Category Archives: Travel Guides
Voyages And Discoveries
Renaissance diplomat and part-time spy, William Hakluyt was also England`s first serious geographer, gathering together a wealth of accounts about the wide-ranging travels and discoveries of the sixteenth-century English. One of the epics of this great period of expansion, “The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation” describes, in the words of
Extra Virgin – Amongst the Olive Groves of Liguria
Extra Virgin tells the story of two sisters, Annie and Sarah Hawes, who bought a small stone house deep among the olive groves of Liguria for the price of a second-hand car. Originally planning to visit the Italian Riviera for 10 weeks while in their early 20s, Annie Hawes ended up staying for 20 years.
Redburn
Wellington Redburn is a fifteen-year-old from the state of New York, with only one dream – to run away to sea. However, when he does fulfil this long-held fantasy, he quickly finds that reality as a cabin boy is far harsher than he ever imagined. Mocked by the crew on board the Highlander for his
Augustus: The Biography
He was named son and heir by a murdered dictator. He came to Rome with nothing, surrounded by ruthless enemies. Yet Augustus would become the first Roman Emperor, transforming the Republic into the greatest empire the world had seen. This is the definitive biography of the man who changed Western history. `Masterful …a breathtaking panorama
The Story of an African Farm
Two cousins grow up in the 1860s on a lonely farm on the mountain veld. Their childhood is disrupted by a man who claims blood ties with Queen Victoria, and so gains influence over the girls` stepmother. First published in 1883.
A Year in Provence
`A Year in Provence` by Peter Mayle is a much-loved book, a perfect example of both a wonderful read and also the kind of travel writing that will get you rearing to go and see it for yourself.Mayle and his wife did what most of us only imagine doing when they made their long-cherished dream
The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649: v. 1
Throughout Britain`s history, one factor above all others has determined the fate of the nation: its navy. N. A. M. Rodger`s definitive account reveals how the political and social progress of Britain has been inextricably intertwined with the strength – and weakness – of its sea power, from the desperate early campaigns against the Vikings
Natasha`s Dance
This encyclopedic cultural history of Russia is epic in its intentions. Figes delves into Russian culture and examines the characters that helped shape it, discovering that Russia`s identity is embodied in its dazzling culture. In the absence of a free press or parliament, poetry, music, books and art have all served as an arena for
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L`Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
In 1789 the West Indian colony of San Domingo supplied two-thirds of the overseas trade of France. The entire structure of what was arguably the most profitable colony in the world rested on the labour of half a million slaves. In 1791 the waves of unrest inspired by the French Revolution reached across the Atlantic
Stories for Five Year Olds
“The Puffin Book of Stories” for Five-year-olds edited by Wendy Cooling brings together stories perfectly suited for every five-year-old. Seventeen exciting stories, full of adventure and magic, by much-loved writers, including Margaret Mahy, Ted Hughes and Malorie Blackman. From a naughty pirate to a very lonely lion, children will love the amazing characters they meet
Uncle Tom`s Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly
Published in 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe`s novel was a powerful indictment of slavery in America. Describing the many trials and eventual escape to freedom of the long-suffering, good-hearted slave Uncle Tom, it aimed to show how Christian love can overcome any human cruelty. “Uncle Tom`s Cabin” has remained controversial to this day, seen as either
Roughing It
A fascinating picture of the American frontier emerges from Twain`s fictionalized recollections of his experiences prospecting for gold, speculating in timber, and writing for a succession of small Western newspapers during the 1860s.
The Other Side of the Dale
Gervase Phinn reveals his early experiences as a school inspector in “The Other Side of the Dale”. As the newly appointed County Inspector of Schools in North Yorkshire, Gervase Phinn reveals in this warm and wonderfully humorous account, the experiences of his first year in the job – and what an education it was! He
The Inheritance of Rome – History of Europe from 400 to 1000
The world known as the `Dark Ages`, often seen as a time of barbarism, was in fact the crucible in which modern Europe would be created. Chris Wickham`s acclaimed history shows how this period, encompassing people such as Goths, Franks, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, was central to the development of our history and
When China Rules the World
China will replace the United States as the world`s dominant power. In so doing, it will not become more western but the world will become more Chinese. Jacques argues that we cannot understand China in western terms but only through its own history and culture. To this end, he introduces a powerful set of ideas
The Ring of Bright Water Trilogy: Ring of Bright Water, The Rocks Remain, Raven Seek Thy Brother
Fifty years ago Gavin Maxwell went to live in an abandoned house on a shingle beach on the west coast of Scotland. A haven for wildlife – he named his home Camusfearna and settled there with the otters Mij, Edal and Teko.Ring of Bright Water chronicles Gavin Maxwell`s first ten years with the otters and
White Teeth
Zadie Smith`s White Teeth is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel on a scrambled, heterogeneous sprawl of mixed-race and immigrant family life in 20th-century gritty London.It follows the roots and the lives of three families: the Iqbals, the Jones` and the Chalfens. With an interesting concoction of cultures, ranging from the Radio-4-listening, herbal-tea-drinking Chalfens, to the
Viking Age Iceland
Medieval Iceland was unique amongst Western Europe, with no foreign policy, no defense forces, no king, no lords, no peasants and few battles. It should have been a utopia yet its literature is dominated by brutality and killing. The reasons for this, argues Jesse Byock, lie in the underlying structures and cultural codes of the
The Autograph Man
The Autograph Man is Zadie Smith`s whirlwind tour of celebrity and our fame-obsessed times. Following one Alex-Li Tandem – a twenty-something, Chinese-Jewish autograph dealer turned on by sex, drugs and organised religion – it takes in London and New York, love and death, fathers and sons, as Alex tries to discover how a piece of
