Category Archives: Travel Guides
England`s Forgotten Past
Richard Tames, the well-known popularizer of English history, offers an entertaining exploration of the bits of English history that have been sidelined, lost or somehow overlooked. Written in an engaging, easy-to-read and often humorous style, Tames brings to life the various colourful characters, famous in their day, who have now sunk into obscurity, from St
Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives: The First 1000 Years
The religious thinkers, political leaders, law-makers, writers and philosophers of the early Muslim world helped to shape the 1,400-year-long development of today`s secondlargest world religion. But who were these people? What do we know of their lives, and the ways in which they influenced their societies? Chase F. Robinson draws on the long tradition in
Legionary: The Roman Soldier`s (Unofficial) Manual
Your Emperor needs you! The year is ad 100 and Rome stands supreme and unconquerable, from the desert sands of Mesopotamia to the misty highlands of Caledonia. But the might of Rome rests entirely on the shoulders of the legionaries, who stand strong against the barbarian hordes, pushing back the frontiers of the empire. This
Significant Others: Creativity and Intimate Partnership
Biographies of artists and writers have traditionally presented an individual’s lone struggle for self-expression. In this book, critics and historians challenge these assumptions in a series of essays that focus on artist and writer couples who have shared sexual and artistic bonds. Featuring duos such as Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel, Sonia and Robert Delaunay,
Shakespeare`s London on 5 Groats a Day
This entertaining and fact-packed guide provides all the information you`ll need to travel back in time to Elizabethan London – a booming city of courtiers, cutthroats, merchants, beggars, lawyers, dramatists, apprentices and adventurers. Find out the best way to the capital and where to stay. Saunter over London Bridge, with its hundreds of shops and
Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-Francois Champollion
Cracking the Egyptian Code is the first biography in English of Jean-Franรงois Champollion, the impoverished, arrogant and brilliant child of the French Revolution who made the vital breakthrough in deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphs. This finely illustrated account charts Champollion’s dramatic life and achievements: by turns a teenage professor, a supporter of Napoleon, an exile, a
The Great Empires of Asia
Asian empires led the world economically, scientifically and culturally for hundreds of years, and posed a constant challenge to the countries of Europe. How and why did those empires gain such power, and lose it? What legacies did they leave?This major book brings together a team of distinguished historians and 200 illustrations to survey seven
The Library of Trinity College Dublin
The Library at Trinity College Dublin dates back to the establishment of the college by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592. The library is the largest in Ireland, containing more than 6.2 million volumes and an extensive collection of early manuscripts, including the internationally famous Book of Kells, which attracts around 1 million visitors annually from
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre in the City of London is the largest multi-disciplinary arts centre in Europe. Designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon as part of the Barbican Estate and to provide homes for both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company, the building is internationally renowned not only as an example of radical,
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge is one of the most famous bridges in the world. Designed by Sir Horace Jones (1819-1887) and engineer Sir John Wolfe Barry (1836-1918) over a period of eight years, it was the largest and most advanced bascule bridge ever completed when it opened in 1894, requiring 11,000 tons of steel and involving more
Complete Pompeii
Pompeii is the best known and probably the most important archaeological site in the world. This book, now available in paperback, is the most up-to-date, authoritative and comprehensive account for the general reader of its rise, splendour and fall. The drama of Pompeii`s end has been handed down by Roman writers, its paintings and mosaics
The English Country House
Ranging from Kentchurch Court, a former fortified medieval manor house that has been the seat of the Scudamore family for nearly 1,000 years, to a delightful Strawberry Hill-style Gothic house in rural Cornwall and car-crazed Goodwood House, this beautifully illustrated book showcases ten outstanding British country houses, all still in the hands of the original
City Cycling Europe Boxset
The eight guides in the City Cycling Europe series are each devoted to a different city: London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Antwerp/Ghent, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and Milan. Each compact volume features cycle-friendly neighbourhoods, itineraries, cycle maps and places to visit where cyclists are always welcome. Aimed primarily at those looking to take casual weekend breaks, there is
The Origins of the Irish
About eighty million people today can trace their descent back to the occupants of Ireland. But where did the occupants of the island themselves come from and what do we even mean by “Irish” in the first place? This is the first major attempt to deal with the core issues of how the Irish came
The D-Day Atlas: Anatomy of the Normandy Campaign
This powerful study chronicles the evolution of the invasion plan and culminates in a day-by-day account of the landings by sea and by air on the Normandy beaches, followed by the grim six-week struggle to break through the German defences. An important feature is the space devoted to the German point of view, based on
The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and Its People
A companion to Abydos in the New Aspects of Antiquity series, this book a remarkable evocation of an ancient city brings together for the first time the history of the site of Tell el-Amarna from its foundation by the pharaoh Akhenaten in c . 1344 bc to its abandonment just 16 or 17 years later,
Animal Earth: The Amazing Diversity of Living Creatures
The animal kingdom is staggeringly diverse, but the animals that most easily spring to mind the tigers, elephants, eagles and crocodiles, or perhaps amphibians, fish, insects and even humans account for only a tiny proportion of known species. Whats more, there are estimated to be many tens of millions still unknown to science. Animal Earth
The Scottish Country House
The ten extraordinary houses and castles featured in this book have all survived the vicissitudes of Scotlands history with almost all of their original families still in residence. Each house also represents a landmark in Scotlands architectural history, ranging from the early seventeenth to the early twentieth century. The architectural revelation is matched by sensational
East End Fashionistas
Multicultural, adjacent to London`s wealthy financial district, home to artists and designers of all stripes, funky boutiques and a vibrant night-life, the East End is alive with creative possibility, and its inhabitants are stylishly individual and self-fashioned to the extreme. Photographer Anthony Webb, who travelled the world to photograph the most interesting destinations in Thames
London A to Z: Gift Book
First published in 1953, the year that saw thousands descend on London to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, London A to Z is a lexicon of the city`s curiosities, from the Achilles statue in Hyde Park `erected by the women of England to honour (if not to resemble) the Duke of Wellington`, via
