Category Archives: Travel Guides
Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases
One of the most distinctive characteristics of English is the number of words and phrases it has borrowed – and continues to borrow – from other languages, originally and most notably from Latin and French but now also from every corner of the globe. From the frequently used veranda and futon to the less familiar
Madrid Tales
The buzzing life of bars, warm evenings by the Manzanares river, the subterranean terrors of the Metro, icy winters and hot, empty summers, student days in the sixties, the ruthless underworld of the city`s mafia – this captivating anthology reflects the character of Madrid and the lives of the madrilenos, as its inhabitants are called,
Rob Roy
For the most popular of his Scottish romances, published at the end of 1817, Scott drew on the legends and historical anecdotes about Rob Roy MacGregor he had collected in his youth. The famous outlaw is only one of a series of vivid characters who cast their spell of the novel`s hero, Frank Osbaldistone, on
Replenishing the Earth: The Settler Revolution and the Rise of the Angloworld
Why are we speaking English? Replenishing the Earth gives a new answer to that question, uncovering a `settler revolution` that took place from the early nineteenth century that led to the explosive settlement of the American West and its forgotten twin, the British West, comprising the settler dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South
Dictionary Of British Place-names
This revised edition of the Dictionary of British Place-Names includes over 17,000 engaging and informative entries, tracing the development of the featured place-names from earliest times to the present day. Included place-names range from the familiar to the obscure, among them `Beer`, `Findlater`, `Broadbottom`, and `Great Snoring`. The A to Z entries are complemented by
The Sea-Wolf
Published in 1904, and drawing on London`s own experience on board a sealing ship, The Sea-Wolf describes the struggle between the civilized and the pagan, between the values of the ruthless sea-captain, Wolf Larsen, and the moral, literary Humphrey Van Weyden. One of his most popular novels, it also reveals London`s preoccupation with the Nietzschean
Fowler`s Dictionary of Modern English Usage
Why literally shouldn`t be taken literally. Why Americans think home in on something is a mistake and Brits think hone in is. Is it OK to spell OK okay? What`s wrong with hence why? Was Alanis Morrisette ever ironic? Fowler`s Dictionary of Modern English Usage is the world-famous guide to English usage, loved and used
The Belly of Paris
“Respectable people… What bastards!”Unjustly deported to Devil`s Island following Louis-Napoleon`s coup-d`etat in December 1851, Florent Quenu escapes and returns to Paris. He finds the city changed beyond recognition. The old Marche des Innocents has been knocked down as part of Haussmann`s grand programme of urban reconstruction to make way for Les Halles, the spectacular new
Berlin Tales
Berlin Tales is a collection of seventeen translated stories associated with Berlin. The book provides a unique insight into the mind of this fascinating city through the eyes of its story-tellers. Nearly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the stories collected here reflect on the city`s fascinating recent history, setting out with
Russia – A History
The history of Russia – from Kievan Rus to Vladimir Putin Russia: A History cuts through the myths and mystery that have surrounded Russia from its earliest days, with startling revelations from classified archives that until comparatively recently were not even known to exist. A distinguished team of historians has stripped away the propaganda and
Oxford Bible Atlas
This new edition of the Oxford Bible Atlas, now with full-colour maps and illustrations, has been thoroughly revised to bring it up to date with regard both to biblical scholarship and to archaeology and topography. The Atlas will help readers of the Bible understand the contexts in which its stories are set and to appreciate
Landscapes and Geomorphology – A Very Short Introduction
What were the landscapes of the past like? What will landscapes look like in the future? Landscapes are all around us, but most of us know very little about how they have developed, what goes on in them, and how they react to changing climates, tectonics and human activities. Examining what landscape is, and how
Dictionary of London Place-Names
A Dictionary of London Place Names” is the kind of book that comes along and makes you exclaim ‘why hasn’t anyone done this before?!’; well they did and now it’s back with this revised and updated edition, this excellent gazetteer is for historians and visitors alike, featuring maps, a glossary and recommended web links.The book
Rome Tales
In ways no guide book can achieve, these twenty absorbing tales by Italian authors ranging from Boccaccio in the Middle Ages to Giacomo Casanova in the eighteenth century, to Pier-Paolo Pasolini in the twentieth and contemporary new writers such as Melania Mazzucco and Igiaba Scego, offer the delight of discovering and exploring one of the
The Ladies` Paradise
The Ladies` Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) recounts the spectacular development of the modern department store in late nineteenth century Paris. The store is a symbol of capitalism, of the modern city, and of the bourgeois family; it is emblematic of consumer culture and the changes in sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at
The Masterpiece
The Masterpiece is the tragic story of Claude Lantier, an ambitious and talented young artist from the provinces who has come to conquer Paris and is conquered by the flaws in his own genius. While his boyhood friend Pierre Sandoz becomes a successful novelist, Claude`s originality is mocked at the Salon and turns gradually into
On the Ocean: The Mediterranean and the Atlantic from prehistory to AD 1500
For humans the sea is, and always has been, an alien environment. Ever moving and ever changing in mood, it is a place without time, in contrast to the land which is fixed and scarred by human activity giving it a visible history. While the land is familiar, even reassuring, the sea is unknown and
Travel Writing 1700-1830
`How is the mind agitated and bewildered, at being thus, as it were, placed on the borders of a new world!` – William Bartram `Thus you see, dear sister, the manners of mankind do not differ so widely as our voyage writers would have us believe.` – Mary Wortley Montagu With widely varied motives –
Disrupt and Deny: Spies, Special Forces, and the Secret Pursuit of British Foreign Policy
British leaders use spies and Special Forces to interfere in the affairs of others discreetly and deniably. Since 1945, MI6 has spread misinformation designed to divide and discredit targets from the Middle East to Eastern Europe and Northern Ireland. It has instigated whispering campaigns and planted false evidence on officials working behind the Iron Curtain,
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
In 1773, James Boswell made a long-planned journey across the Scottish Highlands with his English friend Samuel Johnson; the two spent more than a hundred days together. Their tour of the Hebrides resulted in two books, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), a kind of locodescriptive ethnography and Johnson`s most important work
