BookOdyssey

Gerald of Wales was among the most dynamic and fascinating churchmen of the twelfth century. A member of one of the leading Norman families involved in the invasion of Ireland, he first visited there in 1183 and later returned in the entourage of Henry II. The resulting Topographia Hiberniae is an extraordinary account of his travels. Here he describes landscapes, fish, birds and animals; recounts the history of Ireland\'s rulers; and tells fantastical stories of magic wells and deadly whirlpools, strange creatures and evil spirits. Written from the point of view of an invader and reformer, this work has been rightly criticized for its portrait of a primitive land, yet it is also one of the most important sources for what is known of Ireland during the Middle Ages. Σελίδες: 144, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Sarah Merker brings you 50 scone recipes from the National Trust. History is best enjoyed with a scone, as everyone who’s visited a National Trust house knows. This book brings you the best of both. Scone obsessive Sarah Merker has gathered 50 – yes 50 – scone recipes from National Trust experts around the country. And she’s written a quirky guide to 50 National Trust places to delight and entertain you while you bake or eat those blissful treats. Eccentric owners, strange treasures, obscure facts – it\'s all here. Whip up a Triple Chocolate scone while you read about the mechanical elephants at Waddesdon Manor. Or savour an Apple & Cinnamon scone while you absorb the dramatic love life of Henry Cecil of Hanbury Hall. Marvel at a Ightham Mote\'s Grade 1 listed dog kennel while you savour a Cheese, Spring Onion and Bacon scone. 50 of the best scones in history. And 50 of the best places to read about. You’ll never need to leave the kitchen again. Σελίδες: 128, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0413, Διαστάσεις: 13.6x13.6cm

In 1187 Saladin\'s armies besieged the holy city of Jerusalem. He had previously annihilated Jerusalem\'s army at the battle of Hattin, and behind the city\'s high walls a last-ditch defence was being led by an unlikely trio - including Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem. They could not resist Saladin, but, if they were lucky, they could negotiate terms that would save the lives of the city\'s inhabitants.Queen Sibylla was the last of a line of formidable female rulers in the Crusader States of Outremer. Yet for all the many books written about the Crusades, one aspect is conspicuously absent: the stories of women. Queens and princesses tend to be presented as passive transmitters of land and royal blood. In reality, women ruled, conducted diplomatic negotiations, made military decisions, forged alliances, rebelled, and undertook architectural projects. Sibylla\'s grandmother Queen Melisende was the first queen to seize real political agency in Jerusalem and rule in her own right. She outmanoeuvred both her husband and son to seize real power in her kingdom, and was a force to be reckoned with in the politics of the medieval Middle East. The lives of her Armenian mother, her three sisters, and their daughters and granddaughters were no less intriguing.The lives of this trailblazing dynasty of royal women, and the crusading Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, are the focus of Katherine Pangonis\'s debut book. In QUEENS OF JERUSALEM she explores the role women played in the governing of the Middle East during periods of intense instability, and how they persevered to rule and seize greater power for themselves when the opportunity presented itself. Σελίδες: 272, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0614, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

Σελίδες: 144, Διαστάσεις: 16.8x16.8cm

“She was our conscience. Our seer. Our truth-teller. She was a magician with language, who understood the power of words.” - Oprah WinfreyA vital non-fiction collection from one of the most celebrated and revered American writersSpanning four decades, these essays, speeches and meditations interrogate the world around us. They are concerned with race, gender and globalisation. The sweep of American history and the current state of politics. The duty of the press and the role of the artist. Throughout Mouth Full of Blood our search for truth, moral integrity and expertise is met by Toni Morrison with controlled anger, elegance and literary excellence.The collection is structured in three parts and these are heart-stoppingly introduced by a prayer for the dead of 9/11, a meditation on Martin Luther King and a eulogy for James Baldwin. Morrison’s Nobel lecture, on the power of language, is accompanied by lectures to Amnesty International and the Newspaper Association of America. She speaks to graduating students and visitors to both the Louvre and America’s Black Holocaust Museum. She revisitsThe Bluest Eye, Sula and Beloved; reassessing the novels that have become touchstones for generations of readers.Mouth Full of Blood is a powerful, erudite and essential gathering of ideas that speaks to us all. It celebrates Morrison’s extraordinary contribution to the literary world. Σελίδες: 368, Διαστάσεις: 12.7x12.7cm

\'An ambitious, riveting and essential book that has much to teach us about the recent history of this region, and about the human impulse towards populism that continues to shape the world\' Ben Rhodes, bestselling author of The World As It Is \'A REVOLUTION IS A STRUGGLE TO THE DEATH BETWEEN THE FUTURE AND THE PAST.\' FIDEL CASTRO For more than six decades, Fidel Castro\'s words have echoed through the politics of Latin America. His towering political influence still looms over the region today. The swing to the Left in Latin America, known as the \'Pink Tide\', was the most important political movement in the Western Hemisphere in the 21st century. It involved some of the biggest, most colourful and most controversial characters in Latin America for decades, leaders who would leave an indelible mark on their nations and who were adored and reviled in equal measure. Parties became secondary to individual leaders and populism reigned from Venezuela to Brazil, from Central America to the Caribbean, financed by a spike in commodity prices and the oil-backed largesse of Venezuela\'s charismatic socialist president, Hugo Chávez. Yet within a decade and a half, it was all over. Today, this wave of populism has left the Americas in the hands of some of the most authoritarian and dangerous leaders since the military dictatorships of the 1970s. Σελίδες: 512, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1201, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

‘Catapults you into the heart of the most epic experiences of ejection, escape and survival’ Andy McNab Since the invention of the ejection seat in the 1940s, tens of thousands of lives have been saved - including John Nichol\'s. Now, Nichol tells the incredible story of the ejection seat in war and in peace - and of the men and women who were given a second chance at life after facing disaster.  Escaping is just the first step to making it home alive, so we hear of thrilling rescues from enemy territory, of capture in North Vietnam, of surviving high-speed mid-air collisions, how ejection can lead to extraordinary tales of discovery and redemption. Packed with gripping action and cutting-edge science, Eject! Eject! is fuelled by dramatic, deeply moving and previously unheard first-hand accounts.Because pulling the yellow-and-black ejection handle is just the start of the story.   Σελίδες: 512, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0523, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

An entertaining collection of strange, delightful and unexpectedly apt words from the origins of English, which illuminates the lives, beliefs and habits of our linguistic ancestors. \'A marvelous book\' Neil Gaiman \'Wonderful\' - Tom Holland \'A lovely, lovely read\' - Lucy Mangan \'Splendid\' - David Crystal \'Thorough, entertaining, and absolutely fascinating.\' Paul Anthony Jones, Haggard Hawks In this beautiful little book, Hana Videen has gathered gems of words together to create a glorious trove and illuminate the lives, beliefs and habits of our linguistic ancestors. We discover a world where choking on a bit of bread might prove your guilt, where fiend-ship was as likely as friend-ship, and you might grow up to be a laughter-smith. These are the magical roots of our own language: you\'ll never see English in the same way again. Σελίδες: 304, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1006, Διαστάσεις: 12.6x12.6cm

In The Sugar Girls of Love Lane, Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, the authors of the Sunday Times bestseller The Sugar Girls, tell the remarkable stories of those who worked at the famous Tate & Lyle factory in Liverpool.   For over a hundred years until it closed in 1981, Henry Tate’s flagship sugar refinery at Love Lane dominated the Liverpool skyline – and was the beating heart of the local community. More than 10,000 workers passed through the doors of the factory during its lifetime, with some families counting four or even five generations of service. Young women leaving school in the post-war years were drawn by the good wages and the unrivalled social life that Tate & Lyle offered. When they arrived, they started at the very bottom, sweeping sugar off the floors, before graduating to packing and weighing by hand. The work was tough, with girls expected to stack heavy bags of sugar onto pallets five feet high, and by the end of the day their arms were aching and their stockings full of sugar dust. But, despite the hot, heavy work, they found their own ways of having fun, and the friendships they formed would last a lifetime. As well as the female friendships, many women met their future husbands at the factory, and expected their own children to follow in their footsteps.Barrett and Calvi\'s social history of the post-war era casts a warm and nostalgic look back at one of the most iconic factories in the north, bringing back a vanished era of hard work, community spirit and simple pleasures.     Σελίδες: 304, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0425, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

The product of a lifetimes reflection, The Last Escaper is Peter Tunstall\'s unforgettable memoir of his days in the RAF and as one of the most celebrated of all British POWs. Tunstall was an infamous tormentor of his German captors dubbed the cooler king (on account of his long spells in solitary), but also a highly skilled pilot, loyal friend and trusted colleague. Without false pride or bitterness, Tunstall recounts the high jinks of training to be a pilot, terrifying bombing raids in his Hampden and of elaborate escape attempts at once hilarious and deadly serious all part of a poignant and human war story superbly told by a natural raconteur. The Last Escaper is a charming and hugely informative last testament written by the last man standing from the Colditz generation who risked their lives in the Second World War. It will take its place as one of the classic first-hand accounts of that momentous conflict. Σελίδες: 328, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

The United Kingdom; Great Britain; the British Isles; the Home Nations: such a wealth of different names implies uncertainty and contention - and an ability to invent and adjust. In a year that sees a Scottish referendum on independence, Linda Colley analyses some of the forces that have unified Britain in the past. She examines the mythology of Britishness, and how far - and why - it has faded. She discusses the Acts of Union with Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and their limitations, while scrutinizing England\'s own fractures. And she demonstrates how the UK has been shaped by movement: of British people to other countries and continents, and of people, ideas and influences arriving from elsewhere. As acts of union and disunion again become increasingly relevant to our daily lives and politics, Colley considers how - if at all - the pieces might be put together anew, and what this might mean. Based on a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series. Σελίδες: 192, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0102, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

\'Uplifting and utterly defiant\' Matt Nixson, Daily Express \'Immediate and important ... This is an insider\'s account of how an ordinary life became extraordinary\' Helen Davies, The Times\'At first we did not understand what war was. You can\'t understand it until you see it and hear it.\'As Russian forces build up beyond the Ukrainian borders and the prospect of war becomes a devastating reality, Andrey Kurkov chronicles the shocking impact of Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine. Part political and historical commentary, part personal journal, Kurkov explores the fraught interrelation of Russian and Ukrainian history, the complicated coexistence of their languages, and in describing how a peaceful society defies occupation, the author builds an image of a culture which, contrary to Putin\'s claims, is unique and democratic, liberal and diverse, one that will \'resist to the end\'.Redirecting his satirical flair to paint a defiant portrait of his compatriots, Kurkov tells of a people united against erasure. Bread is baked and shared in the ruins. An amputee is carried aboard an evacuating train, grandmothers escape occupied towns with their noisome roosters. And despite the networks of toloka, of community work for common good, being stretched to breaking point, and the embittering reticence of some European nations to make good their promises of aid and armaments, hope channels its perennial resistance: children are born deep within besieged cities and farmers go on working the fields made lethal by unexploded shells. Kurkov braids his personal story with those of other displaced Ukrainians and the communities that have gone to extraordinary lengths to care for them. Showing an irrepressible spirit, they \'wait for the moment when it will be safe to return,\' he writes, \'just as I am waiting.\' Σελίδες: 304, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0213, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

\'These two sisters might be some of our final living first-hand witnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust. With this book, they break the silence and give us the immeasurable gift of their story.\' Gwen Strauss, author of The NineOn 28 March 1944, Italian sisters Tati (six) and Andra (four) were roused from their sleep and taken to Auschwitz, to the infamous Kinder Block presided over by Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death. By the time Auschwitz was liberated, 230,000 children had been murdered, and the sisters were among only 70 child survivors.Throughout their ordeal in the camp and the liberation of Auschwitz, their long journey from Poland to Czechoslovakia and finally to Lingfield House in Britain, they hung on to their promise to their mother to \'always remember your name\'. They never forgot they were Tati and Andra Bucci, and it was this connection to their heritage that brought them miraculously back to their parents, years later and many countries away. The sisters overcame their trauma to live long lives, bearing witness as survivors of the Holocaust.\'Always Remember Your Name is heart-breaking and yet utterly uplifting, with the fierce bond of two sisters at its heart, who survived the Holocaust to bear witness, so that none of us will ever forget.\' Heather Morris, international bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz\'A valuable record of what was suffered by surely some of our youngest survivors. Insightful and illuminating, the road to recovery - with its silences, loyalties, and self examinations - is never what we might suppose.\' Esther Freud, bestselling author of Hideous Kinky Σελίδες: 192, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Acclaimed for its penetration, balance and insight, Modern Greece tells the story of Greece and the Greek people from the founding of Constantinople to the late twentieth century.\'Very readable, very informative.\' Sunday Times Σελίδες: 384, Διαστάσεις: 11x11cm

With the Eurozone engulfed in an unprecedented crisis, one political figure looms largest of all, Angela Merkel, the leader of its most powerful economy. While foreign affairs have become the central issues of her chancellorship in this crucial election year, the entire world is anxiously looking to Germany to play its part in Europe\'s rescue. This authorized biography sheds light on the person behind the politician - from her youthful days of hitchhiking in Tbilisi to being the guest of honour at a White House state dinner - and examines how a girl from East Germany rose to the highest echelons of European power. As well as explaining how Angela Merkel\'s world view was shaped and influenced by her background and ideology, Stefan Kornelius\'s lively account discusses her personal relations with international counterparts such as David Cameron, Barack Obama or Vladimir Putin, as well as her attitude towards the countries and cultures over which they rule. Σελίδες: 300, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0615, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER! ANYONE WHO WATCHED THE BBC SERIES WILL LOVE THIS GIFT!THE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT BBC SERIES SAS: ROGUE HEROES, STARRING CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK O\'CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN AND DOMINIC WEST\'A master at setting the pulse racing\' Daily Mail________________In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, has a vision for a new kind of war: attacking the enemy where they least expect it - from behind their own lines.Despite the intense opposition of many in British High Command, Winston Churchill personally gives Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he can find. And so begins the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS.With unprecedented access to the SAS secret files, unseen footage and exclusive interviews with its founder members, SAS: Rogue Heroes tells the remarkable story behind an extraordinary fighting force, and the immense cost of making it a reality.________________\'Thorough and highly entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too highly\' Daily Express\'Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II\' Antony Beevor\'Told with deceptive brilliance . . . one the finest books of its kind\' Evening StandardSunday Times bestseller, February 2023 Σελίδες: 384, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

The unforgettable true story of one Jewish orphan’s survival against impossible odds, and her lifelong quest for family, safety and a sense of belonging. Elida Friedman was never supposed to have been born. In the Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania, Nazi law forbade Jewish women from giving birth. Yet despite the danger they faced, Dr. Jonah Friedman and his wife Tzila, choose to bring a daughter into the world – a little girl they name Elida, meaning non-birth in Hebrew. To ensure her survival, the couple must smuggle their precious baby out of the ghetto into the arms of strangers. So begins a life of constant upheaval, with Elida changing families, countries, continents and even names, countless times. Surviving the war and the Holocaust that stole her parents, the young woman never gives up hope of finding a sense of family, and the chance to belong. A moving, powerful chronicle of overcoming impossible odds, The Forbidden Daughter is the true story of one unforgettable girl and her will to survive. Σελίδες: 304, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

On the first morning of Rome\'s Covid-19 lockdown Matthew Kneale felt an urge to connect with friends and acquaintances and began writing an email, describing where he was, what was happening and what it felt like, and sent it to everyone he could think of. He was soon composing daily reports as he tried to comprehend a period of time, when everyone\'s lives suddenly changed and Italy struggled against an epidemic, that was so strange, so troubling and so fascinating that he found it impossible to think about anything else. Having lived in Rome for eighteen years, Matthew has grown to know the capital and its citizens well and this collection of brilliant diary pieces connects what he has learned about the city with this extraordinary, anxious moment, revealing the Romans through the intense prism of the coronavirus crisis. Σελίδες: 304, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

The rise and fall of the Roman Republic occupies a special place in the history of Western civilization. From humble beginnings on the seven hills beside the Tiber, the city of Rome grew to dominate the ancient Mediterranean. Led by her senatorial aristocracy, Republican armies defeated Carthage and the successor kingdoms of Alexander the Great, and brought the surrounding peoples to east and west into the Roman sphere. Yet the triumph of the Republic was also its tragedy. In this Very Short Introduction, David M. Gwynn provides a fascinating introduction to the history of the Roman Republic and its literary and material sources, bringing to life the culture and society of Republican Rome and its ongoing significance within our modern world. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. Σελίδες: 176, Διαστάσεις: 11.2x11.2cm

When and how did the brains of our hominin ancestors become human minds? When and why did our capacity for language or art, music and dance evolve? It is the contention of this pathbreaking and provocative book that it was the need for early humans to live in ever-larger social groups, and to maintain social relations over ever-greater distances – the ability to ‘think big’ – that drove the enlargement of the human brain and the development of the human mind. This ‘social brain hypothesis’, put forward by evolutionary psychologists such as Robin Dunbar, one of the authors of this book, can be tested against archaeological and fossil evidence, as archaeologists Clive Gamble and John Gowlett show in the second part of Thinking Big. Along the way, the three authors touch on subjects as diverse and diverting as the switch from finger-tip grooming to vocal grooming or the crucial importance of making fire for the lengthening of the social day. As this remarkable book shows, it seems we still inhabit social worlds that originated deep in our evolutionary past – by the fireside, in the hunt and on the grasslands of Africa. Σελίδες: 240, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0201, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

A memoir of Victoria Schofield\'s thirty-year friendship with her Oxford contemporary, Benazir Bhutto. \'Fascinating and moving\' Lord Owen \'Abounds with behind-the-scenes gems\' Spectator \'Sheds light on the human side of a courageous politican\' Financial Times \'Brings unique insights into the life and times of Benazir Bhutto\' Lyse Doucet In the summer of 1978, Victoria Schofield travelled to Pakistan to join her friend Benazir Bhutto, whose father, the former prime minister, was facing a charge of conspiracy to murder. In the fevered context of Bhutto\'s appeal against the death sentence, their university friendship grew into a lifelong bond, ending only with Benazir\'s assassination in 2007.Schofield\'s memoir sheds light on the recent history of this turbulent region, and affectionately charts Benazir\'s transformation from Oxford undergraduate to one of the most charismatic and controversial figures in South Asian politics – a woman whose life and career were defined by tragedy. Σελίδες: 448, Έτος Έκδοσης: 1001, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

This long overdue, vivid and wide-ranging examination of the significance of the resistance of the enslaved themselves - from sabotage and running away to outright violent rebellion - shines fresh light on the end of slavery in the Atlantic World. It is high time that this resistance, in addition to abolitionism and other factors, was given its due weight in seeking to understand the overthrow of slavery. Fundamentally, as Walvin shows so clearly, it was the implacable hatred of the enslaved for slavery and their strategies of resistance that made the whole system unsustainable and, ultimately, brought about its downfall. Walvin\'s approach is original, too, in looking at the Atlantic world as a whole, including the French and Spanish Empires and Brazil, as well as Britain\'s colonies. In doing so, he casts new light on one of the major shifts in Western history: in the three-hundred years following Columbus\'s landfall in the Americas, slavery had become a widespread and critical institution. It had seen twelve million Africans forced onto slave ships; a forced migration that had had seismic consequences for Africa. It had transformed the Americas and materially enriched the Western world. It had also been largely unquestioned - in Europe at least, and among slave owners, traders and those who profited from the system. Yet, within a mere seventy-five years during the nineteenth century, slavery had vanished from the Americas: it had declined, collapsed and been destroyed by a complexity of forces that, to this day, remains disputed. As Walvin shows so clearly here, though, it was in large part overthrown by those it had enslaved. Σελίδες: 320, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0209, Διαστάσεις: 12.6x12.6cm

\'How could such a book speak so powerfully to our present moment? The short answer is that we, too, live in dark times\' Washington PostHannah Arendt\'s chilling analysis of the conditions that led to the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian regimes is a warning from history about the fragility of freedom, exploring how propaganda, scapegoats, terror and political isolation all aided the slide towards total domination. \'A non-fiction bookend to Nineteen Eighty-Four\' The New York Times\'The political theorist who wrote about the Nazis and the \'banality of evil\' has become a surprise bestseller\' Guardian Σελίδες: 752, Διαστάσεις: 12.8x12.8cm

\'This is a very personal book, about being alone and lost\'. In 1975 Kapuscinski\'s employers sent him to Angola to cover the civil war that had broken out after independence. For months he watched as Luanda and then the rest of the country collapsed into a civil war that was in the author\'s words \'sloppy, dogged and cruel\'. In his account, Kapuscinski demonstrates an extraordinary capacity to describe and to explain the individual meaning of grand political abstractions. Σελίδες: 176, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

This autobiography is about growing up in Egypt. It is also an investigation into childhood perception in which the author uses herself and her memories as an insight into how children see and know. It is a look at Eygpt up to, and including, World War II from a small girl\'s point of view, which is also, ultimately, a moving and rather sad picture of an isolated and lonely little girl. Σελίδες: 208, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

‘The story of “invasive species” is really the story of human history, and Eatherley tells it with great verve … Fascinating’ Daily Telegraph A unique history of plant and animal invaders of the British isles spanning thousands of years of arrivals and escapes, as well as defences mounted and a look to the future. As Brits we pride ourselves as stoic defenders, boasting a record of resistance dating back to 1066. Yet, even a cursory examination of the natural world reveals that while interlopers of the human variety may have been kept at bay, our islands have been invaded, conquered and settled by an endless succession of animals, plants, fungi and other alien lifeforms that apparently belong elsewhere. Indeed it’s often hard to work out what actually is native, and what is foreign. From early settlement of our islands, through the Roman and mediaeval period, to the age of exploration and globalisation, today’s complement of alien species tells a story about our past. Σελίδες: 336, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

** SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER **\'Astonishing\' ANTONY BEEVOR \'One of the most promising young historians to enter our field for years\' MAX HASTINGSA thrilling new history of the disastrous years of indecision, failed diplomacy and parliamentary infighting that enabled Hitler and the Nazis to dominate Europe.On a wet afternoon in September 1938, Neville Chamberlain stepped off an aeroplane and announced that his visit to Hitler had averted the greatest crisis in recent memory. It was, he later assured the crowd in Downing Street, \'peace for our time\'. Less than a year later, Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began. Drawing on previously unseen sources, Appeasing Hitler sweeps from the advent of Hitler in 1933 to the beaches of Dunkirk, and presents an unforgettable portrait of the ministers, aristocrats and amateur diplomats whose actions and inaction had devastating consequences. \'Brilliant and sparkling . . . Reads like a thriller. I couldn\'t put it down\' Peter Frankopan \'Vivid, detailed and utterly fascinating . . . This is political drama at its most compelling\' James Holland \'Bouverie skilfully traces each shameful step to war . . . in moving and dramatic detail\' Sunday Telegraph Σελίδες: 512, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

The first major book on ISIS to be published since the group exploded on the international stage in summer 2014. Drawing on their unusual access to intelligence sources and material, law enforcement, and groundbreaking research into open source intelligence, Stern and Berger outline the origins of ISIS as the formidable terrorist group it has quickly become. ‘State of Terror’ delves into the ‘ghoulish pornography’ of pro-jihadi videos, the seductive appeal of ‘jihadi chic’ and the startling effectiveness of the Islamic State’s use of social media as a means of luring and recruiting citizens from countries such as the United States, Great Britain, and France—using recent examples such as Douglas McCain, the American citizen from Minnesota who joined ISIS and died in combat fighting on the side of the Islamic State. Although the picture Stern and Berger paint is bleak, ‘State of Terror’ also offers well-informed thoughts on potential government responses to ISIS – most importantly, emphasizing that we must alter our present conceptions of terrorism and react to the rapidly changing jihadi landscape, both online and off, as quickly as the terrorists do. ‘State of Terror: Jihad in the 21st Century’ is not only a compelling account of the evolution of a terrorist organization, but also a necessary book that attempts to answer the question of what our next move – as a country, as a government, as the world – should be. Σελίδες: 432, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

LONGLISTED FOR RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2021 \'Terrific... Britain\'s urban landscape is just as freighted with myth and mystery as its castles and ancient monuments and [Rees] proves it by unearthing a treasure trove of riveting stories.\' - Sunday Times, Best Books of the Year, 2020 ----- There is a Britain that exists outside of the official histories and guidebooks - places that lie on the margins, left behind. A Britain in the cracks of the urban facade where unexpected life can flourish. Welcome to UNOFFICIAL BRITAIN. This is a land of industrial estates, factories and electricity pylons, of motorways and ring roads, of hospitals and housing estates, of roundabouts and flyovers. Places where modern life speeds past but where people and stories nevertheless collect. Places where human dramas play out: stories of love, violence, fear, boredom and artistic expression. Places of ghost sightings, first kisses, experiments with drugs, refuges for the homeless, hangouts for the outcasts. Struck by the power of these stories and experiences, Gareth E. Rees set out to explore these spaces and the essential part they have played in the history and geography of our isles. Though mundane and neglected, they can be as powerfully influential in our lives, and imaginations, as any picture postcard tourist destination. \'Unexpected and fascinating\' - Melissa Harrison, author of The Stubborn Light of Things \'The mythical and the municipal collide in a weirdly compelling tour of Britain\'s built environment.\' - Financial Times Σελίδες: 304, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0901, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

Refugees and other forced migrants are one of the great contemporary challenges the world is confronting. Throughout the world people leave their home countries to escape war, natural disasters, and cultural and political oppression. Unfortunately, even today, the international community struggles to provide an adequate response to this vast population in need. This Very Short Introduction covers a broad range of issues around the causes and impact of the contemporary refugee crisis for both receiving states and societies, for global order, and for refugees and other forced migrants themselves. Gil Loescher discusses the identity of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons and how they differ from other forced migrants. He also investigates the long history of the refugee phenomenon and how refugees became a central concern of the international community during the twentieth and twenty first centuries, as well as considering the responses provided by governments and international aid organisations to refugee needs. Loescher concludes by focussing on the necessity of these bodies to understand the realities of the contemporary refugee situation in order to best respond to its current and future challenges. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. Σελίδες: 160, Διαστάσεις: 11.3x11.3cm

Cuneiform script on tablets of clay is, as far as we know, the oldest form of writing in the world. The choice of clay as writing medium in ancient Mesopotamia meant that records of all kinds could survive down to modern times, preserving fascinating documents from ancient civilization, written by a variety of people and societies. From reading these tablets we can understand not only the history and economics of the time but also the beliefs, ideas and superstitions. This fascinating book will bring the world in which the cuneiform was written to life for the non-expert reader, revealing how ancient inscriptions can lead to a new way of thinking about the past. It will explain how this pre-alphabetic writing really worked and how it was possible to use cuneiform signs to record so many different languages so long ago. Richly illustrated with a wealth of fresh examples ranging from elementary school exercises to revealing private letters or beautifully calligraphic literature for the royal library, we will meet people that aren’t so very different from ourselves. We will read the work of many scribes – from mundane record keepers to state fortune tellers, using tricks from puns to cryptography. For the first time cuneiform tablets and their messages are not remote and inaccessible, but wonderfully human documents that resonate today. Σελίδες: 112, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0501, Διαστάσεις: 14.5x14.5cm

Ron Kovic went to Vietnam dreaming of being an American hero. What he found there changed him profoundly, even before the severe battlefield injury that left him paralysed from the waist down. He returned to an America indifferent to the realities of war and the fate of those who fought for their country. From his wheelchair he became one of the most visible and outspoken opponents of the Vietnam War.Born on the Fourth of July is a journey of self-discovery, a reckoning with the horrors of an unjust war, a testament to courage and a call to protest. A modern classic of anti-war writing, it inspired an Oscar-winning film, sold over one million copies and remains as powerful and relevant today as when it was first published. Σελίδες: 240, Διαστάσεις: 12.9x12.9cm

The actual course given to all secret agents in SOE before working behind enemy lines. It includes everything you needed to know to go undercover – from documents, cover stories and how to live off the land to how to get through an interrogation. The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers, and to aid local resistance movements. In late 1942, SOE was asked to increase the number of agents to aid the invasion of mainland Europe. Part of agent training was ‘tradecraft’ – the practical details on how to be a clandestine agent behind enemy lines – which every agent had to attend at various bases centred around Beaulie in Hampshire. The course was a set of lectures and this book contains the actual text of those lectures which were discovered in the National Archives this year. It is not only a fascinating insight into the workings of one of the Second World Wars most famous and secretive organisations, but is also a reminder of the huge danger anyone being dropped behind enemy lines had to face. SYLLABUSIntroduction to Course. Individual Security. Informant Service. Cover. Interrogations. Operational Orders. Know your Enemy. Surveillance. Internal Communications. Premises. Security and Premises for W/T Operator. W/T Operator. External Communications. Organisation. Cell System. Security of Organisation. Recruiting. Discipline and Morale. Burglary. Lock-picking. Selection of Dropping Points and Reception Arrangements. To be given on instructions from London.). Handcuffs. Pigeons. German Counter Espionage. German Uniformed Police. National Police – e.g. of France, Belgium etc. (Given according to student\'s destination.). The Nazi Party and its Formations in Occupied Territory. Recognition of German Troops by weapons and equipment. Recognition of German Troops by uniforms. Military Intelligence Reports. Handling of German Light Weapons. Morale Warfare. Methods of Morale Warfare. Subversion of enemy troops. Instructions for Foreign Workers in Germany. Passive Resistance in Occupied Countries. Current German Propaganda to Europe. Tasks Preparatory to Allied arrival. Σελίδες: 160, Διαστάσεις: 12.6x12.6cm

\'Manaugh and Twilley shed illuminating light on a phenomenon that seems utterly of the present moment.\' Financial Times’ Best Books of the Year\'Startlingly timely, authoritatively researched, and electrifyingly written.\' Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of NeurodiversityQuarantine has shaped our world, yet it remains both feared and misunderstood. It is our most powerful response to uncertainty, but it operates through an assumption of guilt: in quarantine, we are considered infectious until proven safe. An unusually poetic metaphor for moral and mythic ills, quarantine means waiting to see if something hidden inside of us will be revealed. Until Proven Safe tracks the history and future of quarantine around the globe, chasing the story of emergency isolation through time and space – from the crumbling lazarettos of the Mediterranean to the hallways of the CDC, to the corporate giants hoping to disrupt the widespread quarantine imposed by Covid-19 before the next pandemic hits through surveillance and algorithmic prediction.Yet quarantine is more than just a medical tool: Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley drop deep into the Earth to tour a nuclear-waste isolation facility beneath the New Mexican desert, strip down to nothing but protective Tyvek suits to see plants stricken with a disease that threatens the world’s wheat supply, and meet NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer tasked with saving the Earth from extraterrestrial infections. The result is part travelogue, part intellectual history – a book as compelling as it is definitive, and one that could not be more urgent or timely. Σελίδες: 416, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0830, Διαστάσεις: 13x13cm

Σελίδες: 432, Διαστάσεις: 12.7x12.7cm

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER The Nazis spared their lives because they were twins.In the summer of 1944, Eva Mozes Kor and her family arrived at Auschwitz.Within thirty minutes, they were separated. Her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, while Eva and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man who became known as the Angel of Death: Dr. Josef Mengele. They were 10 years old.While twins at Auschwitz were granted the \'privileges\' of keeping their own clothes and hair, they were also subjected to Mengele\'s sadistic medical experiments. They were forced to fight daily for their own survival and many died as a result of the experiments, or from the disease and hunger rife in the concentration camp.In a narrative told simply, with emotion and astonishing restraint, The Twins of Auschwitz shares the inspirational story of a child\'s endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil.Also included is an epilogue on Eva\'s incredible recovery and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis. Through her museum and her lectures, she dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and worked toward goals of forgiveness, peace, and the elimination of hatred and prejudice in the world.Sunday Times bestseller in August 2020. Σελίδες: 240, Έτος Έκδοσης: 0810, Διαστάσεις: 12.6x12.6cm