The Gothic is wildly diverse It can refer to ecclesiastical architecture supernatural fiction cult horror films & a distinctive style of rock music It has influenced political theorists & social reformers as well as Victorian home decor & contemporary fashion Nick Groom shows how the Gothic has come to encompass so many meanings by telling the story of the Gothic from the ancient tribe who sacked Rome to the alternative subculture of the present day This unique Very Short Introduction reveals that the Gothic has predominantly been a way of understanding & responding to the past Time after time the Gothic has been invoked in order to reveal what lies behind conventional history It is a way of disclosing secrets whether in the constitutional politics of seventeenth-century England or the racial politics of the United States While contexts change the Gothic perpetually regards the past with fascination both yearning & horrified It reminds us that neither societies nor individuals can escape the consequences of their actions The anatomy of the Gothic is richly complex & perversely contradictory & so the thirteen chapters here range deliberately widely This is the first time that the entire story of the Gothic has been written as a continuous history from the historians of late antiquity to the gardens of Georgian England from the mediaeval cult of the macabre to German Expressionist cinema from Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy to American consumer society from folk ballads to vampires from the past to the present 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 & enthusiasm to make interesting & challenging topics highly readable ...

The Goths are truly a 'lost civilization' Sweeping down from the north ancient Gothic tribes sacked the imperial city of Rome & set in motion the decline & fall of the western Roman Empire Ostrogothic & Visigothic kings ruled over Italy & Spain dominating early medieval Europe Yet the last Gothic kingdom fell more than a thousand years ago & the Goths disappeared as an independent people Over the centuries that followed the vanished Goths were remembered both as barbaric destroyers & as heroic champions of liberty This engaging history brings together the interwoven stories of the original Goths & the diverse Gothic legacy a legacy that continues to shape our modern world From the ancient migrations to contemporary Goth culture through debates over democratic freedom & European nationalism & across the work of writers from Shakespeare to Bram Stoker David M Gwynn explores the ever-widening gulf between the Goths of history & the Goths of popular imagination Historians students of architecture & literature & general readers alike will learn something new from The Goths ...

The definitive textbook on EU politics & governance now in its 8th edition has been thoroughly updated throughout to take into account the ongoing developments & evolution of the EU ...

Translated by Constance Garnett Notes & Introductions by David Rampton Department of English University of Ottawa Gogol's works constitute one of Russian literature's supreme achievements yet the nature of their brilliant originality comic genius & complex workings is difficult to summarize precisely The Government Inspector a perennial favourite on stage & screen is considered a national institution in Russia & Gogol's stories present us with one of the most marvellous worlds a writer has ever created His quirky characters
- the lowly official who imagines himself to be the King of Spain the man committed to chase his nose around St Petersburg a whole village paralyzed at the prospect of being visited by an authority from the capital
- are immortal Although Gogol's fiction was commandeered by Russia's progressive critics as the work of an important social commentator he was in many ways an arch-conservative & there is a madcap strain in it that makes him a precursor of Kafka & absurdist drama

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PI Michael Kelly is sitting in his office when he gets an anonymous email offering him nearly a quarter of a million dollars to find Ray Perry the disgraced Illinois governor
- no questions asked Two years ago Perry's case went global when he disappeared from a federal courthouse in Chicago moments after being sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison Everyone including the feds believes that Perry's wife Marie knows where her husband is But as Kelly digs deeper into her past he finds a woman far more intriguing than her husband Her secrets are many & varied; some of them she shared with her husband some she kept to herself & some could get Michael Kelly killed A hard-eyed look at ambition & trust The Governor's Wife is stylish suspense from a modern master
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Everything can change in an instant & take a lifetime to unravel After police officer Mac Mc Donald (Michael Joiner) loses his son in an accident years of bitterness & pain erode his love for his family & leave him angry with God & everyone else Can Mac & his new patrol partner Sgt Sam Wright Michael Higgenbottom) somehow join forces to help one another when it&s impossible to look past their differences
- especially the most obvious one? The Grace Card stars Michael Joiner Michael Higgenbottom & Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr
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A flooded world A floating circus Two women in search of a home North lives on a circus boat with her beloved bear keeping a secret that could capsize her life Callanish lives alone in her house in the middle of the ocean tending the graves of those who die at sea As penance for a terrible mistake she has become a gracekeeper A chance meeting between the two draws them magnetically to one another
- & to the promise of a new life But the waters are treacherous & the tide is against them ' The Gracekeepers is enchanting & heart-tugging If you love Margaret Atwood you'll love this' Sunday Telegraph'A wondrous read' Stylist' Clever & original' The Times' Truly magical' Heat
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Picked for BBC Radio 2's Book Club Everyone said the Graces were witches They moved through the corridors like sleek fish ripples in their wake Stares followed their backs & their hair They had friends but they were just distractions They were waiting for someone different All I had to do was show them that person was me Like everyone else in her town River is obsessed with the Graces attracted by their glamour & apparent ability to weave magic But are they really what they seem? & are they more dangerous than they let on? This beautifully-written thriller will grip you from its very first page ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play This set features a double helping of films starring the enigmatic Gracie Fields

Includes:: Sally In Our Alley & Looking On The Brightside Actors Gibb Mc Laughlin Gracie Fields Ian Hunter Ben Field Ivor Barnard Directors Maurice Elvey Graham Cutts Basil Dean Writers Miles Malleson Basil Dean Alma Reville Archie Pitt Brock Williams Producers Basil Dean Format PALLanguage English Region Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe Read more about DVD formats) Number of discs 1

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War music & identity are explored & dissected in this powerful & affecting novel from one of the UK's greatest authors 352 pages Priest Christopher ...