' The following year Qin unified all under Heaven & the title of August Emperor was immediately adopted' The short-lived Qin dynasty unified China in 221 BC & created an imperial legacy that lasted until 1911 The extraordinary story of the First Emperor founder of the dynasty is told in the Historical Records of Sima Qian the Grand Historiographer & the most famous Chinese historian He describes the Emperor's birth & the assassination attempt on his life as well as the political & often brutal events that led to the founding of the dynasty & its aftermath Sima Qian recounts the building of the Great Wall the 'burning of the books' & the construction of the First Emperor's magnificent tomb a tomb now world famous since the discovery of the terracotta warriors in 1974 Sima Qian's love of anecdote ensures that his history is never dull & Raymond Dawson's fluent translation captures his lively & vivid style Chronicling recent archaeological developments & questioning Sima Qian's biases K E Brashier's preface highlights the importance of the Grand Historiographer's account & Dawson's translation in the twenty-first century ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more ...

Featured in the Richard & Judy Book Club Featured in the Waterstones Book Club Featured on BBC Radio 2 Book Club Harry August is on his deathbed Again No matter what he does or the decisions he makes when death comes Harry always returns to where he began a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before Nothing ever changes Until now As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life a little girl appears at his bedside 'I nearly missed you Doctor August' she says 'I need to send a message' This is the story of what Harry does next & what he did before & how he tries to save a past he cannot change & a future he cannot allow Praise for Claire North' North's talent shines out' Sunday Times' Little short of a masterpiece' Independent' Poignant & intensely gripping' Guardian' Well-paced brilliant & balanced' New York Times' Extraordinary wildly impressive' Lucy Hughes-Hallett BBC Radio 4' Utterly readable utterly believable & compelling one of the fiction highlights of the decade' Judy Finnigan Richard & Judy Book Club Also by Claire North Novels Touch The Sudden Appearance of Hope (winner of the World Fantasy Award 2017) The End of the Day (shortlisted for the Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year Award 2017) Digital novellas The Serpent Gameshouse Novella 1 The Thief Gameshouse Novella 2 The Master Gameshouse Novella 3 ...

An educator must stand up for the rights of an unusual student in this drama from director Justin Chadwick which is based on a true story In 2002 the government of Kenya announces that free education will be available to the nation's children for the first time & as principal Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) enrolls hundreds of new first grade students in her ramshackle school she's greeted by one prospective student who stands out -- N'gan'ga Maruge (Oliver Litondo) who is eighty-four years old Maruge is illiterate & wants the chance to improve himself before it's too late; Obinchu initially turns him away but Maruge isn't easily dissuaded & after he keeps returning to the school Obinchu agrees to let him enroll When word gets out that an octogenarian farmer is attending Obinchu's school as a first grader many in the community are puzzled & outraged & the news media picks up on the story turning it into a nationwide controversy But Maruge stands firm & as others learn his remarkable story -- he was a rebel soldier who fought for Kenya's freedom during the colonial era -- his need to educate himself no longer seems like the eccentric whim of an old man ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play In Victorian England a master criminal makes elaborate plans to steal a shipment of gold from a moving train ...

Number one bestselling author David Walliams presents this explosively funny space adventure for children of 3 & up Illustrated by artistic genius Tony Ross & hilariously read by the author himself Warning very silly sound-effects included! Two big hippos One ENORMOUS dream Who can make it to the moon first?3 2 1 BLAST OFF! Introducing a wonderfully charming & funny new picture book from two superstars! ...

From Number One bestselling picture book duo David Walliams & Tony Ross comes this explosively funny space adventure for children of 3 & up Two big hippos One ENORMOUS dream Who can make it to the moon first?3 2 1 BLAST OFF! Introducing a wonderfully charming & funny new picture book from two superstars! ...

'A brilliant study of a brilliant woman' LUCY WORSLEY History has forgotten Caroline of Ansbach yet in her lifetime she was compared frequently to Elizabeth I & considered by some as the cleverest queen consort Britain ever had' The intellectual superior of her buffoonish husband George II Caroline is credited with hastening the Enlightenment to Britain through her sponsorship of red-hot debates about science religion philosophy & the nature of the universe Encouraged by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu she championed inoculation; inspired by her friends Leibniz & Samuel Clarke she mugged up on Newtonian physics; she embraced a salon culture which promoted developments in music literature & garden design; she was a regular theatre-goer who loved the opera gambling & dancing Her intimates marvelled at the breadth of her interests She was said Lord Egmont curious in everything' Caroline acted as Regent four times while her husband returned to Hanover & during those periods she possessed authority over all domestic matters No subsequent royal woman has exercised power on such a scale So why has history forgotten this extraordinary queen? In this magnificent biography the first for over seventy years Matthew Dennison seeks to reverse this neglect The First Iron Lady uncovers the complexities of Caroline's multifaceted life the child of a minor German princeling who through intelligence determination & a dash of sex appeal rose to occupy one of the great positions of the world & did so with distinction elan & a degree of cynical realism It is a remarkable portrait of an eighteenth-century woman of great political astuteness & ambition a radical icon of female power ...

A beautiful box set containing SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Joe Abercrombie's epic fantasy trilogy THE BLADE ITSELF BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED & LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS Abercrombie Joe ...

The unfinished manuscript of The First Man was discovered in the wreckage of car accident in which Camus died in 1960 Although it was not published for over thirty years it was an instant bestseller when it finally appeared in 1994 The 'first man' is Jacques Cormery whose poverty-stricken childhood in Algiers is made bearable by his love for his silent & illiterate mother & by the teacher who transforms his view of the world The most autobiographical of Camus's novels it gives profound insights into his life & the powerful themes underlying his work Albert Camus was born in Algeria in 1913 The works that established his international reputation include THE PLAGUE THE FALL THE REBEL & THE OUTSIDER Camus died in a road accident in 1960 & is remembered as one of the greatest philsophical novelists of the twentieth century ...

When penniless businessman Mr Bedford retreats to Kent to write a play he encounters Dr Cavor an absent-minded scientist who has invented a material that counteracts gravity This discovery enables the two men to set off on a fantastic journey to the Moon But they are not prepared for what they find there
- a world of freezing nights boiling days & danger from a sinister alien lifeform the selenites creatures who have developed an intricate hierarchical society beneath the lunar surface The First Men in the Moon ignited speculation in nineteenth century society concerning what lies on & beneath the surface of the Moon By turns amusing thrilling & stimulating the novel is a classic of its genre This volume also contains another of Wells's fascinating thought-provoking fantasies A Modern Utopia in which two travellers fall into a space-warp & find themselves upon a Utopian Earth controlled by a single World Government
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