Marc Riboud has continually returned to China since the 1950s to photograph the development & change of a country that he loves. Here, he offers a personally chosen retrospective of his best images of China, ranging from the Great Leap Forward to the economic boom, from the severe egalitarian poverty to the ”nouveau riches”, from the Cultural Revolution to the cult of money. All the photographs are complemented by captions, anecdotes & personal reflections. Arranged chronologically, this work opens with images of China in the 1950s, which can sometimes be seen today. In the photographs which follow, Riboud depicts the contrasts & reflections between old China, while the book`s final section is devoted to the extraordinary changes that this country has undergone in the 1980s & 1990s
- from glass towers & giant interchanges to machinery & mini skirts.
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In 1912, wearing a tweed three-piece suit & a flat cap, Carl Stearns Clancy undertook the longest, most difficult & most perilous journey ever attempted on a motorcycle. By June 1913 he had made history, becoming the first person ever to circumnavigate the globe on a motorbike. One hundred years on, bestselling author & motorcycle adventurer Geoff Hill recreates Clancy`s historic journey. Following the route taken by his illustrious predecessor, & with Clancy`s own account of his journey echoing in his head, Geoff rides down through Europe & north Africa, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China & Japan, all the way to America & Clancy`s hometown of San Francisco. Join Geoff on an epic motorbike adventure, as he relives Clancy`s grand tour, discovering first-hand how the world has changed since Clancy`s first motorbike journey over a century ago, & as he pays tribute to a motorcycling legend. ...

This travel text by a direct descendent of Clive of India retraces his ancestor's journeys around south-eastern India, interweaving a biography of Clive & the East India Company with accounts of the author's own adventures. Holt's plans often don't work out but his disasters reveal as much of India & Indians as his successes. Along the way he meets a faith-healing American Methodist minister, Bangladeshi refugees, taxi drivers, a bizarre array of fortune-tellers, museum curators, many local characters. He also visits a leper colony & is frank about the country's poverty, crowds, dirt, stench & corruption. ...

Controversial & compelling, In Cold Blood reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife & both their children. Truman Capote`s comprehensive study of the killings & subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime & the effect it had on those involved. At the centre of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith & Dick Hickcock, who, vividly drawn by Capote, are shown to be reprehensible yet entirely & frighteningly human. The book that made Capote`s name, In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill & powerfully evocative narrative. ...

In ” Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder & its Consequences” is considered by many to be the first work of the true crime genre. In this groundbreaking book, Truman Capote reconstructs the murder of the Clutter family from information provided by newspaper articles & interviews. ` Dick became convinced that Perry was that rarity, ”a natural killer”
- absolutely sane, but conscienceless, & capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldest-blooded deathblows`. On 15 November 1959, the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, a wealthy farmer, his wife & their two young children were found brutally murdered. Blood all over the walls, the telephone lines cut, & only a few dollars stolen. Heading up the investigation is Agent Al Dewey, but all he has are two footprints, four bodies, & a whole lot of questions. Truman Capote`s detailed reconstruction of the events & consequences of that fateful night, ” In Cold Blood” is a chilling, gripping mix of journalistic skill & imaginative power. ” The American dream turning into the American nightmare. A remarkable book”. (” Spectator”). ” One of the most stupendous books of the decade”. (” Sunday Express”). Truman Capote was one of the most significant American authors of the twentieth century, known for his highly acclaimed books, including: ” Breakfast at Tiffany`s”, ”A Tree of Night & Other Stories” & ” The Grass Harp”. In ” Cold Blood” & ” Breakfast at Tiffany`s” have been selected for the ” Penguin Essentials” series of books considered some of the twentieth century`s most important reads.
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In darkness I count my blessings like Manman taught me. One. I am alive. Two. There is no two. Haiti 2010: in the aftermath of the earthquake a boy lies trapped beneath the rubble: terrified, thirsty & alone. Shorty is a child of the slums, a teenager who has seen enough violence to last a lifetime & who has been inexorably drawn into the world of the gangsters who rule his broken city: men who dole out money with one hand & death with the other. But Shorty has a secret: a flame of revenge that burns inside him, fuelling his determination to find his beloved twin sister, stolen from him five years ago. In the darkness the lines between the present & the past begin to blur &, as Shorty fights for life, his struggle becomes part of a two-hundred-year-old story
- a story of courage & betrayal, of freedom & of hope. Shorty may not be quite as alone as he believes...
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What would dogs ask for, if they knew how? In the ” Sunday Times” bestseller ” In Defence of Dogs” John Bradshaw, an anthropologist at Bristol University who has been at the centre of the latest research into what makes dogs tick, gives us the answers. Overturning the most common myths about dogs` emotions & behaviour, this book shows how we should really treat our pets, & stands up for dogdom: not the wolf in canine clothes, not the small furry child, not the trophy-winner, but the real dog, who wants to be part of the family & enjoy life. ...

In this volume, English historian Richard Evans offers a defence of the importance of his craft. At a time of deep scepticism about our ability to learn anything from the past, even to recapture any serious sense of past cultures & ways of life, Evans shows us why history is both possible & necessary. His demolition of the wilder claims of post-modern historians, who deny the possibility of any realistic grasp of history, seeks to be witty & well-balanced. He takes us into the historians` workshop to show us just how good history gets written, & explains the deadly political dangers of losing a historical perspective on the way we live our lives. This new edition contains an extensive afterword by the author. ...

Barcelona, early 1930s: Natalia, a pretty shop-girl from the working-class quarter of Gracia, is hesitant when a stranger asks her to dance at the fiesta in Diamond Square. But Joe is charming & forceful, & she takes his h&. They marry & soon have two children; for Natalia it is an awakening, both good & bad. When Joe decides to breed pigeons, the birds delight his son & daughter
- & infuriate his wife. Then the Spanish Civil War erupts, & lays waste to the city & to their simple existence. Natalia remains in Barcelona, struggling to feed her family, while Joe goes to fight the fascists, & one by one his beloved birds fly away. A highly acclaimed classic that has been translated into more than twenty languages, In Diamond Square is the moving, vivid & powerful story of a woman caught up in a convulsive period of history.
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In 2001, three year old Dina is killed in a tragic car accident. Not long thereafter Dina`s mother dies under mysterious circumstances, & Dina`s father Jonas is convicted of her murder. In 2016, the cold case ends up on the desk of Detective Henrik Holme, who tries to convince his mentor Hanne Wilhelmsen that the father might have been wrongly convicted. Holme & Wilhelmsen discover that the case could be connected to the suicide of an eccentric blogger as well as the kidnapping of the grandson of a Euro Jackpot millionaire. Don`t miss this unforgettable, explosive finale to Anne Holt`s bestselling Hanne Wilhelmsen series. ...