Search results for ""Author Black"

The brilliant opening novel of the Catesby series, by a former special forces officer and 'the thinking person's John le Carre' 'Edward Wilson seems poised to inherit the mantle of John le Carré' Irish Independent'More George Smiley than James Bond, Catesby will delight those readers looking for less blood and more intelligence in their spy thrillers' Publishers WeeklyLondon, 1956. The height of the Cold War. On the face of it, Kit Fournier is a senior diplomat at the US embassy in Grosvenor Square. But that's not the full story. He is also CIA Chief of Station. With the nuclear arms race looming large, Kit goes undercover to meet with his KGB counterpart to pass on secret information about British spies. In a world where truth means deception and love means honey trap, sexual blackmail and personal betrayal are essential skills. As the H-bomb apocalypse hangs over London, Kit Fournier faces a crisis of the soul. The unveiling of his own dark personal secrets will prove more deadly than any of his coded dispatches. 'A glorious, seething broth of historical fact and old-fashioned spy story' The Times'A sophisticated, convincing novel that shows governments and their secret services as cynically exploitative and utterly ruthless' Sunday TelegraphPraise for Edward Wilson:'Stylistically sophisticated . . . Wilson knows how to hold the reader's attention' W.G. Sebald'A reader is really privileged to come across something like this' Alan Sillitoe

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The end is coming.Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him - but it's going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there's only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy. It's past time for the Bloody-Nine to come home.With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no-one is safe, and no-one can be trusted. His days with a sword are far behind him. It's a good thing blackmail, threats and torture still work well enough.Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is far too painful, and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too, and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it.While the King of the Union lies on his deathbead, the peasants revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No-one believes that the shadow of war is falling across the very heart of the Union. The First of the Magi has a plan to save the world, as he always does. But there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, after all, than to break the First Law...

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'Superior crime fiction set in Iceland' The Times'As chilling as an Icelandic winter' S. J. BoltonWhen a shipowner is found dead, tied to a bed in one of Reykjavik's smartest hotels, Sergeant Gunnhildur sees no evidence of foul play. However, she still suspects things are not as cut and dried as they seem and, as she investigates the shipowner's untimely demise, she stumbles across a discreet bondage society whose members are being systematically exploited and blackmailed.But how does all this connect to a local gangster recently returned to Iceland after many years abroad, and the unfortunate loss of a government laptop containing sensitive data about various members of the ruling party? What begins as a straightforward case for Gunnhildur soon explodes into a dangerous investigation, uncovering secrets that ruthless men are ready to go to violent extremes to keep.The third dark and atmospheric thriller in Quentin Bates's Icelandic crime series. A chilling page-turner perfect for fans of Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell and Søren Sveistrup's The Chestnut Man. Praise for Quentin Bates:'A great read - leaves you craving the next installment' Yrsa Sigurðardóttir'A perfect book to curl up with in front of the fire' The Bookbag'Well written and absorbing' Woman's Way'Captures the chilly spirit of Nordic crime fiction . . . Fans of Arnaldur Indridason's Reykjavík mysteries will want to add Bates to their reading lists' Booklist'[A] crackling fiction debut ... palpable authenticity' Publishers Weekly'A superb new series' Eurocrime

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Lottie Bedlow was the stand-out star from Channel 4's The Great British Bake Off 2020 and taught herself to bake through trial and error.No stranger to the mishaps (and epic disasters) of homebaking, Lottie's signature sense of humour will see you through this delicious collection of sweet and savoury bakes. From simple recipes to encourage even the most inexperienced bakers through to more ambitious centrepieces, the focus is always on great flavour. Each recipe highlights potential pitfalls, with notes on what to look out for and how to find a fix. This book will give you the confidence to go for it, encouraging you to try your best without taking baking (or yourself) too seriously. Nobody's bake is perfect. So if things go wrong, just remember: WHO CARES AS LONG AS IT TASTES GOOD?RECIPES INCLUDE:Risk it for a Biscuit: Quarantine Florentines, Triple Chocolate & Salted Caramel-centred Cookies, Ginger Whoopie Pies with Pineapple & Spiced RumCakes are Boring: Mango & Grapefruit Crème Brûlée Cheesecake, S'More Cupcakes, Strawberry Shortcake Roll (er Coaster) You're Bready for This: Sin-a-mon Rolls, Minimal Faff Brioche, Big Daddy's Ice Cream Doughnut Sandwiches Don't Be Scared of Pastry: Chocolate, Liquorice & Blackcurrant Tart, Rock & Profiterole, Choux Shells with Steak & Horseradish Give Me Puddings, Not Hugs: Ginger & Rhubarb Puddings, Little Lime & Tequila Melting Chocolate Puddings, Foolproof Custard Pass it On, Please: Gingerbread Shed, Irish Stout Cake, Back & Crack Scotch Eggs

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The end is coming.Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him - but it's going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there's only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy. It's past time for the Bloody-Nine to come home.With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no-one is safe, and no-one can be trusted. His days with a sword are far behind him. It's a good thing blackmail, threats and torture still work well enough.Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is far too painful, and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too, and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it.While the King of the Union lies on his deathbead, the peasants revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No-one believes that the shadow of war is falling across the very heart of the Union. The First of the Magi has a plan to save the world, as he always does. But there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, after all, than to break the First Law...

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In I Know You Got Soul, Jeremy Clarkson writes about the machines that he believes have 'soul'. It will come as no surprise to anyone that Jeremy Clarkson loves machines. But it's not just any old bucket of blots, cogs and bearings that rings his bell. In fact, he's scoured the length and breadth of the land, plunged into the oceans and taken to the skies in search of machines with that elusive certain something.And along the way he's discovered:* The safest place to be in the event of nuclear war* Who would win if Superman, James Bond and The Terminator had a fight* The stupidest person he's ever met* What an old Cornish institution called Arthur has to do with 0898chat lines* And how Jean Claude Van Damme might get eaten by a lion . . .In I Know You Got Soul, Jeremy Clarkson tells stories of the geniuses, innovators and crackpots who put the ghost in the machine. From Brunel's SS Great Britain to the awesome Blackbird spy-plane and from the woeful - but inspiring - Graf Zeppelin to Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, they can't help but love them in return.Praise for Jeremy Clarkson:'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening Standard

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MEET DETECTIVE GEREON RATH IN THE BOOKS THAT INSPIRED THE HIT TV SERIES BABYLON BERLIN ‘[Kutscher's] trick is ingenious...He's created a portrait of an era through the lens of genre fiction.’ -The New York Times Following international bestseller Babylon Berlin, Volker Kutscher takes us back to Berlin in the second Gereon Rath Mystery. In The Silent Death, Inspector Rath investigates crime and corruption in the shadow of the growing Nazi movement. March 1930. The film industry is changing rapidly, with talking films taking over the silver screen. Celebrated actress Betty Winter is killed when a spotlight falls on her during the filming of a new talkie. It looks like an unfortunate accident at first, but Gereon Rath finds clues that other detectives miss, all suggesting it was murder. The prime suspect is a runaway lighting technician, but the Rath’s investigation points to a different explanation. Soon he is out on his own as tensions rise between rival film studios, and violence breaks out between Communists and Nazis. It’s no time for distractions, so naturally that’s when his father asks him for help with a case of blackmail, and ex-girlfriend Charly Ritter reaches out to talk about getting back together. With personal and professional destruction on the line, Rath will find himself fighting for the truth and his own life as all around him political factions fight for the soul of Berlin. About the Gereon Rath Mysteries 1930s Berlin is a hotbed of vice and organised crime. When Inspector Gereon Rath leaves Cologne to join Berlin’s murder squad, he cannot begin to imagine the brutality and complexity of the world he is stepping into as communists and Nazis struggle for power.

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A holiday becomes work for Mitchell and Markby as a crime unravels... Mitchell and Markby find themselves drawn into a murder enquiry whilst holiday in a country cottage in A Word After Dying, the tenth cosy English village crime novel in Ann Granger's captivating Mitchell & Markby series. The perfect read for fans of Rebecca Tope, Agatha Christie and ITV's Midsomer Murders.'Probably the best current example of a crime writer who has taken the classic English village detective story and brought it up to date' - Birmingham Post Superintendent Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell are in desperate need of a holiday - and the Cotswold village of Parsloe St John seems the perfect choice. Their neighbour, retired journalist Wynne Carter, is as convivial as the village itself and, over a glass of blackberry wine, indulges in her latest obsession, Olivia Smeaton, a racy old lady whose life - and death - she is convinced are not all they seem. Markby is more interested in buying Olivia's house than the circumstances of her vacating it, but Meredith is intrigued: by the old lady, the death of a cherished horse and a dusty junk shop run by a white witch.When another fatality - of a very grisly nature - is discovered, it seems her suspicion is justified. Clearly Olivia isn't the only enigma in Parsloe St John - and her death might be the first of many unless Meredith Mitchell and Alan Markby can make sense of some very secret lives to reach the truth...What readers are saying about A Word After Dying:'If you like your crime novels written in a low key style with plenty of amusing moments and not too much graphic violence then this is the series for you''Yet another great Mitchell & Markby whodunit''An invigorating novel!'

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The New York Times Editors' ChoiceNPR Science Friday Book Club SelectionAn intimate and revelatory dive into the world of the beaver-the wonderfully weird rodent that has surprisingly shaped American history and may save its ecological future.From award-winning writer Leila Philip, BEAVERLAND is a masterful work of narrative science writing, a book that highlights, though history and contemporary storytelling, how this weird rodent plays an oversized role in American history and its future. She follows fur trappers who lead her through waist high water, fur traders and fur auctioneers, as well as wildlife managers, PETA activists, Native American environmental vigilantes, scientists, engineers, and the colourful group of activists known as beaver believers.Beginning with the early trans-Atlantic trade in North America, Leila Philip traces the beaver's profound influence on our nation's early economy and feverish western expansion, its first corporations and multi-millionaires. In her pursuit of this weird and wonderful animal, she introduces us to people whose lives are devoted to the beaver, including a Harvard scientist from the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, who uses drones to create 3-dimensional images of beaver dams; and an environmental restoration consultant in the Chesapeake whose nickname is the "beaver whisperer".What emerges is a poignant personal narrative, a startling portrait of the secretive world of the contemporary fur trade, and an engrossing ecological and historical investigation of these heroic animals who, once trapped to the point of extinction, have returned to the landscape as one of the greatest conservation stories of the 20th century. Beautifully written and impeccably researched, BEAVERLAND reveals the profound ways in which one odd creature and the trade surrounding it has shaped history, culture, and our environment.

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Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time'Another exciting read that keeps you on the edge of your seat' 5***** Reader Review'Grabbed my attention from the beginning . . . One of Dick Francis' best!' 5***** Reader Review'Excellent characterisations, believable villains and wonderful plots' 5***** Reader Review______Gene Hawkins is a fixer for his boss Mr Keeble: if Keeble has a problem, Gene goes and fixes it. It's that simple. Sometimes it requires the Luger he carries - mostly it doesn't.Now Keeble has summoned Gene back from a long-overdue holiday. It seems that a very expensive stallion has been taken in Kentucky. It's the third high-value kidnapping in a few years. Keeble wants his horse back - and it's Gene's job to go out there and find it.But what Gene doesn't know is that he's about to get involved with blackmailers and murderers. Looks like that Lugar will see some use . . .Packed with intrigue and hair-raising suspense, Blood Sport is just one of the many blockbuster thrillers from legendary crime writer Dick Francis.Praise for Dick Francis:'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard'Still the master' Racing Post

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Secrets will be uncovered . . .'I was absolutely gripped . . . the atmospheric setting of Greyfriars intertwined with the grim reality of the war camps of Singapore was inspirational.' Linda Finlay'A thought-provoking and atmospheric read.' Evie GraceAn epic, sweeping drama about a family with secrets and a house shrouded in mystery, Greyfriars House is perfect for fans of Rachel Hore, Kate Morton, Kate Riordan and Tracey Rees. On a remote Scottish island sits Greyfriars House1939Nine-year-old Olivia Friel is delighted to be spending the summer at Greyfriars House, a place where her parents, their family and friends are always happy. But this year there's an underlying tension that Olivia doesn't understand. Then one night she sees something she's not meant to, and accidentally lets slip a devastating betrayal. 1984Charlotte Friel gets a call from her ailing mother, asking something she's never asked before: for Charlotte to come home. There are things Olivia needs to tell her daughter before it's too late, secrets to be shared about forgotten relatives and a mysterious house.Left reeling by recent events, Charlotte is unsure what path to follow. But eventually her curiosity, and a desire to escape her own life, lead her to Greyfriars House. Will she find the answers she needs to make peace with the past?Praise for Emma Fraser:'A gripping tale . . . romance, adventure and an intriguing underlying mystery' - Lancaster Guardian 'A heartbreaking novel of love and loss' - Blackpool Gazette 'A powerful and at times gritty tale of love and loss . . . a great, insightful read' - Novelicious 'An epic tale of one woman's determination to follow her dreams' - People's Friend'First rate' - Lovereading'Engaging and enjoyable' - The Historical Novel Society?

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LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 McILVANNEY PRIZE FOR BEST SCOTTISH CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEARAs the house burns, the hunt for a killer begins...In the dead of night someone starts a fire in a home for underprivileged children in Aberdeen. The flames spread quickly, and one person doesn't make it out alive.But the victim wasn't found in their bedroom; they were discovered locked inside a secret basement underground. As DI Eve Hunter and her team search the blackened ruins, the case takes them into even darker territory.Soon Eve unearths a horrific discovery at the heart of the property - one that turns the whole investigation on its head. Everyone in this home has something to hide, but who has a secret worth killing for?______________________________________'Taut and gripping, with a pace that never slows, From The Ashes is a master-class in police procedurals.' Andrea Mara'Unmissable and addictive, Masson delivers beautifully crafted punches and red hot twists. Neatly plotted with some stunning characterisations, this is belter of a book.' Helen Fields'A well-plotted police procedural.' The Herald'It's clear that DI Eve Hunter is now one of Scotland's premier fictional detectives. Harrowing, absorbing - you won't put this down until the secret of the book's magic is revealed. A triumph for Deborah Masson.' Denzil Meyrick'Pacy, intelligent and so so satisfying. Another brilliant outing for Eve Hunter who is fast becoming my favourite detective. I can't get enough of Deborah Masson's writing.' Marion Todd'From The Ashes is a tense and intriguing mystery, expertly delving into the darker side of the Granite City, hooked from from the first page and kept me guessing to the very end!' G. R. Halliday

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A legal document dated 1600, for a Star Chamber case titled Clifton versus Robinson, details how boys were abducted from London streets and forcibly held in order to train them as actors for the Blackfriars theatre. No adults were seen on-stage in this theatre, which was stocked solely by acting boys, resulting in a satirical and scurrilous method of play presentation. Were the boys specifically targeted for skills they may have possessed which would have been applicable to this type of play presentation? And, was this method of recruitment typical or atypical of Elizabethan theatre? Analysis of the background of the boy subjects of the legal case indicate that several had received grammar-school tuition and, as a result, would have possessed skills in oration and rhetoric. Indeed, a significant number of the grammar schools in London provided regular public disputations and theatrical performances which would have made these boys an attractive proposition for inclusion in a theatrical company. The styles of play-texts which the boys performed and their manner of presenting characters helps to assess why child acting companies were commercially viable and popular. Their portrayal of all roles in a performance; young and old, male and female, clearly demonstrated their versatility and skill in mimicry and the adoption of other personas. Therefore the taking of grammar-school boys for re-training as actors was not opportunistic; their abductions were planned. The theatre owners undertook this method of recruitment as they felt that they were immune from prosecution due to holding royal commissions which they used to recruit boys. However, the Clifton vs. Robinson case clearly demonstrates that a determined parent whose child had been taken could challenge this and demand reparation.

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Robin Hood is England's greatest folk hero. Everyone knows the story of the outlaw who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Nick Rennison's highly entertaining book begins with the search for the historical Robin. Was there ever a real Robin Hood? Rennison looks at the candidates who have been proposed over the years, from petty thieves to Knights Templar, before moving on to examine the many ways in which Robin Hood has been portrayed in literature and on the screen. He began as the hero of dozens and dozens of late medieval ballads. He appeared in plays by contemporaries of Shakespeare. In the Romantic era Robin was reinvented by Walter Scott as a Saxon champion in the struggle against the Normans. During the nineteenth century, he emerged as a hero in children's literature. More recently he has been portrayed as everything from proto-socialist man of the people to anarchist thug. In the cinema he put in an appearance as early as 1908 and Douglas Fairbanks and then Errol Flynn turned him into the typical hero of Hollywood swashbucklers. In the last twenty years, Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe have provided their own very different interpretations of the character. On the small screen, Robin has been the hero of half-a-dozen TV shows from the 1950s series starring Richard Greene, which used many writers blacklisted by Hollywood, via the well-remembered Robin of Sherwood in the 1980s to the recent BBC series. As the twenty-first century marches through its second decade, Robin Hood is still very much with us. He is the subject of graphic novels and computer games. New films are in the offing. Robin is an archetypal hero who, it seems, can never die. This engaging book charts his life so far.

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Carter has been kidnapped. Enslaved. But he's determined to fight to the end.Jacob is a pacifist. His family destroyed. He's about to choose the path of violence to reclaim his son.Their world has changed for ever. Between them, they're going to avenge it.Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He's living a comfortable, quiet life, obeying the law and minding his own business while raising his son Carter ... on those occasions when he isn't having to bail him out of one scrape or another. His days of adventure are - thankfully - long behind him.Carter Carnehan is going out of his mind with boredom. He's bored by his humdrum life, frustrated that his father won't live a little, and longs for the bright lights and excitement of anywhere-but-here. He's longing for an opportunity to escape, and test himself against whatever the world has to offer.Carter is going to get his opportunity. He's caught up in a village fight, kidnapped by slavers and, before he knows it, is swept to another land. A lowly slave, surrounded by technology he doesn't understand, his wish has come true: it's him vs. the world. He can try to escape, he can try to lead his fellow slaves, or he can accept the inevitable and try to make the most of the short, brutal existence remaining to him.... unless Jacob gets to him first and, no matter the odds, he intends to. No one kidnaps his son and gets away with it - and if it come to it, he'll force Kings to help him on his way, he'll fight, steal, blackmail and betray his friends in the name of bringing Carter home.Wars will be started. Empires will fall. And the Carnehan family will be reunited, one way or another ...

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Stories abound of immigrant Jews on the outside looking in, clambering up the ladder of social mobility, successfully assimilating and integrating into their new worlds. But this book is not about the success stories. It's a paean to the bunglers, the blockheads, and the just plain weird—Jews who were flung from small, impoverished eastern European towns into the urban shtetls of New York and Warsaw, where, as they say in Yiddish, their bread landed butter side down in the dirt. These marginal Jews may have found their way into the history books far less frequently than their more socially upstanding neighbors, but there's one place you can find them in force: in the Yiddish newspapers that had their heyday from the 1880s to the 1930s. Disaster, misery, and misfortune: you will find no better chronicle of the daily ignominies of urban Jewish life than in the pages of the Yiddish press. An underground history of downwardly mobile Jews, Bad Rabbi exposes the seamy underbelly of pre-WWII New York and Warsaw, the two major centers of Yiddish culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With true stories plucked from the pages of the Yiddish papers, Eddy Portnoy introduces us to the drunks, thieves, murderers, wrestlers, poets, and beauty queens whose misadventures were immortalized in print. There's the Polish rabbi blackmailed by an American widow, mass brawls at weddings and funerals, a psychic who specialized in locating missing husbands, and violent gangs of Jewish mothers on the prowl—in short, not quite the Jews you'd expect. One part Isaac Bashevis Singer, one part Jerry Springer, this irreverent, unvarnished, and frequently hilarious compendium of stories provides a window into an unknown Yiddish world that was.

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Wild Tales by Graham Nash - a classic rock memoir of the legendary Hollies front man and member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & YoungIn this candid and riveting autobiography Graham Nash tells it all: the love, the sex, the jealousy, the drugs, and the magical music-making.This is one of the great rock and roll stories: growing up in poverty in postwar Manchester, where Nash founded the Hollies with schoolfriend Allan Clarke and the incredible success that followed, friendships with all the great British bands of the 60s including the Beatles, the Stones and the Kinks, decamping to America and becoming the lover of Joni Mitchell (for whom he wrote 'Our House') and achieving superstardom with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Neil Young.This book will be adored by Graham Nash fans and takes its rightful place in the pantheon of classic music memoirs alongside Book Dylan's Chronicles, Keith Richards' Life and Neil Young's Waging Heavy Peace.Graham Nash was born in Blackpool in 1942 and brought up in Salford. He was cofounder with his schoolfriend Allan Clarke of the Hollies - one of the most successful British pop groups of the 1960s for whom he was lead-singer and one of the principal songwriters. In 1968 he left the UK to live in California, where he became part of the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash (later, after Neil Young joined, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young). Unusually he has been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for the Hollies and for CSNY, and in 2010 he received the OBE. He is noted for his political and charity work (he played Occupy Wall Street in 2011), is a serious photographer, and has homes in California and Hawaii.

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Karel Capek is the most important, most versatile, but also the most neglected Czech writer in the twentieth century. His plays RUR and "From the Life of Insects" created a sensation in London in the 1920s; his word "robot" was introduced into the Oxford English Dictionary while his other plays as well as novels, short stories, essays, and travelogues followed in English translations in quick succession until cultural links were broken off by the war. Because of his liberal, anti-war views Capek's works were blacklisted by the Nazis occupying his homeland, as well as later by the communists. Presenting a study of all genres Capek used, BRB's book pays the debt history owes to Capek. Both as a writer and as a journalist, Capek sought the truth: in the epistemological sense, how we acquire knowledge; in the moral one, how we apply it to our behaviour. Recognizing great differences between individuals, Capek recommends tolerance and mutual trust as the best way towards the improvement of democratic human relations. His philosophical trilogy Hordubal, Meteor and An Ordinary Life -- is the best artistic expression of these ideas; as a journalist, he conveyed them explicitly. Capek's science fiction works show his admiration for the achievements of science and technology; he forecast the use of nuclear power, but strongly warned against its abuse. His readers particularly appreciated his common sense, wit and humour. Karel Capek was a man who taught through laughter.

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From Eve to Evolution provides the first full-length study of American women's responses to evolutionary theory and illuminates the role science played in the nineteenth-century women's rights movement. Kimberly A. Hamlin reveals how a number of nineteenth-century women, raised on the idea that Eve's sin forever fixed women's subordinate status, embraced Darwinian evolution-especially sexual selection theory as explained in The Descent of Man-as an alternative to the creation story in Genesis. Hamlin chronicles the lives and writings of the women who combined their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with their commitment to women's rights, including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Eliza Burt Gamble, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These Darwinian feminists believed evolutionary science proved that women were not inferior to men, that it was natural for mothers to work outside the home, and that women should control reproduction. The practical applications of this evolutionary feminism came to fruition, Hamlin shows, in the early thinking and writing of the American birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. Much scholarship has been dedicated to analyzing what Darwin and other male evolutionists had to say about women, but very little has been written regarding what women themselves had to say about evolution. From Eve to Evolution adds much-needed female voices to the vast literature on Darwin in America.

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From Eve to Evolution provides the first full-length study of American women's responses to evolutionary theory and illuminates the role science played in the nineteenth-century women's rights movement. Kimberly A. Hamlin reveals how a number of nineteenth-century women, raised on the idea that Eve's sin forever fixed women's subordinate status, embraced Darwinian evolution-especially sexual selection theory as explained in The Descent of Man - as an alternative to the creation story in Genesis. Hamlin chronicles the lives and writings of the women who combined their enthusiasm for evolutionary science with their commitment to women's rights, including Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Eliza Burt Gamble, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These Darwinian feminists believed evolutionary science proved that women were not inferior to men, that it was natural for mothers to work outside the home, and that women should control reproduction. The practical applications of this evolutionary feminism came to fruition, Hamlin shows, in the early thinking and writing of the American birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. Much scholarship has been dedicated to analyzing what Darwin and other male evolutionists had to say about women, but very little has been written regarding what women themselves had to say about evolution. From Eve to Evolution adds much-needed female voices to the vast literature on Darwin in America.

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The second book in Alexander McCall Smith's new DETECTIVE VARG series . . .'Reading the novel feels like a form of meditation . . . There is much to enjoy' ScotsmanSpring is coming slowly to Sweden - though not quite as slowly as Detective Ulf Varg's promised promotion at the Department of Sensitive Crimes. For Varg, referred by his psychoanalyst to group therapy at Malmö's Wholeness Centre, life now seems mostly a circle of self-examination, something which may or may not be useful when it comes to the nature of his profession and the particularly sensitive cases that have recently come to light.All in a day's work for Detective Varg, except that one of his new investigations involves fellow detective Anna; it will require every ounce of self-discipline he has in order to remain professional. The other, more curious case is centred around internationally successful novelist Nils Personn-Cederström. According to his girlfriend, Cederström is being blackmailed - but by whom and for what reason?Accompanied by his irritating but kindly colleague Blomquist, Varg begins his enquiries and soon the answers fall neatly into place. Nothing and no one is ever that simple, however, and not for the first time he learns as much about his own emotional and moral landscape as he does about the motives of others. Now Varg must make a possibly life-changing decision. Will he choose his own happiness over that of his heart's desire?

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Every day, new technologies affect your life at home, at work and at play. But how often do you pause to consider how your computer, mp3 player, mobile phone or Blackberry influence your spiritual life your beliefs, your faith, your fundamental understanding of God? With wit and verve, Stephen Spyker leads you on a lively journey through the many ways technology impacts on how we think about faith and how we practise it. He explores the role of new spiritual communities, the personal relationships we have with our gadgets, our changing expectations, helping you to think about the many, often subtle, ways technology has seeped into every aspect of our lives and changed the way we "do" faith. Can online churches replace traditional houses of worship? Will my iPod give me peace of mind? Is technological convenience undermining our ability to create community and make commitments? Whether a technophile or technophobe, no matter your faith or background, this book will entertain and challenge you while encouraging you to take a fresh look at spirituality in our modern world.

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The world's shark population is in trouble for a sad, simple reason: shark fin soup. And although it's illegal, poachers have been targeting Florida's biannual migration of blacktip sharks. Marine biologist Doc Ford needs assistance protecting the sharks and enlists the help of three kids-Luke, Maribel and Sabina. Luke is brand-new to Florida from the Midwest; sisters Maribel and Sabina recently arrived from Cuba-and all three feel like fish out of water. It's going to take some convincing for them to work as a team and recognize in themselves the courage, wisdom and tenacity that Doc sees in them. Together they form Sharks, Inc. and are given an important assignment: to set out each day on a small fishing boat in hopes of tagging sharks for Doc's research-and to stay faraway from possible poachers in the area. The trio isn't looking for trouble, but when they come face to face with danger, survival requires them to rely on each of their own unique gifts, and especially on one another.

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Paul Thomas series is praised as 'a detective and novelist to follow'. Detective Ihaka is 'charismatic, profane, and built to smash bad guys, corrupt colleagues and most normal human boundaries - may be the greatest New Zealander who never lived' - Ngaio Marsh Awards judge Stephanie JonesThree books in one:Old School Tie Strange and sinister things are happening in the City of Sails. A private eye is assassinated. A businessman has plummeted to his death. A teenage girls suicide seems to odd for words. When a magazine decides to investigate, Reggie Sparks finds himself chasing a story in which blackmail and double dealing are the order of the day and some secrets are dark enough to kill for. Inside DopeDuane Ricketts had planned to steer clear of drugs once he got out of the Thai jail, but it's tough turning down a dying man's last request - even if he's a hardened criminal with a fatal weakness for transvestites. So now Ricketts is looking for the lost treasure of the notorious Mr Asia syndicate: ten kilos of high-grade cocaine.Guerilla SeasonAcross the Tasman Sea, the Aotearoa People's Army is waging a bizarre offensive. A broadcaster is made to walk the plank and a journalist gets his neck rung. Counterterrorist experts think they are on top of it, but cop Tito Ihaka doesn't believe so. Soon he is in danger of being proved right.

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Everyone thrives on love, comfort, and the safety of family, friends, and community. But if you are denied these basic comforts early in life, whether through a lack of physical affection or emotional bonding, you may develop intense fears of abandonment that can last well into adulthood-fears so powerful that they can actually cause you to push people away. If you suffer from fears of abandonment, you may have underlying feelings of anger, shame, fear, anxiety, depression, and grief. These emotions are intense and painful, and when they surface they can lead to a number of negative behaviors, such as jealousy, clinging, and emotional blackmail. In Love Me, Don't Leave Me, therapist Michelle Skeen combines acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), schema therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) to help you identify the root of your fears. In this book you'll learn how schema coping behaviors-deeply entrenched and automatic behaviors rooted in childhood experiences and fears-can take over and cause you to inadvertently sabotage your relationships. By recognizing these coping behaviors and understanding their cause, you will not only gain powerful insights into your own mind, but also into the minds of those around you.If you are ready to break the self-fulfilling cycle of mistrust, clinginess, and heartbreak and start building lasting, trusting relationships, this book will be your guide.

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An unparalleled collection of original essays on Benedict de Spinoza's contributions to philosophy and his enduring legacy A Companion to Spinoza presents a panoramic view of contemporary Spinoza studies in Europe and across the Anglo-American world. Designed to stimulate fresh dialogue between the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy, this extraordinary volume brings together 53 original essays that explore Spinoza's contributions to Western philosophy and intellectual history. A diverse team of established and emerging international scholars discuss new themes and classic topics to provide a uniquely comprehensive picture of one of the most influential metaphysicians of all time. Rather than simply summarizing the body of existing scholarship, the Companion develops new ideas, examines cutting-edge scholarship, and suggests directions for future research. The text is structured around six thematically-organized sections, exploring Spinoza's life and background, his contributions to metaphysics and natural philosophy, his epistemology, politics, ethics, and aesthetics, the reception of Spinoza in the work of philosophers such as Kant, Schelling, Schopenhauer, and Hegel, and more. This unparalleled research collection combines a timely overview of the current state of research with deep coverage of Spinoza's philosophy, legacy, and influence. Part of the celebrated Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series, A Companion to Spinoza is an ideal text for advanced courses in modern philosophy, intellectual history, and the history of metaphysics, and an indispensable reference for researchers and scholars in Spinoza studies.

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“It’s time to come Home. All five of you. Or else.” Saskia was a damaged, lonely teenager when she arrived at the lakeside commune called Home. She was entranced by the tang of sourdough starter; the midnight call of the loons; the triumph of foraging wild mushrooms from the forest floor - and Abraham, Home's charismatic leader, the North Star to Saskia and the four other teenagers who lived there, her best and only friends. Two decades later, Saskia is shuttered in her Connecticut estate. She’s not scared of the world; it’s her own capacity for ruthlessness that’s made her lock herself away. In the shadow of Home’s stately pines all those years ago, Abraham weaponised this trait, singling her out to do his bidding. The results haunt her daily. Then her worst nightmare comes true: she and her estranged friends receive threatening letters. Unless they return to the land in rural Maine, the terrible thing they did as teenagers - their last ditch attempt to save Home - will be revealed. Returning to Home from vastly different lives to confront their blackmailer, the five must not only face their dark past, but reckon with what they are capable of now that they’ve been reunited. How far will they go to bury their secret forever?

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“Erica Garza has written a riveting, can’t-look-away memoir of a life lived hardcore…In an era when predatory male sexual behavior has finally become a topic of urgent national discourse…Getting Off makes for a wild, timely read” (Elle).A fixation on porn and orgasm, strings of failed relationships and serial hook-ups with strangers, inevitable blackouts to blunt the shame—these are not things we often hear women share publicly, and not with the candor, eloquence, and introspection Erica Garza brings to Getting Off. What sets this courageous and riveting account apart from your typical misery memoir is the absence of any precipitating trauma beyond the garden variety of hurt we’ve all had to endure in simply becoming a person—reckoning with family, learning to be social, integrating what it means to be sexual. Whatever tenor of violence or abuse Erica’s life took on through her behavior was of her own making, fueled by fear, guilt, self-loathing, self-pity, loneliness, and the hopelessness those feelings brought on as she runs from one side of the world to the other in an effort to break her habits—from East Los Angeles to Hawaii and Southeast Asia, through the brothels of Bangkok and the yoga studios of Bali to disappointing stabs at therapy and twelve-steps back home. In these remarkable pages, Garza draws an evocative, studied portrait of the anxiety that fuels her obsessions, as well as the exhilaration and hope she begins to feel when she suspects she might be free of them. Getting Off offers a brave and necessary voice to our evolving conversations about addiction and the impact that internet culture has had on us all—“a profoundly genuine, gripping story that any reader can appreciate” (Vice). “In reading Garza’s insight into her own experiences, we better understand ourselves” (The New York Times Book Review).

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It is the third of September 1939. It is just after half past eleven in the morning. I am fifteen years and sixteen days old. The radiogram at my home, the Woodman Hotel in Clent, has just been switched off, the silence resonates around the room, and a deathly hush has fallen. The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, has declared that, despite the best efforts of the politicians of the day to secure ‘peace in our time’, the inevitable has befallen us; despite pledges to the contrary, Germany has invaded Poland, Hitler has ignored requests to back down and so, therefore, ‘Britain is now at war with Germany’. Minutes after the broadcast ends, my Father, Sidney Wheeler, goes quietly up to his room where he methodically loads three bullets into his First World War revolver. This is the true story of a fifteen-year-old girl’s experience of the Second World War, based around her parent’s hotel in a sleepy Worcestershire village. As war is declared, her father prepares three bullets for the invasion. He will shoot the family and himself when the Germans come. In their village, local Germans are imprisoned (guilty or not). The blackout is immediate and has tragic consequences. There is a court case over an alleged poker game. An abortion nearly results in tragedy. Handsome young airmen fly low over the hotel. Pamela has a premonition of death. The business fails. An air raid very nearly kills them all. She is called up first to factory work and then to the Land Army. She marries by special licence. As the war comes to an end she is living at home with her parents and a small baby, at which point she is just twenty-one years of age. Amusing and entertaining, surprising and often moving, Pamela's account vividly captures one family’s life on the home front in Worcestershire.

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By the 1920s, Jews were--by all economic, political, and cultural measures of the day--making it in America. But as these children of immigrants took their places in American society, many deliberately identified with groups that remained excluded. Despite their success, Jews embraced resistance more than acculturation, preferring marginal status to assimilation. The stories of Al Jolson, Felix Frankfurter, and Arnold Rothstein are told together to explore this paradox in the psychology of American Jewry. All three Jews were born in the 1880s, grew up around American Jewish ghettos, married gentile women, entered the middle class, and rose to national fame. All three also became heroes to the American Jewish community for their association with events that galvanized the country and defined the Jazz Age. Rothstein allegedly fixed the 1919 World Series--an accusation this book disputes. Frankfurter defended the Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. Jolson brought jazz music to Hollywood for the first talking film, The Jazz Singer, and regularly impersonated African Americans in blackface. Each of these men represented a version of the American outsider, and American Jews celebrated them for it. Michael Alexander's gracefully written account profoundly complicates the history of immigrants in America. It challenges charges that anti-Semitism exclusively or even mostly explains Jews' feelings of marginality, while it calls for a general rethinking of positions that have assumed an immigrant quest for inclusion into the white American mainstream. Rather, Alexander argues that Jewish outsider status stemmed from the group identity Jews brought with them to this country in the form of the theology of exile. Jazz Age Jews shows that most Jews felt culturally obliged to mark themselves as different--and believed that doing so made them both better Jews and better Americans.

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Graham Bonnet was born in Skegness in 1947 and had his first hit single with The Marbles in 1968, "Only One Woman" which reached Number 5 in the UK Singles Chart.....So runs Graham Bonnet's wikipedia entry. Of The Skyliners, The Peter Tomlinson Band, The Jimmy Aldred Band, The Jan Ramsden Band, The Missing Links, The Blueset, The Bluesect and The Graham Bonnet Set not a word. This new biography of the much travelled rock singer more than fills the missing gaps. After his work with The Marbles, Bonnet delivered a well-regarded solo album in 1977 which was the spring-board for his rock career, with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow the first to call. After the chart album Down To Earth, Rainbow suddenly found themselves with well-crafted AOR hits in the shape of "Since You Been Gone" and "All Night Long". The band headlined the first Donnington Monsters Of Rock festival in 1980, but Bonnet quit to record a star-studded solo album and top ten single Night Games. Bonnet was then quickly snapped up by ex-UFO guitarist Michael Schenker in the Michael Schenker Group (MSG) for the powerful Assault Attack album. Bonnet's most consistent rock project came in 1983 when he decided to put his own band together; Alcatrazz became a huge draw on the rock circuit for the next four years, with a number of albums to their name. They became particularly successful in Japan (where Bonnet remains very successful.) Now based in LA, the ever adaptable Bonnet continues to record and tour on a regular basis, with a new album issued just a few months ago. Watching Rainbow live in 1980, no lesser person than Ozzy Osbourne described Graham's performance as the best by a rock vocalist he had ever witnessed.

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“I Know This to Be True is the basis for the Netflix documentary series Live to Lead created and directed by Geoff Blackwell and executive produced by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.”  The I Know This to Be True series is a collection of extraordinary figures from diverse backgrounds answering the same questions, as well as sharing their compelling stories, guiding ideals, and insightful wisdom. The inimitable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former associate justice of the US Supreme Court, embodied the power of persistence and integrity. Throughout her legal career, spanning nearly five decades, she was an unwavering force for progress and a leading voice for equality and justice. Here, she reflects on her many years of service to the law, as well as her family life and struggle with cancer. With disarming honesty, Ginsburg discusses everything from gender equality and fitness to literature and the importance of hard work. Strong, hopeful and wise, her words stand as a guide for budding feminists and those who fight for justice around the world. Inspired by Nelson Mandela's legacy and created in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, I Know This to Be True is a global series of books created to spark a new generation of leaders. This series offers encouragement and guidance to graduates, future leaders, and anyone hoping to make a positive impact on the world. • Royalties from sales of the series support the free distribution of material from the series to the world's developing economy countries. • A highly giftable and lovely hardcover with vivid photographic portraits throughout.

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The road to hell is paved with good intentions…and gold dust. When Henry Jenkins’s sawmill business goes bust and his family loses their Indiana farm to foreclosure, he believes gold is the answer to his financial woes. But it takes money to make money. Joining up with the Blackford Mining Company, Jenkins and the prospective miners sign fraudulent promissory notes to borrow from a ruthless businessman, Allen Makepeace, to reach the gold fields. But when the men arrive in California after an arduous river and sea journey, they face even more dangers in the lawless West that challenge their physical and spiritual well-being. When Jenkins, a God-fearing man, fails to strike it rich in California, he scrabbles to repay Makepeace and return to his destitute family in Indiana. Following in his wake, Henry’s son-in-law becomes a captive passenger on a notorious death ship. Later, Henry’s adult children find their way west and the family pays a terrible price. Fortune's Frenzy: A California Gold Rush Odyssey puts the experiences of the Jenkins family and others who took part in the gold rush in the context of 1850s American culture: their past; their community; their daily lives (and deaths) in frontier Indiana, on the sea route to California, and in the mines. The theme is age-old, and still relevant: desperate people falling for get-rich-quick schemes. They fail to consider the sacrifices they will have to make and the dismal odds of their success. Many ended up worse off than when they started.

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The reception of the Gospel of Matthew over two millennia: commentary and interpretation Matthew Through the Centuries offers an overview of the reception history of one of the most prominent gospels in Christian worship. Examining the reception of Matthew from the perspectives of a wide range of interpreters—from Origen and Hilary of Poitiers to Mary Cornwallis and Bob Marley—this insightful commentary explains the major trends in the reception of Matthew in various ecclesial, historical, and cultural contexts. Focusing on characteristically Matthean features, detailed chapter-by-chapter commentary highlights diverse receptions and interpretations of the gospel. Broad exploration of areas such as liturgy, literature, drama, film, hymnody, political discourse, and visual art illustrates the enormous impact Matthew continues to have on Judeo-Christian civilization. Known as ‘the Church’s Gospel,’ Matthew’s text has been the subject of apologetic and theological controversy for hundreds of years. It has been seen as justification for political and ecclesial status quo and as a path to radical discipleship. Matthew has influenced divergent political, spiritual, and cultural figures such as Francis of Assisi, John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Mahatma Gandhi. Matthew’s interest in ecclesiology provides early structures of ecclesial life, such as resolution of community disputes, communal prayer, and liturgical prescriptions for the Eucharist and baptism. A significant addition to the acclaimed Blackwell Bible Commentaries series, Matthew Through the Centuries is an indispensable resource for both students and experts in areas including religious and biblical studies, literature, history, politics, and those interested in the influence of the Bible on Western culture.

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A timely and provocative account of the Bible’s role in one of the most consequential episodes in the history of slaveryOn July 2, 1822, Denmark Vesey, a formerly enslaved man, was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina. He was convicted of plotting what might have been the largest insurrection against slaveholders in US history. Witnesses claimed that Vesey appealed to numerous biblical texts to promote and justify the revolt. While sentencing Vesey to death, Lionel Henry Kennedy, a magistrate at the trial, accused Vesey not only of treason but also of “attempting to pervert the sacred words of God into a sanction for crimes of the blackest hue.” Denmark Vesey’s Bible tells the story of this momentous trial, examining the role of scriptural interpretation in the deadly struggle against American white supremacy and its brutal enforcement.Jeremy Schipper brings the trial and its aftermath vividly to life, drawing on court documents, personal letters, sermons, speeches, and editorials. He shows how Vesey compared people of African descent with enslaved Israelites in the Bible, while his accusers portrayed plantation owners as benevolent biblical patriarchs responsible for providing religious instruction to the enslaved. What emerges is an explosive portrait of an antebellum city in the grips of racial terror, violence, and contending visions of biblical truth.Shedding light on the uses of scripture in America’s troubled racial history, Denmark Vesey’s Bible draws vital lessons from a terrible moment in the nation’s past, enabling us to confront racism and religious discord today with renewed urgency and understanding.

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On March 13, 1989, the entire Quebec power grid collapsed, automatic garage doors in California suburbs began to open and close without apparent reason, and microchip production came to a halt in the Northeast; in space, communications satellites had to be manually repointed after flipping upside down, and pressure readings on hydrogen tank supplies on board the Space Shuttle Discovery peaked, causing NASA to consider aborting the mission. What was the cause of all these seemingly disparate events? Sten Odenwald gives convincing evidence of the mischievous-and potentially catastrophic-power of solar storms and the far-reaching effects of the coming "big one" brewing in the sun and estimated to culminate in the twenty-third cycle in the year 2001 and beyond. When the sun undergoes its cyclic "solar maximum," a time when fierce solar flares and storms erupt, fantastic auroras will be seen around the world. But the breathtaking spectacles will herald a potentially disastrous chain of events that merit greater preparation than Y2K. Is anyone listening? The 23rd Cycle traces the previously untold history of solar storms and the ways in which they were perceived by astronomers-and even occasionally covered up by satellite companies. Punctuated with an insert containing dramatic color images showing the erupting sun, the book also includes a history of the record of auroral sightings, accounts of communications blackouts from the twentieth century, a list of industries sensitive to solar storms, and information about radiation and health issues.

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The tragedies of World War II are well known. But at least one has been forgotten: in September 1939, four hundred thousand cats and dogs were massacred in Britain. The government, vets, and animal charities all advised against this killing. So why would thousands of British citizens line up to voluntarily euthanize household pets? In The Great Cat and Dog Massacre, Hilda Kean unearths the history, piecing together the compelling story of the life and death of Britain's wartime animal companions. She explains that fear of imminent Nazi bombing and the desire to do something to prepare for war led Britons to sew blackout curtains, dig up flower beds for vegetable patches, send their children away to the countryside and kill the family pet, in theory sparing them the suffering of a bombing raid. Kean's narrative is gripping, unfolding through stories of shared experiences of bombing, food restrictions, sheltering, and mutual support. Soon pets became key to the war effort, providing emotional assistance and helping people to survive a contribution for which the animals gained government recognition. Drawing extensively on new research from animal charities, state archives, diaries, and family stories, Kean does more than tell a virtually forgotten story. She complicates our understanding of World War II as a "good war" fought by a nation of "good" people. Accessibly written and generously illustrated, Kean's account of this forgotten aspect of British history moves animals to center stage forcing us to rethink our assumptions about ourselves and the animals with whom we share our homes.

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Was There Crime in the Second World War?At a time of national emergency, the average person could be forgiven for thinking that crime rates would go down as everyone tried to help the war effort. However, the reality was that criminals saw the war as an opportunity to exploit the emergency conditions and those with a previously unblemished reputation found themselves tempted off the straight and narrow.Criminal activity wasn’t just a civilian occupation. The military services had its share of crime and the influx of foreign troops added to the problem. American and Canadian troops found themselves transported to Britain in preparation for D-Day. Lonely and far from home, some rioted and many looked for other distractions with desertion being a significant problem and one which was often funded by crime.Heavily illustrated with both contemporary and modern photographs Penny takes you back to some of the most infamous wartime crimes such as the blackout ripper, the bath chair murderer and the last person to be prosecuted in Britain for witchcraft. She also delves into the murky world of Spivs, Gangs, prostitutes and Robbers.At a time when rationing, shortages and the blitz meant feeding the family became ever more difficult it was all too easy for the increasingly blurred line of criminality to be crossed. Penny Legg shows how and why crime was committed during the Second World War and what became of those Spivs, Scoundrels, Rogues and Worse who strayed into the underworld.

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'Angus Konstam's gripping account tells the story of this crucial but under-studied naval battle, and explains why the hopes of the German Kriegsmarine went down with their last great ship; only 37 of the German battlecruiser's 1700 crew were saved.' - The Nautical Magazine'Angus Konstam's book is an excellent read and strongly recommended...thoughtful and totally engrossing...If you are interested in the Royal Navy in the Second World War, the Arctic convoy campaign or capital ship actions, The Battle of North Cape is well worth its cover price.' - Naval ReviewOn 25 December 1943 the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst slipped out Altenfjord in Norway to attack Artic convoy JW55B which was carrying vital war supplies to the Soviet Union. But British naval intelligence knew of the Scharnhorst's mission before she sailed and the vulnerable convoy was protected by a large Royal Naval force including the battleship Duke of York. In effect the Scharnhorst was sailing into a trap. One of the most compelling naval dramas of the Second World War had begun.ANGUS KONSTAM is a highly respected and widely published military historian. The body of his work encompasses everything from ancient Greece to the Second World War. However, his main field is maritime and naval history. He has published books on Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate, The History of Pirates, PT Boats: US Naval Torpedo Boats, The History of Shipwrecks, Hunt the Bismarck and the 7th U-Boat Flotilla. His most recent books include Salerno 1943: The Allied Invasion of Italy and Piracy.

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This is the true story of one of the most successful of all United States Navy Fighting Squadrons in World War II. The Skull & Crossbones Squadron were the top guns of their day and came to be feared by the Japanese fighter pilots who described them as “attacks on us by wolves.” Their victorious achievements are as follows: 152 Japanese planes destroyed in the air and two on the ground in only 76 days of combat Five small enemy cargo ships and 17 barges carrying troops and supplies sent to the bottom of the sea. No bomber escorted by them was lost to enemy aircraft, and no ship covered by them was ever hit by bomb or aerial torpedo. The squadron had thirteen aces and two more who later went on to become aces with VF-84 (combat veterans of VF-17 composed the nucleus of this squadron). They were the first Navy squadron into combat action with the new Chance Vought Corsair and were instrumental in proving this powerful new fighter to the Navy. VF-17 were known as the Skull and Crossbones squadron and “Blackburn’s Irregulars”—having adopted the old pirates ensign of the Jolly Roger as the squadron insignia; since World War II they have become known as the “Jolly Rogers.” The Skull and Crossbones Squadron is a mission-by-mission chronicle of all the squadron’s great air battles. Also included are more than 350 photographs and detailed appendices listing all squadron aces, every confirmed victory and war diary.

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'Simply the best detective writer since Agatha Christie' The Sunday TimesDiscover the novels that inspired the hit ITV series Midsomer Murders, seen and loved by millions.A Place of Safety by prize-winning writer Caroline Graham is the sixth Midsomer Murders novel starring much-loved Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby. Featuring an exclusive foreword by John Nettles, ITV's DCI Tom Barnaby. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Ann Granger and James Runcie's The Grantchester Mysteries.Everyone deserves a second chance - or at least that's what ex-vicar Lionel Lawrence believes when he decides to open up the old rectory to a stream of young offenders. Lionel only wants to help these poor souls, but his good deed quickly spirals into a deadly mix of blackmail and murder. Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby is sure he knows who is behind the disappearance of Lionel's latest young charge. Will this elusive suspect prove to be the incarnation of evil itself?Praise for Caroline Graham's novels: 'Everyone gets what they deserve in this high-class mystery' Sunday Telegraph'Her books are not just great whodunits but great novels in their own right' Julie Burchill'Enlivened by a very sardonic wit and turn of phrase, the narrative drive never falters' Birmingham Post'Guaranteed to keep you guessing until the very end' Woman'From the moment the book opens it is gripping and horribly real because Ms Graham draws her characters so well, sets her scenes so perfectly' Woman's Own'An exemplary crime novel' Literary Review

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'A teasing, suspenseful, and twisty read!' Shari Lapena, THE COUPLE NEXT DOORCompletely gripping and full of page-turning twists, this dark psychological thriller is perfect for fans of Laura Marshall's FRIEND REQUEST and K.L. Slater's LIAR. YOU DON'T REMEMBER. HE WON'T LET YOU FORGET.Gemma Brogan needs a break from her life.A work event looks the ideal chance to get away. And a friendly new client seems like the perfect gentleman when he joins Gemma for an innocent dinner . . .But the next morning she has no memory of how the night ended and he has vanished into thin air.Suddenly, Gemma is plunged into a twisted nightmare she can't control. To protect her future, and her family, she will have to confront shocking secrets from her past - and the truth about the girl she used to be.'This page-turner will have you gripped from the start.' Take A Break magazineWHAT READERS ARE SAYING:'What a fantastically twisty psychological thriller!' Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars'The Girl I Used To Be is a brilliant read, addicting, fast-paced, and unputdownable' Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars'Mary Torjussen has put together the perfect balance between chilling and thrilling' Goodreads Reviewer, 5 starsPRAISE FOR MARY TORJUSSEN:'A page turner with a cracking ending' Jenny Blackhurst, THE FOSTER CHILD'This fast-paced story kept me guessing - great twist at the end' K.L. Slater, LIAR and BLINK'A twist that will knock your socks off' Gillian McAllister, ANYTHING YOU DO SAY

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'Just the thing to chase the blues away' M. C. BeatonWhen a body found on the Honeychurch Hall estate proves to be that of a villager who had supposedly moved to Ireland years earlier, tongues start wagging and theories abound. Charlie Green had always been a rogue.Although Charlie's demise happened well before Kat's arrival, Kat is drawn into the mystery when she finds two rare miniature portraits hidden inside a custom-made dollhouse of Honeychurch Hall. And then Charlie's aunt suffers a mysterious fatal fall and suspicion lands on a stranger who is holidaying in the newly installed shepherd's hut in the walled garden -- one of Lady Lavinia's latest hare-brained moneymaking schemes. Although there is something off about the tourist, Kat believes the culprit is fellow antique dealer.With tales of blackmail, infidelity and greed gripping the small community, past and present collide and Kat realises that the miniatures harbour a vital secret that one particular person is willing to kill for.Praise for Hannah Dennison:'The perfect classic English village mystery but with the addition of charm, wit and a thoroughly modern touch' Rhys Bowen'Downton Abbey was yesterday. Murder at Honeychurch Hall lifts the lid on today's grand country estate in all its tarnished, scheming, inbred, deranged glory' Catriona McPherson'Will delight fans and new readers alike' People's Friend'A fun read' Carola Dunn'Sparkles like a glass of Devon cider on a summer afternoon' Elizabeth Duncan

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‘In all his life [Oscar] has never written me a letter that was unkind or at least unloving and to see anything terrible in his handwriting written directly to me would almost kill me.’ This was written by Lord Alfred Douglas in 1897, before the contents of Oscar Wilde’s long letter written in prison and addressed to Douglas, De Profundis, were revealed; in which Wilde indicted Lord Alfred’s vanity and blamed him for his downfall - ‘appetite without distinction, desire without limit, and formless greed’. Years after Oscar Wilde’s death, two of his closest friends, Lord Alfred Douglas and his literary executor Robert Ross - both former lovers - engaged in a bitter battle over Wilde’s legacy and who was to blame for his downfall and early death. The furious struggle led to stalking, blackmail, witness tampering, prison, and a series of dramatic lawsuits. The feud had long-lasting repercussions, not only for the two men, but also for how we remember Oscar Wilde today. Ross was systematic, had more friends, and as Wilde’s executor had access to all of Wilde’s papers, including personal letters from Douglas to Wilde; as the controller of Wilde’s copyright, he had sole discretion as to which of Wilde’s views of Douglas could be published. Douglas had a tenacious fighting spirit, and the sense of entitlement that came with being a lord. This is the first book to focus on the heated feud and to assess the motivations, misconceptions, and actions of all parties involved.

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Karigan may have heard the First Rider's call, but she's not about to let it take over her life ... ... or at least that's what she thinks. She swore to complete a dying man's mission - to deliver a sealed letter to King Zachary. Now that task, more dangerous than she could have imagined, is complete and her work is done, Karigan wants to leave the dangerous world of tainted magic and ancient magicians behind her and return home. Exhausted in both body and spirit, she plans to return to her quiet life and her father's business.But it proves no match for the Rider's call; ghostly hoofbeats sounding in her mind, visions of the freedom of the open road, all calling her back to the king's service as a Green Rider. Karigan resists it, but when she wakes up to find herself - in her nightdress - on horseback and halfway across the country, her destiny is clear: she is a Green Rider.As she discovers, it's not a good time to be called to serve. For a thousand years the D'Yer Wall, a physical and magical barrier protecting the land from the ancient, corrupted Blackveil Forest, has held. For a thousand years the forest, an arboreal prison containing one of Sacoridia's greatest enemies, has been quiet. Not any more. The wall has been breached, unnatural, lethal creatures are finding their way into Sacoridia, a dark sentience is stirring, and the Green Rider magic itself is failing. And in the midst of it all, Karigan is about to be called to her duty ...

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Find solace in your outdoor space in this delightful horticultural journey with actress Caroline Quentin, as she draws on her life-long passion for gardening. Through the pages of this gift book, Caroline shows how much joy she gets from spending time in her garden, whether it be grappling with the best way to grow plants and vegetables, or raising seeds in her potting shed. Though she now has a large following on her Instagram account, @CQGardens, her attitude to gardening is the same as it has always been – expertise helps but is not essential. Gardening should be fun and enjoyable, filled with the simple pleasures of planning, planting, harvesting and cooking. It is also a meditative and restorative pastime, and a great way to lift your spirits. Written in a warm and engaging way that reflects her personality, Caroline tells stories of growing chillies from seed in her greenhouse, berating the thieving blackbirds in her fruit cage, and swimming in her pond singing to dragon flies and flag irises. Over the years, she has come to realise that gardening, just like life, is a series of happy accidents, unplanned successes, and baffling and frustrating failures. Illustrated by Caroline herself, this gorgeous book mixes personal stories of her life and experiences in the garden, with practical tips, recipes for food and drink, and even the occasional favourite poem. As she likes to misquote Dorothy Parker: ‘Take to horticulture, it’s cheaper than a shrink’.

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From Mimi Kirk, voted PETA’s sexiest vegetarian over 50, comes a raw food cookbook for anyone wanting to be healthier. This is a full-color book filled with recipes that will lead to whole beauty. You will look and feel beautifulEveryone knows that eating well makes you feel your best. Mimi Kirk is living proof that eating well—ideally raw vegan food—can also make you look younger. Her raw vegan cookbook, Live Raw, shares 120 recipes mixed with must-have advice. She covers topics including: Chapters include The Pleasure of Felling Good; What to Eat and Why, About Ingredients and Equipment; Herbs, Spices, and Condiments; Smoothies, Juices, Warm Drinks, Mocktails, and More; Breakfasts, Breads, and Crackers; Soups, Salads and Dressings; Cheese, Pates, Tapenades, Wrap, and Rolls; Sauces; Vegetables and Side Dishes; Main Courses; and Sweets. Recipes include: Tangerine Green Smoothie, Mango Smoothie, Cacao Almond Milk Banana Blueberry Pancake, Granola Cereal or Bar, Bagels Butternut Squash Soup, Tom Yum Miso Soup, Gazpacho Fennel Salad, Sweet Pepper Antipasto, High-Energy Salad Sweet Red Pepper Coconut Wrap, Verde Tortilla Wrap, Modern Bruss Els Sprouts, Mashed Parsnips and Cauliflower Kale Chips, Nachos This Side of The Border, Mini Tostadas Chili, Macaroni and Cheese, Crabless Cakes and Tartar Sauce Falafel, Spinach Quiche, Stuffed Grape Leaves Pizza, Pomodoro Lasagna, Pasta Alla Checca, Sweet Potato Gnocchi Thai Pasta, Warm Asian Noodles Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream Chia Pudding, Banana Pudding Chocolate Caramel Bar, Apple Pie, Baked Fruit Sweet Crepes, Mike’s Birthday Brownie, Blackberry Cheesecake And Much More! Learn how to feel and look better with Mimi Kirk and this low fat raw vegan cookbook.

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Before Liz Smith and Perez Hilton became household names in the world of celebrity gossip, before Rush Limbaugh became the voice of conservatism, there was Hedda Hopper. In 1938, this 52-year-old struggling actress rose to fame and influence writing an incendiary gossip column, “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood,” that appeared in the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers throughout Hollywood’s golden age. Often eviscerating moviemakers and stars, her column earned her a nasty reputation in the film industry while winning a legion of some 32 million fans, whose avid support established her as the voice of small-town America. Yet Hopper sought not only to build her career as a gossip columnist but also to push her agenda of staunch moral and political conservatism, using her column to argue against U.S. entry into World War II, uphold traditional views of sex and marriage, defend racist roles for African Americans, and enthusiastically support the Hollywood blacklist. While usually dismissed as an eccentric crank, Jennifer Frost argues that Hopper has had a profound and lasting influence on popular and political culture and should be viewed as a pivotal popularizer of conservatism. The first book to explore Hopper’s gossip career and the public’s response to both her column and her politics, Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood illustrates how the conservative gossip maven contributed mightily to the public understanding of film, while providing a platform for women to voice political views within a traditionally masculine public realm. Jennifer Frost builds the case that, as practiced by Hopper and her readers, Hollywood gossip shaped key developments in American movies and movie culture, newspaper journalism and conservative politics, along with the culture of gossip itself, all of which continue to play out today. Read a review of the book from the Chronicle of Higher Education blog, Tenured Radical.

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