A Shadow Falls takes its rightful place in Nick Brandt’s ongoing photographic project to memorialize the vanishing natural grandeur of East Africa & to portray a mythic Africa struggling against tragic forces. Majestic images of wildlife & regal visions of wide screen panoramas capture both a verdant & parched world. Fifty eight recent images are reproduced here in oversized tritone plates, whilst Brandt offers a personal account of his experiences photographing in Africa. Art critic Vicki Goldberg places Brandt’s iconic work in the history of the medium, & philosopher Peter Singer explains why Brandt’s photographs speak to an increasing human moral conscience. ...

Andrew Beatty lived with his family for two & a half years in a village in East Java. When he arrived, he was entranced by a strange & sensual way of life, an unusual tolerance of diversity. Mysticism, Islamic piety & animism coexisted peacefully; the ancient traditions of the shadow play, of spirit beliefs & were-tigers seemed set to endure. Java appeared a model for our strife-ridden world, a recipe for multiculturalism. But a harsh & puritanical Islamism, fed by modern uncertainties, was driving young women to wear the veil & young men to renounce the old rituals. The mosque loudspeakers grew strident, cultural boundaries sharpened. As a wave of witch-killings shook the countryside, Beatty & his family began to feel like vulnerable outsiders. Set among Java's rice fields & volcanoes, this is the story of how one of the biggest issues of our time plays out in ordinary lives. ...

In 1915, the Turkish government systematically organised the wholesale slaughter of a complete race, the Armenians. Under the cover of World War I, through the secret organisation of unofficial gangs of Kurds, released prisoners, German officers & Turks who had lost their lands in the war against the Balkans, over 1 million Armenians were murdered, starved, raped & left to die. Following the War, as the Nationalist movement began to rise up from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, the allies tried to persecute the perpetrators of the genocide, in a series of trials where the term `crimes against humanity` was first used, Turkey was allowed to hide its recent history. It has remained hidden ever since. As the nation attempts to enter the European Union, the question of 1915 has become ever more important with the arrest of writers such as Orhan Pamuk, & the introduction of Turkey into the EU. ...

Winner of the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize Auntie Mei is a live-in nanny for newborns & their mothers. She has worked for a hundred & twenty-six families & looked after a hundred & thirty-one babies, one set of clients easily replaced by the next. But the hundred & thirty-second baby & his mother Chanel prompts a crisis in Auntie Mei`s life
- a tremor that threatens to destroy her resolute detachment.
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Through the story of one man, Caleb Bawcombe, a shepherd whose flocks graze the Wiltshire, Hampshire & Dorset borders, we meet men & women of humble birth
- poachers, gypsies, farmers & laborers
- striving to survive on the l&. As we read, the cumulative affect of their stories becomes much more than a record of rural life. It reads like a lost hymn, sung by people whose lives were disregarded & whose histories are now forgotten. W.H. Hudson`s masterful book, merging fiction, reminiscence, memoir & oral history, was recognized as a classic when it was first published in 1910. It remains so today. First published by Methuen & Co.

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Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune hopes an overseas birding trip will hold some clues to solving his fugitive brother`s manslaughter case. Meanwhile, in Jejeune`s absence his long-time nemesis has been drafted in as cover to investigate an accountant`s murder. & unfortunately Marvin Laraby proves just a bit too effective in showing how an investigation should be handled. With the manslaughter case poised to claim another victim, Jejeune learns an accident back home in Britain involving his girlfriend, Lindy, is much more than it seems. Lindy is in grave danger, & she needs Jejeune. Soon, he is faced with a further dilemma. He can speak up on a secret he has discovered relating to Laraby`s case, knowing it will cost his job on the north Norfolk coast he loves. Or he can stay silent, & let a killer escape justice. Turns out that sometimes the wrong choice is the only one there is. ...

May, 1810
- & thirty-nine-year-old Captain Horatio Hornblower has been handed his first ship of the line... Though the seventy-four-gun
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This short book introduces the reader to the key concepts in art from ancient times to the present day. Unlike many previous publications, in which non-Western art is a mere add-on to the great artists & movements of the Western canon, this tells the story of art from a fresh perspective, integrating previously marginalised aspects of artistic creation into the principal narrative. The text focuses on illustrated examples, ranging from the iconic to the unusual, providing a stimulating & throught-provoking introduction to a complex & challenging subject. Concise & informative, the book is written in a clear, jargonfree style. While it is ideal for first-year students of art, art history & related subjects, it will also be invaluable for general readers wanting to know & understand more about art & culture. ...

After spending his childhood & school years in Albania, imagining that the mini-skirts & quiz-shows of Italian state TV were the reality of life in the West, & fantasizing accordingly about living on the other side of the border, the death of Hoxha at last enables Gazmend Kapllani to make his escape. However, on arriving in the Promised L&, he finds neither lots of willing leggy lovelies nor a warm welcome from his long-lost Greek cousins. Instead, he gets banged up in a detention centre in a small border town. As Gazi & his fellow immigrants try to find jobs, they begin to plan their future lives in Greece, imagining riches & successes which always remain just beyond their grasp. The sheer absurdity of both their plans & their new lives is overwhelming. Both detached & involved, ironic & emotional, Kapllani interweaves the story of his experience with meditations upon border syndrome
- a mental state, as much as a geographical experience
- to create a brilliantly observed, amusing & perceptive debut.

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Augustin Fresnel (1788-1827) shocked the scientific elite with his unique understanding of the physics of light. The lens he invented was a brilliant feat of engineering that made lighthouses blaze many times brighter, farther, & more efficiently. Battling the establishment, his own poor health, & the limited technology of the time, Fresnel was able to achieve his goal of illuminating the entire French coast. At first, the British sought to outdo the new Fresnel-equipped lighthouses as a matter of national pride. Americans, too, resisted abandoning their primitive lamps, but the superiority of the Fresnel lens could not be denied for long. Soon, from Dunkirk to Saigon, shores were brightened with it. The Fresnel legacy played an important role in geopolitical events, including the American Civil War. No sooner were Fresnel lenses finally installed along U.S. shores than they were drafted: the Union blockaded the Confederate coast; the Confederacy set about thwarting it by dismantling & hiding or destroying the powerful new lights. Levitt`s scientific & historical account, rich in anecdote & personality, brings to life the fascinating untold story of Augustin Fresnel & his powerful invention. ...