who are capable of influencing political decision-making. In this important new book Alain Touraine – the leading sociologist and social theorist – attacks the positions of the neoliberals and certain thinkers on the left and develops an alternative view of the tasks for political thought and action today. He argues that the globalization of the economy has not dissolved our capacity for political action, and that the actions of the most underprivileged sections of society are not restricted to rebellion against domination: they can also demand rights (in particular, cultural rights), and can therefore put forward an innovative and not merely critical conception of society and its future. Beyond Neoliberalism is an original and timely contribution to current debates about the changing nature and goals of politics in our contemporary, globalized age. It will be of great interest to students of politics and sociology and will also appeal to a broader readership interested in contemporary politics and current affairs.
£15.99
Harvard University Press The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution
As the United States gained independence, a full fifth of the country's population was African American. The experiences of these men and women have been largely ignored in the accounts of the colonies' glorious quest for freedom. In this compact volume, Gary B. Nash reorients our understanding of early America, and reveals the perilous choices of the founding fathers that shaped the nation's future. Nash tells of revolutionary fervor arousing a struggle for freedom that spiraled into the largest slave rebellion in American history, as blacks fled servitude to fight for the British, who promised freedom in exchange for military service. The Revolutionary Army never matched the British offer, and most histories of the period have ignored this remarkable story. The conventional wisdom says that abolition was impossible in the fragile new republic. Nash, however, argues that an unusual convergence of factors immediately after the war created a unique opportunity to dismantle slavery. The founding fathers' failure to commit to freedom led to the waning of abolitionism just as it had reached its peak. In the opening decades of the nineteenth century, as Nash demonstrates, their decision enabled the ideology of white supremacy to take root, and with it the beginnings of an irreparable national fissure. The moral failure of the Revolution was paid for in the 1860s with the lives of the 600,000 Americans killed in the Civil War. The Forgotten Fifth is a powerful story of the nation's multiple, and painful, paths to freedom.
£20.95
Oxford University Press Catiline's Conspiracy, The Jugurthine War, Histories
'the glory of wealth and physical beauty is fluid and fragile; but virtue is held brilliant and eternal' The Roman historian Sallust lived through troubled times. He deplored the moral and political decline of the Republic, and in his two monographs he set out to exemplify the reasons for the years of civil strife. Catiline's Conspiracy is an account of the rebellion against the state led by the disaffected Catiline. For Sallust it was 'especially memorable because of the unprecedented nature of the crime and the danger it caused'. Rome's fight against the king of Numidia in The Jugurthine War is a graphic depiction of power struggles in Rome and brutal battles in Africa that eventually resulted in the capture of Jugurtha. Sallust's abrupt and distinctive style is the perfect vehicle for his moral urgency, bitter condemnation, and satirical cynicism. This new translation, which also includes Sallust's fragmentary Histories, captures his effects in an accessible English idiom, and provides a comprehensive introduction to his work as history and literature. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
£9.99
City Lights Books Artaud Anthology
"I am the man," wrote Artaud, "who has best charted his inmost self." Antonin Artaud was a great poet who, like Poe, Holderlin, and Nerval, wanted to live in the infinite and asked that the human spirit burn in absolute freedom. To society, he was a madman. Artaud, however, was not insane but in luciferian pursuit of what society keeps hidden. The man who wrote Van Gogh the Man Suicided by Society raged against the insanity of social institutions with insight that proves more prescient with every passing year. Today, as Artaud's vatic thunder still crashes above the "larval confusion" he despised, what is most striking in his writings is an extravagant lucidity. This collection gives us quintessential Artaud on the occult, magic, the theater, mind and body, the cosmos, rebellion, and revolution in its deepest sense. Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonine Artaud, was a French dramatist, poet, essayist, actor, and theatre director, widely recognized as one of the major figures of twentieth-century theatre and the European avant-garde. Jack Hirschman (b. December 13, 1933, in New York, NY) is a poet and social activist who has written more than 50 volumes of poetry. Dismissed from teaching at UCLA for anti-war activities in 1966, he moved to San Francisco in 1973, and was the city's present poet laureate. Hirschman translates nine languages and edited The Artaud Anthology.
£12.99
HarperCollins Publishers The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars, Book 1)
THE EPIC ENEMIES-TO LOVERS FANTASY THAT WILL TAKE THE WORLD BY STORM ‘I physically could not stop reading! Mark my words: lives will be changed by The Hurricane Wars trilogy’ Ali Hazelwood, author of THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS ‘One of my favourite books of this year!’ Katee Robert, author of NEON GODS All Talasyn has ever known are the Hurricane Wars. An orphan of the struggle, she uses the power of light to fight for her people against the Night Empire. All Alaric has ever known is darkness. The son of the Night Emperor and their deadliest weapon, he wields terrifying shadow magic to crush the rebellion. Then he sees Talasyn, his sworn enemy burning bright across the battlefield. The moment they clash their lives are changed forever. Now a greater threat is rising and only they can stop it. The coming storm threatens to destroy everything. If they don’t destroy each other first . . . Tropes:Enemies to lovers ❤️🔥Betrayal 🔪Yearning 🥀Marriage of convenience 💍Slow burn romance 🔥 Spice:🌶️🌶️ Reader reviews: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘A true enemies to lovers fantasy with the right amount of tension, action, and romance!’⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘I loved every single minute of this book ‘⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘Fans of Fourth Wing and ACOTAR this one's for you’⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘delivers on all the hype surrounding it’
£17.09
HarperCollins Publishers The Blood Trials (The Blood Gift Duology, Book 1)
‘AN ENTHRALLING, UNPUTDOWNABLE READ’ Kalynn Bayron, bestselling author of CINDERELLA IS DEAD ‘A DAMN GOOD TIME’ Hannah Whitten, NYT bestselling author of FOR THE WOLF N.E. Davenport’s fast-paced, action-packed debut kicks off a duology perfect for fans of RED RISING AND AURORA RISING It’s all about blood. Blood spilled long ago between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor, ending all blood magic. Now there is peace in the Republic – but there is also a strict class system, misogyny, and racism. Her world is not perfect, but Ikenna survived in it. Until now. With the murder of her grandfather, Ikenna spirals out of control. Though she is an initiate for the Republic’s deadly elite military force, Ikenna has a secret only her grandfather knew: she possesses the blood magic of the Republic’s enemies. Ikenna throws herself into the gladiatorial war games at the heart of her martial world: trials that will lead her closer to his killers. Under the spotlight, she subjects herself to abuse from a society that does not value her, that cherishes lineage over talent – all while hiding gifts that, if revealed, would lead to execution or worse. Ikenna is willing to risk it all to find out who killed her grandfather… So she can end them. Magic, technology, and rebellion meet in this stunning debut – part one of a duology that sees a young Black woman rise through misogyny and racism to become an elite warrior.
£9.99
Oxford University Press Collected Poems
'Rimbaud, the poet of revolt, and the greatest' Albert Camus Rimbaud is the enfant terrible of French literature, the precocious genius whose extraordinary poetry is revolutionary in its visionary, hallucinatory content and its often liberated forms. He wrote all his poems between the ages of about 15 and 21, after which he turned his back on family, friends, and France to roam the world. In his final years he was a trader in the Horn of Africa. Out of the brief, colourful life and the poetry of sensory wildness has been created the myth of Rimbaud, an enduring icon of youth, rebellion, and freedom. But behind the myth lies a poetic adventure of high ambition and painful rigour, poignant yet heroic. Rimbaud is one of the greatest French poets of all times. This bilingual edition provides all of Rimbaud's poems, with the exception of his Latin verses and some small fragments. It also includes some of his prose pieces, chosen because they offer a commentary on his poetic concerns. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
£10.99
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG The Holy Crown and the Hungarian Estates: Constructing Early Modern Identity in the Kingdom of Hungary
This book is about one of the most important elements of the political narratives in the history of Hungary in past and present: the Holy Crown of Hungary. This object is one of the most widely used symbols of modern Hungarian nationalism in our times and has been in use for ages in political culture. Surprisingly less is known how the meaning of the crown has changed over the centuries and how this influenced the development of national identity in the early modern period. Starting point is that the “medieval doctrine of the holy crown” is a modern invention. Teszelszky’s research concentrates on the relation between the change in the meaning of this crown and the construction of an early modern national identity between 1572 and 1665. Using a constructivist method of research the author shows how the Habsburg ruler and the Hungarian estates legitimised their political program through an image of the crown and the Hungarian political community. In a short period between the end of 1604 and 1613 during a rebellion in Hungary, a war with the Ottomans and a strive between Emperor Rudolf II and his brother Archduke Matthias, the medieval tradition of the holy crown was revived and redeveloped by Hungarian and foreign historiographers into an ideology which is still present today.
£120.59
York Medieval Press The Church and Northern English Society in the Fourteenth Century: the Archbishops of York and their Records
Essays offering insights into the ecclesiastical, political, cultural and social history in the north of England during the fourteenth century through an exploration of the administrative archives of archbishops. The period between 1304 and 1405 was one of tension and conflict in the north of England, culminating in a northern rebellion against the king, for which the then archbishop of York was executed for treason. The essays collected here explore the extensive administrative archives of the archbishops during this period. This is one of the largest but least exploited collections of medieval church records to survive in Europe, and is now dispersed across a number of institutions including The National Archives (London) and the Borthwick Institute for Archives (York). They examine the form and functions of the archbishops' registers and other archives, and use them to shed light on the ecclesiastical, political, cultural and social history of this turbulent period. The core focus is on the north of England and its relationship with royal government. Particular subjects addressed include the sources of tension and opportunity rooted in the prosecution of war with Scotland, the creation of networks of clerical administrators in royal government, and the impact of those networks on local society and royal affairs. Other topics include the wide-ranging spiritual and temporal responsibilities of the archbishops, their housing and landscapes, and the role of women within the church.
£78.03
C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd The Wisdom of Syria's Waiting Game: Foreign Policy Under the Assads
Syrian foreign policy, always opaque, has be- come an even greater puzzle during the Syrian revolt. Irrespective of the regime's international isolation in the wake of its violent response to domestic protest, it has paid lip-service to international peace plans while unperturbedly crushing the rebellion. The rare televised appearances of President Assad have shown a leader detached from reality. Has he - in his own words - 'gone crazy'? In this book long- time Syria analyst and former diplomat Bente Scheller contends that Bashar Assad's deadly waiting game is following its own logic: what- ever difficulties the Syrian regime has faced, its previous experience has been that it can simply sit out the current crisis. The difference this time is that Syria faces a double crisis - internal and external. While Hafez Assad, renowned as an astute politician, adapted to new challenges, his son, Bashar, seems to have no alternative plan of action. Scheller's timely book analyses Syrian foreign policy after the global upheavals of 1989, which was at the time a glorious new beginning for the regime. She shows how Bashar Assad, by ignoring change both inside Syria and in the region, has sacrificed his father's focus on national security in favour of a policy of regime survival and offers a candid analysis of the successes and shortcomings of Syrian foreign policy in recent years.
£35.00
New York University Press The Gentlemen and the Roughs: Violence, Honor, and Manhood in the Union Army
Finalist for the 2011 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize "A seminal work. . . . One of the best examples of new, sophisticated scholarship on the social history of Civil War soldiers." —The Journal of Southern History “Will undoubtedly, and properly, be read as the latest word on the role of manhood in the internal dynamics of the Union army." —Journal of the Civil War Era During the Civil War, the Union army appeared cohesive enough to withstand four years of grueling war against the Confederates and to claim victory in 1865. But fractiousness bubbled below the surface of the North’s presumably united front. Internal fissures were rife within the Union army: class divisions, regional antagonisms, ideological differences, and conflicting personalities all distracted the army from quelling the Southern rebellion. In this highly original contribution to Civil War and gender history, Lorien Foote reveals that these internal battles were fought against the backdrop of manhood. Clashing ideals of manliness produced myriad conflicts, as when educated, refined, and wealthy officers (“gentlemen”) found themselves commanding a hard-drinking group of fighters (“roughs”)—a dynamic that often resulted in violence and even death. Based on extensive research into heretofore ignored primary sources, The Gentlemen and the Roughs uncovers holes in our understanding of the men who fought the Civil War and the society that produced them.
£23.39
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Thirteenth Century England VIII: Proceedings of the Durham Conference, 1999
This series is home to scholarship of the highest order covering a wide range of themes: from politics and warfare to administration, justice and society. The topics of the papers in this book range from the sublime to the macabre: romance, rape, money, politics and religion. Wide-ranging papers cover many themes: the role of knights in the civil war at the end of John's reign, the politics of Ireland at the time of Richard Marshal's rebellion, the crusading context of the de Montfort family, the Petition of the Barons of 1258, and the government of England during Edward I's absence on crusade form one group of papers which illuminate the politics of the period. The history of the Jews in their final days in England is examined, as are the techniques used to supply Edward I's armies. Legal matters are considered, with papers on manorial courts, capital punishment, and the offence of rape. Romance is treated in a historical context with Edward I's marriage plans of 1294. Also included is discussion of the dissemination of the Sarum rite, the building of Westminster Abbey, ecclesiastical mints, and Matthew Paris's maps. Contributors: MARTIN ALLEN, DAVID CARPENTER, DAVIDCROOK, KATHERINE FAULKNER, PETER EDBURY, PAUL HARVEY, RICHARD HUSCROFT, NIGEL MORGAN, MARK ORMROD, ZEFIRA ROKEAH, CORINNE SAUNDERS, BRENDAN SMITH, KATHERINE STOCKS, HENRY SUMMERSON, MARK VAUGHN.
£70.00
Fordham University Press Murderous Consent: On the Accommodation of Violent Death
Winner, 2002 French Translation Prize for Nonfiction Murderous Consent details our implication in violence we do not directly inflict but in which we are structurally complicit: famines, civil wars, political repression in far-away places, and war, as it’s classically understood. Marc Crépon insists on a bond between ethics and politics and attributes violence to our treatment of the two as separate spheres. We repeatedly resist the call to responsibility, as expressed by the appeal—by peoples across the world—for the care and attention that their vulnerability enjoins. But Crépon argues that this resistance is not ineluctable, and the book searches for ways that enable us to mitigate it, through rebellion, kindness, irony, critique, and shame. In the process, he engages with a range of writers, from Camus, Sartre, and Freud, to Stefan Zweig and Karl Kraus, to Kenzaburo Oe, Emmanuel Levinas and Judith Butler. The resulting exchange between philosophy and literature enables Crépon to delineate the contours of a possible/impossible ethicosmopolitics—an ethicosmopolitics to come. Pushing against the limits of liberal rationalism, Crépon calls for a more radical understanding of interpersonal responsibility. Not just a work of philosophy but an engagement with life as it’s lived, Murderous Consent works to redefine our global obligations, articulating anew what humanitarianism demands and what an ethically grounded political resistance might mean.
£89.10
Harvard University Press The Cultural Revolution at the Margins: Chinese Socialism in Crisis
Mao Zedong envisioned a great struggle to "wreak havoc under the heaven" when he launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966. But as radicalized Chinese youth rose up against Party officials, events quickly slipped from the government's grasp, and rebellion took on a life of its own. Turmoil became a reality in a way the Great Leader had not foreseen. The Cultural Revolution at the Margins recaptures these formative moments from the perspective of the disenfranchised and disobedient rebels Mao unleashed and later betrayed.The Cultural Revolution began as a "revolution from above," and Mao had only a tenuous relationship with the Red Guard students and workers who responded to his call. Yet it was these young rebels at the grassroots who advanced the Cultural Revolution's more radical possibilities, Yiching Wu argues, and who not only acted for themselves but also transgressed Maoism by critically reflecting on broader issues concerning Chinese socialism. As China's state machinery broke down and the institutional foundations of the PRC were threatened, Mao resolved to suppress the crisis. Leaving out in the cold the very activists who had taken its transformative promise seriously, the Cultural Revolution devoured its children and exhausted its political energy.The mass demobilizations of 1968-69, Wu shows, were the starting point of a series of crisis-coping maneuvers to contain and neutralize dissent, producing immense changes in Chinese society a decade later.
£48.56
Harvard University Press Adams Family Correspondence: Volume 10
This volume offers over 300 letters from the irrepressible Adamses, including many between John and Abigail never before printed. As always, Adams family members serve as important observers of and commentators on national and international events, from America’s growing tensions with Britain and France to its internal struggles with increasingly virulent political factionalism and the Whiskey Rebellion. John, languishing as vice president in Philadelphia, reported extensively on congressional debates and growing divisions within the Washington administration but also found time to improve his sons’ legal education. Abigail’s letters juxtapose her own political insights with lively accounts of her farm management and the day-to-day happenings in Quincy.The most significant event of the period for the Adams clan was John Quincy’s appointment as U.S. minister resident at The Hague, the beginning of a long and storied diplomatic career. Accompanying him overseas was his brother Thomas Boylston, the only Adams child who had not yet seen Europe. Arriving just as the French Army began its final march into the Netherlands, John Quincy and Thomas Boylston became first-hand observers of the European war and the impact of the French Revolution on the broader society. Back in the United States, Charles continued to build his legal career, expanding his law office and acquiring two clerks, while Nabby’s family grew with the birth of the Adamses’ first granddaughter, Caroline Amelia Smith.
£99.86
Thames & Hudson Ltd Postmodern Design Complete
Postmodernism was the defining look of the 1980s. Originating as a rebellious movement in philosophy and literature, and spearheaded by Michael Graves, Robert Venturi, Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini, Postmodernism proclaimed the death of modernism and promoted a new, non-linear way of approaching architecture and design. Its lively and colourful rebellion against modernism’s monotony and dogma spread from architecture to other design disciplines, and promoted a belief that design need not be taken too seriously. Postmodern Design Complete is the first book to take a thoroughgoing look at the movement, which is currently experiencing a major revival. It profiles key creators and introduces the principal figures in the fields of architecture, furniture, graphic design, textiles, and product and industrial design. It also presents fifteen seminal and complete homes and their furnishings, and provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary makers. Highly informed and accessible texts are illustrated with images that bring together classics and little-seen rarities, unusual objets d’art and mass-produced items. The book also includes a foreword by Charles Jencks and an afterword by Denise Scott Brown, followed by a substantial reference section. Exhaustively presenting the most knowledgeable sources and material in a single volume, this is the one book that the world’s lovers of Postmodernism must have, and that the design-conscious of any persuasion will want.
£58.50