Search results for ""Author Four"
Johns Hopkins University Press The Day Commodus Killed a Rhino: Understanding the Roman Games
The Roman emperor Commodus wanted to kill a rhinoceros with a bow and arrow, and he wanted to do it in the Colosseum. Commodus' passion for hunting animals was so fervent that he dreamt of shooting a tiger, an elephant, and a hippopotamus; his prowess was such that people claimed he never missed when hurling his javelin or firing arrows from his bow. For fourteen days near the end of AD 192, the emperor mounted one of the most lavish and spectacular gladiatorial games Rome had ever seen. Commodus himself was the star attraction, and people rushed from all over Italy to witness the spectacle. But this slaughter was simply the warm-up act to the main event: the emperor was also planning to fight as a gladiator. Why did Roman rulers spend vast resources on such over-the-top displays - and why did some emperors appear in them as combatants? Why did the Roman rabble enjoy watching the slaughter of animals and the sight of men fighting to the death? And how best can we in the modern world understand what was truly at stake in the circus and the arena? In The Day Commodus Killed a Rhino, Jerry Toner set out to answer these questions by vividly describing what it would have been like to attend Commodus' fantastic shows and watch one of his many appearances as both hunter and fighter. Highlighting the massive logistical effort needed to supply the games with animals, performers, and criminals for execution, the book reveals how blood and gore were actually incidental to what really mattered. Gladiatorial games played a key role in establishing a forum for political debate between the rulers and the ruled. Roman crowds were not passive: they were made up of sophisticated consumers with their own political aims, which they used the games to secure. In addition, the games also served as a pure expression of what it meant to be a true Roman. Drawing on notions of personal honor, manly vigor, and sophisticated craftsmanship, the games were a story that the Romans loved to tell themselves about themselves.
£48.19
Astra Publishing House Blackveil
Magic, danger, and adventure abound for messenger Karigan G'ladheon in the fourth book in Kristen Britain's New York Times-bestselling Green Rider fantasy seriesOver a millennium ago, Mornhavon the Black, heir to the Arcosian Empire, crossed the great sea hoping to conquer Sacoridia. Mornhavon and his armies were defeated—but not before their general had resorted to desperate, dark magic that rendered his twisted spirit immortal. Finally, Mornhavon was captured and imprisoned in Blackveil Forest, and the forest’s perimeter was sealed by the magical D’Yer Wall. In the many centuries since, knowledge of magic has disappeared from Sacoridia due to the fear and prejudice of a people traumatized by the memory of Mornhavon’s terrifying sorceries. Even the protective magic that created and maintained the D’Yer Wall has been lost, and the once-impermeable barrier has been breached, allowing Blackveil’s malignant influence to seep into the lands beyond once again. Karigan G’ladheon is a Green Rider—a seasoned member of the elite messenger corps of King Zachary of Sacoridia. But Karigan is no ordinary Rider, for she can traverse the barriers of time and space. Because of this extraordinary ability, she was able to transport the spirit of Mornhavon into the future, buying precious time for her country. During the window of relative safety, King Zachary decides to send Karigan and a small contingent of scouts, accompanied by a small group of Eletians—a magical race who once lived in the lands now tainted by Mornhavon’s magic—into Blackveil Forest. Though Mornhavon is gone, the forest is still a treacherous and unnatural place filled with monstrous creatures and deadly traps. Plus, no one knows how far in the future Mornhavon has been sent—Ten years? One? Maybe even less. And unbeknownst to the band of Eletians and Sacoridians, another small group has entered the forest—Arcosian descendants who have kept Mornhavon’s dark magic alive in secret for centuries, and who now plan to avenge their long-ago defeat by bringing Sacoridia to its knees.
£23.40
University of Minnesota Press The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter
Original artwork and materials explore children’s literature and its impact in society and culture over time A favorite childhood book can leave a lasting impression, but as adults we tend to shelve such memories. For fourteen months beginning in June 2013, more than half a million visitors to the New York Public Library viewed an exhibition about the role that children’s books play in world culture and in our lives. After the exhibition closed, attendees clamored for a catalog of The ABC of It as well as for children’s literature historian Leonard S. Marcus’s insightful, wry commentary about the objects on display. Now with this book, a collaboration between the University of Minnesota’s Kerlan Collection of Children’s Literature and Leonard Marcus, the nostalgia and vision of that exhibit can be experienced anywhere. The story of the origins of children’s literature is a tale with memorable characters and deeds, from Hans Christian Andersen and Lewis Carroll to E. B. White and Madeleine L’Engle, who safeguarded a place for wonder in a world increasingly dominated by mechanistic styles of thought, to artists like Beatrix Potter and Maurice Sendak who devoted their extraordinary talents to revealing to children not only the exhilarating beauty of life but also its bracing intensity. Philosophers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and educators such as Johann Comenius and John Dewey were path-finding interpreters of the phenomenon of childhood, inspiring major strands of bookmaking and storytelling for the young. Librarians devised rigorous standards for evaluating children’s books and effective ways of putting good books into children’s hands, and educators proposed radically different ideas about what those books should include. Eventually, publishers came to embrace juvenile publishing as a core activity, and pioneering collectors of children’s book art, manuscripts, correspondence, and ephemera appeared—the University of Minnesota’s Dr. Irvin Kerlan being a superb example. Without the foresight and persistence of these collectors, much of this story would have been lost forever. Regarding children’s literature as both a rich repository of collective memory and a powerful engine of cultural change is more important today than ever.
£32.40
John Wiley & Sons Inc Practical Image and Video Processing Using MATLAB
UP-TO-DATE, TECHNICALLY ACCURATE COVERAGE OF ESSENTIAL TOPICS IN IMAGE AND VIDEO PROCESSING This is the first book to combine image and video processing with a practical MATLAB®-oriented approach in order to demonstrate the most important image and video techniques and algorithms. Utilizing minimal math, the contents are presented in a clear, objective manner, emphasizing and encouraging experimentation. The book has been organized into two parts. Part I: Image Processing begins with an overview of the field, then introduces the fundamental concepts, notation, and terminology associated with image representation and basic image processing operations. Next, it discusses MATLAB® and its Image Processing Toolbox with the start of a series of chapters with hands-on activities and step-by-step tutorials. These chapters cover image acquisition and digitization; arithmetic, logic, and geometric operations; point-based, histogram-based, and neighborhood-based image enhancement techniques; the Fourier Transform and relevant frequency-domain image filtering techniques; image restoration; mathematical morphology; edge detection techniques; image segmentation; image compression and coding; and feature extraction and representation. Part II: Video Processing presents the main concepts and terminology associated with analog video signals and systems, as well as digital video formats and standards. It then describes the technically involved problem of standards conversion, discusses motion estimation and compensation techniques, shows how video sequences can be filtered, and concludes with an example of a solution to object detection and tracking in video sequences using MATLAB®. Extra features of this book include: More than 30 MATLAB® tutorials, which consist of step-by-step guides toexploring image and video processing techniques using MATLAB® Chapters supported by figures, examples, illustrative problems, and exercises Useful websites and an extensive list of bibliographical references This accessible text is ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in digital image and video processing courses, as well as for engineers, researchers, software developers, practitioners, and anyone who wishes to learn about these increasingly popular topics on their own.
£142.95
Holo Books The Arbitration Press Sardinia: Women, History, Books and Places
Marianna Bussalai, the poet and anti-Fascist activist of the Barbagia region, wrote that she felt humiliated at school 'wondering why, in the history of Italy, Sardinia was never mentioned. I deduced that Sardinia was not Italty and had to have a separate history'. It is not surprising that islands tend to be different from the country to which they are in some way attached. But Sardinia's personality differs even more from that of Italy than one might expect. This book explores that difference through the island's women. Sardinia has been inhabited for longer than many European countries; of its earlier peoples, the best-known are the pre-historic Nuraghic. The hundreds of tall and mysterious megalithic towers which still grace the landscape are the most outward distinctive remnants of their civilisation. But it is from the myriad and tantalising clay statuettes found in ritual wells that it is possible to suggest aspects of women's lives. These are now in archaeological museums, such as that of Cagliari; many of the wells still exist. There followed invasions, colonisations and settlements - often bringing women exiles or landowners - by phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Muslims, Catalans, Genoese, Pisans, Spaniards and Savoyards, until finally the island became part of a united Italy, But, as the Swede Amelie Posse-Brazdova, sentenced to exile in Alghero during the First World War, was to write, 'For many centuries the Sardinians had been so fooled and exploited by the Italians, especially the Genoese merchants, that in the end they began to look upon them as their worst enemies.' However much that enmity is now little evident, Sardinia is still very much its own place, with its own languages. This is true of Alghero with its distinctive aura of Catalan occupation, of Marianna Bussalai's always intransigent Barbagia, and of Oristano where perhaps Sardinia's only well-known historical woman, Eleanora d'Arborea, ruled as Giudicessa in the fourteenth century. Although still particularly revered, she epitomised the strong and advanced women, from peasants to poitical activists, who emerge here from those often turbulent centuries.
£20.00
HarperCollins Focus Discovering Mars: The Ultimate Guide to the Red Planet
Blast off into outer space and explore the mysteries of the red planet with Discovering Mars.Did you know that Mars is twice the size of Earth's moon? Or that it is home to the Valles Marineris--the largest canyon in our solar system? Blast off and explore the surface of the fourth planet from the Sun with Discovering Mars. This book is a complete scientific guide to Mars, including information on geography, atmosphere, unique landscape features, and more. Discover Mars's moons Phobos and Deimos, learn all about unique polar spiders, and investigate past, present, and future life on Mars. Incredible illustrations and NASA imagery of Mars's surface, craters, and volcanoes bring outer space right to your fingertips and let you explore the red planet like never before. Learn all about past missions to Mars, and take a sneak peek into future projects from NASA and beyond.An avid traveler, Alexandra Lefort has lived in France, Scotland, Switzerland, and the U.S., and has now made her home in Vancouver, B.C. Passionate about exploration, she completed a PhD in planetary sciences at the University of Bern, Switzerland, focusing her academic research on the investigations of Martian water, with a particular interest for the question of habitability and extraterrestrial life. This interest in the origin and development of life also translates into artistic representation of terrestrial lifeforms and environments. A self-taught artist, her favorite media are photography, with a portfolio which includes wildlife portraits, macro photography, landscapes, and traditional drawing and painting, including graphite, pastels, acrylics, and digital art. She has designed several coins for the Royal Canadian Mint and has collaborated with paleoartist Julius Csotonyi on realistic depictions of prehistoric wildlife, including a mural for the 2015-2018 exhibit Ice Age Bison Discovery: Our Frozen Past and Thawing Future at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, and collaborative paintings in The paleoart of Julius Csotonyi, Why Did T. rex Have Short Arms?: And Other Questions about Dinosaurs, and Discovering Sharks.
£14.39
Permuted Press Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order
Much more than a collection of essays by eminent writers, Against the Great Reset is intended to kick off the intellectual resistance to the sweeping restructuring of the western world by globalist elites.In June 2020, prominent business and political leaders gathered for the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, under the rubric of “The Great Reset.” In the words of WEF founder Klaus Schwab, the Great Reset is a “unique window of opportunity” afforded by the worldwide COVID-19 panic to build “a new social contract” ushering in a utopian era of economic, social, and environmental justice. But beneath their lofty and inspiring words, what are their actual plans? In this timely and necessary book, Michael Walsh has gathered trenchant critical perspectives on the Great Reset from eighteen eminent writers and journalists from around the world. Victor Davis Hanson places the WEF’s prescriptions and goals in historical context and shows how American politicians justify destructive policies. Michael Anton explains the socialist history of woke capitalism. James Poulos looks at how Big Tech acts as informal government censors. John Tierney lays out the lack of accountability for the unjustified panic over the virus. David Goldman confronts the WEF’s ideas for a fourth industrial revolution with China’s commitment to being the leader of a post-western world. And there are many more. These writers see the goal of the Great Reset as not just a world without racism, disease, economic inequality, or fossil fuels—but rather, a world with no individual autonomy and power in which our betters rig the system for their own purposes. Find out what the Great Resetters ultimately have in store for you, and join the intellectual resistance—before it’s too late. Featuring Essays by: Michael Anton Salvatore Babones Conrad Black Jeremy Black Angelo Codevilla Janice Fiamengo Richard Fernandez David P. Goldman Victor Davis Hanson Martin Hutchinson Roger Kimball Alberto Mingardi Douglas Murray James Poulos Harry Stein John Tierney Michael Walsh
£22.50
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons in Creative Leadership from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company
'One of the best business books I've read in years.' BILL GATES THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019 _____________________________The CEO of Disney, one of Time's most influential people of 2019, shares the ideas and values he embraced to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world and inspire the people who bring the magic to life.Robert Iger became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005, during a difficult time. Morale had deteriorated, competition was intense, and technology was changing faster than at any time in the company's history. His vision came down to three clear ideas: Recommit to the concept that quality matters, embrace technology instead of fighting it, and think bigger-think global-and turn Disney into a stronger brand in international markets.Fourteen years later, Disney is the largest, most respected media company in the world, counting Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox among its properties. Its value is nearly five times what it was when Iger took over, and he is recognized as one of the most innovative and successful CEOs of our era.In The Ride of a Lifetime, Robert Iger shares the lessons he's learned while running Disney and leading its 200,000 employees, and he explores the principles that are necessary for true leadership, including:Optimism. Even in the face of difficulty, an optimistic leader will find the path toward the best possible outcome and focus on that, rather than give in to pessimism and blaming. Courage. Leaders have to be willing to take risks and place big bets. Fear of failure destroys creativity. Decisiveness. All decisions, no matter how difficult, can be made on a timely basis. Indecisiveness is both wasteful and destructive to morale. Fairness. Treat people decently, with empathy, and be accessible to them.'Bob Iger has not only lived up to ninety-six years of groundbreaking history but has moved the Disney brand far beyond anyone's expectations, and he has done it with grace and audacity. This books shows you how that happened.' STEVEN SPIELBERG
£20.00
Oxford University Press Inc If We Were Kin: Race, Identification, and Intimate Political Appeals
In June 1973, amid ideological rifts in the U.S. gay liberation movement, thousands of people gathered in New York City's Washington Square Park to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Partway through the rally, Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) co-founder Sylvia Rivera fought her way to the stage to address the predominantly white, middle class lesbian and gay crowd. Over the din of their boos and jeers, Rivera reprimanded the crowd for failing in their responsibilities to their "gay brothers and sisters" in jail, detailed the sacrifices she had made for the movement, and called them into the politics of STAR, "The people who are trying to do something for all of us and not men and women that belong to a white middle class white club! And that is what you all belong to!" Rivera's appeal thus worked through a push-pull of distance and belonging, shaming the movement for its assimilatory turn while invoking forms of kinship and calling her listeners into an expansive multi-issue liberation politics. How does a sense of intimacy call people into political community? If We Were Kin is about the we of politics--how that we is made, fought over, and remade--and how these struggles lie at the very core of questions about power and political change. Across a range of sites in racial justice and queer/trans liberation movements--from speeches by James Baldwin and Sylvia Rivera in the 1960s and 1970s to contemporary immigrant justice campaigns by the antiracist LGBTQ organization Southerners on New Ground (SONG)--Lisa Beard traces a distinct lineage of appeals that challenge atomized and hierarchical racial formations in the United States and advance powerful visions of political relationships rooted in mutuality and shared freedom. In plumbing the deeper registers of identificatory appeals, Beard transforms understandings of identity, solidarity, political confrontation, and apparent loss/failure as points of possibility. If We Were Kin offers an innovative account of racial politics and political theory rooted in Black, Latinx, queer, and trans activism in twentieth and twenty-first century America.
£20.91
Pearson Education (US) Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, A
The Most Useful Tutorial and Reference, with Hundreds of High-Quality Examples for Every Popular Linux Distribution “First Sobell taught people how to use Linux . . . now he teaches you the power of Linux. A must-have book for anyone who wants to take Linux to the next level.” –Jon “maddog” Hall, Executive Director, Linux International Discover the Power of Linux--Covers macOS, too! Learn from hundreds of realistic, high-quality examples, and become a true command-line guru Covers MariaDB, DNF, and Python 3 300+ page reference section covers 102 utilities, including macOS commands For use with all popular versions of Linux, including Ubuntu,™ Fedora,™ openSUSE,™ Red Hat,® Debian, Mageia, Mint, Arch, CentOS, and macOS Linux is today's dominant Internet server platform. System administrators and Web developers need deep Linux fluency, including expert knowledge of shells and the command line. This is the only guide with everything you need to achieve that level of Linux mastery. Renowned Linux expert Mark Sobell has brought together comprehensive, insightful guidance on the tools sysadmins, developers, and power users need most, and has created an outstanding day-to-day reference, updated with assistance from new coauthor Matthew Helmke. This title is 100 percent distribution and release agnostic. Packed with hundreds of high-quality, realistic examples, it presents Linux from the ground up: the clearest explanations and most useful information about everything from filesystems to shells, editors to utilities, and programming tools to regular expressions. Use a Mac? You'll find coverage of the macOS command line, including macOS-only tools and utilities that other Linux/UNIX titles ignore. A Practical Guide to Linux® Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, Fourth Edition, is the only guide to deliver A MariaDB chapter to get you started with this ubiquitous relational database management system (RDBMS) A masterful introduction to Python for system administrators and power users In-depth coverage of the bash and tcsh shells, including a complete discussion of environment, inheritance, and process locality, plus coverage of basic and advanced shell programming Practical explanations of core utilities, from aspell to xargs, including printf and sshfs/curlftpfs, PLUS macOS–specific utilities from ditto to SetFile Expert guidance on automating remote backups using rsync Dozens of system security tips, including step-by-step walkthroughs of implementing secure communications using ssh and scp Tips and tricks for customizing the shell, including step values, sequence expressions, the eval builtin, and implicit command-line continuation High-productivity editing techniques using vim and emacs A comprehensive, 300-plus-page command reference section covering 102 utilities, including find, grep, sort, and tar Instructions for updating systems using apt-get and dnf And much more, including coverage of BitTorrent, gawk, sed, find, sort, bzip2, and regular expressions
£44.49
Peeters Publishers La Phonologie Du Japonais
On trouvera dans ce livre une presentation generale de la phonologie du japonais a partir d'une synthese de deux grands courants: celui de la phonologie theorique actuelle, et celui de la linguistique japonaise d'inspiration traditionnelle, largement meconnue en Occident.Les six chapitres de l'ouvrage couvrent l'ensemble des grands champs de la discipline. Apres l'introduction, sont successivement presentes les voyelles (chapitre 2), les consonnes (chapitre 3) et les segments dits speciaux (chapitre 4). Le chapitre 5, consacre aux unites prosodiques, fournit l'occasion d'un examen en profondeur de la problematique de la more, de la syllabe et du pied. L'auteur propose une analyse originale, qui refute la pertinence de la syllabe en japonais, demontrant que le recours a la more et au pied suffit a rendre compte de l'ensemble des phenomenes prosodiques du japonais.Sur le plan typologique, le japonais est connu pour posseder un accent musical ("pitch accent"): la richesse de son donne empirique et les prolongements theoriques que genere son analyse en font un phenomene du plus grand interet pour la linguistique. Le chapitre final, le plus long du livre, lui est consacre. Celui-ci se termine sur une analyse de l'accent des emprunts occidentaux et de l'accent des mots composes dans le cadre de la theorie de l'optimalite, mettant en evidence le role central de la more et du pied dans la langue, au detriment de la syllabe.L'ouvrage se veut tout a la fois une synthese critique de la discipline et un terrain d'exploration theorique orientee vers la description et l'analyse. Bien que portant principalement sur le japonais standard, il fait egalement reference a la langue ancienne et aux dialectes. Il interessera a la fois les phonologues, auxquels il cherche a presenter de maniere precise et documentee des donnees et des analyses nouvelles ou peu connues, et les japanologues non specialistes de phonologie qui souhaiteraient s'initier a la discipline.
£74.96
Peeters Publishers Les Usages De La Perception: Reflexions Merleau-pontiennes
L'objectif fondamental de cet ouvrage est de montrer de quelle facon la philosophie de Merleau-Ponty peut contribuer a une reflexion sur la genese de la perception phenomenologique du sens. A la difference d'une approche hermeneutique du sens percu, une des percees communes a la philosophie de Husserl et en un certain sens a celle du second Wittgenstein est la claire conscience que du sens peut se donner comme tel a la perception sans passer par la mediation d'un jugement ou d'une interpretation. L'hypothese de cet ouvrage consiste a dire que la philosophie de Merleau-Ponty permet de veritablement prendre au serieux cette these selon laquelle du sens, par nature invisible, peut se donner comme tel a la perception. Au lieu de faire comme si une telle perception phenomenologique du sens allait de soi, il s'agit au contraire d'en interroger le processus d'instauration. Cet ouvrage explore ainsi les differentes modalites de l'incarnation plus ou moins probable du sens dans le sensible. Plus le sens vise est complexe, moins son incarnation dans le sensible est probable. Il reste alors un objet de jugement ou d'interpretation. Mais il se peut que ce sens finisse par etre l'objet d'une veritable experience perceptive. Nous passons alors d'une perception hermeneutique a une perception phenomenologique du sens. Cet ouvrage explore les implications pratiques de cette incarnation de l'invisible dans le visible. Nous montrons ainsi que la perception phenomenologique permet a du sens de s'incarner en potentialisant un certain agir. Selon les usages de la perception, c'est bien un autre rapport au sens, au percu et a l'agir qui est chaque fois mobilise. Cet ouvrage entend ainsi fournir les premieres bases d'une reflexion sur la genese et le pouvoir emancipateur de la perception phenomenologique du sens.
£71.96
Chicago Review Press Fighting the Devil in Dixie: How Civil Rights Activists Took on the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama
Shortly after the success of the Montgomery bus boycott, the Ku Klux Klan—determined to keep segregation as the way of life in Alabama—staged a resurgence. The strong-armed leadership of governor George C. Wallace, who defied the new civil rights laws and became the poster child for segregationists, empowered the Klan’s most violent members. An intimidating series of gruesome acts of violence threatened to roll back the advances of the nascent civil rights movement. As Wallace’s power grew, however, blacks began fighting back in the courthouses and schoolhouses, as did young Southern lawyers including Charles “Chuck” Morgan, who became the ACLU’s Southern director; Morris Dees, who cofounded the Southern Poverty Law Center; and Bill Baxley, Alabama attorney general, who successfully prosecuted the bomber of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and legally halted some of Wallace’s agencies designed to slow down integration. All along, journalist Wayne Greenhaw was interviewing Klan members, detectives, victims, civil rights leaders, and politicians of all stripes. In Fighting the Devil in Dixie, he tells this dramatic story in full for the first time—from the Klan’s kidnappings, bombings, and murders of the 1950s to Wallace’s run for a fourth term as governor in the early 1980s, in which he asked for forgiveness and won with the black vote. Fighting the Devil in Dixie is an essential document for understanding twentieth-century racial strife in the South and the struggle to end it.
£15.95
Simon & Schuster The Heroes Return
Jasper and Mira must escape the rift and deliver the Youli’s message to Earth Force before it’s too late in this action-packed fourth novel in what Shannon Messenger calls the “richly detailed, highly imaginative” Bounders series!After escaping the Youli’s attack on Alkalinia, Jasper and Mira find themselves trapped with the lost aeronauts in the rift, a rip in space where time moves differently. For every minute they spend in the rift, they are losing days back home. Just when Jasper fears they’ll be stuck in limbo forever, the most unlikely ally shows up: the Youli. The Youli promise to rescue everyone in the rift, but their help comes at a price. First, Jasper must tell Earth Force that the Youli want peace. And second, Mira can’t return with Jasper. She has to leave with the Youli. Back home, almost a year has passed. The Youli war is public, Bounders are in space full-time, and Jasper’s pod is divided. Cole and Lucy have been promoted. Marco and Addy are missing. Jasper delivers the Youli’s message, but the admiral isn’t interested in peace talks. Instead, she sends Jasper and the aeronauts on a publicity tour of Earth to build support for the war. At first, Jasper revels in the spotlight. But it soon becomes clear that if Jasper doesn’t convince Earth Force to stop fighting—and soon—there won’t be an Earth left to fight for, and he may never see Mira again.
£16.61
Princeton University Press Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire
Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism - gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium - long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium - what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today. Bringing the latest scholarship to a general audience in accessible prose, Herrin focuses each short chapter around a representative theme, event, monument, or historical figure, and examines it within the full sweep of Byzantine history - from the foundation of Constantinople, the magnificent capital city built by Constantine the Great, to its capture by the Ottoman Turks. She argues that Byzantium's crucial role as the eastern defender of Christendom against Muslim expansion during the early Middle Ages made Europe - and the modern Western world - possible. Herrin captivates us with her discussions of all facets of Byzantine culture and society. She walks us through the complex ceremonies of the imperial court. She describes the transcendent beauty and power of the church of Hagia Sophia, as well as chariot races, monastic spirituality, diplomacy, and literature. She reveals the fascinating worlds of military usurpers and ascetics, eunuchs and courtesans, and artisans who fashioned the silks, icons, ivories, and mosaics so readily associated with Byzantine art. An innovative history written by one of our foremost scholars, "Byzantium" reveals this great civilization's rise to military and cultural supremacy, its spectacular destruction by the Fourth Crusade, and its revival and final conquest in 1453.
£21.60
John Wiley & Sons Inc Digital Signal Processing: Laboratory Experiments Using C and the TMS320C31 DSK
A practical guide to using the TMS320C31 DSP Starter Kit With applications and demand for high-performing digital signalprocessors expanding rapidly, it is becoming increasingly importantfor today's students and practicing engineers to master real-timedigital signal processing (DSP) techniques. Digital Signal Processing: Laboratory Experiments Using C and theTMS320C31 DSK offers users a practical--and economicalm--approachto understanding DSP principles, designs, and applications.Demonstrating Texas Instruments' (TI) state-of-the-art, low-pricedDSP Starter Kit (DSK), this book clearly illustrates and integratespractical aspects of real-time DSP implementation techniques andcomplex DSP concepts into lab exercises and experiments. TI'sTMS320C31 digital signal processor provides substantial performancebenefits for designs that have floating-point capabilitiessupported by high-level language compilers. Most chapters begin with a theoretical discussion followed byrepresentative examples. With numerous programming examples usingTMS320C3x and C code included on disk, this easy-to-read text: * Covers DSK tools, the architecture, and instructions for theTMS320C31 processor * Illustrates input and output * Introduces the z-transform * Discusses finite impulse response (FIR) filters, including theeffect of window functions * Covers infinite impulse response (IIR) filters * Discusses the development and implementation of the fast Fouriertransform (FFT) * Examines utility of adaptive filters for differentapplications Bridging the gap between theory and application, this bookfurnishes a solid foundation for DSP lab or project design coursesfor students and serves as a welcome, practically oriented tutorialin the latest DSP techniques for working professionals.
£136.11
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Across the River: Life, Death, and Football in an American City
On the west bank of the Mississippi lies the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope but big on dreams, its mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For years, this football program has brought glory to Algiers, winning three consecutive state championships and sending dozens of young men to college on football scholarships. Although he is preparing for a fourth title, head coach Brice Brown is focused on something else: keeping his players alive. An epidemic of gun violence plagues New Orleans and its surrounding communities and has claimed many innocent lives, including Brown’s former star quarterback, Tollette “Tonka” George, shot near a local gas station. In Across the River, award-winning sports journalist Kent Babb follows the Karr football team through its 2019 season as Brown and his team—perhaps the scrappiest and most rebellious group in the program’s history—vie to again succeed on and off the field. What is sure to be a classic work of sports journalism, Across the River is a necessary investigation into the serious realities of young athletes in struggling neighborhoods: gentrification, eviction, mental health issues, the drug trade, and gun violence. It offers a rich and unflinching portrait of a coach, his players, and the West Bank, a community where it’s difficult—but not impossible—to rise above the chaos, discover purpose, and find a way out.
£20.01
HarperCollins Publishers Inc When the Earth Had Two Moons: Cannibal Planets, Icy Giants, Dirty Comets, Dreadful Orbits, and the Origins of the Night Sky
An astonishing exploration of planet formation and the origins of life by one of the world’s most innovative planetary geologists.In 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 took the first photos of the far side of the moon. Even in their poor resolution, the images stunned scientists: the far side is an enormous mountainous expanse, not the vast lava-plains seen from Earth. Subsequent missions have confirmed this in much greater detail.How could this be, and what might it tell us about our own place in the universe? As it turns out, quite a lot.Fourteen billion years ago, the universe exploded into being, creating galaxies and stars. Planets formed out of the leftover dust and gas that coalesced into larger and larger bodies orbiting around each star. In a sort of heavenly survival of the fittest, planetary bodies smashed into each other until solar systems emerged. Curiously, instead of being relatively similar in terms of composition, the planets in our solar system, and the comets, asteroids, satellites and rings, are bewitchingly distinct. So, too, the halves of our moon.In When the Earth Had Two Moons, esteemed planetary geologist Erik Asphaug takes us on an exhilarating tour through the farthest reaches of time and our galaxy to find out why. Beautifully written and provocatively argued, When the Earth Had Two Moons is not only a mind-blowing astronomical tour but a profound inquiry into the nature of life here—and billions of miles from home.
£22.00
Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG Experimental Physics Compact for Scientists: Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Electrodynamics, Optics & Quantum Physics
This book compactly provides the fundamentals of experimental physics for students of the natural sciences who are taking physics as a minor or major subject. Interspersed throughout the main text are numerous exercises with pre-calculated solutions, and the most important formulas are listed again at the end of each chapter. This book enables readers to gain an overview of the individual areas and is thus ideally suited to accompany lectures during studies as well as for exam preparation.The textbook originated from a lecture on "Experimental Physics for Natural Scientists" at the University of Tübingen and is intended for all students in subjects such as biochemistry, bioinformatics, biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, pharmacy, geoecology, and earth sciences.The first part of the book deals with Newtonian mechanics including continuum mechanics and oscillations and waves. The second part deals with the basic concepts of thermodynamics with emphasis on the statistical explanations. The third part covers electromagnetic phenomena, especially electrostatics and magnetostatics, electrodynamics, and an introduction to electronic components and circuits. Optics with its subfields, ray optics, wave optics, and quantum optics, is presented in the fourth part. In the fifth and last part of the book, the reader is given an overview of the basic principles of quantum mechanics, including atomic and nuclear physics. For this second edition, the content has been improved and supplemented in many places, including a new section on heat transport and phase transitions, as well as an outlook into alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics.
£54.99
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden Physik mit Python: Simulationen, Visualisierungen und Animationen von Anfang an
Dieses Lehrbuch führt Sie anhand von physikalischen Fragestellungen aus der Mechanik in die Programmiersprache Python ein. Neben der reinen Simulation von physikalischen Systemen wird besonderes Augenmerk auf die Visualisierung von Ergebnissen und das Erstellen von Animationen gelegt. Mit zahlreichen Beispielen und Übungsaufgaben ermöglicht dieses Buch so den praktischen Einstieg in das wissenschaftliche Rechnen. Sie lernen Kurvenanpassungen durchzuführen sowie lineare und nicht-lineare Gleichungssysteme zu lösen, die bei der Behandlung von statischen Problemen auftreten. Auch die Lösung von Differentialgleichungen, die dynamische Systeme beschreiben, sowie Themen wie Fourier-Transformationen und Eigenwertprobleme kommen nicht zu kurz. Mithilfe der in diesem Buch vorgestellten Simulationsbeispiele vertiefen Sie darüber hinaus Ihr Verständnis der zugrundeliegenden Physik, indem Sie die physikalischen Gesetze algorithmisch umsetzen und physikalische Aufgaben simulieren, die weitaus komplexer sind als die üblichen mit Papier und Bleistift lösbaren Aufgaben. Alle im Buch vorgestellten Programme, die fertigen Animationen sowie die Lösungen zu den Übungsaufgaben werden online bereitgestellt.Die vorliegende zweite Auflage enthält zahlreiche Ergänzungen, Korrekturen und Anpassungen an die aktuellen Versionen von Python, NumPy, SciPy und Matplotlib. Darüber hinaus erwartet Sie ein zusätzliches Kapitel über objektorientierte Programmiermethoden. Ob Sie also Physik oder eine Ingenieurwissenschaft mit hohem physikalischem Anteil studieren, oder ob Sie unterrichten und Ihre Lehre durch Simulationen und Animationen anreichern möchten – dieses Buch ist dabei Ihr optimaler Begleiter!
£27.99
Oldcastle Books Ltd Nelson
Nelson continues to fascinate academics as well as the general public. He is still considered one of Britain's greatest heroes and featured within the top ten of the BBC poll of such figures. But why does Nelson still remain such a prominent figure in the national imagination? With 2005 being the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, Victoria Carolan embarks on a timely reappraisal of Nelson, the myth and the man. Beginning with Nelson's early life and an analysis of the condition and practice of the Navy at the time of Nelson's entry into service, Carolan goes on to examine Nelson's naval battles before Trafalgar, particularly the pivotal Battle of the Nile in which the then Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson, with a fleet of fourteen ships, captured six and destroyed seven French vessels out of a total of seventeen and in the process achieved one of the most decisive victories in the age of sail and re-established British command of the Mediterranean. Devoting a full section to the Battle of Trafalgar, Carolan looks in detail at the build-up to the battle, the events and progress of the battle, at the Admirals of the French and Spanish navies and explains why the battle was so decisive in the Napoleonic Wars. She goes on to look at the immediate aftermath of Nelson's death and his state funeral and then to his legacy, the building of monuments (particularly Trafalagar Square and Nelson's Column), the development of the Nelson myth, his depiction in film, his value for propaganda purposes during the two world wars and the current state of scholarship on Nelson.
£9.99
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Derek Jarman's Medieval Modern
First exploration of Jarman's engagement with the medieval, revealing its importance to his work. FINALIST IN THE HISTORIANS OF BRITISH ART BOOK AWARDS 2020 The artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman (1942-1994) had a lifelong appreciation of medieval culture. But with the possible exception of Edward II, Jarman's films have not been identified to date as making a major contribution to the depiction of the Middle Ages in cinema. This book is the first to uncover a rich seam of medievalism in Jarman's art. Taking in major features such as Caravaggio, The Garden and The Last of England, as well as some of the unrealised screenplays and short experimental films, the book proposes an expanded definition of medieval film that includes not just worksset in or about the Middle Ages, but also projects inspired more broadly by the period. It considers Jarman's engagement with Anglo-Saxon poetry (notably The Wanderer); with works by fourteenth-century poets such as Chaucer, Dante and Langland; with saints and mystics from Joan of Arc to Julian of Norwich; and with numerous paintings, buildings and objects from this so-called "middle" time. Organised around several key themes - periodisation,anachronism, ruins and wandering - the book also asks what happens when (with Jarman, but also more broadly) we think the categories "medieval" and "modern" together. As such, it will be of interest to film scholars, art historians and medievalists of all stripes who wish to rattle the temporal cages of their fields. ROBERT MILLS is Professor of Medieval Studies at University College London.
£35.00
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Queen
Matthew Dennison's elegant and magisterial biography of Her late Majesty, updated following the death of Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III. 'A worthy and balanced overview of the Queen's life. Dennison is especially good on her childhood... quietly, tactfully, tastefully reverent.'The Times The death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022 was more than just a moment of profound sadness; her passing marked the end of an era in our national life – and the final closing of the Elizabethan Age. For millions of people, both in Britain and across the world, Elizabeth II was the embodiment of monarchy. Her long life spanned nearly a century of national and global history, from a time before the Great Depression to the era of Covid-19. Her reign embraced all but seven years of Britain's postwar history up to the accession of her son King Charles III; she was served by fifteen UK prime ministers from Churchill to Truss, and witnessed the administrations of fourteen US presidents from Truman to Biden. In this brand-new biography of the longest-reigning sovereign in British history, Matthew Dennison traces her life and reign across an era of unprecedented and often seismic social change. Stylish in its writing and nuanced in its judgements, The Queen charts the joys and triumphs as well as the disappointments and vicissitudes of a remarkable royal life; it also assesses the achievement of a woman regarded as the champion of a handful of 'British' values endorsed – if no longer practised – by the bulk of the nation: service, duty, steadfastness, charity and stoicism.
£12.99
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Music in the West Country: Social and Cultural History across an English Region
The first regional history of music in England. Music in the West Country is the first regional history of music in England. Ranging over seven hundred years, from the minstrels, waits, and cathedral choristers of the fourteenth century to the Bristol Sound of the late twentieth, the book explores the region's soundscape, from its gateway cities of Bristol and Salisbury in the east to the Isles of Scilly in the west, and examines music-making in tiny villages as well as conditions in important centres such as Bath, Exeter, Plymouth, and Bournemouth. What emerges is both a study of the typical - musical practices which would apply to any English region - and a portrait of the unique - features born of the region's physicalisolation and charm, among them the growth of festival culture, the mythologising of folk music, the late survival of parish psalmody and nonconformist carolling, and the unique continuance, today, of a professional resort orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Banfield's vividly written and extremely readable history of music in the west country considers an array of subjects, firmly centred on people's stories: musical inventions and theidea of tradition, music as cultural capital, the economics of musical employment and the demographics of musicianship, musical networks, the relationship of the hinterlands to the metropolis, the influence of topography, the importance of institutions and events, and the question of how to measure value. A study in prosopography, it shows how people went about their lives with music and explores how things changed for them - or did not. STEPHENBANFIELD is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Bristol.
£40.00
Hardie Grant Books The Teal Revolution: Inside the Movement Changing Australian Politics
The Teal Revolution is essential reading on the unprecedented Teal wave of the 2022 election, a movement with the potential to change Australian politics. From experienced political journalist Margot Saville, this is the fourth book in The Crikey Read series by Crikey and Hardie Grant Books. In the 2022 federal election a group of independent female candidates spectacularly ousted Liberal Party stalwarts from supposedly safe, blue-ribbon seats. These six women – Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Kylea Tink in North Sydney, Dr Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, Dr Monique Ryan in Kooyong, Zoe Daniel in Goldstein and Kate Chaney in Curtin – became know as the Teals. Their grassroots campaigns, supported by Climate 200 and focussing on issues like climate change action and political integrity, found success, even against the then treasurer. In The Teal Revolution, journalist Margot Saville brings an insider’s view of the extraordinary 2022 election campaign in Wentworth and other key Teal seats. What was it like to be part of these campaigns, and at what point did victory become possible? What does the political ascension of these independents tell us about the mood for change across Australia, and about the future of the two major parties? Crucially, Saville also asks where the Teals might go next, and how they might continue to shape Australian politics. From Crikey and Hardie Grant Books, The Crikey Read is a series that brings an unflinching and truly independent eye to the issues of the day in Australia and the world.
£13.50
Getty Trust Publications Hans Hofmann
This gorgeously illustrated book examines the practice and materials of a prominent Abstract Expressionist The career of the German-American painter and educator Hans Hofmann (1880-1966) describes the arc of artistic modernism from pre-World War I Munich and Paris to mid-twentieth-century Greenwich Village. His career also traces the transatlantic engagement of modern painting with the materials of its own making, a relationship that is perhaps still not completely understood. In these interrelated narratives, Hofmann is a central protagonist, providing a vital link between nineteenth- and twentieth-century art practice and between European and American modernism. The remarkable vitality of his later work affords insight not only into the style but also the literal substance of this formative period of artistic and material innovation. This richly illustrated book, the fourth in the Getty Conservation Institute's Artist's Materials series, presents a thorough examination of Hofmann's late-career materials. Initial chapters present an informative overview of Hofmann's life and work in Europe and America and discuss his crucial role in the development of Abstract Expressionism.Subsequent chapters present a detailed analysis of Hofmann's materials and techniques and explore the relationship of the artist's mature palette to shifts in the style and aging characteristics of his paintings. The book concludes with lessons for the conservation of modernist paintings generally, and particularly those that incorporate both traditional and modern paint media. This book will be of value to conservators, art historians, conservation scientists, and general readers with an interest in modern art.
£35.00
Duke University Press Reconstructing Reconstruction: The Supreme Court and the Production of Historical Truth
Was slavery over when slaves gained formal emancipation? Was it over when the social, economic, and political situation for African Americans no longer mimicked the conditions of slavery? If the Thirteenth Amendment abolished it in 1865, why did most of the disputed points during the Reconstruction debates of 1866–75 concern issues of slavery? In this book Pamela Brandwein examines the post–Civil War struggle between competing political and legal interpretations of slavery and Reconstruction to reveal how accepted historical truth was established. Delving into the circumstances, assumptions, and rhetoric that shaped the “official” story of Reconstruction, Brandwein describes precisely how a dominant interpretation of events ultimately emerged and what its implications have been for twentieth-century judicial decisions, particularly for Supreme Court rulings on civil rights. While analyzing interpretive disputes about slavery, Brandwein offers a detailed rescoring of post–Civil War legislative and constitutional history, including analysis of the original understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment. She identifies the perspectives on Reconstruction that were endorsed or rejected by the Supreme Court. Explaining what it meant—theoretically and practically—to resolve Reconstruction debates with a particular definition of slavery, Brandwein recounts how the Northern Democratic definition of “ending” slavery was not the only definition, just the one that prevailed. Using a familiar historical moment to do new interpretive work, she outlines a sociology of constitutional law, showing how subjective narrative construction can solidify into opaque institutional memory.
£27.99
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Against Hybridity: Social Impasses in a Globalizing World
One of the major characteristics of our contemporary culture is a positive, almost banal, view of the transgression and disruption of cultural boundaries. Strangers, migrants and nomads are celebrated in our postmodern world of hybrids and cyborgs. But we pay a price for this celebration of hybridity: the non-hybrid figures in our societies are ignored, rejected, silenced or exterminated. This book tells the story of these non-hybrid figures Ð the anti-heroes of our pop culture. The main example of non-hybrids in an otherwise hybridized world is that of deep old age. Hazan shows how we fervently distance ourselves from old age by grading and sequencing it into stages such as ‘the third age’, ‘the fourth age’ and so on. Aging bodies are manipulated through anti-aging techniques until it is no longer possible to do it anymore, at which point they become un-transformable and non-marketable objects and hence commercially and socially invisible or masked. Other examples are used to elucidate the same cultural logic of the non-hybrid: pain, the Holocaust, autism, fundamentalism and corporeal death. On the face of it, these examples may seem to have nothing in common, but they all exemplify the same cultural logic of the non-hybrid and provoke similar reactions of criticism, terror, abhorrence and moral indignation. This highly original and iconoclastic book offers a fresh critique of contemporary Western culture by focusing on that which is perceived as its other Ð the non-hybrid in our midst, often rejected, ignored or silenced and deemed to be in need of globally manageable correction.
£50.00
Princeton University Press Yuan: Chinese Architecture in a Mongol Empire
A monumental illustrated survey of the architecture of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century ChinaThe Yuan dynasty endured for a century, leaving behind an architectural legacy without equal, from palaces, temples, and pagodas to pavilions, tombs, and stages. With a history enlivened by the likes of Khubilai Khan and Marco Polo, this spectacular empire spanned the breadth of China and far, far beyond, but its rulers were Mongols. Yuan presents the first comprehensive study in English of the architecture of China under Mongol rule.In this richly illustrated book, Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt looks at cities such as the legendary Shangdu—inspiration for Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Xanadu—as well as the architecture the Mongols encountered on their routes of conquest. She examines the buildings and monuments of diverse faiths in China during the period, from Buddhist and Daoist to Confucian, Islamic, and Christian, as well as unusual structures such as observatories, archways, stone and metal buildings, and sarcophaguses. Steinhardt dispels long-standing views of the Mongols as destroyers of cities and architecture across Asia, showing how the khans and their families built more than they tore down. She demonstrates that the stipulations of the Chinese building system were powerful and resilient enough to guide the architecture that rose under Mongolian rule.Drawing on Steinhardt’s groundbreaking textual research in numerous languages as well as her pioneering fieldwork at sites across East Asia, Yuan will become the standard reference on this critical period of cultural and artistic exchange.
£55.80
University of California Press The United States of War: A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State
2020 L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist, HistoryA provocative examination of how the U.S. military has shaped our entire world, from today’s costly, endless wars to the prominence of violence in everyday American life. The United States has been fighting wars constantly since invading Afghanistan in 2001. This nonstop warfare is far less exceptional than it might seem: the United States has been at war or has invaded other countries almost every year since independence. In The United States of War, David Vine traces this pattern of bloody conflict from Columbus's 1494 arrival in Guantanamo Bay through the 250-year expansion of a global U.S. empire. Drawing on historical and firsthand anthropological research in fourteen countries and territories, The United States of War demonstrates how U.S. leaders across generations have locked the United States in a self-perpetuating system of permanent war by constructing the world’s largest-ever collection of foreign military bases—a global matrix that has made offensive interventionist wars more likely. Beyond exposing the profit-making desires, political interests, racism, and toxic masculinity underlying the country’s relationship to war and empire, The United States of War shows how the long history of U.S. military expansion shapes our daily lives, from today’s multi-trillion–dollar wars to the pervasiveness of violence and militarism in everyday U.S. life. The book concludes by confronting the catastrophic toll of American wars—which have left millions dead, wounded, and displaced—while offering proposals for how we can end the fighting.
£20.70
University of Notre Dame Press A Philosophy of the Unsayable
In A Philosophy of the Unsayable, William Franke argues that the encounter with what exceeds speech has become the crucial philosophical issue of our time. He proposes an original philosophy pivoting on analysis of the limits of language. The book also offers readings of literary texts as poetically performing the philosophical principles it expounds. Franke engages with philosophical theologies and philosophies of religion in the debate over negative theology and shows how apophaticism infiltrates the thinking even of those who attempt to deny or delimit it. In six cohesive essays, Franke explores fundamental aspects of unsayability. In the first and third essays, his philosophical argument is carried through with acute attention to modes of unsayability that are revealed best by literary works, particularly by negativities of poetic language in the oeuvres of Paul Celan and Edmond Jabès. Franke engages in critical discussion of apophatic currents of philosophy both ancient and modern, focusing on Hegel and French post-Hegelianism in his second essay and on Neoplatonism in his fourth essay. He treats Neoplatonic apophatics especially as found in Damascius and as illuminated by postmodern thought, particularly Jean-Luc Nancy’s deconstruction of Christianity. In the last two essays, Franke treats the tension between two contemporary approaches to philosophy of religion—Radical Orthodoxy and radically secular or Death-of-God theologies. A Philosophy of the Unsayable will interest scholars and students of philosophy, literature, religion, and the humanities. This book develops Franke's explicit theory of unsayability, which is informed by his long-standing engagement with major representatives of apophatic thought in the Western tradition.
£92.70
University of Notre Dame Press A Philosophy of the Unsayable
In A Philosophy of the Unsayable, William Franke argues that the encounter with what exceeds speech has become the crucial philosophical issue of our time. He proposes an original philosophy pivoting on analysis of the limits of language. The book also offers readings of literary texts as poetically performing the philosophical principles it expounds. Franke engages with philosophical theologies and philosophies of religion in the debate over negative theology and shows how apophaticism infiltrates the thinking even of those who attempt to deny or delimit it. In six cohesive essays, Franke explores fundamental aspects of unsayability. In the first and third essays, his philosophical argument is carried through with acute attention to modes of unsayability that are revealed best by literary works, particularly by negativities of poetic language in the oeuvres of Paul Celan and Edmond Jabès. Franke engages in critical discussion of apophatic currents of philosophy both ancient and modern, focusing on Hegel and French post-Hegelianism in his second essay and on Neoplatonism in his fourth essay. He treats Neoplatonic apophatics especially as found in Damascius and as illuminated by postmodern thought, particularly Jean-Luc Nancy’s deconstruction of Christianity. In the last two essays, Franke treats the tension between two contemporary approaches to philosophy of religion—Radical Orthodoxy and radically secular or Death-of-God theologies. A Philosophy of the Unsayable will interest scholars and students of philosophy, literature, religion, and the humanities. This book develops Franke's explicit theory of unsayability, which is informed by his long-standing engagement with major representatives of apophatic thought in the Western tradition.
£28.99
Columbia University Press Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy: The Story of Kawashima Yoshiko, the Cross-Dressing Spy Who Commanded Her Own Army
Aisin Gioro Xianyu (1907-1948) was the fourteenth daughter of a Manchu prince and a legendary figure in China's bloody struggle with Japan. After the fall of the Manchu dynasty in 1912, Xianyu's father gave his daughter to a Japanese friend who was sympathetic to his efforts to reclaim power. This man raised Xianyu, now known as Kawashima Yoshiko, to restore the Manchus to their former glory. Her fearsome dedication to this cause ultimately got her killed. Yoshiko had a fiery personality and loved the limelight. She shocked Japanese society by dressing in men's clothes and rose to prominence as Commander Jin, touted in Japan's media as a new Joan of Arc. Boasting a short, handsome haircut and a genuine military uniform, Commander Jin was credited with many daring exploits, among them riding horseback as leader of her own army during the Japanese occupation of China. While trying to promote the Manchus, Yoshiko supported the puppet Manchu state established by the Japanese in 1932-one reason she was executed for treason after Japan's 1945 defeat. The truth of Yoshiko's life is still a source of contention between China and Japan: some believe she was exploited by powerful men, others claim she relished her role as political provocateur. China holds her responsible for unspeakable crimes, while Japan has forgiven her transgressions. This biography presents the richest and most accurate portrait to date of the controversial princess spy, recognizing her truly novel role in conflicts that transformed East Asia.
£20.00
Columbia University Press Prophecy, Alchemy, and the End of Time: John of Rupescissa in the Late Middle Ages
In the middle of the fourteenth century, the Franciscan friar John of Rupescissa sent a dramatic warning to his followers: the last days were coming; the apocalypse was near. Deemed insane by the Christian church, Rupescissa had spent more than a decade confined to prisons--in one case wrapped in chains and locked under a staircase--yet ill treatment could not silence the friar's apocalyptic message. Religious figures who preached the end times were hardly rare in the late Middle Ages, but Rupescissa's teachings were unique. He claimed that knowledge of the natural world, and alchemy in particular, could act as a defense against the plagues and wars of the last days. His melding of apocalyptic prophecy and quasi-scientific inquiry gave rise to a new genre of alchemical writing and a novel cosmology of heaven and earth. Most important, the friar's research represented a remarkable convergence between science and religion. In order to understand scientific knowledge today, Leah DeVun asks that we revisit Rupescissa's life and the critical events of his age--the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, the Avignon Papacy--through his eyes. Rupescissa treated alchemy as medicine (his work was the conceptual forerunner of pharmacology) and represented the emerging technologies and views that sought to combat famine, plague, religious persecution, and war. The advances he pioneered, along with the exciting strides made by his contemporaries, shed critical light on later developments in medicine, pharmacology, and chemistry.
£25.20
Oxford University Press The Concept of Investment in ICSID Arbitration
This book explores the meaning of 'investment' within the context of International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration. It provides a comprehensive and detailed examination of the various legal issues arising in connection with the jurisdictional requirement of the existence of an investment. It explores, first of all, the fundamental question of whether the term 'investment' in Art. 25 ICSID Convention has - despite not being defined - some objective or independent meaning. Second, it addresses the substance of that meaning, showing that three main approaches (the prevailing Salini test, the permissibility test, and the commercial-transaction test) co-exist in arbitral practice. Third, it analyses the definitions of 'investment' found in investment treaties including the traditional definitional model, typical requirements, and recent developments in practice. Fourth, it provides an overview of definitions contained in domestic investment laws, highlighting commonalities with, and differences from, definitions found in investment treaties. Finally, it examines the investment status of several specific categories of assets and operations. The Concept of Investment in ICSID Arbitration offers not only a detailed analysis of the relevant case law, legislation, and scholarship, but also a critical assessment of existing practices and trends, as well as normative recommendations. It also explores issues that are neglected in the existing literature, such as the question of the nature of investment, recent trends in treaty drafting and arbitral case law, and definitions of 'investment' contained in investment laws. Despite its formal focus on ICSID arbitration, significant portions of the book are also relevant for other forms of investor-state arbitration.
£135.61
Amber Books Ltd F-16 Fighting Falcon
With its iconic bubble canopy and advanced helmet-mounted displays, the F-16 Fighting Falcon is one of the supreme Fourth Generation air-superiority fighters in the world today. First flown by the US Air Force in the mid 1980s, Lockheed Martin have since delivered about 4,600 F-16s to over 25 countries and more than 3,000 F-16 fighters are currently operational worldwide. The Fighting Falcon is highly adaptable and has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack in a variety of conflicts over the last 40 years. The F-16’s versatility and durability has meant it can be adapted to a number of roles, including air superiority, reconnaissance and ground attack. In an air combat role, the F-16’s maneuverability and combat radius exceed that of all potential threat fighter aircraft. USAF F-16 multirole fighters were deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1991 in support of Operation Desert Storm, where more sorties were flown than with any other aircraft. These fighters were used to attack airfields, Scud missiles sites and a key military infrastructure. Other allied air forces, such as Israel, have heavily adapted the F-16 for their own use, and the Israeli F-16I Soufa (Storm) has proved itself in numerous combat situations in the 21st century. Today, constant technology and weapons’ upgrades mean the F-16 is planned to serve through to 2060. Packed with 100 vivid artworks and photographs, F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact reference guide for lovers of this iconic aircraft and aviation enthusiasts.
£17.99
Simon & Schuster Golden Gate
In this second installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies returns for another international adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls.After thwarting a notorious villain at an eco-summit in Paris, the City Spies are gearing up for their next mission. Operating out of a base in Scotland, this secret team of young agents working for the British Secret Intelligence Service’s MI6 division have honed their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t. Fourteen-year-old Sydney is a surfer and a rebel from Bondi Beach, Australia. She’s also a field ops specialist for the City Spies. Sydney is excited to learn that she’ll be going undercover on the marine research vessel the Sylvia Earle. But things don’t go exactly as planned, and while Sydney does find herself in the spotlight, it’s not in the way she was hoping. Meanwhile, there’s been some new intel regarding a potential mole within the organization, offering the spies a lead that takes them to San Francisco, California. But as they investigate a spy who died at the Botanical Gardens, they discover that they are also being investigated. And soon, they’re caught up in an exciting adventure filled with rogue missions and double agents! This mission is hot! The City Spies are a go!
£8.99
Scholastic Lightning Girl 4: Superpower Showdown
The fourth book in a laugh-out-loud, high-voltage, action-packed adventure series for 8+ readers from hugely popular TV personality, Alesha Dixon, written in collaboration with Katy Birchall. Aurora Beam is reeling after the bombshell revelation of the secret supervillain's identity... but is there someone else even *more* powerful pulling the strings? Light is fading across the globe, with whole countries being plunged into darkness and chaos. Aurora and the Bright Sparks must be brave and believe in themselves to save the day! Laughs on every page fantastically funny illustrations throughout Alesha Dixon is one of the judges on Britain’s Got Talent Alesha's latest book, Girls Rule, will release on the 19 August 2021 Alesha Dixon says: My inspiration to create a superhero called Lightning Girl began with wanting my young daughter to feel empowered. It’s been a dream to create a strong role model that any child can look up to – I want my readers to see themselves in Aurora, who is dealing with trouble at home and trouble at school alongside her new powers. I also have a love of precious stones and their healing properties; I have always been fascinated with their spectacular colours and the positive energy that they bring. As human beings we are always searching for something greater within ourselves and a deeper meaning to life and it’s my belief that we all have a light within us that can affect change and bring good to the world… we just have to harness it! :) Enter Aurora Beam!
£7.99
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Privacy: A Short History
Privacy: A Short History provides a vital historical account of an increasingly stressed sphere of human interaction. At a time when the death of privacy is widely proclaimed, distinguished historian, David Vincent, describes the evolution of the concept and practice of privacy from the Middle Ages to the present controversy over digital communication and state surveillance provoked by the revelations of Edward Snowden. Deploying a range of vivid primary material, he discusses the management of private information in the context of housing, outdoor spaces, religious observance, reading, diaries and autobiographies, correspondence, neighbours, gossip, surveillance, the public sphere and the state. Key developments, such as the nineteenth-century celebration of the enclosed and intimate middle-class household, are placed in the context of long-term development. The book surveys and challenges the main currents in the extensive secondary literature on the subject. It seeks to strike a new balance between the built environment and world beyond the threshold, between written and face-to-face communication, between anonymity and familiarity in towns and cities, between religion and secular meditation, between the state and the private sphere and, above all, between intimacy and individualism. Ranging from the fourteenth century to the twenty-first, this book shows that the history of privacy has been an arena of contested choices, and not simply a progression towards a settled ideal. Privacy: A Short History will be of interest to students and scholars of history, and all those interested in this topical subject.
£16.99
Princeton University Press The Last Muslim Conquest: The Ottoman Empire and Its Wars in Europe
A monumental work of history that reveals the Ottoman dynasty's important role in the emergence of early modern EuropeThe Ottomans have long been viewed as despots who conquered through sheer military might, and whose dynasty was peripheral to those of Europe. The Last Muslim Conquest transforms our understanding of the Ottoman Empire, showing how Ottoman statecraft was far more pragmatic and sophisticated than previously acknowledged, and how the Ottoman dynasty was a crucial player in the power struggles of early modern Europe.In this panoramic and multifaceted book, Gábor Ágoston captures the grand sweep of Ottoman history, from the dynasty's stunning rise to power at the turn of the fourteenth century to the Siege of Vienna in 1683, which ended Ottoman incursions into central Europe. He discusses how the Ottoman wars of conquest gave rise to the imperial rivalry with the Habsburgs, and brings vividly to life the intrigues of sultans, kings, popes, and spies. Ágoston examines the subtler methods of Ottoman conquest, such as dynastic marriages and the incorporation of conquered peoples into the Ottoman administration, and argues that while the Ottoman Empire was shaped by Turkish, Iranian, and Islamic influences, it was also an integral part of Europe and was, in many ways, a European empire.Rich in narrative detail, The Last Muslim Conquest looks at Ottoman military capabilities, frontier management, law, diplomacy, and intelligence, offering new perspectives on the gradual shift in power between the Ottomans and their European rivals and reframing the old story of Ottoman decline.
£22.50
Princeton University Press Augustine's Confessions: A Biography
In this brief and incisive book, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Garry Wills tells the story of the "Confessions" - what motivated Augustine to dictate it, how it asks to be read, and the many ways it has been misread in the one-and-a-half millennia since it was composed. Following Wills' biography of Augustine and his translation of the "Confessions", this is an unparalleled introduction to one of the most important books in the Christian and Western traditions. Understandably fascinated by the story of Augustine's life, modern readers have largely succumbed to the temptation to read the "Confessions" as autobiography. But, Wills argues, this is a mistake. The book is not autobiography but rather a long prayer, suffused with the language of Scripture and addressed to God, not man. Augustine tells the story of his life not for its own significance but in order to discern how, as a drama of sin and salvation leading to God, it fits into sacred history. 'We have to read Augustine as we do Dante', Wills writes, 'alert to rich layer upon layer of Scriptural and theological symbolism'. Wills also addresses the long afterlife of the book, from controversy in its own time and relative neglect during the Middle Ages to a renewed prominence beginning in the fourteenth century and persisting to today, when the "Confessions" has become an object of interest not just for Christians but also historians, philosophers, psychiatrists, and literary critics. With unmatched clarity and skill, Wills strips away the centuries of misunderstanding that have accumulated around Augustine's spiritual classic.
£22.42
Princeton University Press Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt: And Other Intriguing Stories of Mathematical Physics
What does quilting have to do with electric circuit theory? The answer is just one of the fascinating ways that best-selling popular math writer Paul Nahin illustrates the deep interplay of math and physics in the world around us in his latest book of challenging mathematical puzzles, Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt. With his trademark combination of intriguing mathematical problems and the historical anecdotes surrounding them, Nahin invites readers on an exciting and informative exploration of some of the many ways math and physics combine to create something vastly more powerful, useful, and interesting than either is by itself. In a series of brief and largely self-contained chapters, Nahin discusses a wide range of topics in which math and physics are mutually dependent and mutually illuminating, from Newtonian gravity and Newton's laws of mechanics to ballistics, air drag, and electricity. The mathematical subjects range from algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and calculus to differential equations, Fourier series, and theoretical and Monte Carlo probability. Each chapter includes problems--some three dozen in all--that challenge readers to try their hand at applying what they have learned. Just as in his other books of mathematical puzzles, Nahin discusses the historical background of each problem, gives many examples, includes MATLAB codes, and provides complete and detailed solutions at the end. Mrs. Perkins's Electric Quilt will appeal to students interested in new math and physics applications, teachers looking for unusual examples to use in class--and anyone who enjoys popular math books.
£22.50
University of Texas Press Demosthenes, Speeches 18 and 19
2006 — Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award for Best Translation of a Book, Texas Institute of Letters This is the ninth volume in the Oratory of Classical Greece. This series presents all of the surviving speeches from the late fifth and fourth centuries BC in new translations prepared by classical scholars who are at the forefront of the discipline. These translations are especially designed for the needs and interests of today's undergraduates, Greekless scholars in other disciplines, and the general public. Classical oratory is an invaluable resource for the study of ancient Greek life and culture. The speeches offer evidence on Greek moral views, social and economic conditions, political and social ideology, law and legal procedure, and other aspects of Athenian culture that have recently been attracting particular interest: women and family life, slavery, and religion, to name just a few. Demosthenes is regarded as the greatest orator of classical antiquity. The two speeches translated here grew out of his longtime rivalry with the orator Aeschines. In Speech 19 (On the Dishonest Embassy) delivered in 343 BC, Demosthenes attacks Aeschines for corruption centered around an ultimately disastrous embassy to Philip of Macedon that both men took part in. This speech made Demosthenes the leading politician in Athens for a time. Speech 18 (On the Crown or De Corona), delivered in 330 BC, is Demosthenes' most famous and influential oration. It resulted not only in Demosthenes receiving one of Athens' highest political honors but also in the defeat and disgrace of Aeschines, who retired from public life and left Athens forever.
£19.99
Upstart Press Ltd Believer - Conversations with Mike Moore
Michael Kenneth Moore was probably New Zealand’s last working-class Prime Minister and while the book is inevitably political, it is also a remarkable New Zealand story about an ordinary kiwi achieving extraordinary things. This book is based on conversations held with Mike Moore over the past 12 months and reflections on his life and career involving people who were part of it. The chapters focus on key moments in his life – growing up partially crippled in poverty in rural Northland, moving to Auckland and becoming a trade unionist and New Zealand’s youngest MP, losing his seat and fighting the Labour Party to get another one only to be diagnosed with cancer, helping make David Lange Prime Minister and beating Muldoon, the turmoil of the fourth Labour Government including becoming Prime Minister for only 59 days, taking Labour to within two seats of Government and being cruelling deposed as leader by Helen Clark in 1993, the years in wilderness when he came close to setting up a new party and not participating in a coup against Clark, his audacious campaign to become Director General of the World Trade Organisation, becoming New Zealand’s Ambassador to the US and the stroke that cut it short, and his hopes for the future. In a country that celebrates sporting success Moore’s story is also heroic because he has the same traits of smarts, hard work and determination to achieve at the highest levels – despite numerous setbacks – that all New Zealanders admire in the successful.
£17.99
Cornerstone Christmas on the Home Front: Factory Girls 4
THE FOURTH NOVEL IN THE HEART-WARMING FACTORY GIRLS SERIES! Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell and Ellie Dean.____________________________Praise for Annie Clarke'Clarke's tale is one to lift the spirits and touch the hardest hearts' Northern Echo'Delightful authentic-feeling saga' Peterborough Telegraph'Highlights the strength of women during the toughest times' Culture Fly'Beautifully written' Frost Magazine____________________________ October 1942: As Christmas approaches, the evacuees decide a pantomime is just what the village of Massingham needs.Viola loves her new job away from the factory, and hopes that her romance with the handsome Ralph might have a happy ending. Meanwhile, married life is proving tough for Fran and Davey as they are forced apart by war work and an unexpected arrival on her doorstep turns her world upside down.Following her husband's shock confession, Beth finally feels as though she's regaining control of her life, that is until he turns up . . .A lot can happen on the home front, but Christmas is a time for family and friends, and the factory girls will do everything they can to ensure this year's celebration is one to remember. ____________________________ Our readers LOVE the Factory Girls . . .'Gripping and authentic' 'The characters are all strong and the style of writing makes it hard to put down''Another lovely story these wonderful characters make me feel like I'm visiting old friends''What a joy to read''I have laughed, cried and been angry reading this book''Another brilliant book'
£7.78
Orion Publishing Co The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Welcome to the Best of the Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fictionArthur Dent thought his day was going badly when someone tried to demolish his house.Then someone demolished his planet.Rescued by his friend Ford - who is not a human from Guilford, but an alien from somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse - Arthur is flung into an adventure among the stars. He will face aliens, robots, world-builders, and that girl he quite fancied who turned him down at a party one time. All in the name of research for the greatest book in the galaxy. He just has to remember not to panic. Part of the multi-media phenomenon The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is beloved the world over. Douglas Adams' 'trilogy in five parts' originated as a radio show, developed into a book series, and has since spawned a TV series, a film, additional sequels and expanded radio series, a famously impossible video game, and a number of stage shows. It was a Sunday Times bestseller, and ranked fourth in a 2003 BBC poll to find the Nation's Best-Loved Book.-'Douglas Adams's inspired melding of hippy-trail guidebook and sci-fi comedy turned its novelisations into a publishing phenomenon' - Guardian'In a sense that only time can test, it could be said that the Hitchhiker's Guide has become folklore' - The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'Douglas was a genius, and that's not actually a word I toss around very lightly or use very much' - Neil Gaiman
£14.99
Little, Brown Book Group National Service: From Aldershot to Aden: tales from the conscripts, 1946-62
Permission to speak, Sah!In the aftermath of the Second World War, over two million men were conscripted to serve in Britain's armed services. Some were sent abroad and watched their friends die in combat. Others remained in barracks and painted coal white. But despite delivering such varied experiences, National Service helped to shape the outlook of an entire generation of young British males.Historian Dr Colin Shindler has interviewed a wide range of ex-conscripts, from all backgrounds, across all ranks, and spanning the entire fourteen years that peacetime conscription lasted, and captured their memories in this engrossing book. From them, we experience the tension of a postwar Berlin surrounded by Russians, the exotic heat and colour of Tripoli in 1948, the brief but intense flashpoint of the Suez Crisis, and the fear of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya. But we also hear about the other end of the scale, the conscripts who didn't make it outside the confines of their barracks, or in one case, beyond his home town.Through these conversations we learn as much about the changing attitudes of servicemen as war became more of a distant memory as we do about the varied nature of their experiences. We see, too, the changing face of British society across these pivotal years, which span everything from the coronation of Elizabeth II, to the birth of rock 'n' roll, to the beginning of the end of the Empire. The stories within these pages are fascinating. And they deserve to be told before they are lost forever.
£10.99
Headline Publishing Group A Restless Evil (Mitchell & Markby 14): An English village murder mystery of intrigue and suspicion
A new investigation on an old case will bring shocking revelations to light... An old case Markby failed to solve over two decades ago resurfaces after the discovery of skeletal remains in A Restless Evil, the fourteenth gripping English village murder mystery in Ann Granger's Mitchell & Markby series. The perfect read for fans of Rebecca Tope, Agatha Christie and ITV's Midsomer Murders.'A gripping thriller. Ann Granger beautifully evokes a mellow village seemingly tranquil on the surface but bubbling with secrets underneath' - Huddersfield Daily Examiner It sends a shiver down Detective Superintendent Alan Markby's spine when he hears that a rambler has stumbled on human bones in Stovey Woods in the heart of the Cotswolds. Twenty-two years ago, as a fresh-faced young inspector, he had a rare failure in the hunt for a brutal serial rapist preying on local women. After the third rape, the attacker went to ground, never to be heard of again.Now, with a new investigation prompted by the grisly remains, the trail could be warm once more. But almost at once Markby is confronted with another body and a thoroughly up-to-date murder. Could the two be connected? It seems that some of the village residents would be just as happy to let sleeping dogs lie and secrets - both old and new - stay hidden...What readers are saying about A Restless Evil:'The writing is first-class and Ann Granger's world tangs with reality''A very good, well-plotted and well-written mystery that keeps one guessing to the end''An atmospheric and absorbing story'
£9.99