Afghanistan has been a strategic prize for more than 200 years. Foreign invaders have continually fought across its beautiful & inhospitable terrain, in conflicts variously ruthless, misguided & bloody. A century ago, the common sneer about how British soldiers treated Afghan tribesmen was that they would `butcher` them, then `bolt`. ” Butcher & Bolt” recounts this violent history, beginning with the very first British mission
- an encounter that ushered in two centuries of conflict littered with misunderstandings & broken promises, in which the British, the Russians & later the Americans repeatedly underestimated the ability of the Afghans & the power of the Frontier tribes. In a new final chapter that brings the book right up-to-date, David Loyn draws on the unique access he has had to Afghanistan over the past two decades to address the emerging threat of the Pakistani Taliban & the challenges that face those now fighting on the most dangerous frontier in the world.
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Full of adventure, mishaps & audacious attempts at cheating, the first Tour de France in 1903 was a colourful affair. Its riders included characters like Maurice Garin, an Italian-born Frenchman, said to have been swapped for a round of cheese by his parents in order to smuggle him into France to clean chimneys as a teenager, Hippolyte Aucouturier with his trademark handlebar moustache, & amateurs like Jean Dargassies, a blacksmith who had never raced before. Dreamed up to revive struggling newspaper L` Auto, cyclists of the time were wary of this `heroic` race on roads more suited to hooves than wheels, riding hefty fixed-gear bikes for three full weeks. ` With a few francs you could win 3, 000`, the paper declared in desperation, eventually attracting a field comprising a handful of the era`s professional racers &, among other hopefuls, a butcher, painter & decorator, & a circus acrobat. Would this ramshackle pack of cyclists draw crowds to throng France`s rutted roads & cheer the first Tour heroes? Surprisingly it did, &, all thanks to a marketing ruse, cycling would never be the same again. Peter Cossins takes us through the inaugural Tour de France, painting a nuanced portrait of France in the early 1900s, to see where the greatest sporting event of all began. ...

The first Tour de France in 1903 was a colourful affair full of adventure, mishaps & audacious attempts at cheating. Its riders included characters like Maurice Garin, an Italian-born Frenchman, said to have been swapped for a round of cheese by his parents in order to smuggle him into France to clean chimneys as a teenager, Hippolyte Aucouturier with his trademark handlebar moustache, & amateurs like Jean Dargassies, a blacksmith who had never raced before. Would this ramshackle pack of cyclists draw crowds to throng France`s rutted roads & cheer the first Tour heroes? Surprisingly it did, &, all thanks to a marketing ruse dreamed up to revive struggling newspaper L` Auto, cycling would never be the same again. Peter Cossins takes us through the inaugural Tour de France, painting a nuanced portrait of France in the early 1900s, to see where the greatest sporting event of all began. ...

Will Andrews is no academic. He longs for wildness, freedom, hope & vigour. He leaves Harvard & sets out for the West to discover a new way of living. In a small town called Butcher`s Crossing he meets a hunter with a story of a lost herd of buffalo in a remote Colorado valley, just waiting to be taken by a team of men brave & crazy enough to find them. Will makes up his mind to be one of those men, but the journey, the killing, harsh conditions & sheer hard luck will test his mind & body to their limits. ...

Topographical survey of Belgium at 1:20, 000 from Nationaal Geografisch Instituut / Institut Géographique National, the country’s national survey organization. Each 20K map covers one quarter of the corresponding 1:50, 000 map (with adjustments in the border & coastal areas). The maps provide all the information expected of topographic mapping at this scale & in addition have an unusually large amount of vegetation and/or land use information (different types of woodlands, gardens, orchards, heath, etc). The maps have a 1-km UTM grid, with margin ticks for latitude & longitude at intervals of 1`. Map legend & a glossary of terms used on the maps include English. Stanfords keeps as regular stock 20K maps for the World War I battlefields around the Ypres, Messines & Passchendaele, & for the area of the Battle of Waterloo. The 1:20, 000 survey covers the whole of Belgium & maps for other regions can be supplied as special orders. To see the list of titles in this series please click on the series link.PLEASE NOTE: the Long-Distance Footpaths Map of Belgium at 1:300, 000 which shows the division of Belgium into the 50K survey sheets can also be used to see in more detail coverage by the 20K maps. ...

A little over a decade ago, Pankaj Mishra traveled through the small towns of India & found they had shed their sleepy, half-apologetic air; brash & ostentatious, kitschy & clamorous, here was an India in transition. A convent-educated young woman from Jhansi aspiring to be a beauty queen; a rich young man in Gujarat speaking casually of murdering Muslims; Naxalites in Bihar trying to foment revolution; small shopkeepers planning a vacation in London
- Mishra captured, with irony & humor, a people rushing headlong to their tryst with modernity. ' Butter Chicken in Ludhiana is a marvelous travel book about small-town India, where the village & the city, the folk & the kitsch, & the comic & the violent threaten to converge'
- Ashis Nandy. 'A love-letter to the real republic. No other book defines as clearly, & with such troubled irony, our last decade of change'
- Amitava Kumar.


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` On this Sunday morning in May, this girl who was later to be the cause of a sensation in New York awoke much too early for her night before`... This particular morning Gloria finds herself alone in a stranger`s apartment with nothing but a torn evening dress & her stockings & panties. When she takes a fur coat from the wardrobe to wear home, she sets in train a series of events that will lead to tragedy. A bestseller on its first publication, ”BUtterfield 8” is the glittering story of a 1930s glamour girl whose ill-starred entanglement with a respectable married man is set against a backdrop of Manhattan bars & bedrooms. ...

The truly pocket-sized photographic guide to the butterflies & moths of Britain & Europe. This Collins Gem is being reissued in flexibinding, providing the durability of a hardback with the flexibility of a paperback. The stylish new cover design will enliven this & 70 other bestselling Gems. There are over 160, 000 known species of butterflies & moths & there are over 5000 species in Europe, mostly small & inconspicuous moths. Collins Gem Butterflies & Moths is a fascinating introduction to 240 of the most commonly found species within the British Isles. Each entry
Includes:: A photograph of the butterfly or moth & details of distinguishing features which can help with identification. Information on size, habitat, geographical range & months when the butterfly or moth can be spotted. The names of similar species with which the butterfly or moth could be confused, & details of the differences between them.
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Our unique fascination with butterflies has been a gloriously British pastime since the early 18th century, through the Victorian butterfly mania of the 1890s & two World Wars, & is now the popular hobby it has become today. This is a wonderful celebration of great British butterflies, whether you are tracking the elusive Green Hairstreak, Painted Lady & violet Emperor in the wild or identifying the more common Small Tortoiseshell, Orange Tip & Chalkhill Blue from the comfort of your garden chair. This fascinating guide to the British butterfly will delight both beginners & enthusiasts alike, with practical tips on all aspects of attracting, tracking & identifying butterflies & how to protect these beautiful creatures for future generations. ...

The monarch butterfly, one of the most seemingly delicate of all of nature`s animals, proves to be one of the toughest in this reader. With bold, colourful photographic illustrations & covering a wide range of popular non-fiction subjects, ` National Geographic Readers` stand out in the market for their widespread appeal with both boys & girls. Making the yearly trip from the Northern United States & Canada to the Oyamel forest of Mexico is no easy task, & it takes five generations of butterflies in order to do so. Battling cold temperatures & the threat of starvation, these beautiful insects complete an almost 3, 000 mile journey over the course of two months, only to have to turn & around & head back home. National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources. Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information. ...